DVD RW drives

S

slaya

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
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Hey, i'm a total n00b to DVD recording, and I want to purchase a DVD recorder, could someone recomend me one for under $110, i've heard people talking about dual format? what is that?

edit: What is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R

<?SlaYa?>
 
Dual format means it can burn + and - discs. They are two different standards. For coomputer use, it doesn't matter. However, your set top DVD may only play one of the two. I'd find that out first before buying one. As far as a drive, I like my 4x LiteOn dual format drive. It's been absolutely perfect so far.
 
Originally posted by djnes
Dual format means it can burn + and - discs. They are two different standards. For coomputer use, it doesn't matter. However, your set top DVD may only play one of the two. I'd find that out first before buying one. As far as a drive, I like my 4x LiteOn dual format drive. It's been absolutely perfect so far.
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Can you hook us up with some linkage? I'm looking for a DVD burner too :D
 
You may want to look at the NEC-2500A. It does 8x dvd+-r and 4x dvd+-r/w, and it is around $120. The Pioneer drives are good too.
 
Originally posted by NOL1M1TMAN
www.dvdrhelp.com i think it is, It will explain all you need. And Pioneer, HP, Liteon and NEC are nice drives. My NEC 1300a works great.
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echoing the linkage from above....


READ. EVERTHING. ON. THAT. SITE.

I did and it helped me a ton.

Happy eye strain.:D
 
Which one should I buy?

Lite-On Black DVD-RW/+RW Drive, Model LDW-411S BLK, OEM

Sony Black DVD+/-RW Recorder Drive, Model DW-U14A, OEM Bulk Pack

NEC 8X Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A, OEM Bulk

I don't know which one would be better, what do you recommend? The Sony seems to have a 8MB buffer unlike the others. Primary use is backups of my DVD movies, don't want to loose my classics!
 
I would get the LiteOn because it's probably the cheapest. 8 MB buffers don't matter in optical drives because of buffer-under run technology. The LiteOn also offers the fastest CD writing speeds as well.
 
It's not too much cheaper.. I'd rather get the better of the two, even if it costs 20.00 extra
 
Originally posted by slaya
Hey, i'm a total n00b to DVD recording, and I want to purchase a DVD recorder, could someone recomend me one for under $110, i've heard people talking about dual format? what is that?

edit: What is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R

<?SlaYa?>
Click to expand...


I know that you said cheap but the drive to beat is the Plextor PX-708A. This drive is amazing. Check out the specs on it :

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/708A.html


For those not interested, or just too lazy (jk), in going to the website, I have include the following blurb from Plextor's website.


The Plextor PX-708A delivers the fastest performance in dual formats: 8X DVD+R write, 4X DVD-R write, 4X DVD+RW rewrite, 2X DVD-RW rewrite, and 12X DVD-ROM read. In addition to recording, rewriting and reading DVD discs in dual formats, the PX-708A supports 40X CD-R write, 24X CD-RW rewrite and 40X CD-ROM read speeds. All in one drive. Create a 4.7 GB disc on DVD media in about 8 minutes.
 
Just ordered a Lite-On Black DVD-Dual Drive, Model LDW-811S, OEM for $130 :D
 
Originally posted by Odigo
Just ordered a Lite-On Black DVD-Dual Drive, Model LDW-811S, OEM for $130 :D
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Congrats, now go do another smart thing and purchase some Riteks(Ridata). Or TY's if you have the extra to spend.
 
Originally posted by Odigo
Just ordered a Lite-On Black DVD-Dual Drive, Model LDW-811S, OEM for $130 :D
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Shoulda gone with the NEC ND-2500A. It has 8X -R and 4X -RW speeds too, which only the Pioneer A07/107 can match. The media compatibility of the ND2500A is excellent, it can write to some 4X -R media @ 8X, and is ~120$ at the Egg.
 
I have been looking into getting a DVD burner myself. Everyone is raving about the 2500A, though I have read that it has problems with Ritek G04 media. Does anyone have further word on this, or suggestions for alternate compareable media?
 
