DVD burner suggestions

[Mïcrösöül°V³]

I want to buy one from newegg, but I am not real sure what to look for in a DVD burner (dual layer, 4x, sata, bla bla insert chinese writing here). I can spend up to 90-100 bucks or so for it. Anyone here have a burner or can recommend one of the ones at newegg? I just dont know anything about the best dvd burner. thanks :)

[Virtualbody1234]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152053

[lynx]

If you insist on SATA and newegg, it seems your options are a both limited and expensive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=365%3A6653&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=384%3A6820&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=5&Submit=Property

There are other SATA offerings (I believe clocker favours Lite-On if I remember rightly) but it seems newegg don't have them.

Otherwise, I'd go with VB's suggestion.

[Peerzy]

NEC3540 or something like that, i got it about a month ago. 400 burns later and not one coaster, amazingly fast and was only £35 ($70)

[clocker]

If you insist on SATA and newegg, it seems your options are a both limited and expensive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=365%3A6653&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=384%3A6820&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=5&Submit=Property

There are other SATA offerings (I believe clocker favours Lite-On if I remember rightly)
No, I have the 16x Plextor.
Dunno who else even makes SATA optical drives besides them.

[lynx]

If you insist on SATA and newegg, it seems your options are a both limited and expensive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=365%3A6653&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=384%3A6820&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=5&Submit=Property

There are other SATA offerings (I believe clocker favours Lite-On if I remember rightly)
No, I have the 16x Plextor.
Dunno who else even makes SATA optical drives besides them.My mistake.

I thought I had seen one from MSI, but then discovered it is just a combo. :spits:

[Mïcrösöül°V³]

so, is the one that VB recommended as good as say, the $80 dollar ones? I just thought that $47 bucks was a little cheap for a DVD burner, but hell, what do I know, lol. Theres all this dual layer and -R and +R and it confuses me a little when it comes to buying the best hardware. Is the SATA interface much improvment over IDE when it comes to a DVD burner? and is it worth the extra money, or will the one VB pointed out be just as good as the expensive ones? My pc is a 3.3ghz HT 1 gig ram, tho I dont know if that really matters too much. Thanks for all the help guys :) I just dont know what improvements you get by spending more money or what is complete nonsense and a waste of money.

*EDIT* oh yea, how long on average does it take to burn an AVERAGE sized DVD at 16x?

*EDIT 2* also, how about blank DVD's to use in the burner. There is seemingly hundreds of choices (brands, speeds, etc). Which brand of media plays the best in most (if not all) household DVD players?

[muchspl3]

nec is the best all around burner, you just can't beat it for quailty and price

[S!X]

Micro, are you really wanting to get a SATA burner? Cuz this 1 is nice for the $

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047

[micolithe]

Get a NEC 16x burner. It's really nice and is relatively quiet.

[muchspl3]

*EDIT 2* also, how about blank DVD's to use in the burner. There is seemingly hundreds of choices (brands, speeds, etc). Which brand of media plays the best in most (if not all) household DVD players?
I have never had a problem with media with my nec, I always get the cheapest I can find.
r+ or r- doean't matter either although if your stand alone player might prefer one over the other

mine only burns at 8x and takes about 15 minuets, 4x takes about a half hour so I assume 16x would be 6~7 minutes

[Virtualbody1234]

16x media is quite rare. As is Dual Layer which is quite expensive. There are tools like DVD Shrink to fit movies onto 4.7 GB media so you can avoid the expensive Dual Layer media.

The NEC is probably your best choice unless you absolutely need SATA.

-R is the most common with +R close behind.

[Mïcrösöül°V³]

Thanks everyone for the info. I only mentioned SATA because my mobo has it built in and wasnt sure if there was any reason to use it (I do use 1 slot for a SATA HDD that I have) I will give the NEC a go, and just use IDE, as the SATA drives are over or close to $100, and this drive is pretty cheap. I have no problem spending $100 bucks for it, but if this will do basically the same thing, well.........duh.

@VB, newegg has quite a selection of 16X media, although its a little bit pricey, but not unbearable. (ie: 50 cds for about $38 or so-ish) :) Thanks for the help, as always, you guys are great.

[motov600]

go for the pioneer 106 or 109

[lynx]

go for the pioneer 106 or 109
Hello moto. Where have you been for the last 12 months? The 106 has been out of production at least that long.

109? Good choice, but slower and more expensive than the NEC.

[motov600]

hello lynx

i have the 106 and the 109
the reason i prefer the 106 is because it allows me to burn at speeds 1x and 2x
with the 109 the lowest speed is 4x
the nec looks and sounds good however what is its compatiblity like with dvd-r media?
i have always found the pioneer dvd writers to be very reliable although come to think of it i havent tried any other brand writers.

[micolithe]

the NEC has great compatability for me. I have yet to find a DVD-R or DVD+R that doesn't work with it.

[lynx]

Oops, missed your reply moto.

Same here, I've only had one coaster from my NEC, and that was a visibly faulty disk. Actually, I can't comment on DVD+R, I've never bought one.

Mine's the 3500, and with tweaked firmware I can burn some 8x disks at 16x without any problems too. Don't want to do too many in quick succession though, they get a little warm. :rolleyes:

[Mïcrösöül°V³]

I will be ordering the NEC tomorrow. :)

[atiVidia]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047

:)

[Mïcrösöül°V³]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047

:)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152053
I will get this one cuz it matches my color scheme :) Its the same, just silver

[colonblow87]

If you get the NEC you should check out the forum at CD Freaks that deals with the NEC burners. They have modded firmwares that in most cases will burn 4x and 8x disks at higher speeds. They also have a string about which kind of media works best with the original firmware as opposed to the modded firmware.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86

[Peerzy]

The NEC he's getting burns at 16X anyway.

[muchspl3]

The NEC he's getting burns at 16X anyway.
thats not what hes talking about
the modified firmware makes it poss to burn 4x media at 8x and some 8x media at 16x

[Peerzy]

Ahhh okay, although 8X media is cheap enough now, infact i recently wanted to get some 4X media for my XBox and couldn't find the ones i wanted, so had to settle for the slightly more expensive (Read £2 more {$4}) media.

I'd rather keep the offical firmware incase i start to find problems in the future.

[colonblow87]

The NEC does burn at 16x, but only with certain media. Surely, it will burn 16x rated media at 16x, but it won't necessarily burn 8x rated media at 16x. This is where the CD Freaks forum comes in handy. The lower rated media is older and the retailers want to get it off their shelves so they will discount it. It does make a difference which media you buy. The modded firmware will speed up this older media. It's worth a look anyway.

[Peerzy]

Some very cheap media i brought about a month ago was rated as 8X (on the website and written on the disc) yet it burnt at 16X faultlessly, although it was handy, i would still like to have the official firmware as i've had issues with burners a year or so after i brought them. Just me tho.

[muchspl3]

I flashed my 2510a to a hacked firm the day I instaled it, before I burned my first dvd :lol:

[lynx]

I flashed my 2510a to a hacked firm the day I instaled it, before I burned my first dvd :lol:
I waited at least a week. :ph34r: