Is it a good time to get a new DL burner now?

[subferno]

I have been using my Sony Dru 500 for a couple of years now. It does what I need. There are a few hardware glitches here and there but didnt really cause coasters.

Only reason why I want to get a new burner is because my Dru 500 takes about 15 minutes to burn and I would like something faster. The DL capabilities in today's models also looks appealing.

I am looking at the Pioneer 109 or the Plextor 716.

Is it a good time to buy it now or should I just wait and see if there are any new models or features coming out in the near future?

[redwudz]

Probably a good of time as any. DL media is still too expensive for me, but DL capability is getting to be standard on most new burners, so you might as well include it.

[handyguy]

Don't get one for DL writing, just get one for having a better, faster writer. newegg.com has Nec 16x for under, near $50 with shipping. & you spent $350 for that sony

[subferno]

you spent $350 for that sony

Yep, I cant believe they cost that much back then.

[samijubal]

There aren't any new features coming that I know of. The burn speeds are already faster than most discs can handle, and the spindle motors are at max speed for existing technology. Unless someone comes up with a breakthrough in spindle motors, they can't go faster than they do now. I haven't read up on motor technology recently, but as of a few months ago, that's where they were at.

[johns0]

The newer features would be 8x d/l burning,8x dvdrw burning and 16x ram read and write for the nec 4550a when it comes out.

[samijubal]

They don't make discs capable of those speeds do they? Isn't the release of that burner in the fall? If they release it on time.

[handyguy]

16x is top speed, not because of the writer, but cause of the media. 16x dvd = 52x cdrom. Go any faster & the disk comes out the door, if it doesn't fly apart first, see?

[Tidy]

There aren't any new features coming that I know of. The burn speeds are already faster than most discs can handle, and the spindle motors are at max speed for existing technology. Unless someone comes up with a breakthrough in spindle motors, they can't go faster than they do now. I haven't read up on motor technology recently, but as of a few months ago, that's where they were at.

Current speeds have nothing to do with the speed of spindle motors. The reason why you will not see anything faster than 16x on DVD is due to physics pure and simple. At anyhting over 16x (DVD) or 52x (CD) the disc literally frags. it breaks into pieces inside your drive. The centrifugal force makes the disc tear itself apart. Underwirters Laboratories did a test and they took a human flesh density simulation dummy and blew up an overspeed disc. It drove shards of the disc at some points 8-12 inche into the flesh of the dummy with the drive housing removed.

[oldfart13]

Oddly enough, the price of units at stores in this area has gone UP over the past few months. Dual Layer drives are typically in the $100 - $150CAD price range but at Christmastime, they were under $100CAD! New features? They don't have dual layer discs at the max speeds anyway so it's all just marketing hype. Do I need bit setting on DVD+R discs? No! 16X DVD-+R? No! 8X DL? No! It's like trying to buy a plain jane cel phone. Do I need: camera, MP3 recorder, colour, games, etc.? No! Try to find one without the junk though...

The only thing that has gone down is single layer discs. Maxell -+ DVD-Rs are $40/100 at Futureshop this week. 2 weeks ago they were $50/100! I don't know what's up, but it's a great time to buy these...

[stiltman]

Current speeds have nothing to do with the speed of spindle motors. The reason why you will not see anything faster than 16x on DVD is due to physics pure and simple. At anyhting over 16x (DVD) or 52x (CD) the disc literally frags. it breaks into pieces inside your drive. The centrifugal force makes the disc tear itself apart. Underwirters Laboratories did a test and they took a human flesh density simulation dummy and blew up an overspeed disc. It drove shards of the disc at some points 8-12 inche into the flesh of the dummy with the drive housing removed.

Myth Busters on the discovery channel disproved this. It took a high speed rotor motor to blow a disk apart (albeit unbalanced at that). The rotor motor was operating MUCH faster than any CD/DVD would (can't remember the rpms but I think it was more than 10x the current speeds)

http://www.mythbustersfanclub.com/html/cell_phone_gas_station.html
bottom of the page

[Xylob the Destroyer]

I've been chomping at the bit to buy a DL burner too, but I'm gonna wait until DL media is readily available and reasonably priced.
The stuff's near impossible to find around here and still WAY too pricey.
I waited to buy my DVD burner until the price on 4X media dropped to $2.00 a piece.
DL is still average of $6.50 per disc around here.
I figure by the time DL media is everywhere and $2.00 a piece, the DL burners will be even better and maybe even a bit cheaper.

But I am getting tired of waiting.

[markc32]

well i have seen a single dvd+r DL disk for £1.99 here in the UK.

Still a rip off.

Blankdiscshop sell 10pk spindles for near £23.

Until they are < 31.50 or rather DVD-R DL comes out i will not waste my money.

If i want HQ i'll use DVDRebuilder!

[subferno]

I just got the Pioneer A09 today. It works great so far.

As for DL burning, I have not tried it yet. As "handyguy" said, I got this new burner just to replace my old one and not necessarily for the DL feature.

[samijubal]

There aren't any new features coming that I know of. The burn speeds are already faster than most discs can handle, and the spindle motors are at max speed for existing technology. Unless someone comes up with a breakthrough in spindle motors, they can't go faster than they do now. I haven't read up on motor technology recently, but as of a few months ago, that's where they were at.

Current speeds have nothing to do with the speed of spindle motors. The reason why you will not see anything faster than 16x on DVD is due to physics pure and simple. At anyhting over 16x (DVD) or 52x (CD) the disc literally frags. it breaks into pieces inside your drive. The centrifugal force makes the disc tear itself apart. Underwirters Laboratories did a test and they took a human flesh density simulation dummy and blew up an overspeed disc. It drove shards of the disc at some points 8-12 inche into the flesh of the dummy with the drive housing removed.

The bottom of this mentions spindle motors.
http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa4.htm
Saw something else about motors too but can't find it now.

[RabidDog]

Wait until you can get a light-scribe enabled burner (colour of course) (not really)
re 16x, its probably to do with the quality of the media .. std discs will give massive errors and high probability of defects when run at over 16x .. if they produced better quality blank media then maybe 32x might have a chance. compare the thickness of the one piece of media you recieved when you bought your drive, to ordinary shop bought discs.. a much sturdier disc.

3 burners + 1gb of Ram ... a spoilt brat!!

[kenmasters83]

i wouldnt waste anytime waiting on lightscribe burners as their expensive and more likely to fail sooner..

i say the time is now to buy a dual layer burner i bought my Aopen burner almost 3 months ago and i still dont regret it..burned over 300 disks so far.

go for it you wont be dissapointed with the results as long as you dont buy any of that overpriced officemax crap your gonna be just fine.

and remember newegg.com is your friend!!!