Bluray Burner Recommondations

[RickB]

Any recommendations for internal bluray burner under £150

[Ghitulescu]

It's hard to find a bluray burner above 150£ nowadays I think. In Germany one can buy 3 LGs with 150£ (unless the pound lost its value)....
The answer is therefore pick any of them.

[Asmodian]

I like my LG WH12LS39. It is a very nice drive which supports pretty much everything.

[varekai]

Getting very good reading and writing results with this one:
Pioneer BDR-206DBK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-BDR-206DBK-12x-Blu-Ray-Recorder-Black/dp/B004ILKH64

[alysonshaw]

Getting very good reading and writing results with this one:
Pioneer BDR-206DBK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-BDR-206DBK-12x-Blu-Ray-Recorder-Black/dp/B004ILKH64

Looks like this is the best deal. Pioneer for half of your budget.

[hello_hello]

I own two Pioneer BDR-206DBK burners. I've probably burned a couple of hundred discs with them and only made two or three coasters.
The only downside is I don't think they can be used to test the actual burn quality. Best you can do is run a verification after the burn to ensure the disc is readable.

[Biggiesized]

The new Pioneer 207 model is out. Give that a look over.

[RedDwarf1]

Pioneer make some of the best burners.

They can now do DVD scanning which I understand was added recently to the firmwares of many of the Pioneer burners. However for BluRay scanning you need another drive.

As far as I am aware, only Liteon burners can do scanning but the build quality sucks.

[DVDean]

Pioneer make some of the best burners.

They can now do DVD scanning which I understand was added recently to the firmwares of many of the Pioneer burners. However for BluRay scanning you need another drive.

As far as I am aware, only Liteon burners can do scanning but the build quality sucks.

Pioneer makes some good Blu-ray burners. They do not manufacture their own DVD burners anymore and they are less than desirable from the results I've seen.

The DVD quality scanning ability of the Pio's looks like more of a fluke than an intent by Pioneer. Less than ideal.

I've had no problems with the "build quality" of my Lite-on Blu-ray burners. None of the drive manufacturers are perfect. Sorry to hear you got a defective one. An iHBS112 is my best all-around Blu-ray drive currently. Fastest ripper, best scanner, good burn quality. My LG's and Pio's have their strong points too, but lack the Lite-on's ripping and scanning talents.

Drives I use: WH10LS30(cross-flashed to WH12LS39 to test Millenniata/M-disc writing), WH12LS30, iHBS112, iHBS212(@Plextor PX-LB950SA), Pio 205, Pio 206.

[hello_hello]

Pioneer makes some good Blu-ray burners. They do not manufacture their own DVD burners anymore and they are less than desirable from the results I've seen.

The DVD quality scanning ability of the Pio's looks like more of a fluke than an intent by Pioneer. Less than ideal.

Which of the results you've seen are you referring to? Burn quality?
Pioneer burners haven't been able to give accurate quality scan results for a long time. Probably not since the x12 series. However it's not unique to Pioneer burners. Not all burners run quality tests accurately.
Versions of Nero CD/DVD Speed newer than the version which installs with Nero 7 won't allow you to use Pioneer burners to run burn quality tests. In fact if I recall correctly, that was due to a request by Pioneer.

Do Pioneer manufacture their own Blu-ray burners? I own a couple but I've never thought about it until now. I'm curious though, as while I've often read the "Pioneer burners aren't any good since they stopped manufacturing them themselves" theory in forums (while I'm quite happy with mine), their Blu-ray burners don't seem to have suffered the same fate.

I'm thinking of buying a new Blu-ray burner myself at the moment. Probably something other than Pioneer so I can run burn quality scans. Anyone know which current brands/models do support quality scanning? Is there a list somewhere? :)

[Ghitulescu]

The i112 of liteon is cheaply built and rejects a lot of media.

No other manufacturer than Liteon has quality-control-enabled drives for blu-rays.

Pioneer ceased all other operations to focus on car-audio only.

[DVDean]

Which of the results you've seen are you referring to? Burn quality?
Pioneer burners haven't been able to give accurate quality scan results for a long time. Probably not since the x12 series. However it's not unique to Pioneer burners. Not all burners run quality tests accurately.
Versions of Nero CD/DVD Speed newer than the version which installs with Nero 7 won't allow you to use Pioneer burners to run burn quality tests. In fact if I recall correctly, that was due to a request by Pioneer.

I'm referring to the burn quality of the QSI-made/designed DVD drives with the Pioneer name on them after the 117/217 models. Quality scan results as well as TRT's from some of the more reliable scanning drives like the BenQ DW1640 and Lite-on's done by friends with more than a little experience with it. The QSI/Pioneer DVD drives haven't been producing the kind of results that gave the earlier NEC-chipped Pioneers their well-deserved good reputation.

