Which of these drives do you prefer & where to get them?

[uncleB]

I’ve posted questions concerning a good reliable CD/DVD Writer and you all have been a lot of help. You also helped me by reflecting on some of the media that you preferred for some of the different writers and differentiated between CD & DVD, which was appreciated too. Here’s my last question, which of these drives do you think gives the best results, you know quality sound (for CD’s) & best sound & optical reproduction (for DVD), and very few coasters? I’d also like to know what media you used or would suggest for the particular drive you like and what speed to burn them at. As far as the DVD aspect I like to burn DVD-R so I’d like the media to reflect that. Here is a list of the Drives I came up with. Like I said which one do you prefer and why. Here’s the Biggy, I really Liked the BenQ DW1640 best (but what do I know), but where the hell can you find one to buy, I mean I’ve searched for 2 nights and even though Google says here, here, here, they don’t have them there. So besides everything else where did you purchase any of the below that you liked and where did you get the media. Sorry I actually though this was going to be a short question, just getting kind of frustrated. HELP
Thanks again
Uncle Bob

BenQ DW1640 ++++ I think this is the one.
Plextor PX-750A **
NEC's ND-4550A
Plextor PX-760A
Memorex 16X-DDL-IN
BenQ DW1655 ++
LG GSA-H10N++++
Sony DRU-810A
Pioneer DVR-111DBK
Lite-On SHW-160P6S
Lite-On SHM-165H6S++

[budz]

BENQ no longer manufactures their dvd burners. Their optical drive dept. was sold a few years ago to LITEON. There's a long ass thread at the BENQ FORUM at Cdfreaks.com called, "BENQ DVD REWRITER ARE VANISHING". I was one of the BENQ FREAKS who bought over 12 BENQ drives. IMHO it was the best burner during that era. Good luck trying to find any BENQ 1620, 1640, 1650 & 1655. Try Ebay but I don't know how reliable it would be to buy from there. Those models of BENQ's are hard to come by. I still have a few BENQ 1655's still in boxes and a bunch of 1640's sitting on the shelf because I have way too many dvd burners.

That list you posted is basically useless since those models are all old models. The latest PIONEER 115, (older model)LG-H62 & (sata)SAMSUNG S203B are the best dvd burners on the market right now. SONY no longer manufactures their dvd burners as well. They use rebadged LITEON & SAMSUNG drives and also has a collaboration with NEC as well. I'm waiting for the PIONEER SATA 215 to be released in the USA, it's already out in the UK.

Best dvd media to use is VERBATIM or TAIYO YUDEN.

[lordsmurf]

Buy a Pioneer or a Sony-branded Samsung.

[Krispy Kritter]

My latest drives include the Pioneer 112D (IDE) and the Samsung SH203B (SATA). The Pioneer has been my workhorse and has been very reliable, but I prefer the Samsung.

For DVD media I use TY DVD-R and Verbatim DVD+R DL burned at the media's rated speed (-R is usually 8-12x and +R DL is usually 4-8x)

For CD, I use whatever is on sale and I've never had any issues except when trying to use generic bargain basement media.

[bevills1]

See http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=BLK-DVR-710-R&cm_mmc=googleproducts-_-DVDDrives/DVDBurners-_-DVDBurners(Internal)-_-BLK-DVR-710-R&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=BLK-DVR-710-R for the Pioneer DVR-710 which is retail version of 111D I believe. I have 2 of the 111Ds which would be my choice, but suggestions by budz and lordsmurf are very good choices too.

Edit: Note I just noticed geeks link is for refurbished which I personally wouldn't want. Check http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000F4U592/ref=dp_olp_2 for new. However, lowest price there is $50 plus shipping, and I'd recommend the 112 or 115 for around $30 plus or minus a few bucks for that much price difference.

[uncleB]

I just wanted to thank you all, you’ve been so helpful. You know the Internet isn’t what it used to be, or maybe I’m just a little out of touch at finding things. I spent days looking all over, Googleing my butt off. At least you showed me that I was on the right track, just a couple of years off. Like I said I blame the Internet, it’s become so commercial and no matter what I Googled, It would give me a number of sites that said they had what I wanted only to find they didn’t know what the Hell I was talking about. I guess they just figure If they list themselves on the First or second page and you go there that they have a 60%- 70% chance of having in their inventory. Heck for a while today I found about three sites that offered any one of 10 BENQ’s, and everyone I went to was “on order” or “out of stock”, you’d think they’d keep up to date with that stuff. Anyways I’m Rambling, but I do thank you and will go with one of your choices, I’ll let you know how it goes. If you know of a site where I can get a good price on the drives, and the media (that usually saves shipping cost) I’d appreciate it and especially a site that has reviews of current models available written by buyers & users who like yourselves are “Aware”, cause I don’t necessarily trust their ratings.

Uncle Bob

[budz]

Get your PIONEER or SAMSUNG drive from Newegg. I see that geeks.com has the LG SATA 20x spd dvd burner as well but beware because geeks.com website got hacked. Customer's data was breached so lucky me had to put a fraud alert on my credit.

[bevills1]

Occasionally you'll see a BenQ 1650 or 1655 show up on CDFreaks Bargain Basement forum usually from NewEgg, but they are sold out within a few minutes making it difficult to catch and probably more trouble than it's worth. However, NewEgg does have customer reviews which I've used when deciding which item to buy, and I choose only items that have at least 4 out of 5 stars rating and have never been disappointed with any of those purchases. NewEgg also has extremely good customer service, and I recommend them highly regardless of which drive you choose; they also frequently offer free shipping on burners as well as media.