DVD+-RW with junk (cheapo) media?

Blank Media
#1

What is the best dvdrw for junk (cheapo) media? Especially -R media. Its too hard to find the right media that works great for my 3 diff. burners. I have a liteon 1633 and it does +R alright but finding a -R that works is a bitch. And the same goes for my Benq 1620 +R ok but a decent -R is rather difficult. As of now I have 100 ty’s -R and 100 verbatims -R purely on the suggestions in these forums. And none burn on my 1633 or 1620 worth a crap. But on the other-hand I have a laptop nd-6500a and it blows my 2 desktop drives away. It has consistant burns with under 30 pi and under 2 pif on about anything, but its my laptop drive and i dont want to burn everything from my laptop. Any suggestions on a good desktop dvdrw that can do a decent burn on about any dvd-r or +r i throw at it?

thanks

#2

ND-6500A is more like the NEC ND2500A. The NEC ND2500A was one of the premiere drives for junky media and great write quality. If you want to pick one up for your desktop Geeks.com has the HP 420i instock right now which is a rebadged NEC ND2500A (This can be cross-flashed to the ND2500A as well). It’s refurbished but at least it’s a place to find them still in stock. :slight_smile:

#3

Braxas,

 Thanks for the quick reply. But is there a newer burner perhaps a 16x that does as well?
#4

Check into the LG and potentially Plextor forums. The LG GSA-4163B seems to have great write quality in comparison to the other big name drives so it might be what you are looking for. I still wouldn’t trade my 2500A though. :bigsmile: - The BenQ DW1620A does fine on most 8x + media or so it seems but on 4-8x media a lot of times I’m finding myself using the 2500A.

#5

I have three drives for burning and I would make two suggestions. As you probably cannot get an NEC 3500 anymore, my LG works almost as well as the NEC and turns out very good results on any of the media I list below.

As to your problem with -RW; it is generally considered to be crap and the samples I have tried proved this. Many other users have reported the same. Avoid it at all costs and stick with +RW. The only one I have ever seen that was decent was a 4X -RW from JVC and I have never seen it for sale.

I would avoid the BenQ. It is VERY picky and doesn’t do a decent job on any of my media other than the R03.

See here for scans:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=948124&postcount=1064

#6

Your joking right?

Your BENQ drive must be/was atypical, media compatability with the 16XX series drives is arguably second to none and write quality on most media exceeds by far almost any other drive out there.

#7

Prototype,

we are talkind about dvd-r. And I dont want to start a flaming thread but hes right as far as my experience with the 1620 goes. I have yet to find a dvd-r media that works worth a crap (neither does the 1633) other than g04's for mine. yes if i had the right media im sure it would burn circles around most burners. But finding the right media and being able to buy consistantly at a good price takes effort and time for deliveries and what not. I just want one that i dont have to search threads looking at scans to determine if the media is worth burning with a particular drive. I want one like my laptop drive and not worry about if the cheapo media i bought cause they were sold out or the premium is so expensive and just burn.
#8

I have to agree. It seems that +R is near perfection. My R03 is the best I have ever seen and the scans with TY +R are also among the best. I only saw one -R scan (TYG02) and I assumed it would be on a par with my NEC and LG, both of which burn anything with very low errors. I was wrong. It was my error. As I look at more scans I find most of them are not my media, but are more often 16X media. I might keep it for that, but for what I curently use it is not a good burner. I just don’t have much +R.

#9

I just stick with high quality DVD+R and +RW media. Its price is good and I have no need for -R or -RW. +R and +RW has worked great in all standalone DVD players I’ve tried too.

#10

Thanks everyone! I think Im going to go with an LG. By the way what is the difference between a GSA-4163B, GSA-4163BB, GSA-4163BI? Do they use the same firmwarre? And if not can it be crossflashed to a retail 4163? One more thing, what software do i need to load/backup this lg firmware if possible?

thanks again.

#11

I have had excellent results with my Benq 1620, so good in fact that I have bought another to replace the Liteon 1213 in my other computer. I tend to favor +R media, but I have had VERY good luck with the TYG02 media in both of my Benq 1620 drives. I have to agree with Braxas, if you want to record on cheap media then the Nec 2500 is the best drive. The Nec 2500 works so well with the MUST001 media (18 cents a pop) that it still has a place in my primary computer.