Need Advice on Dvd Burners ??

[ofield]

Hello and Happy Holidays,

I am looking for a Dvd Burner and need opinions on which brands are considered the best and most reliable.

Any Advice is Appreciated. Thanks.

 

[xit]

I go with Liteon almost always, seldom have ever had a problem with that brand. I have purchased several dozen this year and not one has been returned. I especially like the lightscribe units, the labeling is just so professional looking. If you look around you usually can find them on sale. My next choice is NEC, they make a good unit also.

just my thoughts

xit

 

[wahnula]

See if you have any spare SATA connectors on the mainboard. My last build used a SATA DVD-RW and it seemed to work great, I will never use IDE again if I have the choice. I like Samsung, Plextor and Lite-On. I had a Sony CD-RW go out after 3 months and there was no Warranty as it was OEM, my Asus LightScribe DVD-RW lost the ability to LightScribe after a few months, I'm not sure if it was the LS technology or the brand.

They are so cheap now ($30-40 US) that it really doesn't matter which brand you choose, they will only get cheaper...until HD-DVD & BluRay take over.

Tony

"Buy what you like, or you'll be forced to like what you buy"...me

 

[paparazi]

DVDRW drives are a high volume, low cost ever moving technology so manufacturers rarely build them to last.
My general favorites are Pioneer, NEC and LG but I've used LiteOn and Samsung with good results as well.
As I say, they aren't built to last and as technology moves so fast at £18 a pop about $35 does it really matter.
Most are much of a muchness.
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[TScrappy]

Any of these drive should do fine. I build systems regularly and have never had a bad experience with even the cheapest of devices.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=&Subcategory=5&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

Thomas S.
MCDST, A+, Net+, CNA

 

[kmcferrin]

I've only bought two DVDRW drives, and both were Lite-On models. One for myself and one for my father's PC. His was a slightly newer model with Lightscribe, mine was a little older without it.

I doubt that it's something endemic in the brand, but I've had a few issues with mine. Sometimes it refuses to recognize blank CD media. The other day I was trying to burn some holiday music from iTunes for my wife to take to work, and it wouldn't recognize the blank disc. Then when I got it burned it worked fine on my PC, my laptop, and the DVD player in the living room, but it wouldn't play in her stereo at work.

It also sometimes has trouble recognizing data that was written from another device. For example, my father burned a DVD with our family history for me and my PC refused to recognize it. It kept saying that it was a blank disc. But I could play the DVD just fine on my laptop. It also had problems recognizing a pressed DVD with a game that I needed to reinstall. I had originally installed from the DVD with no problems, and the DVD worked fine on the laptop but didn't want to work with the desktop. I eventually got it to go, but it was a pain in the butt.

I think I'm going to replace it with something else, probably a Sony or Samsung. Not that I think that there's anything wrong with Lite-On (they are in wide use and typically don't have problems) but more out of the fear of looking like a moron if I get a second bad DVD.

Oh yeah, I don't think that I ever had any issues with it when I was running XP, but I'm on Vista now. It could very well be driver related, but I haven't seen a more current version of the driver yet. Heck, it could be firmware for that matter. I guess that's worth a shot too since otherwise I'm just going to pitch it.

 

[AP81]

Pioneer or Liteon. I've also been impressed with LG which have improved significantly over the years.

 

[paparazi]

Truth is, the profit margins on these cheap devices must be miniscule, so hence the reason why so many are now clones (the working gubbins are the same for several makes, then they are badged with a particular brand name) this keeps the developement costs down to a minimum.
This is why you often find two or more drives performing identically in a review as esentially they share the same sole.
I've had a couple of issues with Sony drives recently but that could just be one of those things I guess. I always think LiteOn drives are very light and cheap looking but then they always seem to perform and last well, LG seem to have had some good reviews recently, Pioneer always used to be made better but the last 2/3 versions have looked very similar to competitors.
Seems like in this ever increasingly competitive market the DVDRW has lost it's individuality and all brands are very much on par with each other.
Martin



We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[kmcferrin]

That happens with most things eventually. It happened with CD-ROMs, and floppy drives before that. There are some kinds of tech where there just isn't room to innovate/differentiate yourself from the competitors.

 

[brettsinger]

I bought an external (USB 2.0) LiteOn dual-layer drive two years ago. Great unit, very fast on all media.