Originally posted by Sergio
I have been looking into getting a DVD burner myself. Everyone is raving about the 2500A, though I have read that it has problems with Ritek G04 media. Does anyone have further word on this, or suggestions for alternate compareable media?
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Riteks work good on my burner (the 2500A!), not sure where you read that about them not working well.
 
Originally posted by Sergio
I have been looking into getting a DVD burner myself. Everyone is raving about the 2500A, though I have read that it has problems with Ritek G04 media. Does anyone have further word on this, or suggestions for alternate compareable media?
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couple of links for you to read up on. I personally use an Opterite201(4x), since I have no use for an 8x.

Link one.-->DVDrhelp, just scroll down a little.

Link two.--->News on 2500a

Link three.--->Media test forum at cdfreaks.
 
I love my Plextor 708A. Its more pricey, but its an incredible drive. Worth every penny.

newplex.jpg
 
Originally posted by Icewindius
I love my Plextor 708A. Its more pricey, but its an incredible drive. Worth every penny.

newplex.jpg
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That is an awesome drive. I have not had one burn failure yet. It is incredibly fast too. I use DVD Xcopy Platinum to backup my DVDs all the time. It works like a champ!

Where did you find those blue face plates for your 5.25 drives? Can you get them in any color? Or are they home made?
 
Originally posted by TechHead
Shoulda gone with the NEC ND-2500A. It has 8X -R and 4X -RW speeds too, which only the Pioneer A07/107 can match. The media compatibility of the ND2500A is excellent, it can write to some 4X -R media @ 8X, and is ~120$ at the Egg.
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Yep.. hes right... Depends on your priorities. The NEC is slower in most tests but at most 2min. It kicks the crap outta every other drive in write quality though. I don't know about you but I don't bash out 100 discs a day. Speed isnt the issue, write quality is, and the NEC takes the cake for current drives (beating the plextor often)
 
Originally posted by Snowbum
Where did you find those blue face plates for your 5.25 drives? Can you get them in any color? Or are they home made?
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Those are home made I believe. You should see the rest of the case.
 
Originally posted by SKiTLz
Yep.. hes right... Depends on your priorities. The NEC is slower in most tests but at most 2min. It kicks the crap outta every other drive in write quality though. I don't know about you but I don't bash out 100 discs a day. Speed isnt the issue, write quality is, and the NEC takes the cake for current drives (beating the plextor often)
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Oh well, I have always loved Lite-ON. It's not like my drives horrible, it's just not as fast as the newest ones.. & a little more expensive :eek: but it's all good.
 
Originally posted by CrimandEvil
Those are home made I believe. You should see the rest of the case.
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They had better be, or else he is screwed on his warrenty.
 
Originally posted by Odigo
Oh well, I have always loved Lite-ON. It's not like my drives horrible, it's just not as fast as the newest ones.. & a little more expensive :eek: but it's all good.
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Not its still a good drive... I was just pointing out that the NEC is a better one... but hey.. there will always be something better...
 
Originally posted by SKiTLz
Yep.. hes right... Depends on your priorities. The NEC is slower in most tests but at most 2min. It kicks the crap outta every other drive in write quality though. I don't know about you but I don't bash out 100 discs a day. Speed isnt the issue, write quality is, and the NEC takes the cake for current drives (beating the plextor often)
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I know this may sound a little argumentative but I am a little bored right now anyway. How does the NEC kick the crap out of every other drive in write quality? I have burned over 120 or so DVDs without a single failure or poor quality copy. I have burned them in both Dolby Digital and DTS with AMAZING video quality.

To dismiss the fact that the NEC is almost 2 minutes or so slower than other drives on the market is ludacrous. In a time of technology where speed is everything, 2 mins is a looooooonnng time. Imagine someone in the forum saying, the quality of my processor is excellent so I don't mind waiting an extra 2 minutes to load a web page, boot my PC, print a document, or load MS Outlook. You will never hear those words muttered.

Ok. I am done now. This is being said not to offend but to stimulate conversation. Please do not be offended.
 
Originally posted by Snowbum
I know this may sound a little argumentative but I am a little bored right now anyway. How does the NEC kick the crap out of every other drive in write quality? I have burned over 120 or so DVDs without a single failure or poor quality copy. I have burned them in both Dolby Digital and DTS with AMAZING video quality.

