Top 5 optical drives (October - December 2007) Cast your 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 14th of October.

Also remember that casting your vote will help others in their purchasing decision. Let's make sure nobody buys a bad drive anymore.

Looks like dee likes the 20A3P ?

Misread topic. Ignore post.

I have not cast my vote on any drive yet.

Hi
I have voted for ( listed in order of preference).
#1 : - Samsung SH-S203B. This is currently the best quality / speed drive available. CDR acceptable. Audio very good.
#2 : - LG GSA-H62N. Excellent quality at various burn speeds. CDR side needs improving. But LG appear more inclined to release another drive than f/w.
#3 : - Pioneer DVR-212D. Excellent with a wide range of media. Very good with DL.
#4 :- Pioneer DVR-112D. As above, just IDE model.
#5 :- Lite-On LH-20A1S. Just becuase it scans. This drive (unless scanning) just doesn't compete when compared to the above.
N.B. This is my opinion. Based on my experiences with Lite-On drives.
If any really True BenQs & / or Plextors where available. The SATA versions would have been numbers 4 & 5.

Please include your reasons as I have done.
It is interesting to see. Not only what folk choose & why.
But what they leave out.

that's very unbiased, saw the no views and then viewed results?

I voted for the older samy since I am seeing a lot of quality control problems? with newer models in all lines. All I know is if you get a good drive today take good care of it.

Nothing here that could entice me

I voted for a bunch of drives.

1) S203B: no need to state the obvious.
2) S202G: very good potential with firmware update.
3) 112/112D: great burner all around, excellent for MKM001 @ 8x.
4) 2000/20A1P/20A1H: good burners, great tweakable features.

Hoping to get a LO 20A3*-drive to try out in the future. May have to try out a LG 62N one day.

1, Pioneer 112 series (still burns with best quality IMO)
2, Samsung SH-S203B (great features, very fast and good burning quality)
3, Optiarc AD-7170/7173 (great CD-R burner, a must have reader and if you get a good one, burning quality can equal the best)
4, Lite-On LH-20A1P (My workhorse scanning drive, mines is to noisy to use as a burner)

I'm waiting to see if I buy more of the listed drives before the poll closes.

I'm not voting for the AD-7170/7173 however; I'm very disappointed with the build quality of these drives: 2x 7173 Dead On Arrival, 1x 7173 Dead after a few months of light use, 1x 7170 that's unimpressive with most DVD burns and seems to be getting worse (good for CD-R though).

I would vote for the LiteOn LH-20A1P for being a good all-round drive, but I'm waiting to see if I buy more of the listed drives so that I can vote for them if I like them...

1. LG H62N - aside from the CDR burning, which as mentioned needs some work, the drive is a great burner on quality DVD media, and not a bad reader either as a bonus. Very quiet, too.

2. Samsung SH-S183A - great CDR burner (data and audio), and DVD burn quality is very good, even at 18x (again with quality media, of course). Very good reader, albeit at a slightly slower speed than the LiteOn

3. LiteOn LH-20A1H - fast, excellent reader, supports quality scanning (my workhorse scanning drive too). I rarely use it for burning though it has proven to me it's good in this department as well (both CD and DVD). Plus I get to play with LightScribe every once in awhile!

now let's ask a question, do you all get drives from the regular sources? or they sent to you special? If you don't buy a drive from the mass market, the manufacturer maybe stacking the deck?

Two of the four I voted for I purchased from retail outlets; the other was sent for a review. 1st choice the 203B, 2nd choice the 212D, 3rd the H62LI, 4th the LH20A1H.

I voted for the 20A1H [miss that drive...] and the 183A [even though I only have its distant cousin, the 182M]. I can't say that my Sony is tops [yet]. I don't have anything else from that list.

One was sent to me for review, another came in one of our Dells (the Dell rebadge of the Samsung SH-S183A), and the other we purchased from a retail outlet.

My total experience about DVD burners amounts to a grand total of 2, an LG 42N, and a Pioneer DVR 212. I picked the 42N because that was all that the computer shop had when I was buying and I had read that LG drives were not bad. So far I haven't had any problems with it. Now I see that others found it was a pretty good drive after all.
The Pioneer is in my son's computer and even though his computer is 6 times faster than mine, I still copy DVDs faster in my "old piece of junk".
However, I think he may have a config issue as he uses SATA.

Colin

Samsung SH-S203B
Plextor 760
Liteon LH-20AXX

LH20A1P because of it's excellent burn quality and dvd scanning abilities.

1) Pioneer DVR-112D: Produces very high quality burns on a variety of DVD media.
2) Lite-On LH-20A1P: Even-handed DVD scanner; good all-around burner on DVD media; decent CD-R writer.
3) (tie) Samsung SH-S203B: Good CD-R writer; decent high-speed DVD burning; good ripper; good scanner.
3) (tie) LG GSA-H62N: good high-speed DVD burning; good ripper.
5) LG GSA-H42N: Excellent reader/ripper, even on damaged media; good all-around DVD burner.

Not saying these are the best drives out there, but of the ones I own on the poll this is how I rate them.

Sorry if this is a bit off-topic but don't seem to be able to get the Samsung SH-S203B in New Zealand. In fact, looking at Samsung Australia's site, I'm not sure it's available in that country, either.

Does anyone know if this model has another name for Aus and NZ? I sure would like to get me one :-(

My vote(s) went to the Samsung S203B and Liteon 20A1S but my still favorite overall drive
isn't listed and that's my trustee old Liteon 160P6S. Both of my Sammy S203B's burns excellent
as does all three of my Liteon's but I trust the 160P6S on QS and TRT scanning more than any
of the Samsung drives.

what is going on with the S203B :O .. strong showing this month

brb gonna check out Samsung forum

Have to go with the 203b this time

Fast, good burn quality, decent scanner, supported in MCSE and COdeKing modified firmware for 12x P-cav burns as well as 18x reads.

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Last edited by Roadhog32901; 07-10-2007 at 09:09.

For me it's the Samsung S203B drive. Go S203B!!!! Go C0deKing with his mod firmware for the drive!!!!

Well, I voted Optiarc AD-7173A, because I found the retail version at a decent price (31 euros, including VAT) and 3 years warranty (the salesman told me it has a lifetime one, I guess I'll have to take that with a grain of salt ).
I'll be quite happy if it lasts for 3 years (I had purchased the bulk version previously, 1 year warranty, the laser died in 6 months), till I can buy a BluRay/HD-DVD combo reader/recorder at a decent price.