What DVD writer should I buy???

[pantherman85]

I have been using a friends computer for some time now and it's time for me to step up and get my own DVD writer, but I am wondering which brand is the most reliable and is going to last long, while making perfect copies??? I have heard that Plextor is the best brand.

[Bodyslide]

I have owned 4 Pioneers over the past few years. The Pioneer 109 you can get for around 60.00 shipped. Some people also like the NEC brands. Look to the left under DVD Writers to see the different drives and some reviews.

[budz]

I own the PLEXTOR 708a which was their first dvd burner. I've never had any problems with the drive which produced excellent burns & is a good reader if you have discs that are scratched. I'm looking forward in purchasing the 716AL drive which will be for sale some time next week. The 716AL is a slot drive instead of a tray drive.

BENQ 1620 is another dvd burner that I own which blows away the PIONEER 109. Take a look at the PLEXTOR, BENQ, NEC, LITEON, PIONEER FORUMS at cdfreaks.com. There will be other members who will say the BENQ drives are crappy but then again they don't even own one. The BENQ 1620 has bitsetting out of the box compared to other brands that need 3rd party firmwares/hacks. It burns -/+ media very well as long as you use good quality dvd media. Check out those forums and you will see that every manufacturer will have their pros and cons and quality control issues. There isn't any manufacturer that produces the BEST DVD BURNER!!!!

[NiteLite]

Have to agree with budz about the Plextor 708A. Great writer. Moved up to the 716A and have not had a problem yet. Burns look extremly good at 8X and 12X on TY 8X media but I stick to 8X on 8X TY media for serious archiving.
$89.99 retail version includes Plextools if your into extras. (some are helpful)
Everyone has their fav brand...so expect every brand recommended.
NL

[pantherman85]

I just got a Pioneer 16X DVR-A09XL for about 140 with a 50 dollar mail in rebate, is that decent??? Also i have it hooked up right now as the slave with my TDK CD burner as the master, is this a problem?? will it make it slower or anything??? I have updated the firmware to 1.40. For some reason the movie "Orgazmo" does not read in the drive, any thoughts???

[hellbringer]

just a side not on the 716a i have had a bad experience with them and im not the only one ether, i have rma'ed 1 drive already and i will prob end up rma'in the replacement they sent me as well. some people are on there 8th drive!! but there rma process is very very reliyable i got my drive back within a week. it comes with alot of features other drives don't have.

as long as you can get a "working" drive you should be very happy with plextor.

[Donny661]

I think it's hard to go wrong with the NEC drives you can get at newegg. For about $50 (US) you can get a burner with near top of the line features and speeds. It may not be the best quality (there are some reading problems some people experience), but you won't be spending a lot of money on it, which means you won't feel as guilty replacing it with something better later on. With computer parts, they depriciate and become obsolete so quickly that I can't justify buying "the best" when it means spending the most money on it. I think it's better to buy middle-of-the-road equipment but replace it more often.