Looking for a new DVD Burner

[axy1985]

Hi!
Well, my lovely BenQ DW1640 just died, so I need a new one. I got this one from recommendations (back in the day) from here, and it worked out very well, so figured I'd ask around again.
Well... not worried that much about budget, but I'm looking for a "normal" burner. I've rarely seen DVD+-RW burners for more than $40 shipped, so I guess that would be my budget. Oh, and if I can buy the drive from amazon.com, even better. That's one of the few sites that take my internationally-issued credit card without issue.
Thanks!

[bigmike7]

Yo axy1985-

This is one sweet burner - similar results as your benq 1640 and can be had for $26 shipped - a real bargain-eh!!

LITE-ON Model DH-20A4P-04 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black - Newegg.com

[axy1985]

Hi!
I’ve heard that lately, both Lite-On and Samsung are great bets. This one looks very sweet.
Since I like to do deep research on items I’m going to buy… anyone has another comment/opinion?

Thx!

[Kerry56]

I’d get the Pioneer 115 over a Lite-On personally.

Pioneer Model DVR-115DBK 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black - Newegg.com

But that is just personal preference. Lots of fans of both makes around here.

[axy1985]

Thx for the info!
Those two look like great options, but I realized that I may as well start getting rid of the IDE devices. Are SATA drives just as good? I was recommended these two:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151154

and this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106057

Any other, better ideas for a SATA drive? Thx!

[Arachne]

If it has to be SATA, I’d pick the Samsung. I have the same drive here, although I’ve been too busy to fit it yet :o

Although I do like LiteOn, I only tend to use mine for quality scanning these days.

[Roadhog32901]

Listen to that crazy cat above lol…the new sammy’s are pretty good.

I have (2) Samsung 203b SATA drives and they burn with excellent results as long as you do not feed it cheap media. They both also are decent scanners (with simple regestry hack)(my opinion). The 203B can be found on newegg for around $27 and maybe free shipping if you catch it at the right time.

The Pioneer, in my opinion may be a little better drive with non-top of the line meida, and it is also not a very good scanner. I have a Pioneer 111d @111L and it is my favorite drive…but I have others to scan with. It is also an IDE drive though…and not sure you want that.

If you want to a BenQ 1655 at inflated prices:
http://www.egoodz.com/product.asp?pf_id=BENQ_DW1655BLK

I would like a 1655 myself…but that is way too much to pay for me.

[Jimbo]

Myself I think your best bet would be to go into the burner forums and look around and also look at the reviews and make up your own mind and that way if you weren’t satisfied you couldn’t say “why did I listen to him or her” just MHO

[Kerry56]

If you have an older computer you might want to be careful about adding a SATA optical drive to it. Some of the SATA controllers on those older motherboards, especially the Via made ones, are not very compatible with optical SATA drives.

[Arachne]

[QUOTE=Kerry56;1996094]If you have an older computer you might want to be careful about adding a SATA optical drive to it. Some of the SATA controllers on those older motherboards, especially the Via made ones, are not very compatible with optical SATA drives.[/QUOTE]

Yep. If that should be the case, I’d stick with IDE and the Pio 115D that Kerry recommended above.

[axy1985]

Ok thx. I have a rather recent motherboard. The dirver issues you guys are talking about is prolly the one that needs a floppy disk to instal windows on the SATA HD right?
I have a DFI nforce4-SLI mobo, and hasn’t given me any of those issues with my SATA HD. Do you think that’ll do?

[Kerry56]

Nforce4 chipset does have official support for SATA optical drives. My backup machine is Nforce4, but I’ve never tried a SATA drive in it, so I can’t tell you from experience whether or not you will have problems.

[armada]

im in the same place still… i just cant decide and my prior drives were 1640’s and i have to say i miss them… i want the best all around burners that can do it all but i guess nowadays we cant have that like in the past. i do use medium quality media though a lot due to the kids ruining a lot of discs… so i need a good burner for that… one thing is everyone will give you their idea of what is best. i wish there was a direct comparison done somewhere…

[Roadhog32901]

You may want to take Jimbos advice and check out the forums on each drive…you may be able to make a better decision that way…for what you want.

This link:

http://www.cdfreaks.com/devices/

On that page here on cdfreaks are the current top 5 drives…

Good Luck

[axy1985]

That’s an excellent idea and link Roadhog, thank you. Prolly the dumbest question in this thread: what’s the difference between a DVD Recorder and a DVD RW? :S
Anyway… the Samsung SH203B is listed on both as the best… humm…

[Arachne]

[QUOTE=axy1985;1996488]That’s an excellent idea and link Roadhog, thank you. Prolly the dumbest question in this thread: what’s the difference between a DVD Recorder and a DVD RW? :S
Anyway… the Samsung SH203B is listed on both as the best… humm…[/QUOTE]

“DVD Recorder” generally means a standalone unit that plugs into your TV. DVD-RW is usually used to describe a PC drive

[axy1985]

Even tho the same internal DVD writter SH203B is listed on both categories? 0.o
Anyway, thanks for the info. I believe I may end up getting this samsung. I don’t need nor want Lightscribe really…