Computer DVD Burners

[Me]

Hi,

Just starting to research these items and was wondering if anybody had any
comments (especially if you own one of these drives) about the following DVD
Burners. I am looking at burners around the $200 mark. Is it worth the
extra for the "big" brand burners. If so, any suggestions?

I noticed the Panasonic does not do DVD+ format - is this a big issue?

If I mainly want this for Video Editing, is there a big benefit in having
DVD-Ram format?

Also, does advertising as DVD±R mean it does both DVD+R and DVD-R or this a
third format type?

Asus DRW-0402P/D
Formats: DVD±R, DVD±RW, DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, DVD-Video, Photo CD,
CD-Extra, CD-Text.

Gigabyte GO-W040A
Formats: DVD+R, DVD -R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW

LiteOn LDW-451S
Format: DVD single/dual layer (PTP, OTP), DVD-R, DVD-R multi-borders, DVD+R,
DVD+R multi-sessions, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA ,
Photo-CD, Multi-session, Karaoke-CD, Video-CD, CD-I FMV, CD Extra, CD Plus,
CD-R , and CD-RW

Panasonic LF-M621E
Formats: 4x DVD-R, 3x DVD-RW, 1x DVD-RAM, 12x CD-R, 8x CD-RW

[rhyno]

"Me" <NoSpam@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:4033ef63$0$827$61c65585@uq-127creek-reader-01.brisbane.pipenetworks.com
..au...
> Hi,
>
> Just starting to research these items and was wondering if anybody had any
> comments (especially if you own one of these drives) about the following
DVD
> Burners. I am looking at burners around the $200 mark. Is it worth the
> extra for the "big" brand burners. If so, any suggestions?
>
> I noticed the Panasonic does not do DVD+ format - is this a big issue?
>
> If I mainly want this for Video Editing, is there a big benefit in having
> DVD-Ram format?
>
> Also, does advertising as DVD±R mean it does both DVD+R and DVD-R or this
a
> third format type?
>
> Asus DRW-0402P/D
> Formats: DVD±R, DVD±RW, DVD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, DVD-Video, Photo CD,
> CD-Extra, CD-Text.
>
> Gigabyte GO-W040A
> Formats: DVD+R, DVD -R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW
>
> LiteOn LDW-451S
> Format: DVD single/dual layer (PTP, OTP), DVD-R, DVD-R multi-borders,
DVD+R,
> DVD+R multi-sessions, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM/XA ,
> Photo-CD, Multi-session, Karaoke-CD, Video-CD, CD-I FMV, CD Extra, CD
Plus,
> CD-R , and CD-RW
>
> Panasonic LF-M621E
> Formats: 4x DVD-R, 3x DVD-RW, 1x DVD-RAM, 12x CD-R, 8x CD-RW
>
>
you should also look into the NEC 2500 burner, its 8x and also around the
$200 mark
and ive heard good things about its write quality
a friend had the gigabyte drive and he said it was crap, so he returned it
for another drive.
not fully sure with the liteon, their cdr drives are great but the dvdr
burners seem to have plenty
of firmware issues.
check out the forums at www.cdfreaks.com and www.rpc1.org and find out what
people
been saying about many drives

[plod]

Personally I have, and would reccommend the Pioneer 106D. It is a
fantastic burner. I know many people who are very happy with this burner.
It has burnt every media I have thrown at it....

I think they are below $170 dollars at the moment. The 107D (the 8x
version) is more expensive, ~$270.

cheers,
plod

[®Matthew-The Resurrected©]

On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 01:11:23 GMT, "plod" <plod@spankme.com> wrote:

Why are people buying the 8x burners??

The 4X media still only burns at 4x does it not?

>Personally I have, and would reccommend the Pioneer 106D. It is a
>fantastic burner. I know many people who are very happy with this burner.
>It has burnt every media I have thrown at it....
>
>I think they are below $170 dollars at the moment. The 107D (the 8x
>version) is more expensive, ~$270.
>
>cheers,
>plod
>
>

[G]

According to who you talk to some 4x media will only burn at 2x, some 4x,
some 6x or some 8x (on their specific drive)... varies a lot, and apparently
some drives treat different media differently (even if its rated the same).

