Buying my first dvd writer, recommendations please?

[ccbadd]

Pay more to get more, that's why. I only paid $9 more for the NEC.

This is really not true. Maybee when comparing the cheappest to anything cheaper, but not when the average prices are ~$10.00 apart.

As far as drive prefferences, look at the manufacurer's past record. I have a Benq 822a, Cyberdrive DX082D, BTC1004IM and an Nec 2510. I also previously owned a 1300 that I personally hated and a Pioneer 105 which was great at - media. The Benq is much better and faster with + media and the NEC is better but much slower with - media. Benq is still adding features to there 8X drives, I don't think NEC has ever done that. NEC has added media and fixed bugs, but do they have an officially supported firmware (not a hacked OEM version) that supports sl bittsetting on any of there dual format drives? I can't speek for Plextor as I think they cost too much. And Pioneer will NEVER offer sl bittsetting.

[jtommyj]

As far as NEC is concerned,up until the 25th of this month they were only an OEM supplier in the USA. Now that they have entered the retail market i think you'll see the level of support ratcheted up some on the firmwares,etc.


Time will tell.

Tom

[Heff]

Pay more to get more, that's why. I only paid $9 more for the NEC.

Just check this thread where someone had a BenQ 1620, Nec 3500, and Lite-on 1633 and burn a image using all 3 on TY02 8x +. The BenQ had the signficantly lower PIF score then the other 2 and was the faster of the 3 to boot!

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=112498

[Tattman]

$76. is cheaper but add your shipping and sales tax. $99. no tax or shipping charges

[samijubal]

I paid $76 total, shipping was free and there was no sales tax. It's down to $71 now and free shipping at Newegg.

[RickTheRed]

Just check this thread where someone had a BenQ 1620, Nec 3500, and Lite-on 1633 and burn a image using all 3 on TY02 8x +. The BenQ had the signficantly lower PIF score then the other 2 and was the faster of the 3 to boot!

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=112498

Heff,
This test only tells you that the benQ had better success reading the disk burned by the Benq. That's it. I do not get very excited by Pi/pif test showing this or that. Take the same three disks and test them with another unit and let me know the results. I can bet the disk burned by the benq will not be #1 anymore.
Roughly, I will say the the best burners available are the Nec 3500 and the Pioneer 108. I'm not including the Plextor because it is not in the price range specified in this thread.

Anyway, 8xDL are hitting the market soon...

[disturbed1]

i LOVE my NEC 3500

Same here. I bought a 2500 when it first came out. With each of my A05s near or just past the 2000 burn mark, I didn't look back after I swapped them all for 3500s.

These burners just rock. You'll get near flawless burns with even cheap Optodisc media. Pop in a TYG02 for a flawless 16x burn. Just outstanding

If you need the best +R speed and quality, choose a BenQ.
If you need great +R speed, best quality, and great -R speed/support, and the best quality, get a NEC. The BenQ only surpasses the NEC in +R max speed writing. The quality is the same on +R, but the NEC just blows everything else (even Pioneer) out of the water when it comes to -R write quality.