Looking for a new DVD drive

[Jeikobu]

I looked some on the web, but I don't know what sites and brands are most reliable, etc., so I'd rather get direct advice.

I'm looking to maybe buy a new DVD drive for my G4 Mac. I want one that is region free, and will burn DVD-Rs as well as DVD+Rs, including DL. I'd also like to have the ability to burn blank R1 or R2 media if I want to. What I currently have is "PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-104". It doesn't not burn DVD+Rs and I believe it only reads R1 DVDs. If it's necessary to know, my OS is OS X 10.4 and the computer is a Dual 1 GHz PowerPC G4, with 1 MB L3 cache per processor. The memory is 1.75 GB DDR SDRAM.

[V Bot]

Newegg.com, I bought a Samsung from them for about $23.00. They have been good to me. You need to know which interface your drive is (IDE or SATA) Sata is a red cable and IDE is wide and flat. Should be able to go to your hardware on your pc to find out. My drive burns DVD+DL etc.

[redwudz]

Most any of the newer DVD drives should work fine. I like Samsung drives at the present. I'm assuming you presently have SATA optical drives as (PATA) parallel drives are a bit harder to find, but still available. Reliability isn't that big of issue as most DVD drives are ~$20US - $25US at present. If they do die, just replace them. But they are very dependable.

Most any newer drives can handle DVD plus and minus, and DL DVDs. Not sure about R1 and R2 media.

I have a G4 and I think I have a PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-104 in it also, but I haven't used it in a while.

Region free is a different question. If you rip your discs to the computer, they are region free.

[lordsmurf]

Give this a read: Best and Worst DVD Burners

So far the advice in this thread is good. Samsung and Pioneer.
Just note that drive prices vary month to month. Not long ago, it was $30-40 range, not $20-25.
But it had been $20-25 several months before that.
I'd suggest Amazon over Newegg. Fewer DOA drives to deal with.

[Noahtuck]

I want one that is region free,

For what purpose ?
Ripping or Viewing other region dvd's ?
As redwudz stated, if you rip it to your HDD the region coding will be removed.
If you want to view other region dvd's then you will have to either run some kind of program in the background, such as anydvd or/there are some other programs, avangate, the makers of dvdfab, have at least 1 program if not 2 that run in the background, that allow you to play other region dvd's.

Or you can do like i do and customize/hack the firmware for the drive you buy to be region free and flash it, otherwise you are restricted to 5 region changes for your drive.
DVD-ROM/BURNERS do not come region free.

I'd also like to have the ability to burn blank R1 or R2 media

That's a new one to me.... what exactly is R1 & R2 media ?
I think have an idea what you are talking about but.....
That is a new one to me.

If you mean region 2 media, as in PAL format, they are 2 different things as PAL is usually the video format on region 2 disc's, but format and region coding are two totally different things.

You could make an NTSC format dvd and burn it as a region 2 dvd.

Just note that drive prices vary month to month. Not long ago, it was $30-40 range, not $20-25.
But it had been $20-25 several months before that.

I never noticed that much of a price hike or drop in dvd burners.....
I see them on a constant basis for the last couple of years at least for around the $20.00 to $25.00 range and there have been times they were even as low as $17.00!!
Hell about a year ago i got a couple of LG dvd burners for about $10.00 each in combo deal's and they both still work perfectly.

I practically live on neweeg

I'd suggest Amazon over Newegg. Fewer DOA drives to deal with.

BAHH!!!
I have bought tons and tons of drives from newegg exclusively over the last many many years!!
For myself, family, friends, people i have built, upgraded & repaired systems for and i have NEVER got a bad or defective drive from newegg!!

I pretty much take the reviews that people leave on there as seriously as i take movie reviewers or movie critics opinions...

Most people that leave reviews on there are bigger idiots than me!!!!
And that is very very scarey!!!!!!!!

[budz]

IMHO I wouldn't buy a PIONEER drive.....get a LG or SAMSUNG from Newegg.....Amazon doesn't pack items well which is a well known fact.....just my 2 freaking cents!

[Case]

I'm assuming you presently have SATA optical drives as (PATA) parallel drives are a bit harder to find, but still available.

