Best overall burner on the current market?

[fOZf8]

My trusty old dvr-a03 has finally died...a long and painful death it was. I'm trying to decide what to replace it with and am looking for suggestions. I've always thought Pioneer made the best quality drives, but it looks like people are having issues with the 109s?

I'm also not sure if it's worth spending the extra cash to get a dual layer capable drive, are the newest dual burners capable of making discs as compatible as single layer burns?

In any case, I'm just looking for opinions for something that burns good quality images (I've always bought Ritek's btw) and dosn't cost an arm and a leg. Aren't there some burners that are rebranded Pioneer dvrs? I was looking into the newer NEC and Liteon burners, but many reviews seem to claim they're only mediocre in quality compared to the Pioneers?

Any suggestions would be appreciated, like I said, my main issues are cost and quality, I don't care too much if it can even burn +, or dual layer, unless it can do it well.

[coona]

I would suggest you LiteOn SOHW-1633S or SOHW-1653S. The newer one is little bit better in quality of DVD burning (it also obtained 2 sheeps in Alexnoes´s Sheep Test ;)), the older one can perfectly read damaged CD-ROMs (if anyone is concerned about it these days ;)). If you don´t like LiteOn you can pick some LG drive such GSA-4163B.

I can´t recommend you Sony and Taec burners... (even both manufacturers use the same LiteOn hardware).

[fOZf8]

Thanks for the info coona, I ended up ordering a NEC 3250 in the end though, it should be here tommorrow already. After all the reviews and opinions I've been reading it seems to be some of the best overall quality whith a super cheap price tag to boot....I guess I'll find out for myself soon.

[gizzin]

Pioneer drives has the best quality DVD burns but when it comes to CD burns they fall alittle short. I would suggest pioneer for DVD burner because they can usually burn 1000+ before dying. Not the 109D they are alittle troublesome. If there's still a 108D around get that. If not pioneer the latest NEC and Sony are good drives too. (Sony burn better cdrs then the pioneer)

[fOZf8]

Like I said, I got an NEC 3520a, and couldn't be happier with it (unless it had been free or could shoot gold eggs out its arse). My old DVR-A03 probably DID burn over 1000 discs, but I couldn't justify the extra money needed for a dvr-109 when the 3520 is identical specs, and is even based on the same chipset, and only cost me 63$ compared to double that for the 109...even the 108 is way more $.

Now I'm popping out 12x burnt taiyo yudens (on 8x discs) and the quality of the burns is superb....love it.

[tigerman8u]

The Nec 3520 is hard to beat for the price.

[Blueseb]

Yesterday I bought an LG 4163b 8 (€ 64.90) and it looks good. Many reviews I read claims it is the second best choice after newest nec. I burned just a +rw at 4x 'till now and it seems ok.

[golftech]

Is the 3520 the lastest version for NEC.

Thanks

[Kyoji24]

Originally posted by gizzin
Pioneer drives has the best quality DVD burns but when it comes to CD burns they fall alittle short. I would suggest pioneer for DVD burner because they can usually burn 1000+ before dying. Not the 109D they are alittle troublesome. If there's still a 108D around get that. If not pioneer the latest NEC and Sony are good drives too. (Sony burn better cdrs then the pioneer)

Yes I must agree with that. Pioneer does make some of the best things on the market today, espically when it comes o burners. So the 108D or 107D are both good ones.

[markrb]

The current Pioneer DVD RW drives are using the NEC chipset.

Not to say that this automatically makes the NEC better or anything, but it does make it rather obvious one way that NEC is able to offer their drives at a lower price point.

Maybe they also have the inside scoop on how to get the most out of it.

I have the slightly older 3500A and once I applied an alternate firmware I do believe this has become the best drive I have ever had.

Mark

[Paulcat]

I have an LG burner as well, and the only problem I have had with it was my own stupidity in not replacing my old IDE cable with the one that came with the burner!

It burns just fine at 8x, and cd's at 40x (supposedly, though my system is too slow to see any changes past 24x...!)