Buying DVD/CD ROM

[Mr Manifesto]

I'm buying a new DVD/CD ROM, possibly a burner (I don't have one at the moment, luddite that I am) and was wondering which companies make the best ones. My current one is Samsung, and I suspect it's crap. Any ideas?

I only want it for playing video games and for recording stuff like MadTracker and Blender.

 

[garys_2k]

Good thread. Just about every burner I've bought seems to die within a year, and the media they write often has errors and is unreadable. My present 52X burner will not create readable media if run faster than 16X.

Which are the good ones?

 

[asthmatic camel]

I bought a Pioneer DVR-106D about a year ago and have no complaints at all. Reads and writes both DVD- & DVD+ as well as CDs. It's not the fastest drive in the world but, so far it hasn't produced any coasters. It's also remarkably quiet; my Samsung CD Writer rattles the windows, I won't be buying another!

As it's now a bit long in the tooth it's affordable at around $80.
Might be worth a look.

 

[FFed]

I just bought the Liteon 1213S DVD burner. I did a bit of research before I bought it and the testing I read said it was error free and it worked really good with various software. It was $129.00 Canadian and so far it has been working great.
I also bought an LG DVD burner for my brother last spring and he has used it quite a lot with no problems. My CD-RW burner is an LG and it is only a cheapo one that I bought awhile ago and it is still going strong. It has lasted much longer then my previous twice as expensive yamaha burner which died shortly after the year warranty expired.

 

[richardm]

Mine's an NEC one. I've had it about a month, and found it very reliable, fast and quiet. I haven't produced a coaster yet, so I'd definitely recommend it. Since I've only had it a few weeks I can't comment on the long-term reliability, but NEC stuff has been fine for me in the past.

As bought, it's just a bare drive, so although you won't need any drivers you will need some writing software for DVDs, but you can download a fair number of them free from the 'net. If you're feeling flush, the new Nero suite is very good.

 

[evildave]

Well, my recommendation is to get one cheap.

DVD Burners from Pricewatch

If you get a DVD burner, get DVD+RW or DVD+/-RW.

As you can see from the link, these can be had so cheaply that if you DO fry it, you can replace it for another $45. At that price, buy one and three spares, and you still won't pay as much as going to Comp*USA or a similar retailer for a "quality" DVD burner (and yes, all DVD burners read and burn CDR/CDRWs, too).

The first dozen or so hits are for external enclosures, which I also recommend. If it goes "bamf", you just take apart the box and put another one in without opening up your computer. More importantly, you can share the same burner with multiple machines (including your notebook), and there's no question about whether you're putting the last straw on the power supply's capacity, or that extra calorie of heat that will do it in.

While I'm on the external drive rant, be sure and get yourself an external USB2 or firewire hard disk while you're at it, and backup your computer's hard disk at least weekly, or whenever you do some significant work. This is faster and more convenient than DVD or CDR media, so you will actually do it.

 

[El Greco]

CD Freaks is the definitive place for reviews, opinions, firmware upgrades etc. The forum is very informative too. But you have to do a lot of reading. Back when I needed a DVD recorder I got *two* Nec 2500 single layer recorders because I read over there that they are essentially the same as the dual layer recorder 2510 and they could be flashed to be dual layer with a modified firmware. So it happened, and I now have two dual layer NECs. I'll buy a new recorder soon because I want to burn audio CDs over 90 mins (the NECs can't do this), and I'll make sure I'll read everything at CD Freaks before I decide.

 

[a_unique_person]

A surprising number of burners are really just Lite-Ons internally. You may as well just buy a Lite-On as anything else. I have found they work fine. On the other hand, my Teac CD burner, (admittedly bought years ago when they first came out, it was only a 2X), was no good, and my Samsung DVD reader doesn't work too well.

 

[Benguin]

I've had Lite on, panasonic, samsung all been fine. A creative failed after only about 18 months so I'm down on them.

If you have a look on Amazon's site and eBuyer's site (and dabs.com I think) you'll see user reviews of hardware. I find them a useful guide, though really they only tell you what didn't make it through the first fortnight, or what had the world's worst driver problem etc.