All the PowerMac G4 models that match the OP's computer specs, have an IDE ATA-3 (PATA) connection to the optical drive. Newegg currently has a Samsung and LG model, both for $20.99.

[pixel zombie]

IMHO I wouldn't buy a PIONEER drive.....get a LG or SAMSUNG from Newegg.....Amazon doesn't pack items well which is a well known fact.....just my 2 freaking cents!

i bought an LG a while back and it did not work properly, Toast would recognize it but when i hit "Burn" nothing would happen..they sent me out a 2nd drive and the same exact thing happened..it may have been a windows only drive...

[Kerry56]

The choices for IDE interface drives isn't that great. If you can find an older model Optiarc 7200A, that would be the best one from recent years. Of those available right now at Newegg, I'd probably get one of the Lite-on 22x drives, and I'm not at all a fan of Lite-on. The Samsung 22x drives, both SATA and IDE are not their best products, though if you get the latest firmware for them, they burn with decent quality, just not outstanding in any way.

For SATA drives, which may not work for the OP, the best of a poor selection is probably the Optiarc 7260S/7261S. Pioneer hasn't made an outstanding drive since the 215 (or possibly the 216 depending on who you talk to). Their latest drives are very cheaply made by QSI.

Samsung had a 24x drive out briefly and it was very much a step up from their 22x drives in write quality. The 24x Samsung's were a favorite over at MyCE while they lasted, but they have virtually disappeared from the market here in the US.

The LG blu ray burners are actually quite good at dvd burns. Surprisingly so. But very expensive if all you need is a dvd burner.

[lordsmurf]

I never noticed that much of a price hike or drop in dvd burners.....!

Yeah, but you probably don't track prices monthly.

[V Bot]

I never noticed that much of a price hike or drop in dvd burners.....!

Yeah, but you probably don't track prices monthly.

Not to go off track here, but what do you think about the upcoming Smurf movie? I have to take the kids because they're dying to see it.

[budz]

For SATA drives, which may not work for the OP, the best of a poor selection is probably the Optiarc 7260S/7261S. Pioneer hasn't made an outstanding drive since the 215 (or possibly the 216 depending on who you talk to). Their latest drives are very cheaply made by QSI.

The PIONEER 216 drive was just as outstanding as the 215. Although I hacked all of my PIONEER drives.
PIONEER changed the chipset which is why their dvd burners are crappy now. They used to use NEC chipset and now I believe they use Mediatek.
I miss those days of hacking dvd burners.

[lordsmurf]

PIONEER changed the chipset which is why their dvd burners are crappy now.

This has been stated many times, but there's no truth to it.

Not to go off track here, but what do you think about the upcoming Smurf movie

I'm disappointed by what I've seen and read so far. Yeah, I'll go see it, but not expecting much. Sort of like the Hulk movie, vs Iron Man, Batman or Spiderman. Yeah, Hulk had a movie, great! But it wasn't "great movie". Just a movie with characters we already know. I reserve the right to change my opinion after seeing it, but I'm not expecting it to happen.

[Kerry56]

^Actually, there is evidence for Pioneer using Mediatek chipsets in their newer, crappier drives. For example: http://club.myce.com/f87/pioneer-dvr118l-118chv-a18l-279058/

And in post #3 of this thread: http://club.myce.com/f87/pioneer-dvr-219chv-vxl-s19l-s19fx-314818/

[budz]

^Actually, there is evidence for Pioneer using Mediatek chipsets in their newer, crappier drives. For example: http://club.myce.com/f87/pioneer-dvr118l-118chv-a18l-279058/

And in post #3 of this thread: http://club.myce.com/f87/pioneer-dvr-219chv-vxl-s19l-s19fx-314818/

Thanks Kerry56! It saved me from finding the links myself! You da man!

[lordsmurf]

I'm disputing the assertion that Mediatek = crap.

Not disagreeing that there was a chipset change.
The chipset change is obvious to anybody empowered with a screwdriver.

Pioneer drives are still the best drives, NEC chipsets or not.

