NEC or Pioneer USB? Best USB DVD-RW?

[johncat]

I am ready to buy a new DVDRW and per this site it appeared that the NEC 3500 or Pioneer A08/108 (and maybe the Liteon 712A) would be the best choice of todays avaialble burners. Correct? However, when I try to search on USB, they are gone from my list. Are these drives available as external USB model? If not, what is the best all around USB drive? I tried to go through the lists, but got confused. I want to do a lot of video recording from composite sources and DVD creation from the captured files. I want to convert my old video tapes to DVD, as well as create DVD and SVCD disks. I also want to back up all of my retail DVD's and will backup up a large amount of computer files. I primarily use DVD-R and RW and want dual layer for the future (is DVD-RDL available? I think I have only seen +RDL). Can anyone simply tell me what the best USB choice would be for these tasks?? Thanks!! John

[EvilWizardGlick]

I'm happy with my LaCie d2 DVD±RW
http://www.lacie.com/products/range.htm?id=10014
http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10436

It's listed on the system as the NEC ND-3500ag.

[snafu099]

For best value, just buy seperate quality units.
External box with interface of your choise, burner/drive of your choice.
put the two together for use.
AFIK, there is no differance in drives/burners that come in pre-packaged external retail boxes, you just pay a premium price for them to do it for you.

[jtommyj]

You might want to go over to cdfreaks and read around a little before you buy. It seems many people are having trouble getting good burn speeds due to the chipset in certain enclosures. Go to the NEC forum there and read around for more details.

Tom

[johncat]

Thanks guys for your input. I have heard of nad things when trying to put an internal drive into an external unit such as slower speeds, incompatability, manufacturer not supporting etc. Any input on Sonys new 710? It appears to be an external USB with same specs as NEC drive, but I dont seem to see much information on it. Thoughts??