TDK AID+840 "8x/4x" DVD±RW drive $224.95 or OptoRite DD0401 "8x/4x" $166 shipped; + 8x soon from Sony, LiteOn, HP & NEC

[tedkelly]

OP, not including the best drive - the Plextor 708A - is a pretty glaring omission, you've really got to add it. My bet is - if someone is going to pay for 8x, it's worth $31 more for the Plextor to get what will probably still be the best drive even after Sony and Pioneer and everyone else releases their 8x drives.

Check prices at dvdrhelp's pricegrabber page. $206 with free shipping at buy.com

See user comments at dvdrhelp.com's user comment pages

Don't miss that dvdplusrw.org 8x comparison - not complete yet, but a decent summary

 

[Vikroda]

Originally posted by: tedkelly
OP, not including the best drive - the Plextor 708A - is a pretty glaring omission, you've really got to add it. My bet is - if someone is going to pay for 8x, it's worth $31 more for the Plextor to get what will probably still be the best drive even after Sony and Pioneer and everyone else releases their 8x drives.

The Plextor is okay, but produces too many PI/PO errors in KProbe at 4x & 8x speeds so I wouldn't say it's the best drive. See this thread on Silent PC Review forum

Link

 

[tedkelly]

Read the reviews from the sites that focus on drives. I've seen a lot of tests where they didn't know how to do the test or rig the test machine, so the results were way off the mark.

cdrlabs

cdfreaks

cdrinfo

Check those links to see if the sites have covered the drive you're interested in.

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: tedkelly
OP, not including the best drive - the Plextor 708A - is a pretty glaring omission, you've really got to add it. My bet is - if someone is going to pay for 8x, it's worth $31 more for the Plextor to get what will probably still be the best drive even after Sony and Pioneer and everyone else releases their 8x drives.

Check prices at dvdrhelp's pricegrabber page. $206 with free shipping at buy.com

See user comments at dvdrhelp.com's user comment pages

Don't miss that dvdplusrw.org 8x comparison - not complete yet, but a decent summary

The Plextor is a excellent drive, but you might want to wait until some reviews on the other 8x DVD writer come out before you declare the Plextor the best 8x burner in the world. :light: Maybe Anandtech will do a 8x DVD burner shootout sometime soon. :wine:

 

[tedkelly]

Well, it depends on whether someone is planning on buying a drive soon - don't know why, but this forum or the subject of this thread or something suggested that idea - or just pondering.

 

[Lurker1]

Originally posted by: GAZZA
It's nice that there's more 8x burners coming out, should start to drop the price on the 708A (which is down to $211 now).
I think I'm just gonna get a decent 4x burner to tide me over till the Dual Layer burners arrive in April next year along with the media.

When the dual layers come out, watch the media be more than 4 times as expensive as 8x DVD+R, as a min. I wouldn't expect the price to come down anytime soon either, so buy your current DVD burner for at least a year. I know I don't want to deal with anything slower than 8x/(4xRW). As those prices should drop in the next couple of weeks to their low prices until after Xmas, I'll buy then, maybe, or just wait until after XMas. I don't expect any major price swings in burners until either the 16X's come out, or the dual layer burners come out and surprise everyone by being backwards compatible at 8X speeds (or better - doubtful in either case) or be sub $200 drives (highly unlikely for at least a year).

So, unless you want to spend big bucks (my prediction - take with salt) go ahead and spend the bucks on the drive you're going to own for the next 1-2 years.

 

[GAZZA]

You should always expect to pay top dollar for anything that's just come out, but as more and more manufacturers jump on the bandwagon the better those prices drop.
I certainly don't intend to be buying when they start shipping, I always like to wait for the reviews before deciding what is worth buying.

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
MysticMan1 - I just have to say you kick ass and we love you man!

(in a platonic sort of way )

:beer:

 

[riceknight]

I think the optorite is the best deal for now, burns very similar to the plextor (surprise surprise, same sanyo innards, well a lil different in the drive mechanism but that's about it).
BenQ sounds interesting, being the only one with 8mb cache, but i don't like benq much.
Plextor -->tooo pricey
I was tempted with the lite-on but I know absolutely nothing about it, it wasn't even on their main website last time i checked.

But anyway cheers to dvd-burnin :beer:

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: riceknight
I think the optorite is the best deal for now, burns very similar to the plextor (surprise surprise, same sanyo innards, well a lil different in the drive mechanism but that's about it).
BenQ sounds interesting, being the only one with 8mb cache, but i don't like benq much.
Plextor -->tooo pricey
I was tempted with the lite-on but I know absolutely nothing about it, it wasn't even on their main website last time i checked.

But anyway cheers to dvd-burnin :beer:

This is a old thread, here's one that's more up to date: <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1188670">Lite-On LDW-811S Dual "8x" DVD±R/RW Drive "$146" Shipped; 8x coming soon: Sony DRU-530A $216, NEC ND-2300A, Pioneer A07
</a>

 

[cruzer]

Don't forget dual burners can't do bitsetting of +R media.