[Jeikobu]

You need to know which interface your drive is (IDE or SATA) Sata is a red cable and IDE is wide and flat. Should be able to go to your hardware on your pc to find out. My drive burns DVD+DL etc.

I checked the Hardware in System Profiler and couldn't find anything that told me, so I opened up my computer and looked, but I'm not still not sure. I will say I didn't see a wide and flat cord near the DVD drive, but I did see at least one small red one (amongst others) near it, so perhaps it's SATA?

I want one that is region free,

For what purpose ?
Ripping or Viewing other region dvd's ?

Probably both.

As redwudz stated, if you rip it to your HDD the region coding will be removed.

So somehow ripping programs like MacTheRipper, etc. have the power to rip a non-region 1 DVD even if my player is only region 1? How does that work?

Or you can do like i do and customize/hack the firmware for the drive you buy to be region free and flash it, otherwise you are restricted to 5 region changes for your drive.

Isn't that a risky operation? If there's any good chance of damage then I, being no expert, may be better off not chancing it.

I'd also like to have the ability to burn blank R1 or R2 media

That's a new one to me.... what exactly is R1 & R2 media ?
I think have an idea what you are talking about but.....
That is a new one to me.

If you mean region 2 media, as in PAL format, they are 2 different things as PAL is usually the video format on region 2 disc's, but format and region coding are two totally different things.

You could make an NTSC format dvd and burn it as a region 2 dvd.

Yes, I meant region 1 and 2.

So I could burn a DVD in NTSC format to R2 blank media? Do programs like Toast handle media other than R1 BTW?


To be honest, even if/when I get the new drive, I know practically nothing about how to install it. I think I know a decent deal about using computers, but not about working in them.

[Noahtuck]

IMHO I wouldn't buy a PIONEER drive.....get a LG or SAMSUNG from Newegg.....Amazon doesn't pack items well which is a well known fact.....just my 2 freaking cents!

In all fairness, i have received some pretty crappy packed boxes from newegg, but i have never received anything defective over the years from newegg, except 1 gigabyte mobo, and i don't think that was because of how it was packed.

I never noticed that much of a price hike or drop in dvd burners.....!

Yeah, but you probably don't track prices monthly.

Nope.... i actually check newegg 2-3 times a week
Media and Burners are always on my mind, and i know when i built a close friend a new PC 1-1/2 to 2 years ago i did not pay more than $25.00 for her burner, a Samsung or LG, i don't recall offhand exactly which brand but i know it was 1 of the 2 brands.

And i built her a new multi core since and bought her a new sata burner also for no more than $25.00 so no, i have not seen them much more than you can get them for now.

Although there are dvd burners for higher prices, but i usually try to get a burner for as cheap as possible and i have never really had a problem with any of them, at least not before they are quite a few years old and been used to near death!!
LOL!!

The PIONEER 216 drive was just as outstanding as the 215. Although I hacked all of my PIONEER drives.
PIONEER changed the chipset which is why their dvd burners are crappy now. They used to use NEC chipset and now I believe they use Mediatek.
I miss those days of hacking dvd burners.

Yeah i am still using my PIONEER 216 in my quad core and i have never had a problem with it!!
I was so bummed when NEC went over to the dark side.....
Didn't $ONY take them over back a few years ago ?

[budz]

IMHO I wouldn't buy a PIONEER drive.....get a LG or SAMSUNG from Newegg.....Amazon doesn't pack items well which is a well known fact.....just my 2 freaking cents!

In all fairness, i have received some pretty crappy packed boxes from newegg, but i have never received anything defective over the years from newegg, except 1 gigabyte mobo, and i don't think that was because of how it was packed.

The PIONEER 216 drive was just as outstanding as the 215. Although I hacked all of my PIONEER drives.
PIONEER changed the chipset which is why their dvd burners are crappy now. They used to use NEC chipset and now I believe they use Mediatek.
I miss those days of hacking dvd burners.

Yeah i am still using my PIONEER 216 in my quad core and i have never had a problem with it!!
I was so bummed when NEC went over to the dark side.....
Didn't $ONY take them over back a few years ago ?

