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  1. I haven't bought an internal burner since my old first gen Pioneer that burns at 2.4X. I want to update with a new burner that does double sided as well.
    I don't need blazing speed but I would like a burner that is compatible with most media and makes reliable burns.

    There is always one that everyone is buying like the NEC3520 for instance.
    What is the hot bang for the buck burner right now with no frills?
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    Here are links to the three burners I'm currently using in all new or upgrade customer systems:

    NEC 3550a in black or biege - $42.99

    and

    BenQ DW1655 w/lightscribe - $52.99

    and for those needing DVD-RAM Support

    Lite-On SHM-165H6S w/lightscribe - $52.99
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  3. hate to say it, ROF but the only one of those drives i would CONSIDER touching is the lite on drive.......NEC and BenQ are both "budget burners" that have all sorts of known flaws.....if you want something stable, go with either a plextor (more perferably) or a lite on (a little cheaper and still pretty stable) I'd give the BenQ about six months to MAYBE a year before its dead......
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    What are the flaws? I've been using a 3550a for over a month now as my own burner, used the 3540 before it, and have installed several NEC and BenQ style burners.

    Links to the flaws please?
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  5. awe crud, i just started another six page thread....but benq is known to use cheap parts for their drives...as for nec......well the same type of deal, they use slightly higher grade parts...but not by much......plextor is known for stability, has been from day 1 and also uses higher end parts ect.....hence is why they generally cost a little more.......

    link to a cheap plextor drive (79.99)

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131356


    there's one flaw for you, it locks verbatim DL discs at 2.4x speed........(the benq that is....)

    http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=161880

    also it appearently doesnt like verbatim lightscribe media, either.....

    http://www.meritlineforum.com/showthread.php?t=971
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    Links please? You can't say it's known they are flawed without links to such flaws.

    BTW, have you checked inside your plextor drives and what they use for a heatsink? They plaster the chips with goop and place the circuit board against the case for cooling. That's about as cheap as you can get not to mention that your circuit are very close to the outershell thus you better be careful when handling it.

    All NECs use an internal metal shield.
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    Originally Posted by whitejremiah
    there's one flaw for you, it locks verbatim DL discs at 2.4x speed........(the benq that is....)

    http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=161880
    And here's 50 plus pages of people with Plextor issues. Same location as you link to.

    http://club.cdfreaks.com/lite/f-43.html
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  8. how often are you going to be "handling" your drive? Im not sure about anyone else here, but i generally perfer my internal drives to stay just there...INSIDE THE CASE.........

    and since you like linking to entire sections of forums...here ya go....

    http://club.cdfreaks.com/lite/f-92.html (benq)

    and nec (NOTE 78 PAGES)

    http://club.cdfreaks.com/lite/f-86.html
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    It has to sit in a storeroom, until it's shipped to warehouse, where it's sold to a wholesaler, who again sells it to a retailer, who ships it to you. Now you must install it. There are quite a few people handling your equipment.

    I'm still waiting for links to your assessment of cheap parts. As far as I can tell Plextor uses cheap parts(or no parts in some cases) and charges inexorbitant prices for their devices as well.

    Links to NEC cheap parts being used please?
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  10. hmm...gimme a bit on that one, its gonna be a little harder to locate a link that speaks specifically of that.........and as far as the handling goes, generally the drive itself is sitting safe in some form of protection.....i.e. foam packaging and this lovely invention called a BOX which is generally made to prevent damage to delicate devices or to otherwise package things...unless some clumsy oaf drops the thing on the ground, you have nothing to worry about, and if thats the case, just take the thing back and tell em it dont work....no harm done, can happen with just about any drive if it's dropped on the ground......
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    And none of this is helping the OTP.

    What a surprise.

    For the money: I would go with a Dual Layer LiteOn. Their stuff is excellent and cheap.

    Also, Dual Layer DVD burners do not burn double-sided, they burn dual layer (big difference). Any burner can burn double-sided.
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    I don't have to provide links. I can provide first hand accounting for my opinion on Plextor POS drives.

