DVD burner for older computer

Hello all, great forum here.



I am going to be replacing the cd writer of 5 year old computer(HP Pavillion - 1.2ghz celeron - 256ram - intel integrated video - xp home) with a combination dvd/cd burner. This will be my first foray into dvd. I'm not really into burning games, or copyrighted stuff. Just basically burning media files for storage, although I guess making dvd's able to be read by stand-alone dvd players(bitsetting?) would be nice.

I have a local mail order outlet(Directron - similar to Newegg) that has several dvd/cd burners nicely priced between $34-42(US), and would like some recommendations on which one would be the best one for my needs.




These are the ones I will be choosing from:

Sony DW-Q120A-B2
Samsung SH-S162A
Asus DRW-1608P3S
LG GSA-H10A1N
Pioneer DVR-111DBK
Lite-on SHM-165P6S
BenQ DW1655
NEC ND-3550A

http://www.directron.com/blkdvdbrn.html



The burners are "oem", which according to the dealer comes out-of-the-box with no software, or cables, etc... Remember, my comp. only came with a cdr, and wasn't set up for dvd. They did say that they have a website where I can d/l Nero 6 for free. Also I have read up on some of the min. requirements for the burners, and have found as much as 1.3ghz pentium4 128ram for installation(I'm 1.2ghz celeron 256ram). Asked the guy at the outlet, and he told me as long as I had at least 800ghz that all burners would work. I don't know if he was just blowing smoke you know where though.


So if anyone has any opinions on my best way to go it would be greatly appreciated.

THANKS.

I'd upgrade the RAM at some point.

Your specs are pretty much identical to my other PC (1.2gig Celeron, onboard Intel graphics etc) - only difference being, I upagraded to 512MB RAM in that system.

I have two burners in there (BenQ 1650 and LiteOn 1635S), and both work excellently - originally I just had a DVD-ROM and CD-RW in there.

Hopefully some others can come along and recommend a drive for you - they all seem nice enough to me.

Hi,

concerning the writer, I would prefer the Benq or the LG, especially if you also want the writer to use for CD burning. The Liteon and his Sony branded brother are not famous in that.
The Nec is an old model maybe lacking support of newer firmwares.
Not bad either are the Samsung drives.

You should also check the power supply of your computer. DVD Rewriters need much current, so the PSU must deliver enough. So, open the case and look at the sticker of your PSU in order to check its technical data.

Michael

Thanks for replying Arachne.

I really don't want to put too much money into this box. It has too many limitations - low ram - cheap video card - small hd(32gb which is dangerously full now at 2gb free space) - USB 1.0 - etc... I just want to keep it functional for a couple of months till I can get a new system. That's why I'm going the inexpensive burner route. I'm only replacing it because the old cd writer conked out, and since the price between cdrw, and dvdrw's are negligible I'll just get one which I'll still be able to remove, and put in a better system.

That's fair enough ...hehe, all your other specs sound like my eMachine as well.

It certainly won't hurt, as you say, to buy a drive then just remove it when you upgrade. As for PSU's, very good point - I was lucky with mine, it takes the two burners fine.

Soooo....on to recommendations...of those I'd pick either the BenQ, LiteOn, or LG. I know picking 3 probably isn't too helpful

I think you should choose between:
- BenQ 1655
- Pioneer 111(D)

And if your mainly use your writer for cd's I think the Pioneer is the better one.

check out my thread here

i was in just about the same situation over the weekend as you are in now. i am about to get a new computer as well and only wanted to keep the old one for web surfing and dvd burning. i wanted mine more for copying dvds though, not so much storage. anyways, read my thread.. i went with the benq dw1655 (retail) from newegg. after a lot of researching, i found it to be the best fit for me and very popular on this forum.

rjf_, I would also recommend the BenQ DW1655. I have a DW1620 and a DW1640 and loved the price and love the burners. Bought them both from NewEgg. Highly recommended. BenQ quality is very consistent.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Haven't replied back because I've been trying to find out what kind of power supply I have. They don't usually put that in spec sheets. According to a board that specializes in HP computers I have a 180 watt psu, and should have no problem running a single dvd drive.


It's been neck, and neck with the Pioneer, and BenQ in my debatings. I've always been happy with Pioneer products, having bought their stereo components over 20 years back.

But they list their min. req. as 1.3 pentium4, and I have 1.2 celeron. Plus I've heard that some have trouble with support(don't even list burners on website).


I've been reading good things about BenQ's(mostly here). They are said to install easy, and the min. req. is only a 550 pentium3. About the only bad things I've heard is that a couple of people said theirs burnt out in less than a year, and their weak point is cd-r's. Which is a shame as I recently purchased four 30 count spindles of Maxell cd-r's from my local Walgreens(on sale $5.99 each). Used 1 spindle, and then wasted about 1/2 of another trying to get my old cdrw to work.

Funny too that some people say the BenQ is kinda loud, and others say it is normal to most other drives.



At any rate I think the BenQ is the way I'll go. In checking the place I'll be purchasing it at they actually list 3 different models:

BenQ DW1650(oem) $34.99
BenQ DW1655(oem) $41.99
BenQ DW1655(retail box) $41.99


Don't know what comes in the "retail box", as I've read they don't incl. ide cable, or complete mounting screws, but I'll probably get the 1655 retail box unless someone here thinks the 1650 is better than the 1655.


Thanks again for the replies everyone.

1650

Well I got the Benq 1655.

