Which DVD writer to choose ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter come_mon_come_mon!
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come_mon_come_mon!

After 3 years of torturing, my LG 4167B DVD writer could no longer
recognize DVD content without many retries. Now I intend to purchase
another DVD writer for replacement. SATA or IDE interface were OK for
me although I prefer SATA type for performance issue.

My PC used Gigabyte GA-8S655FX-L motherboard and OS installed was
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2.

The manual has below description related to SATA:

- Onboard SiS 964
- 2 Serial ATA connectors in 150 MB/s operation mode
- Supports Disk striping (RAID0) or DISK Mirroring (RAID1)
- Support JBOD function
- Supports UDMA up to 150 MB/sec
- UDMA and PIO Modes
- Up to 2 SATA Device

I remembered SATA was set to IDE mode in BIOS when I installed my SATA
II HDD.

Could anyone comment on below DVD models, which one would you
recommend:

Samsung TSH 653 SATA, TS H652 IDE
Lite-On DH20A4P IDE, DH-20A4H IDE, LH-18A3L SATA, iHAS120 SATA,
iHAS220 SATA
Pioneer DVR-116 IDE, DVR-216 SATA, DVR-S16 SATA, DVR-A16FX
SONY DRU-V200A IDE, DRU-V200S SATA
ASUS DRW2014S1 IDE, DRW2014S1T IDE, DRW2014L1T IDE, DRW2014LIT SATA,
DRW20B1ST SATA, DRW20B1LT SATA
LG GH22-NP IDE, GH20-NS SATA, GH-22NS SATA, GH-22LS SATA
Philips SPD2517BM SATA, SPD2517BD SATA
HP DVD1635i IDE

I use my new DVD writer heavily on video conversion. Those videos
(20-40 chapters) will be burned from my Pioneer DVR-550H-s recorder. I
do the conversion everyday. That is, 20-40 video clips will be
extracted from DVD-RW (or DVD+RW) disc everyday and converted to mpg
files using TSUNAMI MPEG DVD EasyPack. I seldom playback DVD directly
from DVD drive and I don't burn DVD using my DVD drive often i.e. less
than 1 disc burnt everyday on average.

I prefer SATA DVD writer because I think IDE interface will fade out
in coming motherboards and I think my Gigabyte motherboard will "die"
before the new DVD writer I buy soon. Besides, I found my current IDE
LG drive occupied all the CPU time sometimes during video coversion
from DVD+/-RW. I hope that a new SATA interface DVD writer will avoid
my PC from being "hung up" when it's working on video conversion.

PS: Due to my bad experience with my current LG DVD writer, I prefer
other brands of DVD writers. Yet, if you think LG drive quality have
no problem so, please still suggest which model you prefer.

Tks!
 
From your list either LG or Pioneer. The rest are junk especially phillips
and samsung.

come_mon_come_mon! said:
After 3 years of torturing, my LG 4167B DVD writer could no longer
recognize DVD content without many retries. Now I intend to purchase
another DVD writer for replacement. SATA or IDE interface were OK for
me although I prefer SATA type for performance issue.

My PC used Gigabyte GA-8S655FX-L motherboard and OS installed was
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2.

The manual has below description related to SATA:

- Onboard SiS 964
- 2 Serial ATA connectors in 150 MB/s operation mode
- Supports Disk striping (RAID0) or DISK Mirroring (RAID1)
- Support JBOD function
- Supports UDMA up to 150 MB/sec
- UDMA and PIO Modes
- Up to 2 SATA Device

I remembered SATA was set to IDE mode in BIOS when I installed my SATA
II HDD.

Could anyone comment on below DVD models, which one would you
recommend:

Samsung TSH 653 SATA, TS H652 IDE
Lite-On DH20A4P IDE, DH-20A4H IDE, LH-18A3L SATA, iHAS120 SATA,
iHAS220 SATA
Pioneer DVR-116 IDE, DVR-216 SATA, DVR-S16 SATA, DVR-A16FX
SONY DRU-V200A IDE, DRU-V200S SATA
ASUS DRW2014S1 IDE, DRW2014S1T IDE, DRW2014L1T IDE, DRW2014LIT SATA,
DRW20B1ST SATA, DRW20B1LT SATA
LG GH22-NP IDE, GH20-NS SATA, GH-22NS SATA, GH-22LS SATA
Philips SPD2517BM SATA, SPD2517BD SATA
HP DVD1635i IDE

I use my new DVD writer heavily on video conversion. Those videos
(20-40 chapters) will be burned from my Pioneer DVR-550H-s recorder. I
do the conversion everyday. That is, 20-40 video clips will be
extracted from DVD-RW (or DVD+RW) disc everyday and converted to mpg
files using TSUNAMI MPEG DVD EasyPack. I seldom playback DVD directly
from DVD drive and I don't burn DVD using my DVD drive often i.e. less
than 1 disc burnt everyday on average.

