Why would companies like NEC, Pioneer, etc allow people.....

[orbital517]

to sell "rebadged" drives at sooooo much cheaper costs? The reason why I am asking is because some of these "rebadged" drives sell for more than half the price of the original, sometimes even a third of the price. How cam companies like BusLink, Lite-on, Cydyne (spelling), etc. sell these rebadged drives for soooooooo cheap. Are the parts the same, is the drive the same as the original, or do they use cheaper parts than the original?

I currently have two 4X burners and I am in the market for maybe an 8X burner. What are the disadvantages of going with one of these "rebadged" drives? Or should I pay the extra money and get the original (Plextor, Pioneer, NEC).

[BobK]

> to sell "rebadged" drives at sooooo much cheaper costs?

The same reason that NAPA allows other companies to sell their auto parts under a different name at a much lower price- or that ceral companies allow grocery stores to sell their ceral in a generic box at a much lower price. Because they expect to make more profit by doing that.

[garryheather]

They also increase market penetration by shipping to system builders and the like.

[ebenton]

Also, I don't think you get the same warranty for the rebadged (OEM) ones that you get on the retail versions.
That cuts down on costs, too.

[dcsos]

Often its the lack of that "BUNDLED" software with the "white box" or "rebadged" version-or you get "lite" version software
Now we're full up on software that increasingly you already got with the last drive,
that driving the product price up...

[garryheather]

Warranty is a good point, actually - although the discrepancies do seem to be getting less regular.

The issue nowadays seems to be who you take the warranty up with if the product goes bad. Most retailers who stock OEM stuff will swap it out for you, but if you say bought a Pioneer drive branded as Benq, you would probably have difficulty in getting Pioneer to repair it.

The irony is you would send it to Benq, who would probably send it back to Pioneer... but that's OK because Benq would have the warranty.

This is where it gets complicated. Some "manufacturers" don't pass on a full warranty. If JapCrap Corp buy a load of drives from SumShyte Technologies and they warranty the product for a year, that might be from JapCrap's date of purchase.

If they then realise that most of their product sits on a shelf for 4 months before the end user buys it, then it would only have 8 months of its warranty left before someone could even find it dead on arrival, damaged etc.

To play it safe, JapCrap may then only warranty the product for say 6 months, to allow a bit of slack in case it does go wrong and they need to return the item to SumShyte.

As I say, most reputable dealers will give you a full waranty, but it is worth checking at the time of purchase to make sure you don't get burnt instead of your discs.

[RAAGAAman]

Another reason is first pass drives go to OEM and the suppliers own Vendor retail. If I have drives that fail on the MFG line for some reason they do not want these going into their box. In fact sometimes the contract indicates that first pass failed drives are not to be shipped to an OEM. So I repair them and sell them to some off brand company. No liability on my part and I got rid of a drive I might otherwise have to sit on or scrap because the OEM vendor did not want it.

RG.

[DTSL06]

Heres a theory.

Many of the optical burners/drives are made by a very few actual manfacturers. The big names get their drives made by these few companies and to justify keying up for a production run (or to maintain it) may required that other smaller vender companies be provide with drives from the same production line so to offset the cost. Prob the biggies get a royalties from the smaller companies also.

[jaxxboss]

Here is an example for support from a no name company. Khypermedia, I bought their dvdrw, which is actually a rebadged BenQ. Now I know BenQ isnt exactly a super major company, but they are getting along and they certainly aint a Khypermedia. Anyway, I got their drive(kypermedia) and on their web site it shows NO firmware updates. I then go to the BenQ website and for that same Model it already has 4 Firmware updates AND a flash to make this drive -R capable as well.
So, support is lacking on khypermedia and I guess they dont have to pay much out for employees so they can sell the drive for less. Just a theory, but I'm sure the other comments here are also part of the equation.

[orbital517]

Another reason is first pass drives go to OEM and the suppliers own Vendor retail. If I have drives that fail on the MFG line for some reason they do not want these going into their box. In fact sometimes the contract indicates that first pass failed drives are not to be shipped to an OEM. So I repair them and sell them to some off brand company. No liability on my part and I got rid of a drive I might otherwise have to sit on or scrap because the OEM vendor did not want it.

RG.

So are you saying that "liteon, benq, memorex, etc.....drives are selling "refurbished" drives that are not high quality?

[dcsos]

They're not suposed to but remember HI VAL
they were caught doing just that

"liteon, benq, memorex, etc.....drives are selling "refurbished" drives that are not high quality?

[BobK]

> So are you saying that "liteon, benq, memorex, etc.....drives are selling "refurbished" drives that are not high quality

Once they're refubished, why would the quality be any lower than the others?

It might be different in computer parts, but for most things I think your chance of getting a defective item is lower when you buy a refurbished product. The reason is that no (or almost no) manufacturer checks 100% of the items being manufacturered. But every refurbished item has been checked.

[openup]

I think you got some of your supplier/rebadger relationships wrong. Lite-on and Benq make their own drives and actually oem their drives to other companies. For example, the 8x sony drives are actually rebadged optirites for now but will be rebadged Lite-ons in the future. In fact, I think that the chipset that goes into a lot of the latest 8x +r drives (nu tech, philips, cyberdrive, benq) was developed together by benq and philips. As competition increases and profits margins decrease, we see might see more of the larger main brands that developed their own drives in the past (Nec, Pioneer, etc.) just rebadging drives from lower cost manufacturers in taiwan and china.

[garryheather]

Just to throw a spanner in the works there, I think Benq DO buy in drives from other manufacturers, or, at least, they have done in the past.

My DVD-R drive is branded as "Benq", but it's a Pioneer through and through.

[jaxxboss]

Just to throw a spanner in the works there, I think Benq DO buy in drives from other manufacturers, or, at least, they have done in the past.

My DVD-R drive is branded as "Benq", but it's a Pioneer through and through.

I didnt think BenQ sold a -R drive at all. Are you sure about that?
could be a susyQ instead. LOL

[RabidDog]

If they are wrong off the prod line, I would doubt that its worth repairing them.. I mean whats to repair? Keep it for spare parts maybe. The cost of these units is tiny(at factory gate prices) probably $10 $20 dollars at most. Not worth repairing.