4X -R burner recommendations

[VinnySem]

My old trusty Pioneer A04 bit the dust, I'm guessing something got jarred in my recent move. I've been contemplating buying a 4X -R burner anyway, and I'm looking for some advice/opinions on the following drives. Bear in mind, I use almost exclusively BeAll media, and I have a lot of the 2X disks, so whichever drive I get must be able to burn them @ 2X, preferrably WITHOUT hacking the firmware. I'll switch to 4X after I use all the 2X one's up.

NEC ND-1300A
Optorite DD0203
Sony DW-U10A (OEM 500A)
Sony 510A
Pioneer A05/A06

Although the majority of these drives is a dual-format, it's not a requirement.

For a time, I had an external Sony 500A, which sometimes worked beautifully, others it gave me fits. It might just have been the drive. I know it can burn BeAll's @ 2X, so it is a consideration. I don't know if the 510A can burn them at that speed.

I know the Pioneer A05 can't burn the BeAll's @ 2X without hacking firmware, I do not know about the A06.

The Optorite and NEC drives I know very little about. I'm looking for user's experience with these drives.

Thanks in advance for everyone's insight.

BTW, the BeAll disks are 2X, even though they are not labelled as such. With DVDInfo, the media reports burn speed of 2X.

[Hardcoreruss]

I've got that sony one and it is pretty good (crap silver front though looks really plastic) can't comment on the other ones though.

[lordsmurf]

I like my Pioneer 105.

[Hardcoreruss]

I like my Pioneer 105.

Yeah my friend has one of those that is a quality burner also

[dlb]

I have had no problem with my Sony OEM version.
I am still on original firmware. Only burned 2 coasters in the early days which were my fault.

Only a couple of kinds of disc which I have been unable to use. My local shop lets me return them if I have any problems with a batch.

dlb.

[Barnabas]

Sony and Pioneer are fine. Stay away from the NEC, as the firmware does not support many disks.

[steveryan]

Another vote for the Pioneer 105, can't go wrong with it.

[VinnySem]

The Pioneer requires hacked firmware to burn the BeAlls @ 2X. Are there any reports of drive problems with prolonged use of this FW?

[lordsmurf]

The Pioneer requires hacked firmware to burn the BeAlls @ 2X. Are there any reports of drive problems with prolonged use of this FW?

Question: If you're buying a 4x drive, why would you waste time with cheap 1x media burned at 2x?

Also remember media ID speed means nothing. The discs are supposed to be used at the write strategy speed.

[VinnySem]

The Pioneer requires hacked firmware to burn the BeAlls @ 2X. Are there any reports of drive problems with prolonged use of this FW?

Question: If you're buying a 4x drive, why would you waste time with cheap 1x media burned at 2x?

Also remember media ID speed means nothing. The discs are supposed to be used at the write strategy speed.

If you read my first post, you will see that I still have a great deal of BeAlls left that I want to burn @ 2X. And the BeAll's are not "cheap 1x media." They are very high quality disks that are not "2X certified" but burn error-free at 2X. And media ID must mean something, because there are a great deal of 2X certified media that will not burn in Pioneer drives without hacked FW.

[normando]

Gotta go with a trusty Pioneer. Cendyne bundles the Pioneer DVR-105 drives at very good prices. I got mine for $169 from OfficeMax about 5 months ago. They run this sale once every 2 months or so.

A few months back they came out with the hacked firmware to burn all 1X media at 2X. I've burned hundreds of discs with this drive, (even princos ), without a problem.

Now that 4X media has dropped to $1 a disc, I have been in heaven.

[Metaluna]

So what's the general feeling about the 106? Is it as good with -R media as the 105 is?

[VinnySem]

Is there a "2X4ALL" firmware hack for the A06 yet? After reading several reviews and other posts, that one seems to be the one I'll get.