    I've repaired or shipped back no less than 14 Plextor 716 drives in the last 2 months. I've repaired or sent back 4 Plextor 712's. I've repaired 2 Aopen 1612's. I've also done numerous repairs on several HP CD Burners. I have no NECs in my shop records. I also do not have any BenQ's although I do have a BenQ from last June that needed to be cleaned.
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    And to the OP...
    I've just installed 2 NEC ND4550's and they are both working perfectly
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    Originally Posted by smearbrick1
    For the money: I would go with a Dual Layer LiteOn. Their stuff is excellent and cheap.
    I'll second that. LiteOn is a good reliable drive to have. See link above.
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  15. im just gonna leave this go, i dont wanna make this turn into a six page flame war.......but next time you request someone provides links for you, you should be so polite as to provide links in return.........but yea, lite-on's are probably the best way to go....as for dual sided discs, as was mentioned, any dvd burner should be able to do those (mind you they are gonna be a little harder to come across than regular dvdr, especially if you buy your media at a local store as opposed to online) and they will probably also be a bit expensive, too.........
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    Originally Posted by whitejremiah
    hate to say it, ROF but the only one of those drives i would CONSIDER touching is the lite on drive.......NEC and BenQ are both "budget burners" that have all sorts of known flaws.....if you want something stable, go with either a plextor (more perferably) or a lite on (a little cheaper and still pretty stable) I'd give the BenQ about six months to MAYBE a year before its dead......
    I have 2 Benq's one 3yrs old the other 1 year old, and have never had a problem.....
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    whitejremiah said
    there's one flaw for you, it locks verbatim DL discs at 2.4x speed........(the benq that is....)
    Well that must be BS because I have burned both a 2.4x @ 4x. And have also burnd verbatim+DL @6x......So how can it say that it "locks it" @ 2.4x?
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  18. Member RDS1955's Avatar
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    I myself own a LiteOn, an NEC in my Laptop,an LG and a Plextor external...Only one giving me problems is the Plextor..(Hey ROF, Whats the best way to clean one of these babies???.. I think thats the issue with mine, it'll read, but it won't write..)..and as Long as I've been in here, in my Opinion, I see alot of people prescribing Benq and NEC's as a Burner of choice..More so than any others...

    Just my 2 Cents worth....
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  19. I been burning DVD's since the Pioneer 103 and for a long time i was a pioneer junkie but after testing a NEC 3550 someone gave me i can honestly say it is the best burner i have ever owned. I cant say anything about Lite-on but if you want to burn DVD-R Pioneer and NEC cant be beat in my opinion.
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    Originally Posted by whitejremiah
    hate to say it, ROF but the only one of those drives i would CONSIDER touching is the lite on drive.......NEC and BenQ are both "budget burners" that have all sorts of known flaws.....if you want something stable, go with either a plextor (more perferably) or a lite on (a little cheaper and still pretty stable) I'd give the BenQ about six months to MAYBE a year before its dead......
    you're talking bubbles man. Let me share some insight with you. The PLEXTOR 740A drive is a REBADGED BENQ 1640. :P PLEXTOR obviously realized they had problems with the 716A drive when it was released too prematurely. Check out the PLEXTOR FORUM at Cdfreaks.com where you'll see many threads on the PLEXTOR 716A drive. Most of those who posted had problems with that drive. Some had good drives from the beginning but most people had to RMA back to PLEXTOR not once but as many times as 4-6 times before they had one that worked correctly. PLEXTOR now charges for their PLEX TOOLS software and other tools that can be used exclusively with their drives. BENQ has QSUITE which is FREE software. The cost of one PLEXTOR drive I can buy 2 BENQ's.

    I have 2 BENQ 1620 drives that are going on 2 years old and they work fine. I have no problems in burning SL & DL MEDIA. I build pc's for friends and family with the recommendation of using BENQ dvd burners. No problems whatsoever!

    Every manufacturer of DVD BURNERS will have their quality control issues. Nuff said! That's my 2 big cents!
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  21. I'd buy another Pioneer - by the sound of it the original poster can vouch for their reliability !
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  22. I own a NEC 3550 and am pleased with it. I also own other drives (LG-Pioneer-Benq-Liteon). I honestly don't think any burner is THE clear cut winner. I do think people who rely on just one optical drive have a much shorter list to pick from because the drive is asked to do all things well. The NEC 3550 is pretty good at all things except it is a horrible scanner. If that is of no significance, then it's a good choice. I think the best all-purpose drive right now is the Benq 1650. BUT, it isn't available in the US as of yet. Rumored to be available sometime in March. The 1655 is the same Benq with lightscribe feature. It is more costly but appears to be very solid and is available in the US. Benq's have a very active firmware support system in place. I'm a big Pioneer fan myself. The current 110 or 110D models are pretty solid. If DVDram is an issue it's hard to beat the LG 4167B. No drive is best at all things. Study your needs and just try to pick the drive that seems to do well in your key areas. But if you want all purpose, pretty dang good at everything - the Benq 1650/1655 is gonna be at or near the top of the list. Good luck...
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    I have to agree, plextors high price tag and flashy packaging make it "seem" like it the best quality to the unexperienced, but they are no better and often worse than a $45 BenQ 16XX. Theres many reviews that agree with this.
    As for the hottest, which could translate to the one of the newer ones, since they normally have the latest features; LG 4167, BenQ 1640 or NEC 3550. Any one of those will get the job done, all are quite similar and the differences are negligible. Really.
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    Originally Posted by whitejremiah
    ...

    there's one flaw for you, it locks verbatim DL discs at 2.4x speed........(the benq that is....)

    ...
    Curious - I'm using the BenQ 1620 and I have burned at least 200 DVD's no problem. My Verbatim DL show up - and burn - at 4x. My Memorex DL burn at the stated 2.4. But I have had no DL coasters and 4 SL coasters.

