Opinions on DVD burner prices

[mrtristan]

I'm within days of ordering the components for my new system. I've decided to go with an AMD MP setup, just because I'm blessed enough to have the resources to do so... at the moment. I gotta seize the opportunity, right? With my firstborn son on the way, daddy has to buy what will probably be his last toy, until I'm 40.

Anyway, I digress. Here are the parts that I'm going to buy:

Case - Lian Li PC-60
Power Supply - Enermax EG651P-VE 550 Watt
Motherboard - A7M266-D
CPUs - 2x Athlon MP 2000+
RAM - 2x 512MB 2100 DDR, from Crucial

I plan on reusing my hard drives, ATI AIW, Plextor 12/10/32A, Toshiba DVD-ROM, and floppy drive. I'm going to use the onboard sound and stick with it, unless it gives me problems. If it doesn't work out, I'll try and use the Creative Live! that I have in my current computer.

So the point of all that background was to ask if anyone has an idea when DVD burner prices will be dropping. At an average price of $250, they're still a little too pricey for me to start experimenting with - Not to mention the higher price of DVD media. I also want to wait until the battle between DVD+ and DVD- is over.

[MOVIEGEEK]

As with all new products companies will charge top dollar due to demand,but as new products are released the older hardwares' prices will be reduced(look at the new 3ghz P4 HT-$330,while the slower P4 prices are dropping).I bought My Sony because of the -R/+R(gee-whiz factor)and I think it is overpriced.I probably should of bought a Pioneer because
I only burn DVD-R and would of saved $100.

[mrtristan]

Well, I went ahead and placed the orders for the parts. If all goes well, I should be receiving them on Wednesday or Thursday. If all continues to go well, I should have the system up and running by the weekend.

So in reality, the new computer will be online in two weeks.

Seriously, I'll post some encoding times when I'm done, just in case anyone's curious. Hopefully this will cut my encoding time down a bit. If not, I can always brag that I have a dual CPU setup and make people jealous. So what if it ain't any better. At least I have two...

[rhegedus]

I think the most important consideration when buying a DVD burner is the compatibility of your set-top DVD player with the different DVD media. After all, this is the only reason to buy a DVD burner (backups? buy a new hard drive - much cheaper and store much more). If your planning to buy a new set-top then just buy one which is compatible with all formats (there are loads about). https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=&Submit=Search&dvdr=1&dvdrw=1&dvdplusr=...&Search=Search

As you said, the DVD-/DVD+ battle has no clear winner and even Sony, who previously supported DVD+, have gone and made the DRU500 (both DVD- AND DVD+) https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=51&Search=Search&list=

It is because of the dual format nature of the DRU500 that I put off buying a burner in October until January (when it finally hit the UK) - I can honestly say it was well worth the wait. The beauty of it is (apart from 100% compatibility with set-tops) that you have a huge choice of media available to you - you can settle the media price/reliabilty issue relatively quickly.

Regards,

Rob

p.s. keep us informed of how the new pc performs.