<®Matthew-The Resurrected©> wrote in message
news:4s68309dvr42r7m91g5tutejsbf1io1qr4@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 01:11:23 GMT, "plod" <plod@spankme.com> wrote:
>
> Why are people buying the 8x burners??
>
> The 4X media still only burns at 4x does it not?
>
> >Personally I have, and would reccommend the Pioneer 106D. It is a
> >fantastic burner. I know many people who are very happy with this
burner.
> >It has burnt every media I have thrown at it....
> >
> >I think they are below $170 dollars at the moment. The 107D (the 8x
> >version) is more expensive, ~$270.
> >
> >cheers,
> >plod
> >
> >
>

[HAH]

Gday,
>
> Just starting to research these items and was wondering if anybody had any
> comments (especially if you own one of these drives) about the following DVD
> Burners. I am looking at burners around the $200 mark. Is it worth the
> extra for the "big" brand burners. If so, any suggestions?

I'd advise you to go with "bigger" brands if technology was still in
it's infancy. With the DVD red laser tech. ripe and mature, it would
probably be safe to go for the unknown brand names as a lot of them
will have either purchased the key components from the big firms,
jointly developed them with the bigger brands or based their designs
on the proven bigger brands.

Personally, I've always gone with big name brands (got teh Sony CD
burner) in favour of better quality assurance and after sales service.

> I noticed the Panasonic does not do DVD+ format - is this a big issue?

Not really these days as most DVD players are able to playback -
formats. - formats IMHO were always the more accepted format.

> If I mainly want this for Video Editing, is there a big benefit in having
> DVD-Ram format?

Not too sure, but I'd say stick with the -/+ formats as they are more
widely used. RAM formats seem to be limited to Panasonic machines and
are not widely supported. RAM discs are also a lot more expensive seen
that there are very few manufacturers who produce them.

> Also, does advertising as DVD±R mean it does both DVD+R and DVD-R or this a
> third format type?

This means they are dual format compatible, that is, both DVD-R and
DVD+R, not a 3rd format.

I'd suggest getting the Pioneer A07, it's proven for me to be a
sturdy, reliable burner.

[GDS]

HAH wrote...

>Personally, I've always gone with big name brands (got teh Sony CD
>burner) in favour of better quality assurance and after sales service.

Aren't the Sony CD-RW drive made by LiteOn?

G.

[Neale]

<®Matthew-The Resurrected©> wrote in message
news:4s68309dvr42r7m91g5tutejsbf1io1qr4@4ax.com...
>
> Why are people buying the 8x burners??
>
> The 4X media still only burns at 4x does it not?

Probably for the same reason I bought a motherboard with SATA, USB2 and
firewire. And for the same reason men have nipples.

"Just in case."

[G Hutch]

The Pioneer 106 version is one of the best as you can flash it to an
unofficial 107 version and thus make it Region free ie RPCII rather than the
standards RPCI.
This is important if you are going to copy Region 1, 2 and 4 DVDs.

Greg

<®Matthew-The Resurrected©> wrote in message
news:4s68309dvr42r7m91g5tutejsbf1io1qr4@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 01:11:23 GMT, "plod" <plod@spankme.com> wrote:
>
> Why are people buying the 8x burners??
>
> The 4X media still only burns at 4x does it not?
>
> >Personally I have, and would reccommend the Pioneer 106D. It is a
> >fantastic burner. I know many people who are very happy with this
burner.
> >It has burnt every media I have thrown at it....
> >
> >I think they are below $170 dollars at the moment. The 107D (the 8x
> >version) is more expensive, ~$270.
> >
> >cheers,
> >plod
> >
> >
>

[Neale]

"G Hutch" <complex@love.com> wrote in message
news:bLZYb.66178$Wa.30668@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> The Pioneer 106 version is one of the best as you can flash it to an
> unofficial 107 version and thus make it Region free ie RPCII rather than
the
> standards RPCI.
> This is important if you are going to copy Region 1, 2 and 4 DVDs.
>
> Greg

The 107 is an 8x burner, isn't it? Can you flash the 106 to burn at 8x? I
don't think so, but feel free to prove me wrong.

