Who makes the best DVD burner?

[Belgarrath]

I have a Plextor PX-708UF (external) DVD burner, but it's only single layer. I want to get a double layer burner. Any suggestions?

[superbo3]

dunno about best but NEC makes great dvd burners and they are very cheap http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Tedski]

Belgarrath said:
I have a Plextor PX-708UF (external) DVD burner, but it's only single layer. I want to get a double layer burner. Any suggestions?



Best suggestion - wait a litttle while, the availability of media is somewhat sketchy and still relatively expensive. As to 'what is the best', well common opinion tends to favour Plextor generally, and there's no doubt they make good drives. I personally would question whether the additional you pay for a Plextor is actually worth it. Sony, Pioneer, and others also make very good drives these days and do not cost as much. I'm not totally current with what is around at the moment, but I would also suggest seeing if there's going to be drives that do dual layer in both formats, i.e. + and - R. (There may actually be some by now, but I've not checked in a while).

[superbo3]

the NEC drives got that can do both + and - in dual layer too 2 of my friends has a NEC dvd burner they work great plus i heard they got good reviews at toms hardware thou i havnt checked myself http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[IwantMORE]

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2260&p=2

http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[superbo3]

nd NEC's ND-3500A came out on top with their ability to burn any type of media almost flawlessly as well as burn 2.4X dual layer media at 4.0X speeds (DVR-108D & ND-3500A). Our graphical presentations show that these three drives have the best read and write performance as far as DVD+/-R/RW media goes, and also top the list in dual layer write performance. The ND-3500A does have the highest CD read and right speeds by a hair, with LG's GSA-4160B coming in at second resulting in read/write times of 32.80X/29.15X, respectively.



nice didnt know they were that good considering they are so very cheap too :P

[8IronBob]

I heard about all sorts of different brands, Plextor, NEC, Lite-On, HP, Samsung, etc... However, as far as the best, from what I've seen, it would probably have to be NECs, even tho all the mentioned brands seem to be nice, and the one on my Gateway, which is only an 8x burner for DVD +/- RW (2.4x for DL DVD+R), and now the 16x is the norm (remember I got this PC back in November, and 16x was not as mainstream as it is now). Looking through the hardware specs on the System Information, it seems like this has a HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4120B, not sure if it specified the true manufacturer of it. However, I have yet to see how well it'll burn a DVD when it comes to recording Live TV from my TV Tuner. I'll give that a try later on down the road...

[Tedski]

superbo3 said:
the NEC drives got that can do both + and - in dual layer too 2 of my friends has a NEC dvd burner they work great plus i heard they got good reviews at toms hardware thou i havnt checked myself http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



I'm talking about doing both formats when recording a Dual Layer disc. As far as I know, there aren't any at the moment, Dual Layer is still a +R exclusive. I may be wrong, and would be interested to see who is making them.

[Jeff]

My Lite-On dual layer DVD+/-RW 8x burner works for me. No problems with it. Cost me $130 CDN back in August. Now it's $80 CDN.

[KillerByte]

Tedski said:
Best suggestion - wait a litttle while, the availability of media is somewhat sketchy and still relatively expensive.



Indeed. I'm going to stick with my single layer DVD writer for a while because of the reasons stated above and the fact that I haven't had any need to use media capable of storing more than 4.7Gb yet.

Single layer DVD+Rs are getting cheaper all the time, so while this trend continues I'm happy to stay one step behind the technology.

[Jeff]

The dual layer discs (3 pack) come at a price of $40 CDN here. I do have a use for them, but I'm going to wait until the Blue Ray burners come out until I can do some real damage.

[JimboC]

I've got a Memorex drive and it's been fantastic for me. It even views movies that crap out in my DVD player connected to my television.

Haven't seen and dual-layer media in the stores as yet. I was going to order some online to see how they are, but decided to wait until I can get a few at a store without paying an arm and a leg.

[Jeff]

They are about $15 per disc at my local shop. It's highway robbery, but that's what other stores ask too. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/redface.gif

[Belgarrath]

KillerByte said:

Tedski said:
Best suggestion - wait a litttle while, the availability of media is somewhat sketchy and still relatively expensive.



Indeed. I'm going to stick with my single layer DVD writer for a while because of the reasons stated above and the fact that I haven't had any need to use media capable of storing more than 4.7Gb yet.

Single layer DVD+Rs are getting cheaper all the time, so while this trend continues I'm happy to stay one step behind the technology.



But I can't fit a movie on a single layer disc.

[KillerByte]

Belgarrath said:
But I can't fit a movie on a single layer disc.



Yes you can. Use DVD Shrink (http://www.dvdshrink.org). http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Tedski]

KillerByte said:

Belgarrath said:
But I can't fit a movie on a single layer disc.



