HELP ON WHICH WOULD BE BEST DVD BURNER TO GET?

[HOOTA]

I WOULD LIKE ADVICE ON WHICH WOULD BE THE BEST BURNER TO GET OF THE NEW 4x BURNERS. THE PIONEER A05U, SONY DRU-500A OR THE NEW TDK 420N INDI DVD ?? THE PIONEER I CAN GET FOR $239 TOTAL. SONY'S IS STILL AROUND $349 AND TDK's ABOUT $249. OR IS THERE SOME OTHER ONE OUT THERE THAT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT? I WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE IT SOON SO ANY HELP OUT THERE?

[jnk76]

IMO.........the AO5 is best bang for buck. I originally got the Sony but returned it for the Pioneer.

[ptmurphy]

I would personally stick with either the Pioneer or the Sony, since they willh have better driver/program support and have been proven for quite some time.

I personally went with the Sony, but that was back when there was a $50 rebate on it and the pioneer was a little higher, so the price difference was almost nothing.

I have had no problems with the Sony that were not my own doing (I would have made the same mistakes with any DVD burner at first) and have been very happy with it.

[AarontheRipper]

ditto... Go with either the Sony or the Pioneer. I have the Pioneer and love it. I went with it over the sony because of price, but from what I hear the sony is great too.

[hxc3634]

If you frequently backup your system I recommend Sony drive. It is difficult to find 2x DVD-RW but 2.4x DVD+RW could be found any where and it's cheap (about $2 at SAM's club). If you just burn DVD/R you can go with Pioneer but DVD+RW is also handy for checking whether the reencoded DVD works or not. It's up to you.

[hunghuynh]

I am myself own A04, A05 and Sony. I love A05 and Sony but try to get away from A04 (still in the Pioneer service center now to replace the laser pick-up eye : this is a common proplem with A04) . Good luck in searching for new DVD writer.

[orbital517]

Go for the TDK..........here are the reviews from CNET:

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1095-404-20815816.html?tag=tp

http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1096-8-20947075-1.html?tag=ld

[VinnySem]

IMHO, either the Sony or the Pioneer, with the Sony taking preference simply because of the dual-format capabilities. If you don't care about that, get the Pioneer 4X burner. -R media is less expensive than +R, and the Pioneer burner has great reliability. I had an A04 until I traded with someone for a Sony DRU-500UL because the person wanted an internal burner.

[K2]

Is speed how you define best? or most expensive?

Who knows.
It is all about the name not specs it seems. So Sony is -R & +R, most formats. Is that "best"? Does it work on all media? Return rates? MTBF?

I want what will continue to work until I replace it with the next technology in 2 years. Spend the extra money if you are honestly going to keep it longer.

All of the ones listed at the begining are excellent.

[drewson99]

I own a A04 and an A05, they have both burned hundreds of perfect discs. the success rate for me has been about 99.6% (1 error every 250 discs.)

the -R are pretty cheap too, but the recent favorite (ritek 1X) just shot up in price from .89 to 1.59 - pure supply and demand. when ritek catches up withthier orders it'll come down again. in the meantime, i recommend buying the 4x, they are only .40 more and they are way more convenient if you burn several discs a day.

[spiderman2k1]

I would get Pioneer. the DRU500AX is junk I had two of them nothing but problem's read the past posting and there are alot of people have problem's with it. Also CenDyne is good to it's made by PIoneer the Pioneer model come with more software. If you want a burner that burn's both DVD-R and DVD+R i would wait and see how good the TDK one is. I might be a great DVD burner

[txpharoah]

Cendyne 105 (Pioneer 105) DVD-R

104 and 103 have longevity issues (dead drives).
Plus new 105 is faster on 4x media!

Sony has issues, but close to quality of 105 drive.
Hear lots of complaints about that drive on these baords.

[red lion]

Anyone got the new LITEON DVD writer that is now out and if so how good\bad is it

[vric]

Anyone got the new LITEON DVD writer that is now out and if so how good\bad is it

I got one for one of my client.. he didn't complain yet

but the drive is the same as Sony.. it's not a real liteon, just a Sony rebadged

[LanceSteel]

I've got the Pioneer 104/A04 drive and have burned over 200 disks with no problems. If speed isn't an issue (yes, I still burn at 1x) then a 1x-2x drive might be a good, inexpensive choice.

[louthewiz]

I personally have the sony its my first one and i'm very happy with it so I say go for the sony

[vric]

I have a LG 4020B.. the cheapest drive you can find (280$Can) and it burn perfect ! not worth paying more

[kenmo]

Where in Canada can I get the LG burner for that price ?

[kc33]

Where in Canada can I get the LG burner for that price ?

It is available for $269 from:

Logic Computer House
Canada Computers

Please note that this is a 2X max writer. See spec here.

[vric]

Where in Canada can I get the LG burner for that price ?

http://www.canadacomputers.com/optical.html

drop to 269$Can today ! it's incredible deal...

yes it's 2X, but don't mind really.. media are cheaper than 4X and 25minute isn't that long (4X is about 16 minutes)

[VinnySem]

Upon further review...

Get the Pioneer. I don't like the Sony. I've had nothing but headaches with mine, it will attempt to burn ANY media at 2X, even if it's not rated at that speed, and some budget media fails at that burn speed, even if a test burn is successful. I had traded my A04 for a Sony, I'm getting it back. I'm really disappointed with the Sony, it had potential.

[ptmurphy]

Just to clarify why I went with the Sony, even though it was a bit more expensive...

Does anyone need to burn both +R and -R? Probably not. However, it gives me the flexability to purchase good media that is on sale, no matter the format.

For instance, I usually burn -R since I can usually find them cheaper. However, Office Depot had the Verbatim 4X +R media on sale last week for $15 for 5, plus buy two get one free. So, for $30 I got 15 4X discs, in cases. Plus I had a $15 off coupon to make the deal even nicer.

My Sony burns the disks at 4X every time!

[HOOTA]

i see there was alot of replys to this post, and with in a few days later a few new models came out. now i can get sony dw-u10a-10 for under $300.is this better then 500a? willing to spend extra $ 60 or so if so than pioner 50a? what do you think?thing change to fast to keeep up! should i just wait longer? new to all this and want to be up to date (lost on pc's)

[SLICK RICK]

I have had 2 external Sony's, the first one I had to return due to problems but the one I have now has burned about 200+ with no problems. Bought it from BB with a 3year warranty so if any problem occur just return it again.

GOOD LUCK,

SLICK RICK

[w00tski]

i have to say sony, but it really depends on the budget, for cheapest, get the A05 or a OEM rebadged equivilant. I have to admit sony is ahead of the game thou, they had dual format writer out last october2002, its now MAY 2003 and only now are other products beginning to surface. And just when the others are out, sony ups the ante once again with the release of 4x DVD+RW capabilities. How could would that be rewriting a disc at 4x.

I only hope, though i doubt, there is a firmware upgrade for current 500A/X owners for 4X RW capabilities.