Recommendations please ...

[Ayanami]

Looking to buy a burner ...

Should be DVD-R (That is what my kid's DVD player will read)

I guess the faster the better and cheaper is always good

I admit, I am a complete n00b at this

[DeleriumMDK]

Pioneer A05/105 is a good 4X Burner, you can also find it online rebadged as the 4X Cendyne DVD-RW drive...if you just want -, I think this one is the way to go.

[Vejita-sama]

Rei - if you only want a -R drive then the Pioneer DVR-105 (OEM model is DVR-A05) is the way to go IMHO. You check pricewatch.com and find them for ~$150-180.

Cendyne went TU (ie. bellyup, is assuming room temp., dead) they sell OEM drives, some where Pioneer some where sony. Most people seem to be buying dual format burners (+/-R) which is the new Pioneer DVR-106/A06. Which costs about the same as the A05. Sony also makes a dual format burner (which many people like, but I 'trust' the pioneer more).

You can read reviews of all these drives to the left under DVD Writers.

[Ayanami]

Multi format would be a plus ... Don't want to have to go out and buy another drive if I get a new player

Also, is macrovision a problem?

Is that a drive or a software issue?

[burna3000]

Also, take a look at..... https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDname=pioneer+106&buffer=Any&list=0&Search=Search
and
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=117&Search=Search&list=0
and
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=83&Search=Search&list=0

....for some of the drives that i looked at when I bought my new drive[/url]

[DeleriumMDK]

If you are looking at dual format, NEC ND-1300A is pretty nice. I just purchased a bare bones version of this drive off of Ebay for my girlfriend, so far its been flawless on Ritek G04's and TDK 2X DVD-R. Someone might still be selling them (two varietys, black and standard offwhite). I paid...$170 after shipping for it, got here next day. It finalizes much faster than my ancient Pioneer DVR-104, and has better ripping speeds too. I wish I had one of them myself but I can't justify 2 DVD-RW drives for myself less than a year apart no matter how hard I try to..

[Ayanami]

Eeek ... Many choices all ~ $200

Optorite DD0203 ... Rated 8.4 with 38 votes ... 8 MB buffer ... 4x R-/+ ... 24x CDR
TDK IndiDVD 440N ... Rated 8.2 with 32 votes ... 2 MB buffer ... 4x R-/+ ... 16x CDR
NEC ND-1300A ... Rated 8.5 with 60 votes ... 2 MB buffer ... 4x R-/+ ... 16x CDR
Sony DRU500A ... Rated 8.7 with 173 votes ... 8 MB buffer ... 4x R- 2.4 R+ ... 24x CDR
Sony DW-U10A ... Rated 8.6 with 29 votes ... 8 MB buffer ... 4x R- 2.4 R+ ... 24x CDR
Pioneer DVR-A06/106D ... Rated 8.6 with 47 votes ... 2 MB buffer ... 4x R-/R+ ... 16x CDR

Looks like Sony and Optorite have a better cache and Pioneer/TDK/NEC/Optorite have a faster R+ speed

Questions still:

Macrovision
Optorite seems like it has the best of both worlds
Firmware updates ... Are there any that change or enhance these drives that I should consider as well
AND ... What is media cost on these ... There is a Sony DRU500AX on eBay with 100 DVD-R discs for a Buy-It-Now price of $250

TYVM for your help EV1

[Bob W]

Best deal going is for the dual format NEC burner at $128 here http://avlogic.com/product.cgi?code=18030059

[Vejita-sama]

Macrovision is NOT a problem. For backups you rip the DVD to your HD (also removes CSS).

As for media... there's a seperate review for that too to the left Summary: ritek. Long verison - very variable depending on standalone, xbox, psx2, burning software, etc. etc. I personally princos and have NEVER had a problem, other people will tell you princos are crap. No one really has anything bad to say about Ritek, Pinoneer or TKD. But Ritek is normally the cheapest of those three (and lots of TKD has been cloned).

[tawnyag75]

Why stop at dual format. Why not an ALL Format drive like the LG 4040BI which also writes and reads DVD-RAM (in addition to DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, CD-R, CD-RW). True, you don't need it if you're just going to backup DVD's, but it's very useful for archiving large amounts of DATA. So far, I've used Princo, Taiyo Yuden, BeALL DVD-R's from 1X (princo), 2X (BeAll 1x), and 4X (TYG01) with no problems. It's less than $190....do a pricegrabber search. Good luck.

[Ayanami]

Hmmm ... Why would I want DVD-RAM anyway?

[VinnySem]

Newegg has the Pioneer A06 for ~$170. Fantastic drive, it has some other enhancements over the A05 than just +R burning. Also, IMHO I wouldn't put too much weight on cache size, 2MB should be sufficient or the majority of the burners out there would have more.