Yes you can. Use DVD Shrink (http://www.dvdshrink.org). http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif



Also have a look around http://www.dvdrhelp.com as there should be lots of info about how to go about it there. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[8IronBob]

Well, I really dunno if this is necessarily the best on the planet, but the HP 16x DL DVD +/- RW w/ LightScribe seems to be quite interesting. I've seen that particular drive sell for under a $100 price tag amazingly. I was quite surprised, considering that you would think that extra "digital-edge labeling" technology of theirs would break the bank on you, and here it is, about the same price as a standard 16x DL DVD burner. That seems well worth the try, so I decided to buy that drive,and a second Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM.

The two drives on my Gateway are okay, the first one being an HLDS 8x DVD +/- RW w/ DL support, and the second drive being a Lite-On 48x CD-ROM. However, I decided on these two drives, because my family wanted a DVD burner for the older PC (the Compaq Presario, which only has a CD-burner, and he wanted to go to the next level), and I'm lending my 8x DVD burner to them, and the CD-ROM, well, that's all well and good, but I feel that a second DVD-ROM is the way to go, especially for copying from DVD to DVD, CD to DVD, DVD to SVCD (I believe that can be done), so on, so forth.

Wondering if an HP DVD-burner would work with a Gateway PC, I hope that this little PC won't get all shook up at me for giving it two better DVD drives that I bought yesterday. I know the Lite-On DVD-ROM will work since that's the same manufacturer of the CD-ROM that's already in there. I have no idea who that HLDS company is (the manufacturer of the 8x DL DVD +/- RW), but it doesn't sound like anybody that I would trust to a good rig like this, I mean, it's a good drive, but just need to move on.

[DudeMiester]

imho Plextor is the best, I'm going to be getting one pretty soon. A while back I read the most ridiculously thorough and complete review I have ever seen for the Plextor and other double layer 16x DVD writers, and Plextor came out on top.

btw, it was shocking how huge this review was, 50 full pages I kid you not! They tested with like 24 different specailty disks designed to simulated various errors, about a dozen specailty programs to test at least 20 different parameters of the drives, and even more I can't remember. It was insane!

[8IronBob]

DudeMiester said:
imho Plextor is the best, I'm going to be getting one pretty soon. A while back I read the most ridiculously thorough and complete review I have ever seen for the Plextor and other double layer 16x DVD writers, and Plextor came out on top.

btw, it was shocking how huge this review was, 50 full pages I kid you not! They tested with like 24 different specailty disks designed to simulated various errors, about a dozen specailty programs to test at least 20 different parameters of the drives, and even more I can't remember. It was insane!



Okay, I see that Plextor has a DVD burner at Best Buy for under $100 after rebate. Of course, I should've known how popular Plextor really was. I knew about HP and Lite-On already, and I hear that those two brands were quite grand as well. However, as much as Plextor is concerned, I wish that I knew how popular they were and award-winning. I haven't seen them sell at those "Big Box" stores that much until I saw it advertise at Best Buy just yesterday. I would buy one over the Internet, but the way credit card security can be over the Internet, I thought that I'd rather play it safe.

[DudeMiester]

Yeah, well when I say the Plextor came out on top, it wasn't a huge margin, but it never is really. The best thing about Plextors are the extra features, like being able to burn 900MB onto a 700MB CD-R, things like that.

[Airtraffic]

DudeMiester said:
Yeah, well when I say the Plextor came out on top, it wasn't a huge margin, but it never is really. The best thing about Plextors are the extra features, like being able to burn 900MB onto a 700MB CD-R, things like that.


Wouldn't that have more to do with the burning software than the writer?

Anyway,i have a pioneer 16x +/-R writer that kicks ass,haven't made one coster in about 50 movie copys,it must be duel layered because it has burt some big assed flicks...not sure the model but it was only around a 100 bucks CDN.

{edit} i just checked...it's a Pioneer DVR-109 according to device manager

[8IronBob]

Well, I have yet to replace my existing optical drives with both the HP 640i DL 16x DVD Burner w/ LightScribe and a Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM, which will replace the 8x DL DVD Burner and a 48x CD-ROM (because my father wanted my DVD Burner to replace his CD burner with our older PC). I am really surprised to learn about what LightScribe can do, however, I don't see that HP has more LightScribe-enabled media than their CD-R/RWs. I was hoping that they'd make DVDs with that as well, which was rather shocking. However, a good VCD or Program CD-ROM with LightScribe-etched labels would be rather cool to see happen. I know that the LightScribe is really an unnecessary feature, but it would be a rather cool feature, especially since I got the burner for under a $100 price tag. How does the HP LightScribe DVD Burner rate as opposed to the Plextor? I bet that one can't be that far behind in ratings.