Hi, I had signed up with CDFreak almost 3 years ago to get help with buying a new DVD drive, which people here helped me with greatly, so thank you to all.
Well, now I’m back to the same place again, over the past 3 years I’ve used NEC ND2500, ND3500, Benq DW1620, DW1640 & DW1655. Except for the ND3500 & DW1620 I still use the rest. But its time for an update, so I need some suggestions on the latest models, as I’ve been out of the DVD drive loop for more than a year now!
Scanning/TRT drive, something that will do as close to a 1:1 of the entire sectors on the disk as possible. The NEC drives used to do a 1.00 to a 1.01 ECC & the Liteon’s used to be a close second to that, the Benq’s usually do a 8.00+.
#1 - TRT/Read test [I know the NEC’s used to be not so good at reading so those were always recommended for TRT tests and I still use the ND2500, just that need to move to SATA!]
#2 - PIE/PIF, POE/POF & Jitter @ at least 8x, the main thing here is accuracy & as complete a scan of the disc as possible. Example, the Benq’s would scan crap on DVD’s burned on most other drives!
#3 - Jitter [& also TE/FE/Beta capabilities is a plus, but not required], in case the main scanning [PIE/PIF] drive is incapable of Jitter scan. Benq’s could do TE/FE & Plextors could do Beta, but Plex’s are too expensive for most use & too slow 1x/2x scanning speed!
#4 - C1 & C2 for CD scanning! Liteon DVD burners were too unreliable for CD scanning as the results would vary wildly & Benq’s never did any C2!
Burning drive, forget TRT/reading & ripping DVD5/DVD9 for a bit completely, I’m going to use this drive, or 2, just for burning! Yes I know theres a thread with votes from people on the best 5 drives, but my requirements a re a bit different.
Currently the DVD’s I use are TY T02 8x DVD+r & 52x CD-r disc’s, all are SONY & OEM TY branded. In the future I will continue to use TY/re-branded & Verbatim disc’s, 8x/16x for DVD’s, 32x-52x CD’s, 8x DVD+rw’s, 8x DVD+r DL. I might start using DVD-ram, but I’m not worried about those right now.
#5 - So whats a good one/2 from:
ASUS[are they re-branded?]/Benq[do they even make their own drives anymore?]/Liteon/LG/NEC[/Optirac/SONY]/Phillips/Pioneer/Samsung.
#6 - In case the recommended drive for DVD isn’t good at CD burning, whats a good drive for that?
#7 Whats a good drive for ripping CD & DVD’s?
Thanks in advance.