Various Drives - Need Opinions

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers Writer User Reviews and Comments
#1

Hi.

Firstly, great site and starting to learn a few things.
I’m now at a point where I want to start burning my DVDs to decent medium and have bought my first two cakes of Taiyo Yuden 8x (Master Grade they call it).

There just seems so much information to try and absorb and would like honest advice on dvd burners and what I should be using for best results.

I have over the years accumulated a collection of drives but have been burning DVDs since 1999 (burning PS1 games back in the day).

I’ve never worried about media or brand of burners in the past but must admit I’ve always seemed to stay with Pioneer and why, I’m not sure, perhaps it just always seem to burn without any issues.

So fast forward to 2013 and now I’m wanting to burn good quality burns with good media. Who knows why now after all this time lol … Maybe it’s just a hobby thing as much as learning about burns and scans etc…

So, I’ve compiled a list of burners (BD-R and DVD) that I currently own.
I do have a coule of bluray burners but thought BD-R media would have come down in price a lot quicker than it has, so I’m happy to still burn to DVD and hopefully concentrate more on BD media and burning when the price point is more attractive. (I’m in Australia)

What would (from the list) be decent hardware to burn on or what has had a good reputation , if any of them do.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Soooo…here are the device:

  • Pioneer DVR 109BK - man 4/2005 PATA
  • Pioneer DVR 115DBK - man 12/2007 PATA
  • Pioneer DVR A11XLB - man 2/2006 PATA
  • Pioneer DVR 212BK - man 2/2007 SATA
  • Pioneer DVR 109BK - man 04/2005 PATA
  • Pioneer DVR 110BK - man 9/2005 PATA
  • Pioneer DVR 212BK - man 7/2007
  • Pioneer DVR 215BK - man 2/2008 SATA
  • Pioneer BDR205
  • Pioneer BDCS02BK
  • Asus DRW1814BLT
  • BenQ DW1650 - man 12/2005 PATA
  • LG GH22NS30 - man 10/2008 SATA
  • Samsung SHD162D - man 4/2009 PATA (for xbox360 read discs)
  • Samsung SH-S182 - man 11/2006 PATA
  • Samsung SD616 - man 12/2001 PATA (think DVD ROM only)

(for nostalgic reasons)

  • liteon cdr ltr 4812sw - man 5/2002
  • Kodak Mitsumi CR4801TE - man 10/1998
#2

Hi cesardepasaj

You can use any of your pionner, the 215 is an excellent drive for burning cd’s and dvd’s, also the same aplies for the benq 1650 drives to burn your discs.

If you have the time you can try to burn your discs with various drives, and then check the quality of your burns using the Benq. That way you will be able to find what drive gives the best result with the discs that you own.

#3

Thanks for the reply. I was going to ask what drive should I use to scan.
I did try Nero speed with the Pioneer but it wouldn’t function, something about not being able to lock the drive. I’ll install the BenQ and do some burns and get some results.

Also, what program is recommended for scan results? I’ve just come across DVDInfoPro, Opti Drive Control and Nero.

Thanks in advance.

#4

Pioneer/LG and some old ASUS drives are not suitable for scanning, for that you need a BENQ/Nec/Liteon or a true plextor.
The benq will do a nice job at this, you can use it with nero speed (or however it’s called now) you can also use opti dirve control, but you will have to pay for ODC.

#5

The ASUS did scan (just tried it) but the BenQ being PATA, my motherboard doesn’t have any PATA connections. ie. Sata only board (which I just found out). The marvels of progression hey…

Should each drive scan similiar as far as the results go or that can vary as well? Obviously, if the BenQ is what is truly recommended I can install in another computer and scan.

Will post some results in a moment.

Also when scanning, should I scan at the speed I burnt at or it doesn’t matter too much?

#6

[QUOTE=cesardepasaj;2690333]The ASUS did scan (just tried it) but the BenQ being PATA, my motherboard doesn’t have any PATA connections. ie. Sata only board (which I just found out). The marvels of progression hey…[/QUOTE]

Probably a liteon drive,

Should each drive scan similiar as far as the results go or that can vary as well? Obviously, if the BenQ is what is truly recommended I can install in another computer and scan.

Results will vary from drive to drive, the results are there only as a reference on the burn quality.

Will post some results in a moment.

Also when scanning, should I scan at the speed I burnt at or it doesn’t matter too much?

Let’s wait for some results first, and then we can judge the burn quality.
Most of our members scan at 8x, you can also try 4x or 16x, expect to see different result with different scan speeds.