Which DVD Writer?

[brashquido]

Hi All,

I'm wanting to buy a DVD writer to do DVD authoring, but am undecided on what to get. From what I've read, the Pioneer seems to be the best value for money, is this correct? If not, which DVD writer should I look at getting?

If the Pioneers are the best, which Pioneer should I get, the A03 or the A04? The A03 is $895AUS at the moment and the A04 is $995. Is the extra $100 worth it to get the A04? At the moment, I'm favouring the A04, and I would like to hear specifically from people who have an A04 and what DVD-R media they use.

I'm thinking if I getting 100 DVD-R's from CD-Recordable.com, simply because they can deliver DVD-R's to my door at $4.50AUS per DVD. The next cheapest I can find here in Aus is Apple, who sell them for $11 per DVD, most sell for between $15AUS and $17AUS each. Has anyone had problems with DVD-R's from CDRecordable.com when burnt with an A04? I've read a few threads, and it seems that people either have all sorts of trouble with CDRecordable.com media, or don't have any at all. Thanks for any input.


P.S

The system the DVD Writer will be going into will be;

AMD 2100XP
512 PC2100 DDR
Either a 64MB Geforce 2 Pro, or a 64MB Geforce 4 MX
Sound card yet to be decided.
Pinacle Studio Deluxe
40GB WD 7200RPM ATA-100 HDD
Windows 2000 Professional

[brashquido]

Hi All,

It seems like this thread had a few views, so I thought I'd post my findings of the main concerns I had;

Q. Which DVD writer?

A. The Pioneer A03 and A04 seem to be the prefered choice by most people. I haven't read a negative post/comment about the Pioneer hardware from anyone over the half a dozen or so sites I've looked at.


Q. Which Pioneer should I get, the A03 or the A04?

A. From what I could gather, the advantages of the A04 over the A03 is that the A04;

- Has hardware buffer underun protection
- Can be mounted vertically
- Is a smaller unit

Being a DVD-R newbie as I am, I think the extra features of the A04 warrant it's purchase over the A03, the hardware buffer underun protection alone is enough for me, especially with the price of DVD-R media in Australia. It's also worthy to note that I haven't read a positive post/comment on the bundled software (MyDVD) that comes with the A04. So it'd probably be advisable to get the bare bones drive and source your DVD authouring and burning software from somewhere else.


Q. Is using cheap media worth it?

A. There seems to be very mixed results here. Some people have nothing but a pile of DVD coasters to show for their efforts, some have had no problems at all, and there's those who have had results somewhere in between. From what I can gather, those who have varing results seem to find that set top players seem to have trouble playing cheap DVD-R media over 3.95GB. Everthing up to 3.95GB plays fine, but after that displays audio and/or visual artifacts.

So I guess it's up to you. I plan on atleast giving the cheaper generic brands a go, the price difference between them and brand name media is to great not to.

[Cyber]

brashquido,

For my comments on the DVD writer, please visit http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?threadid=22730

[brashquido]

Hi Cyber,

Thanks for the help. This once again leaves doubt in my mind as to what DVD writer I should get. Compatability with set top players is going to be one off my major requirements in what ever DVD writer I get as I am wanting . From what I'd read previously to today, all signs indicated that the DVD-R format was just as compatible with set top players as DVD+R, plus the DVD+R format isn't supported by the DVD forum. All this, plus the fact that DVD-R seems to be the "established" format had me thinking I'd get the Pioneer A04 drive, now I'm undecided again :( . All I need to know is, if I want to do DVD authoring for playback on set top DVD players, with the maximum compatabilty possible, I should get the ........

[rinkel]

Well, a lot has been said about those standards..
For me it was not very difficult:
If i want to burn a DVD, i want to keep it forever.. so using RW's was not an option.. +R was not available, and heas been released just a few weeks ago..
Now the -R is the established standard, due to the fact that the media is cheap..
So i bought the Sony DAV-s500 set... it does not play DVD-R

So if you want to buy something, test it first.. get hold of a burned DVD-R and a DVD+R movie and test it in the shop if compatibility is that important to you..