The DVD scanning results of the Pio BD burners are also not comparable to other drives with a reputation for reasonable accuracy.

Do Pioneer manufacture their own Blu-ray burners? I own a couple but I've never thought about it until now. I'm curious though, as while I've often read the "Pioneer burners aren't any good since they stopped manufacturing them themselves" theory in forums (while I'm quite happy with mine), their Blu-ray burners don't seem to have suffered the same fate.

Yes, Pioneer Blu-ray drives are still made in Japan. They also manufacture them in China, and shortly after the release of new models, most Pio BD-R drives outside of the Japanese domestic market come from China. I have been involved in discussions about the Japanese vs Chinese made BD drives, no clear consensus on whether the burning quality is significantly different. I consider my Chinese made Pio BD-R drives to be quite good as well :).

I'm thinking of buying a new Blu-ray burner myself at the moment. Probably something other than Pioneer so I can run burn quality scans. Anyone know which current brands/models do support quality scanning? Is there a list somewhere? :)

Lite-on BD-R drives and their Sony/Asus clones are the drives for BD-R scanning. My Samsung not quite as reliable. A recent(7/11) small change to the iHBS112(and Sony/Asus clones) chipsets requires a simple workaround (http://club.myce.com/f142/workaround-ihbs112-04-opti-drive-control-quality-scan-problem-325102/) to use them for quality scanning. Choosing 4x for scanning speed works best for me and is commonly used on another forum if you wish to compare your BD-R quality scans with mine and many others ;) . Up to 8x scanning is available for a quick ballpark comparison of BD-R burn quality. The Asus/Sony clones could be cross-flashed to Lite-ons with readily available(COdeKing) tools prior to that change. Currently it can only be accomplished with tools not commonly available and a little too dangerous to use for the average person not well-acquainted with firmware/EEPROM manipulation. I strongly recommend buying an iHBS112 for BD-R scanning. Lite-on is releasing firmware updates for new media more quickly than Plextor/Sony/Asus. iHBS112 also beats the pants off a Pioneer for BD-R ripping. My oldest 112/212 drives are well over a year old with LOTS of use and still going strong. Look here (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://homepage2.nifty.com/yss/bdr206/bdr206_01_pana6x.htm&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://homepage2.nifty.com/yss/%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DyjP%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26prmd%3Divns&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1) for comparison of it's burning abilities to a Pioneer 205/206. It compares very well for the most part and I prefer to use the 112 or my LG's for BD DL burning.

The i112 of liteon is cheaply built and rejects a lot of media.

Did you personally have trouble with your iHBS112 or are you repeating the opinion of someone else(or were you bitten by a Lite-on in your childhood?:eek::D )
Your information is very outdated. The LTH problem was fixed with firmware updates long ago. No good reason to use LTH anyway.
No other manufacturer than Liteon has quality-control-enabled drives for blu-rays.

Sorry, but your information is not accurate. Samsung BD-R combo's and writers can also quality scan BD-R's. The error levels they report are somewhat inflated from those of the Lite-ons. Of course Plextor/Sony/Asus Mediatek BD-R drives can also do BD-R quality scan.

Pioneer ceased all other operations to focus on car-audio only.

No

[hello_hello]

Thanks for the info.
I've got a Pioneer 218 and I've been quite happy with the burn quality, but I've only ever used it to burn Verbatim discs (Azo). I've no idea whether my BDR-206s are made in Japan or China, I never thought to look before I installed them. Next time I've got the side off the PC I'll pull one out.

I found a few iHBS112 reviews and contrary to Ghitulescu's opinion every single one of them commented on the high build quality of the drive. Admittedly though none of them seemed excited over the burn quality, but most of the reviews were well over a year old. The only mention of them rejecting media was when trying to burn LTH discs. Given they're the cheapest Blu-ray burner in my local shop's price list, I think I'll invest in one, if for no other reason so I can see what sort of burn quality I'm getting from the Pioneer 206. Although I've finally become accustomed to living in ignorant bliss. Maybe I should just leave it that way..... :)

[Ghitulescu]

I have one and I wish I had not bought it, lost some 80€ in this process. The original Liteons, ie those before Philips joined in, were much better. And I was not talking about LTH media, I never used any, and never said I used it.
Unlike other people that need the old stock to be completely sold out to realize that a certain company ceased to exist (one can still buy genuine BASF compact cassettes you know ;) ), I know that Pioneer withdrew from all its operations to focus on car audio. It took one year in Germany that all plasma TVs from Pio to be sold after Pio withdrew itself from TV business, and the salespersons kept saying Pio is still well and alive. If information about the decline of a company are spread out, it will cause to the sales, I think you are aware about this, rifgt?
Pioneer bdplayers are manufactured by Sharp. The bd-burners are very likely to be rebadged, like its last DVD-burners. I own the last Pio made in japan the s05x model. I burn with my LG 10x, only the archival ones with the Pio.

