I am looking for recommendations

[Tidy]

I am wondering what people would recommend in terms of a new writer. I am using a DVR-108 I bought the day they came out. I am finding that suddenly now I can only burn at 4X and I am assuming this is because there has not been a firmware update to this drive in two years at least and it does not recognize any media codes.

I have been very happy with my 108 and am sorry to see it go. I literally have burned at least 5,000 discs with it and it is going strong and not showing any instability whatsoever. This makes me want to lean towards Pioneer again but who knows if they have kept up quality. Lets face it two years is two or three lifetimes in terms of DVD writers.

My primary concerns in order of importance are:

Longevity
Burn Quality
Burn Speed
Price

I wouldn't mind an internal drive but would prefer external. I am not willing to sacrifice quality for external though so if I have to buy an internal and put it in an enclosure thats what I will do. I know this is a repeat thread but I wanted a recommendations based on my particular situation.

Look forward to hearing from you.

P.S. It does not matter if it is SATA or PATA, I have plenty of both free.

[budz]

P.S. It does not matter if it is SATA or PATA, I have plenty of both free.

It would matter since there are known compatibility problems with mobo's that don't have the INTEL SATA CONTROLLER chipsets if you are looking at getting a SATA DVD burner. If you are going w/SATA dvd burner make sure your mobo SATA controller chipset is compatible. Most newer mobo's that have the INTEL SATA controller chipset will work with SATA dvd burners. If you have NVIDIA controller use the latest drivers for it. The VIA controller chipset is not compatible w/SATA dvd burners. If you don't have a controller chipset that's compatible then you'll have to buy a SATA PCI CONTROLLER card that has the SILICON IMAGE 3112/3114 chipset. Also RAID has to be disabled in the mobo's BIOS in order for the SATA dvd burner to work correctly. If you want get a SATA DVD burner my recommendation is the SAMSUNG 203B drive or the SATA PIONEER 115 drive. PATA DVD burner I would suggest the PIONEER 112 OR the newest model 115. Just my 2 cents!

[edDV]

IMO, PATA is mature and works fine for a DVDR writer. SATA writers are new, have more risk yet offer no advantage other than for eSATA external application.

[mikk]

Go for the Pioneer DVR-112 (PATA) or the DVR-212 (SATA).

The 115 has lower burn quality, so grab a 112 or 212 while u still can!

[Wile_E]

I'm using a new LG GSA-H62N 18X SATA, in an old Asus A8N-SLI Premium. It works great on both the Nvidia and Silicon Image on-board controllers. I'm not sure about write quality, as I don't have a drive to run tests. But this drive got mostly good ratings.

[Krispy Kritter]

I have the Samsung SH203 (SATA) and the Pioneer 112D. The Pioneer has been very reliable, but it takes forever (not really, but you get the idea) to load a disc. The Samsung is excellent and I highly recommend it. (it also RIPs faster than the Pioneer and reads some troublesome discs that the Pioneer can't read).