    You know... unless you use it... you never know what setup the other person is using and what real experience they have.

    And yeah... I have had an earlier model BenQ DVD burner (820 ?) die on me, but they cross shipped a new one and they paid for shipping. I was up and running in 2 days - and that burner is well over a year old - has burned at least 300 DVD's - and is still going strong in my brother's PC.
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  25. i do apologize, i honestly wasnt aware that the plextor's were relabeled benq's!! thus said, i do still stand by my opinion that lite on's are solid drives......ive had my lite on cd burner since the VERY first 52x cdrw drives came out, and it looks like its now FINALLY starting to die out (reading discs extremely slow, ect) so im probably gonna just replace it with another similar drive...probably this time with dvd reading abilities...i would jump for another dvd burner, but i dont honestly have use for 2 dvd burners because the one i have already suits my needs just fine.......ROF i do apologize and EAO, i just threw that link up because he was looking for flaws and that sure appeared to me to be a flaw with the drive...i guess it isnt a consistant flaw though......
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    Originally Posted by ROF
    I've repaired or shipped back no less than 14 Plextor 716 drives in the last 2 months. I've repaired or sent back 4 Plextor 712's. I've repaired 2 Aopen 1612's. I've also done numerous repairs on several HP CD Burners. I have no NECs in my shop records. I also do not have any BenQ's although I do have a BenQ from last June that needed to be cleaned.
    Just curious. People actually bring in DVDRW drives for repair? I'd think that they could pretty much get a new drive for what repair bill would run.

    By the way I've got a 712a, which I got for $35 after rebate around 18-months ago. Knock on wood, but this drives been reliable and has produced good burns (I use TYG02 media).
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    I have owned several different DVD writers (Pioneer, NEC, Benq, BTC, Cyberdrive). I have only had 1 die and that was an NEC 1300A that got bounced arround in transport. Though I have never had a Liteon, I think if you look at the last 2 years or so of DVD writers you will see that Liteon has not had a very good run of things. Only since the 1693S have people really started to put them anywhere near the same league as NEC, Pioneer, and Benq as far as writing quality goes. Sure there CD writers were amoung the best, but all the Mediatek chipset based DVD writers seemed to lag behind the NEC and Phillips chipset based drives for quite some time. My old BTC drive (Mediatek chipset) was the worse writer I have ever used, CD or DVD, but it would read anything I threw into it so that is all it was good for. As far as the best drive to get now, pick any of the current models from NEC, Benq, Pioneer, or Liteon and I am sure it will meet your needs very well. Media seems to finally be getting good enough that most all the drives burn then well!
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    Pioneer is easily the best drive.

    LG and LiteOn are also very good choices.

    NEC can go both ways, it has its uses.

    Everything else is not worth mentioning, with varying flaws, especially as it relates to rejecting known-good media and the devices having various hardware failures (BenQ and Plextor top the list). Most of the time these cheap drives are for scanning junkies (PIE/PIF crap) and not very good as a burner.
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    Originally Posted by lordsmurf
    Pioneer is easily the best drive.

    LG and LiteOn are also very good choices.

    NEC can go both ways, it has its uses.

    Everything else is not worth mentioning, with varying flaws, especially as it relates to rejecting known-good media and the devices having various hardware failures (BenQ and Plextor top the list). Most of the time these cheap drives are for scanning junkies (PIE/PIF crap) and not very good as a burner.
    Again this is from you who has never owned a BENQ 1620 or 1640 drive. My PLEXTOR 708A drive is over 3 years old now and still burns good quality dvd media very well.
    Unlike my PIONEER 107D which died after 1 1/2 years. Dunno where you get your info from regarding BENQ & PLEXTOR rejecting known good media. They burn TAIYO YUDEN & MAXELL discs that are MADE IN JAPAN very well and also VERBATIM discs.

    Your continued bashing of the BENQ 1620 & 1640 drives is getting quite OLD when you have other members report that the drive works well. Remember I offered to help you out in flashing your so called friends BENQ drive.

    Back to the topic at hand.....If you wait till March the BENQ 1650 drive will be released in the USA....The drive is currently available in the UK, Australia & Canada. There have been good reports so far on the drive. I'm sure CDFREAKS.COM will be doing a review on the 1650. The Lightscribe BENQ 1655 is getting rave reviews as well. From what I've read at the BENQ FORUM the 1655 does better at writing @16x speed. I'm patiently waiting for the BENQ 1650 to arrive at Newegg.com.
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    budz, BenQ drives have a lot of problems. The drives are known to fail, they have fickle tastes on media. Count your blessings if you have good luck, but the big picture is otherwise. It's also a "minority" drive, not used by many people as compared to Pioneer, LiteOn, NEC and LG. You don't have to own equipment to test it, compile test results, and give solid reviews. It helps, but it's surely not necessary.
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