Newbie needs some advice on DVD Burner

[BornToRun]

First Post for me, but I do read as much as I can and try to find my answer. It is a tremendous reference website. Thanks

My situation

My old computer(1.2 Ghz, 192 RAM) was running a Lite-On 411 burner. I backed up about 60 movies, worked fine, but it took forever to burn on the computer. I then purchased a new computer(2.66 Ghz, 512 Ram) I went to transfer this burner and for some reason it is not working at all. It was working, but didn't read DVD's. I fiddled with it and I don't know if it is possible but maybe I shorted the drive out. I was dumb enough to have the computer on when I installed it. It read the drive, but now I get no juice from the drive. I tried reinstalling on my old computer and I still get no juice. I am guessing the drive is shot. I only paid $79 for it, and I definitely got my money's worth, but my questions are:

1) What is the best brand or deal for a Burner? I am looking to spend about $150 max on one, and hopefully get a 8X + and - R/RW
2) How well does an external work if you only have USB ports? Is it just as fast processing it as an internal drive would be?

Thanks for any help you can supply me

[Will Hay]

I can't comment much on the external option (although I have just fitted my x1 speed Panansonic into an external firewire case and it seems fine) but for me, the only way to go in Pioneer.
I have the A07 and it's flawless, the only reason I didn't buy the A05 when I picked up my Panansonic was because of funds but trust me, I've read a lot of posts on this site to to see where the best money goes.
Although if you ask the owner, Baldrick, he'll claim his crappy NEC is better
Will

[BornToRun]

I am thinking of the names of Pioneer or Sony for the burner is the route to go. Thanks for the quick reply.

ANY OTHERS that can help?

[BornToRun]

Guy at work said it could be I plugged in the 4 prong plug upside down and that is why there is no juice. Has anyone ever done this>?

[makntraks]

I am thinking of the names of Pioneer or Sony for the burner is the route to go. Thanks for the quick reply.

ANY OTHERS that can help?

Personally, I'd go the Sony route and pop a few bucks on a Firewire card...
USB ain't all it's cracked up to be IMHO...

makntraks

p.s If you can I'd wait for Sony to hit to market with these new drives.
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=213017

[Hardcoreruss]

I can't comment much on the external option (although I have just fitted my x1 speed Panansonic into an external firewire case and it seems fine) but for me, the only way to go in Pioneer.
I have the A07 and it's flawless, the only reason I didn't buy the A05 when I picked up my Panansonic was because of funds but trust me, I've read a lot of posts on this site to to see where the best money goes.
Although if you ask the owner, Baldrick, he'll claim his crappy NEC is better
Will

Gets my vote here also, excellent burner.

[BornToRun]

Is it possible to ruin the whole drive the way I did? Or could it just be a plug I messed up?

[BornToRun]

Anyone else>?

[Will Hay]

A friendly word of advice; if you continue to 'bump' your own topic you'll catch the attention of the site moderators.
Have patience, someone will help, we/they don't sit around waiting to help you know
Will Hay

[makntraks]

A friendly word of advice; if you continue to 'bump' your own topic you'll catch the attention of the site moderators.
Have patience, someone will help, we/they don't sit around waiting to help you know
Will Hay

Just wondering - how much did you get paid for watching this thread and replying???? 8)

makntraks

[andyp1]

Guy at work said it could be I plugged in the 4 prong plug upside down and that is why there is no juice. Has anyone ever done this>?

Adfficult thing to do as there are two champhered edges on the power plugs and they won't go in the wrong way round . Did you remember to install WinDVD or PowerDVD on your new machine as windows doesn't come with the required Mpeg2 Codec for DVD playback.

Anyway I have a Pioneer 106 and think it is wonderful it has accepted and burned sucessfully every disc I have thrown at it - a few hundred so far. I know it is a 4x but the 107 wasn't out when I got it.

[richdvd]

Gets my vote here also, excellent burner.

I just got one and I really like it also!
Will Hay are you reading this?
Pioneer dude!!!! LiteOn is on the shelf now.

[Turbo245]

Test results from cnet and personal experience says TDK,aka,Plextor is the way to go...The TDK 880n can burn 8x- as well as + while others do it only in +. Do some research on this model and you'll agree..Very STABLE burner...
Ron B

[richdvd]

I had a TDK 440N burner and it was a piece of crap.
It did roughly 150 burns before the laser died on it.
Maybe others have had good luck with TDK but personally I would stay away.

[budz]

Get whatever drive that will work for you. Plextor, Pioneer and Liteon are good drives. I'm happy with the Plextor 708A and Liteon 411S that I recently purchased because it was so darn cheap. The Liteon 411S has a bitsetting tool which is great to use if you're gonna burn DVD+R media to be played back on XBOX or on DVD players that don't support that media. Check the cdfreaks.com forum site. They have Plextor, Pioneer, Liteon, & Nec forums in there. You will see from those forum sites all the brands have their pros and cons. No one brand is supreme.

[aguillon]

I own one LG burner and one TDK burner, but have not done enough burns (10 on each) to comment - they both work flawlessly sofar (LG drive required a re-install of Nero to be recognised but that s common).

As for how you shorted your drive, I don t see how you could have plugged the power upside down - the connector is rounded on one side and squarish on the other - there is no way to insert it the wrong way (unless with a hammer).

Cheers

[Noek]

PX-708A I love it

[TBoneit]

Have you checked your jumpering on the drive? Master/slave/cable select?

Newer computrs seem to be coming with 80 wire 40 pin cables and the drive should be set to Cable Select, 40 wire 40 pin make sure you are set to Master or slave as required by what else is on the cable... Does the Bios see the drive? Most newer bios see the optical as well as the hard drives.

Liteon is a decent brand, Sony user here from 2002, DRU 500a (510A as a spare, it was free), first + & - dual format drive out.

Good Luck

[BornToRun]

Thanks for all the advice. I tried and tried but couldn't get it to work. I went to Best Buy to see if they could test the drive but they said they couldn't. Personally, the guy was just lazy in my book. I ended up buying a Memorex TRUE 8X($199 - $50 rebate), which from what I read, is the Pioneer A07. Plugged it in my new computer and seems to work just fine. I did have to dink around with that MASTER/SLAVE/CS. My computer came with a Sony CD-RW already, and it was set to CS. From the installation instructions, it said if I have an existing drive and it is set to CS, then set the new drive I am installing to CS as well. I did so and it work no problem.

Not many reviews on the burner I got, but I only burn with Memorex Media anyways. So I am confident I won't have any problems with coasters.

Thanks for all your help.

[handyguy]

Sony doesnt make them anymore they just buy from another company & put their name on it. Sony 8xs are Optorites.

Necs are pretty cheap these days try the main page upper right corner for prices.

[dxj40c]

Use two burners TDK420N & Verbatim (NEC1000D).

Prefer TDK for data (speed), movies sometimes have burn errors.

Nec1000D (2.4x) for movies, never burned a coaster.

I don't think the TDK is bad just has trouble with some media where the NEC seems to like everything.

[makntraks]

Test results from cnet and personal experience says TDK,aka,Plextor is the way to go...The TDK 880n can burn 8x- as well as + while others do it only in +. Do some research on this model and you'll agree..Very STABLE burner...
Ron B

Nice Volvo - 94 850 Wagon here... gotta love it.. 8)

makntraks