Warm? HP DVD300i DVD+RW for $145 OEM ***now $135!!!

[petey117]

My first hot deal....well at least a warm deal.


It is as the title states. there seems to be 2 things that take away from this deal a little:
1) it says it is a bare drive with no software -- i have a dvdrw at work, and the bundled software was pretty bad anyway, so i don't know if this matters to most
2) This company is pretty much an unknown. I found them looking for a cheap $20 item, and found this while browsing their site. I am definately going to try them for the $20 item, but i am on the fence with this $145 ... maybe i will use my amex, i think they can protect me a bit.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?
Link-Izzle

Sweet. They just lowered the price by $10! the best part, is that i ordered one last night, and they emailed me this morning telling me i would get the lower price, as it just went on sale today! I didn't even have to contact them!!
I checked with amex, and they charged me the lower amount.
Hard to beleive i can get so excited over $10

 

[Desslok]

No relseller ratings on these guys. I would use your Amex if you have one.

 

[petey117]

Shame on me for not checking reseller ratings.
not sure if no rating is better/worse than a poor rating.
Amex it is.
I will post back after i get it. my guess it will be OOS by then.
wish me luck!

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: petey117
Shame on me for not checking reseller ratings.
not sure if no rating is better/worse than a poor rating.
Amex it is.
I will post back after i get it. my guess it will be OOS by then.
wish me luck!

If i were you i'd spend 30 more bucks and get the optowrite..
dual format + HD BURN

 

[petey117]

Good advice,
but,
1) to me, HP = GOOD
2) I am not sure that dual format is important to me. Either one is fine.

thanks for the words of wisdom though!

 

[TerryMathews]

The software that comes with the HP drives are crap anyway. The best software IMO is a combination of Nero + TMPGenc Plus + TMPGenc DVD Authoring. It'll allow you to reencode just about any format to MPEG2 and create pretty good looking DVDs. It'll set you back $150 ($50 for Nero, $100 for the TMPGenc suite).

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: petey117
Good advice,
but,
1) to me, HP = GOOD
2) I am not sure that dual format is important to me. Either one is fine.

thanks for the words of wisdom though!

I dont know about you but HP has always been crap.
Support = crap
Products = expensive crap.

Overall = Crap

 

[AngryKid]

I have the HP 200e and I like it very much. There are better drives out there now, but it's functioned very well for me. Software is crap, but I'm already a religious Nero user anyway. It's been very reliable and I use it quite heavily for video production.

 

[petey117]

ok, normally, HP is a bit more expensive, but in this case, i think it's pretty cheap.
I have never had to use HP support, because the products i have used from them have been pretty reliable.
I guess it's a YMMV thing, or better yet opinions may vary. Every company has good and bad.
I just want to burn DVDs at home for less than $150

 

[Arkayz]

I have the 300i, haven't had a single problem with it. no coasters burned yet, knock on wood. It's a good drive and I recommend it if you don't have to have the dual format. Burns at 4x and 2.4x for the dvd+rw.

 

[Ionizer86]

Non-stupid link to the product. IE it'd probably be appropriate to take out the Fatwallet bounce, petey117, thx

Looks like a good deal for those who missed the $79 Memorex burner or couldn't get one.

 

[MysticMan1]

#1.The HP DVD300i is a rebadged NEC 1100A drive the same as the Cendyne 4x DVD+RW drive.
#2. OEM = NO! warranty, No! software.
#3. you can get a NEC ND-1300A 4X DVD±R/RW DRIVE (OEM) for as low as $165.00 shipped or a "retail" Optorite (rebadged Sanyo) 4X DVD±R/RW DRIVE for as low as $160 shipped on Pricewatch.com

Any price over $100 for a 4x single format DVD+RW is just a average deal.

 

[TerryMathews]

The HP is better than the OEM's NEC 1100A because of the firmware. HP's allows you to use DVD bitsetter, whereas NEC's firmware doesn't.

 

[petey117]

Everyone I have seen / heard says that the cendyne is a rebadger pioneer a04
I would still rather have a brand name HP than an optowrite or the like.
For those in the know, you will probably back me up in saying that HP and Pioneer and others have proprietary components in their equipment, and any non branded such as optowrite, is a watered down, or lesser quality part. This is old school knowledge.
I went for the HP. that's my story, and i'm sticking to it.

 

[RBC]

petey117 - The cendyne that's a rebadger pioneer a04 is the dvd -rw format.

 

[petey117]

good catch!
i still stand by my assessment of OEM vs Branded....not the same

 

[ferrarifreak93]

I wouldn't trust that company. No phone, no address, and not even an email address on the website!!!

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: petey117
Everyone I have seen / heard says that the cendyne is a rebadger pioneer a04
I would still rather have a brand name HP than an optowrite or the like.
For those in the know, you will probably back me up in saying that HP and Pioneer and others have proprietary components in their equipment, and any non branded such as optowrite, is a watered down, or lesser quality part. This is old school knowledge.
I went for the HP. that's my story, and i'm sticking to it.

Wrong! The Optorite 4X DVD±R/RW drive is manufactured by Sanyo, who manufactures a lot of the part that other DVD drive companies use in their DVD drives including the HP DVD300i.

Read the review and learn something : Link to Optorite DD0203 review

<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=1098552&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=&STARTPAGE=3">HOT!!!Optorite0203 Dual DVD+/- drive for only 165. NO PM, Rebate Straight UP. Free priority shipping@(updated link)
</a>

 

[petey117]

I wouldn't say i was wrong. Look at any big name manufacturer....do you think HP takes the same spec parts that optowrite uses, or....do you thin that HP engineers meet with sanyo, and discuss specs and tolerances for "their" particualr parts from sanyo.
I have read interviews with big name brand execs, and they claim this is their business practice.

 

[petey117]

I found some contact info when i was looking at their returns policy. also, their name in the footer is a link.
Try finding contact info for ebay or paypal....i did. took me almost an hour

 

[Tainer]

you can get a nec dvd +r/rw from newegg for around 135 oem.

 

[MysticMan1]

Originally posted by: petey117
I wouldn't say i was wrong. Look at any big name manufacturer....do you think HP takes the same spec parts that optowrite uses, or....do you thin that HP engineers meet with sanyo, and discuss specs and tolerances for "their" particualr parts from sanyo.
I have read interviews with big name brand execs, and they claim this is their business practice.

You can't seem to understand HP doesn't manufacture the 300i, it's manufactured by NEC.

 

[baclips6]

office depot instore pickup + coupon deal is probably better

 

[petey117]

Just wanted to share my experiences with this place so far:
I ordered the DVD300i and 2 other smaller items from them on saturday, and the process was pretty smooth. I received email confirms through every step, including shipping, and i even got my packages today, which was pretty cool. All the items were new and packed well, and all work fine!
I even scored a retail package dvd burner with the software and all!!
Keep in mind, they shipped this from the state right next to mine, so for delivery time YMMV.
I see the posted some other stuff on their site too. I will wait till i see some other experiences from people before i place my next order, but looks pretty good so far!

 

[htne]

Originally posted by: TerryMathews
The HP is better than the OEM's NEC 1100A because of the firmware. HP's allows you to use DVD bitsetter, whereas NEC's firmware doesn't.

You can flash the Nec 1100A to the HP firmware. I did, and many others, and it works fine.


NEC NE1100A firmware page