100 dollars for a DVD burner!

Computer Hardware
#1

My dad won a gift certificate for best buy for 100 dollars.

My plan with it is to buy a dvd burner to back up all my dvd movies (actual Hollywood movies like kill bill). I got a playstation 2 and cyberhome dvd player (plan to buy a portable in future). I am aware that there are protections on dvds and not all dvd players play burned dvds. however, what should i be aware of when shopping for a dvd player. (i got this one in mind, http://www.cyberhome.com/products.asp?Product=DX162D). Also, i got a dell. there wont be any problem installing it will there?

#2

Not sure about the hardware, but it’s pretty easy to back up movies such as Kill Bill using DVD Shrink and DVD43 (My personal choices). Basically DVD43 gets rid of the protection and DVD Shrink makes the original factory disc fit on a normal DVD-R. You could also burn onto Dual Layer DVD media but this is expensive especially if you mess it up.

#3

There’s really only 1 decent burner at BB. The Plextor 716A. I don’t have one but they seem to have most of the bugs fixed now. Go to the Plextor forum and read up on it.

#4

The CyberHome is a good burner.
You can see some posts about it here.

#5

Which Burner is better? The plexor (thirty more dollars) or the cyberhome??

(my main purpose for it is to back up movies)

#6

Why not a BenQ, LG, NEC or Samsung drive instead of the cyberhome?

#7

do they sell those at best buy for around 100?

#8

You may want to keep in mind if you plan to commit a crime you may not want to talk about it in an open forum. :eek:

#9

The certificate is for Best Buy. Would be nice for them to have those brands but…Best Buy doesn’t carry them :frowning: I did see a Samsung CD burner there the other day. Maybe they will start selling thier DVD burners also.

#10

Since when did backing up DVD’s you own become a crime? :eek:

#11

You can’t be serious…

#12

When he said Hollywood movies I thought he was revering to Hollywood Video.

#13

pc-guy’s issuies aside, i looked on their site they added some new ones…

1 Sony - 16x Internal Double-Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive DRU-720A

2 Plextor - 16x Internal Double-Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive PX-716A

3 Pioneer - 16x Internal Double-Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive - Black DVR-A09XLB

4 CyberHome - 16x Internal Double-Layer DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive DX162D-A


Which of those four is the best?

#14

Go with the Pioneer or the Plextor. I have both of them and they both do an excellent job. High quality burns on a wide variety of media. If you go Pioneer, use the Gradius firmware. It rocks.

#15

I have a cyberhome dvd player. I know that cyberhome is a semi new name but im sure that if i get the cyber home burner then it will play dvd’s cyberhome dvd burner burner. I would rather go with pioneer though because if a more trusted name. will the poeoneer burned dvds still be compaltible with the cyberhome dvd player

#16

I got Cyberhome DX162D DVD writer as a part of my warranty from Bestbuy. The drive is sold for $100 in the store after rebates. I updated the firmware to 140F. I used DVD+R media with the drive. It produced many coasters. Sometimes it could not read the DVD it just burned although they can be read in other DVD readers around the house. In so many forums it is said that this drive was good for DVD-R’s. I will try them next. My advise do not buy this drive, it has so many problems.

#17

Get the Plextor.

#18

If you can’t find a LG GSA-4163B … get the Plex.

#19

If you don’t need software, buy the plextor. If you need dvd/photo software, buy the Pioneer. It comes with Ulead Digital Video and Photo editing software, and the software is upgradeable on the Ulead web site.

#20

And to make the choices more difficult you should be able to find a Mad Dog 16x DVD-Burner at Best Buy for about that price. The one with the A2 at the end of the model number is the 3520A. The one without the A2 is the 3500A. Both seem to be pretty decent drives, I have a preference towards the 3520A from what I’ve seen of the burns it does thus far. I don’t have one myself but I can play with my Dad’s since he has one. hehe

Ahhh! Forgot to mention it, these are NEC DVD-Burners. :slight_smile: