What brand of DVD writer should I buy?

purecomedy · Post by **purecomedy** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 5:01 pm

Looks like there is an LG (8X write for everything) and a Lite-On which will do 8X for DVD+R, but only 4X for DVD-R. Is only 4X for DVD-R a limitation that should make me go for the LG instead?

LiteOn is higher quality in my mind, but I'm wondering if there is any reason to buy the LG instead.

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 6:23 pm

liteon 851 is A NICE BURNER. I've owned 4 different dvdrw burners and it blows away the others.

It's very fast on reads, extremely fast on cdr's and is very functional as a dvdrw. I took out my liteon 52x cdrw because this was so vastly superior.

knightmare · Post by **knightmare** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 10:02 pm

nec, they make some models that are relabeled for different brands. I have a 4x nec, and a 4x tdk, and actually i prefer the nec. Newegg has a 8x nec', for about 120$ and they carry 8x dvd media, but depends if u need multiformats, +R & +RW is all i need.

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 10:34 pm

Originally posted by knightmare
nec, they make some models that are relabeled for different brands. I have a 4x nec, and a 4x tdk, and actually i prefer the nec. Newegg has a 8x nec', for about 120$ and they carry 8x dvd media, but depends if u need multiformats, +R & +RW is all i need.

I used the nec 1300a for quite some time. It was very reliable and an over-all good performer. I like the liteon's read speeds a TINY bit mroe and the cdr speed is amazing.

I havent tried the nec 2500, but I have read some good things about it.

purecomedy · Post by **purecomedy** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 1:46 am

I believe the CDR speed of the LiteOn is 40X so I'm not sure why you'd take out your 52X LiteOn CDRW drive for reason of speed.

Maybe the drive I'm looking at is different than the one you are talking about.

Evilone · Post by **Evilone** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 2:16 am

i got this Pioneer from newegg. Burns and reads everything just fine. no propblems out of it

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 3:15 am

Originally posted by purecomedy
I believe the CDR speed of the LiteOn is 40X so I'm not sure why you'd take out your 52X LiteOn CDRW drive for reason of speed.

Maybe the drive I'm looking at is different than the one you are talking about.

rated speed means little concerning actual speed. In theory the 52x liteon could burn that fast on a tiny portion of the disc, but would average much slower.

The mechanics on the dvdrw are so much better that I shave a minute off my burn times, even though I only use a 32x rated speed for the dvdrw. I burn at such a slow rate because I share my discs with quite a few people, some who have slower machines.

nepenthe · Post by **nepenthe** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 3:48 am

I like the Plextor 708. Aside from Mark's issue, it is a very solid drive and writes to certain DVD+R 4X media at 8X (Notably TDK and Memorex). Eventually, 8X media will be commonplace and less expensive, but computer purchases should be made on what you can do with it immediately.

EDIT>>>>

I wish to stress the importances of capabilities with the media lists. The latest Pioneer, the 107, claims to write at 8X but their is no readily available on its firmware list that can do so. The neck 1300 had the same issue at its inception with its media list. Thankfully, the firmware updates turned the sad sack 1300 into a great drive.

X and X are due out this year as well as dual layer drives. Again, it is why I stress what your drive can do for you right now.

david

Jamie_R · Post by **Jamie_R** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 7:44 am

a bud of mine just got the Plextor 8x - he hasn't said anything bad about it ... myself, i use the Pioneer A06 @ home and work - had absolutly no problems out of it at all ...

nepenthe · Post by **nepenthe** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 1:33 pm

Originally posted by Jamie_R
a bud of mine just got the Plextor 8x - he hasn't said anything bad about it ... myself, i use the Pioneer A06 @ home and work - had absolutly no problems out of it at all ...

The 106 is a great drive, however it is a bit antiquated by the recent 8X units and the excellent (and less expensive) nec 1300.

purecomedy · Post by **purecomedy** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 10:13 pm

Haha, you are guys are definitely making for interesting conversation. I still have not heard much about LG DVD burners vs. LiteOn DVD burners in this thread though. Hopefully a few more people will stop buy with recommendations or negatives to help make my decision easier.

The reason I have not mentioned Plextor is I figure I don't need that much quality. Seems like with these burners you don't want to spend too much money because you wait a year and they are so much faster.

Dunster · Post by **Dunster** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 10:17 pm

Purecomedy, I just bought the 4x Lite-On DVD writter. I like it so far. Runs great and burns great. I think Newegg has it for around $95 right now.

J-high · Post by **J-high** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 9:04 am

I agree with dunster I have a Lite-On 4x dual format dvd-rw and it works great and for the price you almost cant beat it..

So i would say go with Lite-On!

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 10:52 am

the liteon 411 is a piece of ship.

I owned one and a buddy of mine is still stuck with his. It has serious problems reading dvd movies, only completing the whole disc about half the time. I promptly sold it and am now using a liteon 851 without issues.

the nec 1300a is a very nice dvdrw. It was a workhorse that never had a problem reading anything and was well-built. The only downfall for it is that it'll only burn cdr's at 16x.

colour · Post by **colour** » Tue Feb 24, 2004 8:05 pm

i just bought the Sony DVD±RW DRU-530A locally for $160 but Sony's site has it for $150.

pretty much covers all formats except for DVD-RAM.

also theres a firmware update that allows DVD-R/RW 8x.

purecomedy · Post by **purecomedy** » Sun Feb 29, 2004 2:04 pm

Originally posted by zooner
the liteon 411 is a piece of ship.

I owned one and a buddy of mine is still stuck with his. It has serious problems reading dvd movies, only completing the whole disc about half the time. I promptly sold it and am now using a liteon 851 without issues.

the nec 1300a is a very nice dvdrw. It was a workhorse that never had a problem reading anything and was well-built. The only downfall for it is that it'll only burn cdr's at 16x.

It is the LiteOn 811 model that I'm looking at here.

Still don't understand why it would be able to write the DVD+R format at 8X, while DVD-R at 4X. Does that make any sense to anyone?