Why are Pioneer's DVD burners cost more compared to other ones?

[Friendo]

How are they better?

 

[Rifter]

They seem average to me, i've owned a few over the years.

Not worth the price IMO.

Lately i have been using samsung Optical drives and have had no issues with them over the last year or so, own a few internal drives and an external, all have been flawless even with really cheap media.

 

[Zoomer]

Plextors *used* to the the best. This was, however, when cd recording was huge.

Right now, i'm guessing that they are milking the brand.

 

[nipplefish]

Plextors *used* to the the best. This was, however, when cd recording was huge.

Right now, i'm guessing that they are milking the brand.

Truth. I bought a Plextor a few years ago for about $120 when they were the only ones on the market selling a SATA DVD burner. That thing produced more coasters than any drive I've ever had. I would have been better served just getting a cheap IDE drive and a IDE-SATA converter.

 

[Zap]

Plextors *used* to the the best. This was, however, when cd recording was huge.

I thought the OP was asking about Pioneer drives?

Plextor drives used to be made by Plextor (with hardware sourced from various places). Now they just completely outsource the drives and put their own tweaked firmware on them. These days most optical drives just pretty much work as advertised, so it is a tough sell.

Pioneer drives have always been a bit on the expensive side as well, though not as much as Plextors. They have also made some oddball as well as higher end drives, such as SCSI. Gotta respect any company that made SCSI drives. ^_^ This includes of course Plextor, and even Teac (who AFAIK no longer makes drives). Oh yeah, Panasonic also made SCSI drives, but I think now they only make slim notebook drives, albeit really expensive ones like the slot loader Blu Ray burners we use in Phobos.

About the only drives I'm leery of using are Lite-On. Call me paranoid, but the only optical drives I've had die on me in the past few years have been Lite-On.

 

[Friendo]

I was actually wondering about Plextor as well, their burners cost 2x higher most of the time.

Well guess I'll just stick with samsung, their warranty standing is really good, they accept ebay receipts even after 2 years. I hope they still do.

& Sony, along with LG is the worst when it comes to warranties imo.

 

[Luddite]

Yes, Plextor as well as Pioneer don't make their own optical drives anymore. Pioneer is divesting itself of a lot of products (TVs, home audio and video, computer peripherals, etc) and as a company is actually shrinking.

I have a Pioneer DVR-217 D, and it rocks. It's also relatively quiet as optical drives go. I don't know why the OP thinks they are more expensive, I paid around the same as a similarly spec'd Samsung for my Pioneer.

I've also heard good things about Sony Optiarcs (which used to be the NEC optical drives).

 

[extra]

Yes, Plextor as well as Pioneer don't make their own optical drives anymore. Pioneer is divesting itself of a lot of products (TVs, home audio and video, computer peripherals, etc) and as a company is actually shrinking.

I have a Pioneer DVR-217 D, and it rocks. It's also relatively quiet as optical drives go. I don't know why the OP thinks they are more expensive, I paid around the same as a similarly spec'd Samsung for my Pioneer.

I've also heard good things about Sony Optiarcs (which used to be the NEC optical drives).

Rimage used to use Plextor drives in their systems (such as the 8100n). Now they use Sony Optiarcs. They do go bad after a while of being in a high-volume Rimage, but that's the way it goes--drives wear out. The fact that Rimage uses the Optiarcs right now should tell you something. (I think i'm allowed to post this information lol).