DVD±RW Dual Layer burner opinions

[Tobeman]

In the final stages of building my new PC, and I'm after a new burner (my last one is ivory coloured, and only single layer, time for a new one!). I'd be happy to pay for a Plextor if I knew that Blu-Ray and HD-DVD weren't on the horizon, so I don't feel like spending that much now and again later.

So, all the rest are around the £30ish mark, what do you guys recommend? I was looking at the NEC as I saw an older predecessor of the current model available get very good reviews

But, after your opinions

[Funkstar]

Iæm a fan of the Pioneer drives, always have been. Never had a problem with them and i've owned 3 different models now. Also got 3 of the new ones at work in a duplicator system.

[dave87]

I've got a sony that would be at the top end of your price range (in retail form anyway) and its been excellent.

Dave

[mrbanana]

I've had Pioneer drives and NEC drives. They are both good. I don't think it matters these days which one you choose, so long as the drive's been out a while and the manufacturers have had a chance to kill the bugs.

Your main problem will be the kind of discs you use.

Some drives work better with one kind of dye, others work better with another.

The guys on this forum are very knowledgable: http://forum.rpc1.org/viewforum.php?f=2.

Remember if you get a brand new drive you're at the mercy of the manufacturers. They decide which discs you can use and the speed you can burn them.

If the drive's been out a month or two, and the manufacturer have released a firmware upgrade then people on that forum can reverse engineer them and remove the rip locks, add new discs to the drive's list, and allow you to burn some discs at faster speeds.

As for discs SVP has some fantastic 8X Verbatim discs at the moment which uses the Taiyo Yuden dye.

DV 3309. Search for it on http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/

Plus if you have any problems at all, just send the discs back at their expense, even your coasters, and they'll replace them no questions asked.

[unreal]

NEC gets my vote, eventhough I have the good old Plextor. There isn't really much priority over it IMO unless you prey over the seconds lost in a slightly slower burn or something

[csi_grissom]

Plus if you have any problems at all, just send the discs back at their expense, even your coasters, and they'll replace them no questions asked.

err i dont think so, i never known svp to do that one, if u open a pack and the 1st 2 or 3 are duff they will do it but if u just send a few coasters back they wont replace disk by disk, i havent seen anyone do this, u cant just moan cause 1 or 2 disks die, theres too many idiots out there who dont know how to copy and burn dvds to allow that.
i been dealing with svp for years and they are quite strict on things like that, but the verbs are the best 8x out there right now about £6.49 a pack of 25.

right now the pioneer 110d is cheap enough, make sure u update the firmware the early ones were bag of ****e, since the last firmware they been a lot better, or u can try the LG writer i use them as well and there just as good.

[autopilot]

Another vote of the NEC. But to be honest, there is not that much difference in any of them these days. Don't waste to much time working out which is best, they will all do the job well. Some might seem faster on paper, but there are so many factors they seem to average out when you concider things like read speed and different types of media. Just go for a good brand like NEC, Pioneer, Plextor etc.

[TheAnimus]

I'm seriously reconsidering my dvd writer. I have a Phillips DVDR1640, 16speed dual layer, all that malarkie.

But its intresting, because right now, i've written a DVD in 6min. But sudenly if a driver gets installed (i'm assuming it can only be a driver) nero gets very upset and takes about 20min to burn the same DVD.

I think its more a software problem rather than a hardware one. Need someone to do a round up review of all the DVDrs on the market and all the software (some might work better with other peoples ways of driving em).

[mrbanana]

Plus if you have any problems at all, just send the discs back at their expense, even your coasters, and they'll replace them no questions asked.

err i dont think so, i never known svp to do that one, if u open a pack and the 1st 2 or 3 are duff they will do it but if u just send a few coasters back they wont replace disk by disk, i havent seen anyone do this, u cant just moan cause 1 or 2 disks die, theres too many idiots out there who dont know how to copy and burn dvds to allow that.
i been dealing with svp for years and they are quite strict on things like that, but the verbs are the best 8x out there right now about £6.49 a pack of 25.

right now the pioneer 110d is cheap enough, make sure u update the firmware the early ones were bag of ****e, since the last firmware they been a lot better, or u can try the LG writer i use them as well and there just as good.

Maybe I've been lucky then. I bought 300 blue Ridiscs about three months ago, got a load of coaster. Opened two more packets. More coasters. Sent the lot back, with the coaster wrapped in clingfilm, SVP replaced the lot.

Bought a large batch of ANV 8X g05s 6 months prior to that, got about four or five coasters per pack plus a couple of packs of discs which would't even be recognised by my burner. Sent them all back and they replaced them with a different disc, apologised for the trouble and gave me an extra pack in return.

Last year I bought a load of purple riteks g04s, had similar problems, they replaced the lot, no questions asked.

I think they're great like that, but then I do tell them in great detail what I did to diagnose the problem, where the problem lies and what I'd like them to do about it.

[ifyouknowme]

ive used lg and nec dvdrw's and they both seem fine the nec is quieter

[ahat]

If you want cheap and reliable, go with NEC.

[Tobeman]

I plumped for a Sony, as thats all my local shop had in stock, and I wanted one that Sunday