Yup over the years I've had crappy packing from Newegg. I've had to send back motherboards, cpu coolers & cpu's because they would pack all that stuff in one box with no padding on the mobo box or cpu & even had a power supply in there too. When I gotta pay 2 day shipping I expect the hardware to be packed well. I haven't bought computer hardware for over a year now. Been occupied with other stuff! Amazon is known for their shitty packing.

Too bad Pioneer chose to change their chipset in their dvd burners. I have a Optiarc dvd burner which was a bitch to hack so I didn't bother. NEC didn't sell out to SONY. SONY sold out their optical drive division to NEC but who knows these days who's buying who in the game of computer hardware. Anyway I have way too many dvd burners that I can still use. I even have a brand new BENQ 1655 still in the retail box. Dvd burners so cheap these days it's just easier to replace them when one dies.

[redwudz]

I should mention that most times Amazon seems to just be the go-between for ordering and stuff ordered from them may be shipped from a who-knows-where company. NewEgg seems to have improved their packaging, at least with my shipments. But UPS doesn't seem to throw boxes around as much as some shippers. But I'm not that far from LA, so most of mine are probably truck shipped in containers. At least the boxes are rarely 'dinged up'.

I saw an interesting article a couple of months ago that said that many HDD failures were from improper packing and shipping, especially with the larger, more sensitive, TB drives. The drive makers said it was a packing problem that led to a higher return rate for DOA drives, and they were contacting the shippers. Sorry, can't quote the source, but it seems plausible.

The HDDs I've ordered from NewEgg are usually bubble wrapped if bare, but are still often in a box of 'peanuts' with other items. Some packages are stuffed with paper, which is a bit better if done right, so I suspect more than one shipping point.

[Jeikobu]

Did anyone see my last post? Can anyone help me please? This thread seems to have gone off-topic to debates about packaging quality rather than the original questions about DVD drives.

[Case]

You need to know which interface your drive is (IDE or SATA).

I checked the Hardware in System Profiler and couldn't find anything that told me, so I opened up my computer and looked, but I'm not still not sure. I will say I didn't see a wide and flat cord near the DVD drive, but I did see at least one small red one (amongst others) near it, so perhaps it's SATA?

System Profiler should have an ATA and a SATA listing under hardware. When selected, it should say if anything is connected using that interface.
If you want to look inside the computer:

Left cable is IDE/ATA/PATA data cable, middle is SATA data cable, right is the power cable.
IDE is about 2.25" wide, SATA cable is about 0.25" wide to a 0.5" connector, power is four wires to a 0.75" connector.

As redwudz stated, if you rip it to your HDD the region coding will be removed.

So somehow ripping programs like MacTheRipper, etc. have the power to rip a non-region 1 DVD even if my player is only region 1? How does that work?

Set System Preferences to Ignore any inserted DVD media (and thus not load DVD Player automatically). The region code should not be checked at this time, so MTR can do its work.

Isn't [firmware update] a risky operation? If there's any good chance of damage then I, being no expert, may be better off not chancing it.

As long as you're sure you have the correct firmware and the update process isn't interrupted, then it is pretty save. Incorrect firmware or an interrupted update can brick a drive, though.

I'd also like to have the ability to burn blank R1 or R2 media. [...]So I could burn a DVD in NTSC format to R2 blank media? Do programs like Toast handle media other than R1 BTW?

Blank media isn't region coded. The content (VIDEO_TS folder) has the region code(s).

To be honest, even if/when I get the new drive, I know practically nothing about how to install it. I think I know a decent deal about using computers, but not about working in them.

YouTube has loads of visual tutorials on installing new hardware parts. It convinced my brother that he could do it himself, and he did successfully. It is just cables and screws, not rocket science.

[budz]

To be honest, even if/when I get the new drive, I know practically nothing about how to install it. I think I know a decent deal about using computers, but not about working in them.

If you don't trust yourself to install a dvd burner then take it to a computer repair shop to get the new dvd burner installed.
Just my 2 freaking cents!

[Jeikobu]

You need to know which interface your drive is (IDE or SATA).

