Top 5 Optical drives (April - June 2007) Vote now

Hello everyone
It's time again to vote for your favourite drives which will appear on the CD Freaks Frontpage Devices Top 5

You can vote for as many drives as you wish. We would also like to hear your reasons for voting for your selected drives.

The poll will be open for 2 weeks and will close on the 13th of April.

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Last edited by Dee; 31-03-2007 at 02:52.

Hi
Based on the fact that drives should be available.
LG GSA-H42N
Plextor PX-716A
Pioneer DVDR-111L
Pioneer DVDR-112L
Lite-On LH-20A1P
LG for alround performance, build & reliability.
Plextor still has something to offer. In my experience one of the most reliable burners I've ever had.
Pioneer both the 111 & 112 are very good writers SL/RW's. But even better with DL & quick in this respect too.
The Lite-On with some reluctance. Took three drives in as many days (thanks to Novatech), to get one that actually both read & wrote. Even now the scanning aspect is questionable to say the least. So cannot be recommended without reservations.
The BenQ's would be up there, but for the fact they are as good as exstinct.
Samsung is OK but somewhat slow & fussy regarding some media.
Nec certain models appear to suffer from indifferent quality similar to that of the latest generation of Lite-Ons. But aren't as good as readers/scanners.
Have no real experience with any Asus drive since I had a CDRW, which was so long ago now.

BTW a friend has spent most of the evening with a Pioneer DVDR-212 & reckons that this drive is unbelievable in terms of speed/writing quality (DVD+R DL).

This could be either good or bad. But I guess the results are excellent.

DW165x. Decent burns on both CDR and DVDR. Many different configurable DVD burning features. Hard to find but pops up occasionally as rebadged drives. Many scanning options available, but tends to run into jitter related reporting bias. Poor reader in terms of questionable media (marginal burns, minor scratches, etc).

20A1H. Decent burns on DVD media. Many different configurable DVD burning features. Horrendous CDR quality in my limited testing. Good DVD scanning ability, DVDScan adds a new dimension to scanning; poor CD scanning. Excellent reader in terms of questionable media.

PX-760A. Got it for very cheap (relatively, ~50 after coupon and rebate). Decent burns on CDR and DVDR. Many different configurable CD and DVD burning features. Good scanner with many options, but limited speed. Pretty good reader in terms of questionable media.

i love my benQ

Is there much of a point separating Pioneer 111L and 111D when all you do is a firmware change to get the one you like?

Same with the 112. Seriously. Just merge ones that are the same, they are the same thing just with a different bell or whistle here or there which makes no difference to performance or reading/writing strategies.

Oh and I voted for the 111 because it's extremely reliable and has burnt all my media well, whereas my LG drives and liteon fail with certain media and certain speeds.

I voted Pio 212 and Samsung 183 - both my next purchases.

Boy, looking at the available list made me realize just how many of my drives are no longer available. My vote goes to Pioneer 111 and then to LG 42. LG has always been a solid performer and I have to give a tip of the hat to the first Pioneer I was proud to own.

the list shouldn't include drives that are no longer readily available, people just waste time searching for then, eg benq 1650/5

My DW1650 burns CD-R with high jitter
But it was not hard to find at all, one shop had them for sale @ € 30 which is a good price for German shops.

I really like
LG GSA-H22N, LG GSA-H42N (yep, LG improved a lot! No Z-CLV anymore with 8x DVD-R and CD-R burning!),
BenQ DW1650 (a classic),
LiteOn LH-20A1P/S,
Plextor PX-760(S)A (I like Plextor but they should fix the PIF spikes),
and maybe the Asus DRW-1814BLT (I guess it has three sheep as well?).

Maybe I should go out and get some more burners, there's so much nice stuff out there
(The lists of some other users make my little collection look like crap...)

Hi
I agree.
I thought that was part of the criteria originally.

BTW in my previous post I meant 760 & not 716. In the UK the 760 is still fairly easy to source.

Definitely :
Plextor 760
LH-20A1H/A1P

Liteon LH-20A1S/LH-20A1H(BenQ DW2010) These drives are a step forward from other drives. But i favour the BenQ DW 1650 based on the excellent Philips nexperia chipset for their top notch performance

It's probably fair to say some old or hard to get drives maybe should not be in the polling list. But these drives were nominated, so they are there.

My current favourite based simply on writing quality on all media groups, is the Pioneer 112 series.

Hi
I thought as part of the intro in the very 1st poll, it stated that drives had to be available. Now I know under poetic licence that could mean only one. But for a newbie it is already a minefield out there.
Also who nominated the drives to be included in the 1st place. If you put drives in that aren't really available, but are a favourite of some users. Then as they want their drive to be seen as a good one. They are probably going to vote for that as well as some more realistic votes (in terms of what you can get your hands on).
My personal favourite in terms of value for money would be the BenQ 1640. But in terms of availability. Then value Pioneer 111/112 series or Plextor 760. If using top media & after quality over speed.

How does everyone feel about future polls and drive availability?

1, The list of drives is ok as it is.
2, All drives in the list should be widely available.

Well, there's the problem with the definition of "widely available" again.
It's not too difficult to buy a BenQ 1650 in Germany while it may be near to impossible in other countries...

Hi
Good point.
Maybe an asterix alongside certain models could be a compromise. With an explanation of course.
After all we don't want folk to lose out.

No sign yet of the Pioneer x12 here in Belgium, nor of 20A1S or H5xN. The Asus has only just appeared in some pricelists this week.

I voted Plextor 760SA, a pure emotional choice. Very smooth drive, exudes a special quality. Any modern drive can burn a decent dvd and I still don't care for high speeds. SATA is a must.

Like Greece .

I voted for the Plextor PX-760A, BenQ DW1655, the Pioneer 111 series drives when the poll opened.

I accidentally voted for the Optiarc AD-7170S instead of the AD-7170A!

When this poll opened I didn't have a LiteOn LH-20A1P but I do have one now and I would also vote for this drive if it were possible to add votes.

Each of these drives have their own strengths.

The Plextor PX-760A drive is an excellent scanning drive.

The BenQ DW1655 is my best all-round burning drive and excellent for CD scanning.

The Pioneer 111 series is very close to the BenQ DW1655 in DVD writing quality, and it also has DVD-RAM support (the 111D only reads DVD-RAM) unlike the BenQ.

The Optiarc AD-7170A is a fast reader for DVD±R and DVD±RW media and it's my best drive for writing CD-R.

The LiteOn LH-20A1P has good DVD writing quality, it's a very nice DVD scanner, it can copy protected Audio CDs that most other drives cannot copy correctly. It's not a good CD-R burner however (too high jitter).

@Dee-27: Would it be possible to modify the votes like this?
-1 Optiarc AD-7170S
+1 Optiarc AD-7170A
+1 LiteOn LH-20A1P

I voted for the new Samsung SH-S182M, I'm standard an original NEC fan, but since trouble with my new OPTIARC 7173 (Nec/Sony) I chose for this type with standard SB03 F/W, I should miss MISS DEE-27, but I see that she doesm ore then NEC....

I'm satisfied with my Samsung, but in the beginng I was with the 7173 too...

greetings, Harry

P.S. Can anybody Samsung tech brother or sister tell me what the different is between the 182 H and 182 M ? Thanks in advance.

Samsung SH-S182D and LiteOn LH-20A1H got my votes.

Only a few more hours left to cast your votes. So now would be a good time if you haven't done so already.

I voted for Plex 760 and Benq 1650
No other burner can the reach burn quality of my Plex with TYG02, and my BenQ with Verb MCC004 is a winner!