To dismiss the fact that the NEC is almost 2 minutes or so slower than other drives on the market is ludacrous. In a time of technology where speed is everything, 2 mins is a looooooonnng time. Imagine someone in the forum saying, the quality of my processor is excellent so I don't mind waiting an extra 2 minutes to load a web page, boot my PC, print a document, or load MS Outlook. You will never hear those words muttered.

Ok. I am done now. This is being said not to offend but to stimulate conversation. Please do not be offended.
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Ok. For the average home consumer doing backups etc, what would you choose? a 2min faster burn or the fact that your burn is CL2 error free (or close)

Your burns may work fine. Im not saying all other drives burn coasters. But when you run the burnt disc through some tests the NEC's have less CL errors. So your discs might work fine now, but lets see how they hold up in 6-12 months.

Again noone is saying other drives dont make good copies. Some people would just prefer to know their burnt disc is technically of better quality and has a better chance of lasting.

Ohh.. And your analogy too 2min in software times... Complete crap sorry to say... Your comparing micro seconds and seconds technology to 10-15min technology... Hardly valid.
 
Originally posted by SKiTLz
Ok. For the average home consumer doing backups etc, what would you choose? a 2min faster burn or the fact that your burn is CL2 error free (or close)

Your burns may work fine. Im not saying all other drives burn coasters. But when you run the burnt disc through some tests the NEC's have less CL errors. So your discs might work fine now, but lets see how they hold up in 6-12 months.

Again noone is saying other drives dont make good copies. Some people would just prefer to know their burnt disc is technically of better quality and has a better chance of lasting.

Ohh.. And your analogy too 2min in software times... Complete crap sorry to say... Your comparing micro seconds and seconds technology to 10-15min technology... Hardly valid.
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Post the link to the CL2 tests that pit the NEC against the Plextor 708. I would be very interested in seeing the results you are relying so heavily upon.
 
They had better be, or else he is screwed on his warrenty.
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Those drives and face plates are hand painted by me. This is the rest of "Blue Fantasy" Yes, the interior is painted white, done by me as well.


newfront.jpg

lady.jpg

newinside.jpg
 
dude... how the hell do pictures of your rig manage to make their way into every thread... :p

Video card threads.... optical threads... saw it in something else too.. lol
 
Originally posted by SKiTLz
http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/134/

Theres one for u.. I read about 3.... Will post the rest if I can find them again..

cdfreaks is a credible source too... Comparssion to the plextor isnt as heavy in this one as it was in others but its their...
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Did you even bother to read the review on the NEC drive that you posted. The NEC 2500A doesn't even compare to the Plextor PX-708A. Here are some excerpts that I feel are worth pointing out from the review that you posted.

The drive supports almost everything but we miss the support for Mount Rainier. We do also prefer a larger buffer than 2Mb.

Dude.. This thing only has a 2MB buffer?????


Pressed discs:

For this test we used a pressed CD-ROM disc, usually we would use a plextools installation disc, but the NEC ND-2500A refused to read this disc so we used the Pinnacle installation disc from the Plextor PX-708A package instead, notice that this disc is slightly longer than the plextools disc:

[B}There were some data errors that may cause problems when ripping music,[/B] and thus the drive got a Quality score of only 97.2. It doesn’t support reading data from the lead-in and lead-out either.

Since the drive is limited to 2x-5x CAV it of course places last,

Even if the result with these discs is not bad we still got a bit disappointed as many other writers is able to write these discs just as good as Taiyo Yuden discs

The result with this drive was not among the best. It do not support “Correct EFM encoding of regular bit-patterns” and thus is unable to backup the latest safedisc protections,

The other point I would like to make is that the write tests are not qualitatively compared to write tests of other drives. It is compared from media to media. Not once does it mention the amount of C1 or C2 errors compared to errors on the same media from other drives.

For the money, this drive is a good drive. However, you get what you pay for. If Mt. Ranier support, the ability to do cd ripping, game backups, and speed is important then go for the Plextor.
 
