Recomendations on a new DVD Burner

[Schrade]

Hey guys...

I'm looking to get my very first DVD Burner and I want one that's no more than $150.00. I was wondering what people in this forum recommend as a good one that does DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW?

I was looking at the Sony DRU530A. How's that fare compared to the rest?

Thanks for any input!

[alexnoe]

In the last C'T test, the Sony 530 had a terrible write quality even on maxell, mitsubishi and taiyo yuden dvd-r. Dvd+r was not better :o

[spruceland]

A VERY popular one is the NEC, I forgot the model number but you can buy it on newegg.com for $97 DELIVERED! It's a 8x recorder that does all formats (except ram). Great deal and if I had to buy a new one, this would be the one. You can buy it with software for $105; this is oem. They have black and beige/white. Good luck

[Dimmer]

Some time ago I came across a piece of advice that I found very useful: don't waste money on a dual format burner. Since the media for both formats are equally priced and approximately the same compatible with standalones, buy whatever is cheaper. In a year or two the prices will drop to the level of CD burners/media, so there is no reason to invest in a more expensive dual format burner, especially considering that Dual Layer DVD burners are supposed to be released this year.

As for myself, I used to have a TDK Indi440N but didn't really like it; made a few -R coasters. Now I use AOpen DRW4410, didn't make a single coaster, and the price is well below $150.

[alexnoe]

Dual Format drives are not even cheaper here....a Nec 2500 for example is available at 100 Euro.

What you might like is a drive that supports +/-RW and -RAM, like the LG 4081B. It is a bit picky with media, but on good media, its write quality is good.

[mellow_yellow]

My opinion go for a NEC 2500a thats what I just got and I'm very happy with it. This toaster ist not picky at all it's 8x R+/- and 4x RW+/-. I spend 103€ including shipping costs. No probs yet.

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDname=nec+2500a&Submit=Search&cdrs=&cdrws=&dvdrs=&dvdrws=&dvdprs=&dvdprws=&dvdrams=&buffer=Any&list=0&orderby=Name&Search=Search
http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=86

here a complete test including specifications.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/134/

greetings mellow_yellow

[alexnoe]

The C'T has also tested it, and the CATS analyzer also confirms that the Nec 2500 can write at 8x to some 4x media at good quality.

[Schrade]

Thanks a lot for the replies, everyone. It looks like the NEC ND-2500A looks like the kind of drive I'm looking for. It's only $99.00 US from where I usually buy my computer equipment online so that works out great.

[jamminj606]

I just ordered a nec-2500a from newegg to replace my dead pioneer 104. Sounds great for under $100.

[jeremymacmull]

this wont be a popular choice due to price but

ive been very very happy with my plextor 708A it burns 4X +R at 8X and ive never had a coaster yet but its only 4x on -r however there is a 12X version out now the 712A which is a lot better not just 12X +r and 8x -R but it has gigarec and securec as well

gigarec = 1gb on a 700mb cd or upto 1.3 gb on a 99min cd

and securerec is what it sounds very usefull

JEREMY

but u do pay for these things and if you dont want em and just want a plain DVDwriter dual format id go for the liteon it seems to be quite good my mates not had any probs and its cheap

[Dublin-Raider]

Nec 2500a x8 dual , superb writer at a great price..Very happy with mine.:)

[alexnoe]

Jeremy: You know that the Plextor 712 is better before you have seen any write quality tests? wow...i would need a magical orb for that.

A long list of features is not everything, you know. Gigarec for DVDs would be interesting ;)

[jeremymacmull]

@alexnoe

better is probably the wrong word to use agreed

however based on the assumption that the write quality of it will be atleast as good as the 708A (which as i said im very happy with) added to the fact that itll have gigarec (which i would love as the 708A does not have it) and securec which is soo useful make it in my opinion a better drive than the 708A

on the other hand if you just want to burn DVDs plain and simple there are other cheaper possibly better drives soon to come out ie the liteon one etc but for the added extras u cant beat the plextor (in my opinion) added to this that their CDwriting side of things is amazing and probably the best in the business and thats been known for a long time.


gigarec on a dvd hmm that would be so nice id buy it just for that alas it is not poss at the moment how much would that give at 1.4

i reckon if the original disk is 4.36 gb then it would give just under 6 gb which would be damn nice :D

JEREMY

[earthslash]

I just thought i'd bring up, the model (nec nd 2500a) you guys are talking about is sale for an easter special for $81 dollars, including shipping. I probably should of waited a bit to buy a burner, because the prices seem to be dropping every time I check them.

- Steve

[daehkcid]

What will you choose:

Pioneer 107
NEC 2500a
Lite-On 811S?

[faithfoo]

may I check on the difference in transfer time of external DVD RW writer vs the internal DVD writers for

Time taken to burn the following video file or data for External vs Internal DVD RW writer
1) 5Gb data ( video )
2) 500 Mb data ( video/data)
3) 1 gb data ( video/data )


4)
What is a few top DVD writers I should be looking at for all formats including DVD RAM ?

[alexnoe]

Only LG drives can write DVD±RW/-RAM (like LG 4040B, 4081B, 4082B)

[pogo stick]

I was thinking about single format drive.
What can you recommend?
Toshiba SD-R5112 costs about 65$ here. It's cheaper then NEC ND-2500A, which is 110$ here.
From review:
It writes DVD-R/RW
DVD-R: 4X CLV
DVD-RW: 2X CLV
and reads DVD-ROM, DVD-R (Ver 1.0, Ver 2.0), DVD-RW (Ver 1.1).
DVD-ROM : 12X CAV
DVD-RAM : 1X CAV
I don't know what are the version numbers mean.
It's slow one, but cheapest I can find in shops.
What can you say about this drive?