Recommendations for DVD writer?

[will7370]

I've gone through a couple of burners in the past three years. I need one that I can depend on. I've been told that most burners are designed for "Lite-Duty", i.e., one or two burns a day. But I do sometimes ten a day. I've been told I need one for heavy duty.

Can someone recommend one around the $50 price range? Or am I dreaming here? I just want something that I can depend on and not have to keep replacing.

[dfisher052]

I've also gone through a few writers. So far I've had the best luck with Optiarc's. I have 2 in my system & they burn just about any type of disc I've thrown at them with out any coasters.

[usually_quiet]

I don't own one, but Plextor makes the most expensive full-height internal DVD drives, and claim their product's design improves cooling for a longer life. The PX-L890SA is their latest full-height internal drive.

[classfour]

The latest Plextors are not made by Plextor - although their earlier drives were. Plextors were the best at one time, but now it's more of "read the reviews at the Egg" thing.

I run Sony Optiarc drives in two machines, and they burn fine. I bought a Plextor a year or so back - did not care for the build, very light construction: found out it was an LiteON. It didn't burn any better than the Optiarc drives, so I pulled it from the machine. http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=737081

Until proven otherwise: Most drives are created equal. Many like Pioneers, LGs, Optiarcs, etc.. It's a matter of choice - I look at burn speed, features (lightscribe if wanted) and reviews. With most drives costing $20 US or so, it's tough paying double for a Plextor with the number of bad reviews

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249066

[hech54]

2003 LG 4040B - still working
2005 LG 4167B - starting to die
2008 LG GSA H58N - still working

[jman98]

Optiarc - I have an iMac on loan from work at my house. It came with an internal Optiarc drive. Supposedly the drive is capable of burning DVD+R DL media. It has NEVER NEVER NEVER been able to do so, not even once. I use only Verbatim DVD+R DL media from Sinagpore. It can't burn them without errors, not even at the slowest speed. Doesn't matter what software I use. I've even tried to use ImgBurn in a Windows VM. The damn drive still can't burn DL media without fatal errors. I would NEVER buy Optiarc after my experience. The best burner I ever owned was a NEC and Optiarc is some sort of joint NEC/Sony project. Go figure.

I've used recentish Pioneer and LG models and I prefer the Pioneer. I can tell you that it seems to me that nobody makes drives as good as they used to.