Pros & Cons for these DVD burners?

[NTB]

I've seen all three of them reccomended on these boards; is there any reason to take one over the others?

BenQ DW1620
NEC-3500A
Pioneer DVR-108

The only one of these companies that I've had experience with as far as drives go is Pioneer; I've had a 16x DVD-ROM from them for years and it works great, other than the fact that it's dirt slow. And yes, I'm going to read the DVD writer roundup on AT right now

Nate

 

[deathwalker]

I have the Pioneer 108 ...its sweet...there have been a lot of favorable postings on the NEC 3500 also...don't think you can go wrong with either one. I would not go with the BenQ if I had products like Pioneer and NEC to select from!!

 

[LED]

I use the 109 as well because I wanted a DVD plyer to read my DVDRAM Discs which it does whereas the other you have listed don't...only down side to the 108 is that it write CDR's slower then the others, I believe

Note I haven't check the others specs and have no reason to

 

[gobucks]

I've heard great things about the NEC - Reviews even said it is capable of higher DL burn speeds than its official rating, which is always nice. It's compatibility with different disk manufacturers is really good, as well. Of course, I've never heard anything bad about the other drives, I've just heard so much good about the NEC. Anyways, I'd say the deciding factor is price. The NEC is $68 on newegg, i'm not sure what the others are.

 

[powerMarkymark]

I've had the Pioneer DVR-108 a while now and haven't made a single coaster yet.

Marc

 

[RaiderJ]

Originally posted by: gobucks
I've heard great things about the NEC - Reviews even said it is capable of higher DL burn speeds than its official rating, which is always nice. It's compatibility with different disk manufacturers is really good, as well. Of course, I've never heard anything bad about the other drives, I've just heard so much good about the NEC. Anyways, I'd say the deciding factor is price. The NEC is $68 on newegg, i'm not sure what the others are.

I've heard that is an excellent drive. I have a Plextor PX-712A - great drive as well.

 

[Zepper]

Actually the NEC and Pioneer are built around the same chipset, so there shouldn't be much difference between them. LiteOn, Sony, TDK etc. are all LiteOn drives. And Benq is based on Phillips technology. If it was me, I would buy on the basis of which one supports their drives the best as far as Firmware updates, tech support on the website etc... So if I was limited to the ones you listed, I would be choosing between Pioneer or Benq.
. But I just bought a Plextor PX-712A during the $30. rebate period, so I'm not watching the market much any more. Perhaps the new 16x dual layer Plexy (PX-716A) might be worth looking into even though you certainly can't get it as an OEM bare drive yet (nobody even has the retail version yet - site says "available for preordering on Nov. 8)) and it will always cost more than the others (for good reason, IMO) - MSRP $150.
. And Asus just came out with their version of the NEC/Pioneer - they often execute the design better than the originals (see the review on CDRLABS.com)...
.bh.

The :sun:, the :sun: !