Originally posted by Snowbum
Did you even bother to read the review on the NEC drive that you posted. The NEC 2500A doesn't even compare to the Plextor PX-708A. Here are some excerpts that I feel are worth pointing out from the review that you posted.

The drive supports almost everything but we miss the support for Mount Rainier. We do also prefer a larger buffer than 2Mb.

Dude.. This thing only has a 2MB buffer?????


Pressed discs:

For this test we used a pressed CD-ROM disc, usually we would use a plextools installation disc, but the NEC ND-2500A refused to read this disc so we used the Pinnacle installation disc from the Plextor PX-708A package instead, notice that this disc is slightly longer than the plextools disc:

[B}There were some data errors that may cause problems when ripping music, and thus the drive got a Quality score of only 97.2. It doesnt support reading data from the lead-in and lead-out either.

Since the drive is limited to 2x-5x CAV it of course places last,

Even if the result with these discs is not bad we still got a bit disappointed as many other writers is able to write these discs just as good as Taiyo Yuden discs

The result with this drive was not among the best. It do not support Correct EFM encoding of regular bit-patterns and thus is unable to backup the latest safedisc protections,

The other point I would like to make is that the write tests are not qualitatively compared to write tests of other drives. It is compared from media to media. Not once does it mention the amount of C1 or C2 errors compared to errors on the same media from other drives.

For the money, this drive is a good drive. However, you get what you pay for. If Mt. Ranier support, the ability to do cd ripping, game backups, and speed is important then go for the Plextor. [/B]
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I agree with OC-Freak about the drive,but personally, I feel media compatibility and low PI/PO errors on my DVDs are of paramount importance. I'm not using my 811S for anything other than burning DVDs and watching the occasional DVD movie, I leave the game backups and CD-writing to my (cheap-40$) Lite-On 52327S, which does Mount Rainier,game backups and accurate DAE just fine,thank you very much. In that respect,hey,the NEC-2500A ought to do just fine. But again,it's a question of priorities,and everyone's priorities differ.
Also, did the review tell you that the Mt-Rainier support for DVD-MRW on the Plex708A is broken? The Plex tech-support guys are quietly apologising for this,and the customers are said to be pretty pissed off.

My 2 rupees.
 
Originally posted by Snowbum
Did you even bother to read the review on the NEC drive that you posted. The NEC 2500A doesn't even compare to the Plextor PX-708A. Here are some excerpts that I feel are worth pointing out from the review that you posted.

The drive supports almost everything but we miss the support for Mount Rainier. We do also prefer a larger buffer than 2Mb.

Dude.. This thing only has a 2MB buffer?????


Pressed discs:

For this test we used a pressed CD-ROM disc, usually we would use a plextools installation disc, but the NEC ND-2500A refused to read this disc so we used the Pinnacle installation disc from the Plextor PX-708A package instead, notice that this disc is slightly longer than the plextools disc:

[B}There were some data errors that may cause problems when ripping music, and thus the drive got a Quality score of only 97.2. It doesn’t support reading data from the lead-in and lead-out either.

Since the drive is limited to 2x-5x CAV it of course places last,

Even if the result with these discs is not bad we still got a bit disappointed as many other writers is able to write these discs just as good as Taiyo Yuden discs

The result with this drive was not among the best. It do not support “Correct EFM encoding of regular bit-patterns” and thus is unable to backup the latest safedisc protections,

The other point I would like to make is that the write tests are not qualitatively compared to write tests of other drives. It is compared from media to media. Not once does it mention the amount of C1 or C2 errors compared to errors on the same media from other drives.

For the money, this drive is a good drive. However, you get what you pay for. If Mt. Ranier support, the ability to do cd ripping, game backups, and speed is important then go for the Plextor. [/B]
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Did you bother to read what I posted? Obviously not... I said that the nEC was beaten out in most tests but it wooped the crowd in write quality... WHICH WAS THE IMPORTANT PART FOR ME..

Nice try though...

Ohh... and your harping on the buffer.... Join the the year 2004 mate... buffer doesnt mean shit with overrun protection and the speed of todays pc's
 
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