Recommendations for a DVD burner

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rod Speed
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Rod Speed

Looking at adding another one to my current Pioneer 109,
mainly so I have one in each of the main PCs.

Makes sense to have more than one brand/model.

I only care about what will burn almost any media, even
cheap and nasty media. I dont care much about burn
speeds, what I care about is a reliable burn on any
media without having to fart around doing test burns.

So that basically means a brand/model that has
decent firmware support into the future, and decent
performance with the current firmware too.

I mostly burn RWs, but do care about the R performance too.

What do people like currently, particularly
those with the same criteria ?
 
Rod said:
Looking at adding another one to my current Pioneer 109,
mainly so I have one in each of the main PCs.

Makes sense to have more than one brand/model.

I only care about what will burn almost any media, even
cheap and nasty media. I dont care much about burn
speeds, what I care about is a reliable burn on any
media without having to fart around doing test burns.

So that basically means a brand/model that has
decent firmware support into the future, and decent
performance with the current firmware too.

I mostly burn RWs, but do care about the R performance too.

What do people like currently, particularly
those with the same criteria ?
Click to expand...

LG GSA 4167
Even does DVDRAM
 
IMHO, reliable burns is all about NOT burning to cheal and nasty
media....why would anyone even bother with crap media?
 
Rod Speed committed to the eternal aether...:
Looking at adding another one to my current Pioneer 109,
mainly so I have one in each of the main PCs.

Makes sense to have more than one brand/model.

I only care about what will burn almost any media, even
cheap and nasty media. I dont care much about burn
speeds, what I care about is a reliable burn on any
media without having to fart around doing test burns.

So that basically means a brand/model that has
decent firmware support into the future, and decent
performance with the current firmware too.

I mostly burn RWs, but do care about the R performance too.

What do people like currently, particularly
those with the same criteria ?
Click to expand...

I have a sony dru-710a and a poineer (something). The sony is very noisy
when spinning, the poineer is much quieter (but still not quiet).
 
Biz said:
IMHO, reliable burns is all about NOT burning to cheal and nasty
media....why would anyone even bother with crap media?
Click to expand...

I didnt mean it like that. I meant that I want to be able to buy
the decent but cheap media and not have to fart around with
a burner thats fussy about the media it will burn reliably.
 
IMHO, reliable burns is all about NOT burning to cheal and nasty
I didnt mean it like that. I meant that I want to be able to buy
the decent but cheap media and not have to fart around with
a burner thats fussy about the media it will burn reliably.
Click to expand...

That is a problem for me. Whenever I find a decent and cheap media, it
becomes nasty on a next purchase of the same brand, a few months later. I
guess, it wasn't decent enough...
 
Peter wrote on [Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:30:46 -0400]:
That is a problem for me. Whenever I find a decent and cheap media, it
becomes nasty on a next purchase of the same brand, a few months later. I
guess, it wasn't decent enough...
Click to expand...

It's not just the brand, but the actual manufacturer. Often the brand
buys from the manuf. on spec at bulk rates then goes to another when the
next bid process comes up.
 
That is a problem for me. Whenever I find a decent and cheap media, it
becomes nasty on a next purchase of the same brand, a few months later. I
guess, it wasn't decent enough...
Click to expand...

Havent found that myself. Just one purchase wasnt
that great in the Pioneer 109, failed to burn reliably
at the outer edge. All the rest have been fine.

I did get the 109 because it had a reputation
for burning almost anything fine tho.
 
Rod Speed said:
Havent found that myself. Just one purchase wasnt
that great in the Pioneer 109, failed to burn reliably
at the outer edge. All the rest have been fine.

I did get the 109 because it had a reputation
for burning almost anything fine tho.
Click to expand...

The Pioneer drives *are* really good -- I think you just got some real
crap media that would have been unreliable in any burner.
 
The Pioneer drives *are* really good -- I think you just got some
real crap media that would have been unreliable in any burner.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was from one of those travelling market operations
and plenty of other said that their DVDs were hopeless.
 
Barry McCockiner said:
The Pioneer drives *are* really good -- I think you just got some real
crap media that would have been unreliable in any burner.
Click to expand...

By who's criteria ? Yours? The 109 was fine but the 110 was crap, with well
documented unresolved problems as far as burning a lot of 16x media at 16x.
The 111 is too new and firmware still immature.
 
Rod Speed said:
Looking at adding another one to my current Pioneer 109,
mainly so I have one in each of the main PCs.

Makes sense to have more than one brand/model.
Click to expand...

Yes, For a variety of reasons. I've found it very useful particularly when
you get a disc that's difficult to read in one drive it often can be read in
another.
I only care about what will burn almost any media, even
cheap and nasty media. I dont care much about burn
speeds, what I care about is a reliable burn on any
media without having to fart around doing test burns.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need a burner that doesn't totally rely on writing strategys
in firmware. Some drives such as BenQ have a learning mode for both known
and unknown media. After a few discs have been burned and learned you'll get
best possible writing strategy. Comes in very handy to get the best out of
mediocre media.
So that basically means a brand/model that has
decent firmware support into the future, and decent
performance with the current firmware too.
Click to expand...
I mostly burn RWs, but do care about the R performance too.
Click to expand...
What do people like currently, particularly
those with the same criteria ?
Click to expand...
BenQ 1640 or 1650 would be my recommendation. It will complement the 109
very well. Better with +R media than the P109. Learning ability to improve
write quality. Very well respected drives amongst enthusiasts.

The LG 4167 is not as good as the previous 4163B

Check out forums at www.cdfreaks.com
 
Saus29 said:
the NEC is best
Click to expand...

I also have an NEC 3520A amongst the various burners I have. Good burner but
official firmware updates are too few and infrequent IMO. Have to use
modified firmware to get rid of rip lock and also allow auto bitsetting of
+R media and then it's a great burner.
A positive though is NEC are fairly neutral with generally good support for
both dash/- and + plus media. It's also an excellent reader and can often
read badly scratched discs my other burners fail to read.
 
Looking at adding another one to my current Pioneer 109,
mainly so I have one in each of the main PCs.

Makes sense to have more than one brand/model.

I only care about what will burn almost any media, even
cheap and nasty media. I dont care much about burn
speeds, what I care about is a reliable burn on any
media without having to fart around doing test burns.

So that basically means a brand/model that has
decent firmware support into the future, and decent
performance with the current firmware too.

I mostly burn RWs, but do care about the R performance too.

What do people like currently, particularly
those with the same criteria ?
Click to expand...
BenQ DW1650 gets good reviews.

http://66.161.92.167/NewProducts/product.cfm?product=14
 
Groucho said:
By who's criteria ? Yours? The 109 was fine but the 110 was crap, with
well documented unresolved problems as far as burning a lot of 16x media
at 16x. The 111 is too new and firmware still immature.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I've got a 110 and have not had any problems whatsoever.
 
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