I prefer SATA DVD writer because I think IDE interface will fade out
in coming motherboards and I think my Gigabyte motherboard will "die"
before the new DVD writer I buy soon. Besides, I found my current IDE
LG drive occupied all the CPU time sometimes during video coversion
from DVD+/-RW. I hope that a new SATA interface DVD writer will avoid
my PC from being "hung up" when it's working on video conversion.

PS: Due to my bad experience with my current LG DVD writer, I prefer
other brands of DVD writers. Yet, if you think LG drive quality have
no problem so, please still suggest which model you prefer.

Tks!

--
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Using my technical prowess and computer abilities to answer questions
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Regards Tony... Making usenet better for everyone everyday
 
I prefer SATA DVD writer because I think IDE interface will fade out
in coming motherboards and I think my Gigabyte motherboard will "die"
before the new DVD writer I buy soon. Besides, I found my current IDE
LG drive occupied all the CPU time sometimes during video coversion
from DVD+/-RW. I hope that a new SATA interface DVD writer will avoid
my PC from being "hung up" when it's working on video conversion.

If merely reading a DVD disk with the LG drive sucks up all the CPU
time, it means that the motherboard IDE interface is running in PIO
mode instead of DMA mode.
 
After 3 years of torturing, my LG 4167B DVD writer could no longer
recognize DVD content without many retries. Now I intend to purchase
another DVD writer for replacement. SATA or IDE interface were OK for
me although I prefer SATA type for performance issue.
My PC used Gigabyte GA-8S655FX-L motherboard and OS installed was
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2.
- Up to 2 SATA Device

I remembered SATA was set to IDE mode in BIOS when I installed my SATA
II HDD.

Stick with LG.

--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
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http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa
 
OK, your needs are a bit unusual. You need a heavy use READER and a
moderate use writer. I'd suggest you choose any of the burners on your
list, based on which one has the fastest DVD-RW read speed at the lowest
price? Expect this one to wear out quickly. None of the drives on your
list are likely to stand up to heavy use for an extended period of time,
though the Pioneer (likely the most expensive) will probably last the
longest. Not because it's more expensive. Because Pioneer are better made
than any other brand on your list.

For your system, I'd probably get two burners. One fast reader, and one
writer. Use a Pioneer as a writer. Use anything else as a disposable
"READ" drive. -Dave- ÁôÂóQ¤Þ¥Î¤å¦r -

- Åã¥Ü³Q¤Þ¥Î¤å¦r -

You reminded me I have an old SONY DVD-ROM drive. May be I can use
that old stuff.
 
If merely reading a DVD disk with the LG drive sucks up all the CPU
time, it means that the motherboard IDE interface is running in PIO
mode instead of DMA mode.







- Åã¥Ü³Q¤Þ¥Î¤å¦r -

I have below BIOS settings:

Sis Serial ATA Controller [Enabled/Disabled], Enabled set.
Sis Serial ATA Mode [IDE/RAID], IDE choosed. I must use this ATA mode
setting otherwise my SATA II HDD won't be recognized by Windows.

Besides, Serial ATA RAID Quick User¡¦s Guide have below
recommendations:

For the best performance and reliability, please read the following
suggestions.
1. In serial ATA port, use Native serial ATA drives. Parallel ATA to
Serial
ATA converter board is NOT suggested.
2. In parallel ATA port, use ATA 66/100/133 hard drives
3. Use the same model hard drives.
4. If you have only two serial ATA drives, the auto-configure function
will
assign each on a different channel as a master drive. Using only two
parallel ATA drives to create a RAID array is NOT suggested. It might
decrease performance.
5. Always use 80-conductor cables.
6. We strongly recommend you should use ¡§DMA¡¨ transfer mode.
7. The recommended block size is 64K when creating RAID 0 and
RAID 0+1.
8. The best selecting sequence of creating RAID 0+1 is Primary
Master(1) -> Secondary Master(3) -> Primary Slave(2) ->
Secondary Slave(4).

I don't follow the setting because I don't configure RAID.
 
Andy said:
If merely reading a DVD disk with the LG drive sucks up all the CPU
time, it means that the motherboard IDE interface is running in PIO
mode instead of DMA mode.

Hello,

I have an LG DVD burner too. Is there any way to switch it back to DMA
mode??

Thanks,

Shaun
 
Hello,

I have an LG DVD burner too. Is there any way to switch it back to DMA
mode??

To check the transfer mode of the IDE interface, open Windows Device
Manager / IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers / Properties of the IDE Channel
that the DVD drive is connected to.
 
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