Ready to replace both drives... question about combo drives

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers
#1

I am ready to replace both my drives. I just finished a PC upgrade, and wanted to go ahead upgrade my opticals while I was at it. I have been very happy with both of my current drives… I have a few questions about replacements…

Are combo drives even worth it anymore? I mean, I don’t care about price… honestly the only reason I even bought my last one was because it could burn CDs at 52X (whereas I think the fastest DVD+/-RW Drive can only burn CDs at 48X?)… Is this really a big deal… how much ‘time’ would I actually lose? Could I still burn a full CD in 2.xx minutes? I was thinking of maybe just going with 2 DVD+/-RWs, the BenQ DW-1655 (w/ LightScribe) and something else… maybe something with DVD-RAM support? Any recommendations? What are the advantages/disadvantages of combo drive vs. dvd burner?

-Thanks

#2

Combo drives are a dying breed. 48x CD burns take around 2:45 in most DVD burners.

I would get a BenQ DW1655 for its burn quality and overall versatility (fast reader, good quality scanner) and an LG GSA-4167B for its raw speed (5:20-5:35 16x DVD burns).

#3

Ditto! Get two burners!

  1. 1655
  2. 110
  3. 4550
  4. 1667
  5. 1693 or model 6
    All pretty good to my standards!
#4

What is model 6??

#5

SHM-160P6S

get it cheap now! LOL
I guess newegg doesn’t deliver to Austria!

#6

Ahhhh, this one!
@etp: But I can get it for 42€ here in Austria at my local store :stuck_out_tongue:

Why do you recomment this drive?
I have never about this modell untill now…

#7

Good deal. Get the cheapest one!

#8

I second this. The 1655 will give you the ability to do scans and fast rips. The 4167B will also give you DVD-RAM support. It has pretty darn good burn quality as well since DL12.

Not touching the Pioneer because it won’t do DVD+R book typing. It is possible to enable that, but you need to flash with Buffalo firmware for it, and that will void the warranty on the drive. It’s quite silly to have to void your warranty just to get book typing. Not worth the trouble.

Also, get a decent power supply unit. Don’t get some cheapo one. DVD writers are quite power hungry and cheap units sometimes cause all kinds of problems with burners.

#9

Do you mean book type ROM? Just curious, because my A09 will do +R disk backups of my DVDs without a problem and play on all my players! Just wondering because I never use bitsetting. I probably would if I knew what good it was! LOL

#10

Any firmware flashing can easily void your warranty. Read the disclaimers and you’ll see.
If you have flashed Buffalo firmware to your drive and want to reflash, it’s done in less than 1 min.

So your complaint is pointless for this. Sorry.

#11

It’s not the flashing process that I’m talking about. There is always inherent risk in that and if you kill your burner doing that, you void your warranty whether you flash to official firmware or not. Experienced users like us don’t have a problem flashing back and worth with different firmware. We know what we are doing. Newbies however, might not like doing that, particularly if they haven’t done it before. However, that is not the issue.

The issue here is if you flash with Buffalo firmware and then your drive screws up for other reasons, leaving you in a condition where you cannot flash the drive back with official firmware. Say for example, the drive just dies one day and has no power at all. You won’t be able to flash back with official firmware. You will have to send your drive for repair with non-official firmware on it and chances are, your warranty will not be honoured.

#12

That’s the risk you have to take then.

Normally you can revive most of all drives (except when hardware really fails).

#13

Just one more time! the Pioneer units burn +R media that is playable in all DVD players without a problem! That also includes data disks! And with factory FW!

#14

Yes, that is what I mean. Some DVD players will not play DVD+R discs unless they are booktyped to DVD-ROM. This is especially true of older ones. If all your DVD players can handle DVD+R discs, then well and good. I have two DVD players (three before one died) and they all have no problems with DVD+R discs whether they are booktyped to DVD-ROM or not. It doesn’t mean that all the DVD players out there are capable of that.

If you have one that doesn’t handle those discs, and your writer cannot book type DVD+R discs to DVD-ROM, you’re pretty much stuck using DVD-R discs for movies. It might be a minor inconvenience, but why should you put up with it if you don’t have to?

#15

Pianoman,

visit http://www.geizhals.at/?cat=dvdram to find the good offers.

#16

That’s how I found this offer :smiley:
I justed wanted to know why this drive is recommended…it seems to be pretty new.

#17

Next drive is already out: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=1471

#18

When I return anything dead at my local store, they just give me a new one. If its dead, there is no way my store

Weird reason.

#19

Why would it be a minor inconvenience ?

#20

Guys,

I ordered a BenQ 1655 retail from Newegg… I was also gonna get the LG 4167B, but I noticed that the H10N is coming anyday?! I guess I will just wait on it…? What is your take on it?

-Thanks