Pioneer DVR-108?

[xbassman]

I think it's about time to put DVD-buring capabilities into my personal box.

I have A Pioneer DVR-107 in my HTPC and my wife has one in her comp.
One of the things i like about the 107's is how quiet they operate. The Toshiba DVD currently in my box is pretty loud and I don't even wanna get started about various Liteon opticals I have used.

First off, I am kinda a snob with optical drives....
My worst drive purchase was an NEC generic under the name QUE. Burned fine initially, then tried to burn a disk one month later and no go...Then no read either. CompUSA said more than 30 days goes thru manufacturer. QUE never responded to e-mail and had no listed phone#.
So NEC drives are out of the question for me. I have also had many bad experiences with generic units in the past (high failure rates)
Plex's are too high.... (gotta Plex 2410a CD/RW though that still burns as good as when I bought it.)

I have read some compatability problems with the DVR-108, but with the 107's I have no issues. Matter of fact a friend of mine @ work is always giving me DVD-R's to copy for him (over to Ridata) because his NEC can't read the media. Pioneer seems to be pretty good about updating firmware to correct issues.

I know......looks like I am already sold.
Well, you guys have pointed out on many occassions some things that I might have otherwise overlooked.

Thanks in advance!

 

[LED]

Well, you guys have pointed out on many occassions some things that I might have otherwise overlooked.

Umm the Pioneer DVR-108 uses the NEC chipset in it's drive :evil:

 

[xbassman]

Originally posted by: LED

Well, you guys have pointed out on many occassions some things that I might have otherwise overlooked.

Umm the Pioneer DVR-108 uses the NEC chipset in it's drive :evil:

Well, I doubt that the NEC failure I had was due to the chipset, so that is not a concern.
Anybody here used a BenQ drive? Reviews I have read seem to give it a thumbs up.

 

[SKC]

I have the pioneer 108; I'm very happy with it. The competing NEC 3500(?) uses the same chipset, but it does support bitsetting on more media (bitsetting is important for consumer dvd-player compatability). However, if you use DVD-R media, there shouldn't be any compatability problems. Additionally, I've read that the pioneer produces slightly better quality burns overall and has faster 12x and 16x burning than the NEC; its CDR burning is slower. Do a search on this forum and on Google for the 108 and the NEC for more detail. Good luck!

 

[oogabooga]

I think Anandtech gave the DVR-108 the "king" rating sometime back, not sure if that's changed since the newer drives have come.

I own a DVR-A08 which is the retail version of the drive. I bought media that most called "questionable" and the burner seems to handle them just fine. I love the drive, though i dont' burn too often and don't have a lot of expirience with burning.
I got the A08 as a gift, so i didn't have to worry bout the fact it costs so much more, i'd gone with the 108 had i not gotten it as a gift.

 

[xbassman]

My friend withthe NEC 2500a just went and bought a A08XL as well. (Best Buy -$99)
I guess he got tired of having me reburn copies for him.
He told me that he is getting 12x burns on TDK 8x media using the 1.14 firmware.

He also told me that BB had the Plextor 716a for the same price. That has me debating on waiting for a while to see it get some reviews and more testing. The new Plex's have some mixed reviews so far.

I am sure I probably can't go wrong with either drive, but since I will be using whichever unit I get for quite some time I can afford to wait to make a more informed decision. (My current optical setup (Toshiba 16x DVD-ROM / Plextor 2310A CD/RW) has been in my box for over 2 years through a couple of mobo/processor upgrades and is still goin strong)