[hello_hello]

The bd-burners are very likely to be rebadged, like its last DVD-burners.

Which DVD burners have Pioneer rebadged?
I've owned quite a few Pioneer DVD burners, a couple of them were returned for replacement under warranty. If I based my opinion on just one of those burners, I'd think all Pioneer burners were crap too, and they were ones made by Pioneer.

There's a difference between withdrawing from a market, rebadging another product and outsourcing manufacturing. Pioneer burners are still alive and well, they've just released a new model, even if they do have them made in China. Apple products are manufactured in China aren't they? Using your logic I could claim Apple has withdrawn from the mp3 player business.

[Ghitulescu]

Well, yours, remember, like I told you some time ago -> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1510106#post1510106 as a response to this one -> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1510041#post1510041

[DVDean]

Thanks for the info.
I've got a Pioneer 218 and I've been quite happy with the burn quality, but I've only ever used it to burn Verbatim discs (Azo). I've no idea whether my BDR-206s are made in Japan or China, I never thought to look before I installed them. Next time I've got the side off the PC I'll pull one out.

I found a few iHBS112 reviews and contrary to Ghitulescu's opinion every single one of them commented on the high build quality of the drive. Admittedly though none of them seemed excited over the burn quality, but most of the reviews were well over a year old. The only mention of them rejecting media was when trying to burn LTH discs. Given they're the cheapest Blu-ray burner in my local shop's price list, I think I'll invest in one, if for no other reason so I can see what sort of burn quality I'm getting from the Pioneer 206. Although I've finally become accustomed to living in ignorant bliss. Maybe I should just leave it that way..... :)
You make a good point. With good quality media, a QSI/Pioneer DVD drive would likely be fine. My concern with the new Pio DVD drives is the lackluster performance I've seen on other commonly used media where they are not as capable as the old NEC Pio's or new Lite-on DVD drives.

Hey, its your call on the 112 :). I think its worth it for the ripping, scanning, and BD DL burning performance I've gotten from mine. Then again, the 206 is a good burner. With good quality BD-R, it doesn't need a scanning drive sniffing around behind it :). But without a scanning drive, how do you keep track of who is packaging good quality BD-R's currently :confused::D.
I have one and I wish I had not bought it, lost some 80€ in this process.
I'm sorry to hear you got a defective one.

[hello_hello]

Pioneer ceased all other operations to focus on car-audio only.

What about their other audio/visual products and DJ equipment etc?

http://pioneer.jp/press-e/2009/pdf/0625-1.pdf
June 25, 2009, Tokyo, Japan – Pioneer Corporation and Sharp Corporation today signed a formal contract for the establishment of an optical disk joint venture.

The goal of the new joint venture is to make more effective use of the management resources of the two companies in the optical disk business field, and to further expand the business in this area, especially in the highly promising Blu-ray Disc market. The new company will develop, design, manufacture and sell optical-disk products such as optical disk drives, recorders and players.
Pioneer and Sharp plan to launch operations at the joint venture on October 1, 2009.

It took one year in Germany that all plasma TVs from Pio to be sold after Pio withdrew itself from TV business, and the salespersons kept saying Pio is still well and alive. If information about the decline of a company are spread out, it will cause to the sales, I think you are aware about this, rifgt?

Apparently Pioneer isn't. They announced they were leaving the TV business Feb 2009 (http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/12/pioneer-officially-leaving-the-tv-biz-by-march-2010-focusing-on/) while they didn't cease manufacturing TVs until March 2010 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Corporation#History). Mind you their U.S. and U.K. plants were shut down sooner, but I guess they were really only manufacturing re-badged Pioneer TVs anyway. ;)

Well, yours, remember, like I told you some time ago -> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1510106#post1510106 as a response to this one -> http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1510041#post1510041

Yes, you continue to confuse outsourcing of manufacturing with a cessation of manufacturing and a change in chipsets with rebadging, while confabulating a decision to no longer manufacture TVs into something else. Unless you can show which other brand of burner currently being sold is identical to the current Pioneer, or you can show Pioneer went to QSI, basically picked an existing burner and said "put a 218 sticker on that one", then "rebadging" is just your assumption.