Best DVD Burner

[Lid]

Hi im looking at buying a cheap DVD burner about £30 - £45, ive been looking around at them and found a few ideas but cant decide which is best cos they all seem pretty similar so just wondered if anyone could recommend one.
These are some of the possible drives:

LiteOn SOHW-1673S-01C 16x16x
NEC 3520 16x16
Samsung 16X TS-H522

Ive read a review on Toms hardware which is a bit out of date which said the NEC ND 3500A was fastest at burning DL and that LiteOn and Samsung were slightly slower but very reliable, but these were slightly older models so dont know if anything has chnaged.

Im pretty sure all three are excellent drives so ill probably just buy which ever is cheapest but if anyone can tell me if one is better than the other or if there is a good drive i havent listed that would be great.

Thanks very much
Lid[CYM]

[TheTrout]

I've had plenty of makes now, including Pioneer, Liteon, samsung and NEC. The NEC is by far the best one I've had for performance, reliabilty, and speed. I can't remember the last time it made a "coaster".

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=6093890173&action=c2VsZWN0X3Byb2R1Y3Rfb3ZlcnZpZXc=&product_uid=83149

[Zeph]

I love my NEC 3520A, it rox :)

[Soulari-]

NEC ND-3500 or the 3520 seems popular.

[Zeph]

Only difference between 3500 and 3520 is that 3520 is Dual Layer, isnt it? If so, better to go for the 3520.

[Hades]

i have a lite on but my fkng burn program makes failers not the burner :( i have dual layer but dont use it. :)

[TheTrout]

i have a lite on but my fkng burn program makes failers not the burner :( i have dual layer but dont use it. :)


This day and age, it's a very slim chance thats its the software thats causing it to fail. It's more likely to be the Media (CD/DVDS) or even the Liteon itself (I had one and it was by far the worst drive i've ever had for media related problems). There are quite a few firmware upgrades for these drives, but they are used AT YOUR OWN RISK (IE you can f**k the drive completely if you get it wrong)

You'll find more info about firmware upgrades here - http://www.liteonit.com/ODD/English/e_downloads/e_firmware_dvd%20rw.asp

Note the fact that most of the Firmware upgrades are for "Match more Media"

And also this might apply to you as well -

Recently, there have been a lot of users who failed to burn disk after upgrade Windows XP from SP1 to SP2, which is due to the upgrade of Windows XP SP2 caused the compatibility problem with the burning software. If the NERO burning software that came with the burner (CD-RW, COMBO, or DVD RW drives), version lower than 6.3.1.20, please update to the latest version available at NERO official website. For further information, please refer to http://www.nero.com/en/632011181528025.html

[Towser]

1 X Pioneer 108 + 1 X Nero = Mucho happiness :)

[Soulari-]

I think his burn failures are caused by illegal software. Some small things may not work properly and make some errors.
I got that twice.
The cd and dvd became totally useless... Can't even view it in explorer.

[Snader]

I'm happy with my LG

I had a LG CD/RW burner was perfect...
And now I've got the DVD/RW Burner also from LG

[Afrodo]

I've got a Pioneer DVDRom and a CDRW, dunno what make, but neither will open/eject a CD :(

I'm just gonna buy a DVDRW and replace one. Probably an NEC going on the recomms above

[Lid]

Well i just ordered my NEC 5200A from ebuyer for about £41 including P+P so i will let you know how it all goes and if i have any problems with it.

Reply to snader, i have an LG DVD drive and an LG CDRW and they both work great and i have had them for ages, but couldnt find many DVDRW byt them so thought id go with the NEC instead :)

Thanx for all the replies :)

[BulletMagnet]

I love my NEC 3520A, it rox :)

Right, I've ordered one of these.
What are best progs to make movie DVD's?

[TheTrout]

Everyone likes different programs, but for converting Avi's (XviD and DivX) I use WinDvd Creator 2. It's never let me down yet, where as a lot of others have. For copying normal DVD disks I just stick to Nero, and for Backing up my DVD collection that have that nasty copy protection on, I use slysoft's AnyDVD and CloneDVD 2 (You have to use both in conjuction). I get the results I desire with this mix of programs :)

[Lid]

Ive had my NEC burner a few weeks now thanx to ebuyers great delivery :) i payed for super saver delivery cos im cheap and the upgraded me and it arrived the next day :) (thankyou ebuyer)

I havent had any problems with it, it seems to work great any programs ive used to burn with nero and alcohol mainly and ive tried movie dvd's games etc and it works great so its highly recommended from me.

[BulletMagnet]

thanks guys

[geordiedmw]

bullett fro backing up your originalls use dvddecryptor and iso shrink
both available free from www.dvdrhelp.com.

use decryptor first if its a single layer disk 4.5gb or less oyu iso read to your hard drivve then iso write to your disk easy peasy

if its dual layers you open with dvdshrink this will allow you to shrink the movie to 4.5gb or less and then use nero to burn the files to your disk.

[BulletMagnet]

ta geordie