If in the future the standard will be +R than i'll by a new burner.. at that time they won't be that expensive anymore..

The DVD-R's from cdrecordable.com are not very good i read on the posts... i bought them myself and the first one was a coaster, but the next 5 were good, so.....

If you look around there are other brands which are very good. I have very good experiences with Verbatim... at $7,-

Regards

Rinkel

[sarahjh69]

the AO4 only has cdr improvments

buffer underrun ONLY ON CDR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not DVDr
cdr burn speed 6x (4x on ao3)
no digital audio plug on ao4

save some money, get the ao3

[TRILIGHT]

Originally posted by sarahjh69
the AO4 only has cdr improvments

buffer underrun ONLY ON CDR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not DVDr
cdr burn speed 6x (4x on ao3)
no digital audio plug on ao4

save some money, get the ao3

I have to disagree with you, Sarah. The A04/104 drives absolutely *DO* have buffer underrun on BOTH CDR and DVDR. That feature alone is worth getting this drive. Aside from that fact though, the DVR-104 drive has a much wider range of 2X media compatibility. The A03/103 drives are no longer being produced as the A04/104 drives are the direct replacement for them.

[sarahjh69]

UR right my mistake

A04 had DVDr and DVD rw buffer underrun protection
A03 does not

Its worth the extra £20 for the A04 just for that!

[rinkel]

I have to disagree on this..
I have an a01... and it DOES HAVE BUFFERUNDERRUN ! on both CDR and DVDR

regards

Rinke

[Cyber]

Dear all,

The Ricoh DVD+R/+RW drive has Lossless Link for burn DVD plus Justlink for burn CD in order to prevent buffer underrun. No buffer underrun occured while I have burned about 20 pcs. DVD+R and 20 times of DVD+RW.

It's extremely stable and reliable.

[Stonecold78]

My input on the A03 that I own.

I'm using Nero 5 the latest version. When I burn CD-R's or DVD-R's the information screen on Nero calims that Buffer Under Run Protection is Activated. But the information I've gathered on the A03 before purchasing this unit is that the A03 only offers under run protection on DVD-R's and not CD-R's. Any one else see this message?

CD-R's burn at 8x, budget DVD-R's burn at 1x.

I'm very pleased with it and it cost me £250 nice price.

Is it worth laying out an extra $100AUS dollars for 3 minor changes?

[brashquido]

The A04 has dropped about $70AUS since it came out, so there is no real difference, plus the A03 seems to be getting a bit scarce.

[TRILIGHT]

Originally posted by TRILIGHT
The A03/103 drives are no longer being produced as the A04/104 drives are the direct replacement for them.

Sorry. Just couldn't resist the urge to quote myself. hehe :)

[Arky]

ok, so despite the fact that I'm a bit gutted that, unlike the A03, the A04 does not work ~DIRECTLY~ with Spruce software, I am looking to buy the newer drive. HOWEVER, I am a little confused by the two current offerings from the Pioneer stable, namely the DVR-104 and the DVR-A04. I am under the impression that both drives are identical hardware, with the only difference between the two being the bundled software and the fact that one is OEM, and the other retail. Is this correct, or am I about to make a very big mistake by opting for the DVR-104? (I can't ABIDE Sonic software (rebadged Daikin Scenarist being a notable exception!), so I don't give a damn that I'll "miss out" on 'MyDVD!').

A little guidance on the issue, please?

Cheers.


Arky ;o)

[brashquido]

Hi Arky

You would be correct. The DVR-104 is the OEM, and the DVR-A04 is the retail.

[sarahjh69]

The DVR 103 is readily available from
***.121cdr.co.uk for £270
the DVR 104 costs £290

I just recieved the 104 today as i burn a DVD nero says BUFFERUNDERRUN PROTECTION ACTIVATED

Some sites say 103 has this for DVD....Pioneer says not
I got the 104 just to be on the safe side!

wonder why the warrenty sticker on the side says
warrenty by PRINCO ??????????