new generation burners

[mooch49]

okay, here's the deal. i'm lookin to supplement my 3yr old TDK indie 4x burner with either the Pioneer A09. BenQ1620, or the Plextor712A. now my tdk still works very well, i'm just lookin for a new generation burner that reads, rips, writes dvds better and faster. i know it's more ideal to have a dvd reader to do that, but i only have 2 available bays. so i'm thinkin leave the tdk on one and then compliment it with one of the three writers above. but which of these burners writes cd's as well as they do dvd's. that's kinda important as i will be replacing my great yamaha cd burner.

now i know it's been rehashed as to which one is better. from the consensus of the polls, its seems the BenQ gives you the most value for the buck, offering price, speed, and quality. i just wish they weren't packaged in so many brands, making it difficult to find. then once you get a OEM model, you have to flash it with fifty million firmwares.

why do these burners seem more complicated. more firmware, testing tools like dvd idlepro, nero drive speed, etc. i'm amazed at how well my tdk still writes. sure its slow, but i never had to worry about all these new things. it just did it's job right out of the box. now you have to keep your fingers crossed whenever you flash any of these new writers. but i'll be getting one anyone just to stay current. besides, who doesn't like playin with a new toy.

sorry i got off the point, but please forward any experience from either the BenQ, Pioneer, or Plextor. i think these are the best of the best on the market right now. which one of these performs the best out of the box.

[budz]

now i know it's been rehashed as to which one is better. from the consensus of the polls, its seems the BenQ gives you the most value for the buck, offering price, speed, and quality. i just wish they weren't packaged in so many brands, making it difficult to find. then once you get a OEM model, you have to flash it with fifty million firmwares.

The BENQ 1620 if you get a OEM doesn't need 50 million firmwares. If the drive you get has the "B" firmware all you do is flash it with the official firmware from BENQ. If you get a "G" firmware you can crossflash the drive to the "B" firmware easily by using a WinDXFLASH.EXE & B7P9 cvt.file or any other later firmwares. Basically OEM's normally come with "G" firmware but I got one of each so go figure. RETAIL drives normaly come with "B" firmware. There is no difference in the hardware just the firmwares are different and the "G" & "B" firmwares are the same but some rather use the "B". I use firmware B7P9 which works great with the media that I use.
Download the WinDXFLASH.EXE & B7P9. cvt file from this site:
http://dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BENQ_FW.htm

Most people use the B7P9 or B7T9 firmware. Check out the BENQ FORUM at CDFREAKS.COM. The BENQ 1620 is a great drive although others on this site may say it's not. They're the ones that don't even own the DRIVE.

[Ma_Jie]

Hello.

Like budz, I also highly recommend the BenQ 1620. I own two of them and couldn't be happier with them: they read everything I throw; they burn -R and +R with equal effectiveness; and now, there is a read speech patch out that will allow the reading of pressed DL discs at 16x. (The program is called MCSE; check out Club.CDFreaks.com or the link in my signature.)

I use B7P9 firmware as well. I find it to be the best for the media I use.

In short, it's an excellent drive, and you won't regret purchasing one.

Cheers,

Jie

[mooch49]

thanks for the feedback. i'm definitely leaning towards the Benq. i just hope i can find one at circuit city or compusa. i know they are the I/O Magic with the smaller box and the 2.4x DL+R specs. from what you heard, are these stores still selling them like this. i heard staples wasn't, hopefully that is not the case with the others.

[budz]

thanks for the feedback. i'm definitely leaning towards the Benq. i just hope i can find one at circuit city or compusa. i know they are the I/O Magic with the smaller box and the 2.4x DL+R specs. from what you heard, are these stores still selling them like this. i heard staples wasn't, hopefully that is not the case with the others.

It's no guarantee if you purchase the I/O MAGIC drives. Someone at the BENQ FORUM at CDFREAKS.COM has reported seeing the 2.4 DL+R specs but got a BTC drive. One thing to look for is if there is a small white sticker on the top of the box and has something like this: A02F then it is a BTC drive.

If you want a BENQ 1620 get it from newegg.com.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-101-632&depa=1

[blinky88]

I previously had a Pioneer 106D for around 12 months and have recently upgraded to the Pioneer 108D. You can chose to go with a completely new design with the Pioneer 109D or stick with the proven design of the 108D, I stuck to the proven burner. I do not know of anyone who is unhappy with the 108.

If you did deceide on the 108D I recomend updating the F/W to 1.18 from Gradius. Goto gradius.com and download the file
"DVR-A08/108D drive into a true DVR-A08DX/108DX".
(support DVD-R @ 16x max and DVD-RW @ 4x max)
Another big benefit of this F/W is AUTOMATIC bisetting for +R blanks to DVD ROM. I am extremely happy with the choice I made, everything is operating absolutely flawlessly.

After unzipping the files (3) place them in the Folder bearing your
name in the Documents and Settings Folder.

IMPORTANT Note:
Make sure the "Intel Application Accelerator" is not installed.

Goto command prompt and "TYPE" the following command
(Note: you cannot copy and paste into Command Prompt)

C:\Documents and Settings\blinky\>dvrflash -vf X: R8150008.110 R8150108.118

NOTE: In that command statement "X" represents your burner DRIVE letter
..eg.. D or E etc. and "blinky" represents the name that appears after
"Documents and Settings" when opening Command Prompt.

[handyguy]

Tons of opinions:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters