HP unveils the dvd740 series of LightScribe burners

[jsl]

I just posted the article HP unveils the dvd740 series of LightScribe burners.

HP has released the specifications of two new LightScribe DVD burners. The dvd740i is an internal model and the dvd740e is an external USB 2.0 model and both support writing 16x/8x/8x ...

Read the full article here:  [http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/10867-HP-unveils-the-dvd740-series-of-LightScribe-burners.html](http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/10867-HP-unveils-the-dvd740-series-of-LightScribe-burners.html)

Feel free to add your comments below. 

Please note that the reactions from the complete site will be synched below.

[davrio4]

I hope atleast one variation is made by BenQ.

[Scour]

Looks like a Liteon

[jsl]

No, the emergency eject hole of the drive on the photo is for example on the wrong side for it to be a Lite-On. It’s clearly an OEM HLDS drive which you can see if you compare newegg’s photo of the HP dvd740 with the photo of the LG GSA-4165B. But I would not be surprised if Lite-On will make some version of the 740 later as HP seems to like using more than one OEM…

[Scour]

Oh, you´re right. The design looks like a LiteOn, but LED and emergency hole is on the other side

[HerculesBeast]

HP’s 740 and 640 lightscribe specs are the same according to it website. LiteOn however claims 1.6x lightscribe speed.

[Zohg]

LG 4165 and 4167 both have circular LEDs not those round corner rectangle ones like in the picture. Its possible its just a change for HP. HP sometimes likes to take manufacturers drives and modify the firmware…often making them worse.

[Zohg]

On the other hand, from the newegg picture the indentations on the top look just like my lg 4167. Then again newegg specifies dvd+r DL 8x which is above the capabilities of any lg drive currently available. It looks like its an unreleased LG drive. 4170? or maybe the 4167/4168 are capable of faster DL then in the current lg firmware

[Wesociety]

Zohg said, “HP sometimes likes to take manufacturers drives and modify the firmware…often making them worse.” Sooooo true! :r

[Ian1]

dvdrwinfo.net has a review of the internal version: http://coverart.dvdrwinfo.net/bbs/zboard.php?id=label_hardware&no=18 Looking at the pictures, the drive appears to be based on the GSA-4166B.

[adumontet]

Who cares what’s inside, buy the real thing… If you want a LiteON, buy one, if you want an LG, buy one… Just don’t buy a more expensive HP drive with almost no firmware updates available in the future. :c Sure, the warranty will probably be better than another company, but if you buy something else, I’ll be cheaper and cheaper to replace if it craps out! Just my two cents!

[1marcus4u]

The hp dvd640e (Benq version) I have STILL does NOT burn at +R at 16x, even with the latest firmware upgrade (jou4). So I wouldn’t necessarily hype the idea of promoting a rebadged Benq version of this drive. HP historically does as little as possible with regard to supporting their drives AFTER they’ve hit the channel. I would recommend going with the manufacturers’ models, i.e. Benq, LG, Pioneer etc. rather than the rebadged items. Better support all the way around IMO.

[immuno]

:)purchased at Walmart for $80. Took a while to get lightscribe working. Worth paying extra for it tho - the lightscribed discs looks awesome.

[ttomechko]

We bought one to replace a 3 year old HP dvd drive that went bust. However, it cannot read the +R cd’s that were created by the old drive. We are planning on replacing it with a Sony, since our customer has a Sony in another pc which will read them. Any suggestions on how to get this new HP to read the old discs?