I checked the Hardware in System Profiler and couldn't find anything that told me, so I opened up my computer and looked, but I'm not still not sure. I will say I didn't see a wide and flat cord near the DVD drive, but I did see at least one small red one (amongst others) near it, so perhaps it's SATA?

System Profiler should have an ATA and a SATA listing under hardware. When selected, it should say if anything is connected using that interface.

Thanks for the help. Mine is IDE. You're also right about the System Profiler thing. SATA doesn't have any info under it though, and ATA seems to just tell me about what my current DVD drive is.

Isn't [firmware update] a risky operation? If there's any good chance of damage then I, being no expert, may be better off not chancing it.

As long as you're sure you have the correct firmware and the update process isn't interrupted, then it is pretty save. Incorrect firmware or an interrupted update can brick a drive, though.

How do I know where to get the right firmware, and be sure it is what I need?

I'd also like to have the ability to burn blank R1 or R2 media. [...]So I could burn a DVD in NTSC format to R2 blank media? Do programs like Toast handle media other than R1 BTW?

Blank media isn't region coded. The content (VIDEO_TS folder) has the region code(s).

So if I ripped a R2 DVD and burned it, I couldn't choose to burn it as a R1? What if I wanted to burn stuff to DVD that wasn't originally from a DVD (ex: some file from my digital camera or something downloaded from the internet)? Could I choose what region encoding I'd want?

[Case]

How do I know where to get the right firmware, and be sure it is what I need?

http://www.rpc1.org/ and search there for your brand AND model drive. Note that they have firmware only for select popular drives that someone was successful with on creating a modified firmware. Also note that some (most?) firmware will not come with a Mac firmware flasher app, but with a Windows flasher app. (The process of overwriting existing firmware with new firmware is called flashing.)

So if I ripped a R2 DVD and burned it, I couldn't choose to burn it as a R1? What if I wanted to burn stuff to DVD that wasn't originally from a DVD (ex: some file from my digital camera or something downloaded from the internet)? Could I choose what region encoding I'd want?

When you rip a DVD using e.g. MTR, it defaults to "All Regions". That is, the region code of the ripped DVD will be: R1 and R2 and R3 and R4 and R5 and R6 and R7 and R8, so that the DVD will be playable in any region. Yes, a DVD-Video can have multiple region codes. (If you wish, you could set customs regions (like just R1 and R2, and not others), but why would you want to?)
DVD conversion software (e.g. Roxio Toast) will create All Regions discs.
DVD regions do not apply to Data discs (e.g. photos and non-DVD-authored videos).

[Jeikobu]

Please excuse my reviving an old thread. I thought it made more sense to do this since this thread has all the previous information related to my issue which could be helpful in giving answers.

I put off getting the new drive and now am looking at the concept again. Again, I have IDE and am trying to replace a "PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-104" DVD drive/burner because it will not read DVD+Rs (I even tried one more time inserting a DVD+R DL blank disc and it did what it always does: sits for a minute trying to read it, then spits it out).

Previous posters in this thread suggested Amazon and NewEgg as places to look for new burners. Since Pioneer and Samsung sound like the best manufacturers, I'm looking for drives under those labels. I found a really nice looking one on Amazon, but under the specifics it says it's for Windows only, and I need it for Mac. NewEgg seems to have the same thing.
Amazon and NewEgg each have a Samsung drive that general seems to have good reviews, but I can't find anything that says if it's Mac compatible.

I'd also like this to be an internal drive so I can take out my old Pioneer and stick the new one in its place.

[lordsmurf]

That burner works fine on a Mac.
Burners don't know anything about the OS -- they're just dumb pieces of hardware.

The "software" is probably some worthless backup junk that you don't need anyway (even if using Windows).

This 118 is a great drive: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GQ2SI8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thdifa-20&link...SIN=B002GQ2SI8
Get it.
You won't regret it.

[budz]

Pioneer drives suck wind.....they used to be good drives but not anymore....do yourself a favor and purchase either LG or SAMSUNG drive.....

[Kerry56]

By the way, if you're going recommend such a mediocre drive as the Pioneer 118, you might as well emphasize the link he found with the reasonable price for the darn thing. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129043
Its certainly not worth the price Amazon wants.