I'm trying to install it now but have run into a problem. There is a faceplate on my HP computer that sits in front of the burner. When you press it a lever presses the actual burner's open button behind it and a flap folds down to allow the tray to pass thru. But the old drive won't make it past the faceplate and I don't see any way to get it off.

Can anyone help?

If I understand correctly what you're saying then you'll need to remove the entire front of the PC to get proper access to replace the drive.

It should be retained by a series of clips accessible once the side panels are removed. The precise details vary but it's generally like this.

I don't have a scanner but I found a picture of one(ebay) that looks pretty much exactly like mine and uploaded it. What you see on the front there is not the actual burner but the faceplate for the 2 drive bays.

The top slot is the one I'm trying to get out.



http://img149.imagevenue.com/img.php...3592_524lo.JPG

A friend has a Medion just like this & it's a fairly simple process to detach the PC's front panel to gain access. It should be maybe 2 clips or so each side that retain the front panel, accessible once the side panels are removed.

Allright, finally got it out.

Man that was a bitch. 6 clips you have to push in. 4 of them were on the outside but the bottom 2 on one side you have to reach thru from the inside to get to.


Can't believe BenQ doesn't include a jumper pin.

Another question for anyone. I see my old drive was set to cable select. Would it be best to use the same setting or should I set it to master(it's the only drive)?


Sorry if these seem like stupid questions but this is the 1st time I've ever been on the inside of a computer.


Thanks.

Oh another question.

The spring-loaded flap(faceplate) that folds down when the cd tray comes out won't put any undue stress on my Benq will it?

Thanks.

You can edit a post within 30mins rather than post a new one.

I use cable select regardless so you should be OK.

My friend's Medion is just the same & I've installed 2 Pioneer drives recently & the flap you refer to causes no problems. After all the drive you're removing is exactly the same at the front as the Benq.

Thanks for replying again Tim.

The reason I was asking whether to use master or cable select was that I've read in places here that cable select can sometimes cause problems(what I don't know).

I would have used master but didn't know why HP would use cable select instead of master on a single drive system. Maybe so you wouldn't have to take out the 1st drive to reset the jumper pin when adding a 2nd drive?

Hmmm....still debating which setting to use.

Just use CS, if it doesn't work then use master.

I've read all the posts suggesting CS is bad news but I always use it on my computers as does my son on his three & we've never had it cause a problem.

Good enough for me.

Thanks.

Got the burner in windows recognized it although it recommended not installing(didn't pass verification).

Now when trying to install Nero 6 off the installation cd I get the same error message(when installing directx 9) that it did not pass windows logo verification to insure compatability with xp and WILL NOT BE INSTALLED. It doesn't give me an option this time. Happens midway during directx installation.


Anyone know what the problem is?



Thanks.

There should be a jumper preinstalled. At least in the retail drives. My 1650 retail came with jumper set to slave.
You got that message straight after installing the hardware? Then there is something wrong with your installation.
That should not happen. I think your Windows installation is messed up, or the disc that came with the drive is damaged. Also you apparently did not have Service Pack 2 installed, as this already contains DirectX 9. In that case, Nero won't try to install the version that came with the disc.

Michael

Hello mciahel.

My BenQ did come with a jumper. I didn't notice it at 1st because it's an open one with no back and it kind of blended in with the drive. Room I'm in has a low watt bulb. I didn't mention it again because I didn't want to take focus away from my problems, but you are correct.


Don't think there's anything wrong with my windows. I bought this comp. retail(BestBuy) with a pre-installed os. I don't even have an inst. cd(it's one of those oem's with a hidden recovery partition). Worked fine for 5+ years.


Actually my computer's probably not even totally sp1. I bought it a short time before sp1 came out.


Should i try to d/l directx 9 myself, and install it seperately before using BenQ cd? Been doing a search and I've seen it(directx 9) listed anywheres from 10mb-168mb(I'm on dialup). Microsoft has something called a redist at 33mb but I'm not sure what that is.

Are you sure it's during DirectX 9? I know that this is an error that may come up if you install Nero ImageDrive (may be automatic with some installations). It uses (or maybe used, I haven't seen that error happen in a while) a driver that Microsoft doesn't (or didn't) test for their certification, so they had no choice but to ship software with that warning message.

Personally, I'd ask a friend with a CD Burner and a cable internet connection to download the standalone version of the XP SP2 upgrade and burn it for you, since it includes plenty of security fixes, as well as DirectX 9.0c.

Hello tehGrue.

Pretty sure it's during directx. It's the 1st thing that comes up. Says Nero Vision Express has to have directx 9.0a to run and will now install. Eula and Micr. wizard come up then it starts "searching for updated runtime components and updating as necessary" Gets about 1/3rd of the way thru acc. to progress bar. That's when it stops with the "not verified" message.



At least it seems the drive is working. Burned a couple of cd's using the Roxia software already installed. Checked on different comp., and read fine.


Been looking into freeware just in case. Deepburner doesn't seem to need directx 9.0a. If I can't get problem solved may have to go with BenQ suite and Deepburner combo.

I've got a bit of write/delete to do 1st. HD space at only 1.5gb so I'll have to free up some room before I can check out the dvd part. At least the drive seems to be working fine itself. Compared to the orig. HP cd writer the BenQ is silent. Usually have the tv or radio on and I can't hear anything from the drive. It is kind of annoying to see that green light stay on even when idle though.