[VinnySem]

Whelp, I did it, plunked down and ordered the OEM A06 from newegg. I also got the one year extended warranty, was only 12 bucks and change, so if this burner goes tits-up I'll get a free replacement. I decided I'm not gonna hack the FW either, because if it does die and newegg tests it and finds hacked FW, they'll void my warranty and I'll be grabbin' my ankles to buy another new burner. Not that I think they'll check the FW, but I've underestimated the "intelligence" of retail personnel before and its bitten me in the white meat.

[overloaded_ide]

but I've underestimated the "intelligence" of retail personnel before

Do you want fries with that?
About the best that I run into retail AND tech support!

Unless newegg has changed a little, I don't think they do anything themselfs, but with this new wauranty thing I don't know. I dought it.

Here's how that extended waurantee works. less than 1 in 20 units are gonna come back bad. They sell 20 extended waurantees at $12 each on a $150 drive, they just got $240 for nothing and if they do have to ship out a new drive in that batch of 20 so what. They still have less than retail cost in the drives, so it cost them less then the $150 to replace it! Also with prices falling so fast, in 3 months a $150 drive comes back it now retails for only $130 they made even more profit! In a year or two that drive will probably not exist so you might even get back a better newer model which cost them alot less still!

Take my Toshiba sd5002 for instance. About Feb. this year I bought the drive for $179, if it goes bad it's still a factory deal and cost them nothing.
But even if they repalced it at their cost, they would send me a Model SD-R5002TA which I can now buy for only $124.99 from them with free shipping. And a 4x Model SD-R5112 OEM is only $134.99 plus $5 shipping, which was not even available when I bought my drive.
By the time the factory waruantee runs out in another 6 months and they actually have to eat the cost of a new drive, that drive will be like $70 or less at the rate it is currently going. And how many will they actually need to replace? Still less than 1 in 20!! But they could send out 4 in 20 and still break even or better at their cost!
In all the years I have been playing with computers I have had to RMA one each Memorex CDburner, WD Hard drive to the factories, and one system board back to newegg. None cost me more than shipping which I probably would still have to pay anyway. I still have stuff that is over 8 years old and working fine, but very very slowly

Course if it's your drive getting replaced, then that $12 was well worth it to you
But thats how it works.

So how is your new OEM A06 working out.

[normando]

Vinny,

Thanks for the info about newegg.com. I checked it out myself and was able to convince my boss to fork over $196 for a new Pioneer DVR-106 w/ 2yr ext warranty to supplement my old 2X DVR-104. They are asking over $300 for the A06 at the local stores before rebates (Best Buy, OfficeMax, etc.)

Now I will have to option of picking up some of the name brand +R media when they are running sale specials. Anyone notice that they always have better sale prices for +R media vs. -R at retail stores?

[VinnySem]

I just got my DVR-106D (official model number of the OEM version) yesterday, and installed it last night. I've not yet had a chance to try any burns with it, I've got some things I can muck around with tonite. I have some BeAll and Ritek 4X disks, I'll post results using both.

I got the extended warranty because I bought my Pioneer 104 right when it came out around a year ago and paid damn near 300 bucks, and now its useless as a third testicle. I'd rather spend 12 bucks and guarantee to have a replacement for the next two years than the possibility of having to drop another $200 for another burner in 14 months.

[overloaded_ide]

Yea,
Those extended warauntees are good if you need to use it!
I was more meaning they way they figure them and how they work. I dought they do anymore testing of defect parts than they ever did, though they just started the extended deal.

Some people and things they are good for. I've been lucky in not buying them myself as any problems I ever had they would either have been expired or not coverd it anyway.

In 1988 I bought em for some expensive power tools and a tv. 1995 a VCR. Tools still work great, TV and VCR needed minor repairs about 3 yrs ago, both were expired and each only cost about $10 more than the extended waruantee had paid for but I never used

But it's all a just a gamble, great when you win, but the odds are in thier favor just like VEGAS