[Oldus Fartus]

G Hutch wrote:

> The Pioneer 106 version is one of the best as you can flash it to an
> unofficial 107 version and thus make it Region free ie RPCII rather than the
> standards RPCI.
> This is important if you are going to copy Region 1, 2 and 4 DVDs.
>

Can you explain Greg? As I understand it RPC1 does NOT keep region
coding in firmware, and any region coding is handled by the player
(PowerDVD etc). RPC2 keeps it in the drives firmware, and has a
counter and normally allows five or so changes. RPC2 was apparently
introduced after pressure by the DVD Alliance. Happy to be proved
wrong on that, I have taken it from publicity blurbs and manuals for
various DVD drives.

It is not necessary to change regions to rip and burn DVDs. DVD Shrink
or Smartripper obviously bypasses any existing region coding, and allows
you to make region free copies, or to even make particular region copies
if that is what you wish. I succesfully made region free copies of
region 1, and region 2 DVDs today with no problems on my 106D.

I have also made various test DVDs which I can use to check out players,
with all sorts of different combinations of standards, and my test bed
to make sure I haven't ended up burning them as Region 4 by mistake is
an X-Box (unmodified), which will ony play region 4.

--
Cheers
Oldus Fartus

[vavud]

If you use DVD IDLE it kills all protection regions & Macrovision without
any risk of trying to flash a nurner. I have a Sony and have not faulted one
DVD. I have so far copied 4.

"Neale" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message
news:40346ac3$0$5862$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au ...
> "G Hutch" <complex@love.com> wrote in message
> news:bLZYb.66178$Wa.30668@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > The Pioneer 106 version is one of the best as you can flash it to an
> > unofficial 107 version and thus make it Region free ie RPCII rather than
> the
> > standards RPCI.
> > This is important if you are going to copy Region 1, 2 and 4 DVDs.
> >
> > Greg
>
> The 107 is an 8x burner, isn't it? Can you flash the 106 to burn at 8x? I
> don't think so, but feel free to prove me wrong.
>
>

[Neale]

"vavud" <francoisculo@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:rA%Yb.66401$Wa.61157@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> If you use DVD IDLE it kills all protection regions & Macrovision without
> any risk of trying to flash a nurner. I have a Sony and have not faulted
one
> DVD. I have so far copied 4.

I'll take your word for that, but this won't make the 106 the same as a 107
for two reasons:

- the 106 is a 4x burner. the 107 is an 8x burner.
- both 106 and 107 have region coding (RC2 or whatever) from the factory.

So I think what G Hutch originally meant to say was that you can flash the
106 to be region and macrovision free, NOT that you can flash it to an
"unofficial 107".

[Andrew]

Hi plod

do you ahve aurl handy for that $170 price? I've checked my usual
haunts but $200+ is the prices I'm seeing.

thanks

A

On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 01:11:23 GMT, "plod" <plod@spankme.com> wrote:

>Personally I have, and would reccommend the Pioneer 106D. It is a
>fantastic burner. I know many people who are very happy with this burner.
>It has burnt every media I have thrown at it....
>
>I think they are below $170 dollars at the moment. The 107D (the 8x
>version) is more expensive, ~$270.
>
>cheers,
>plod
>
>

[plod]

<®Matthew-The Resurrected©> wrote in message
news:4s68309dvr42r7m91g5tutejsbf1io1qr4@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 01:11:23 GMT, "plod" <plod@spankme.com> wrote:
>
> Why are people buying the 8x burners??
>
> The 4X media still only burns at 4x does it not?

Nup, there is firmware to let you burn the 4x media at 8x......

from a few threads above, check this post

----- Original Message -----
From: "Silly Sausage" <emailme@home.com>
Newsgroups: aus.dvd
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2004 8:31 PM
Subject: Pioneer 107D owners, flash your drive and burn 4x -R media at 8x


> For those who arent aware you can download this firmware
>
> http://flashman.rpc1.org/Firmware/PIONEER/DVR-107D/Patched/
>
> You will then be able to select 6x and 8x recording speeds on all -R media
> but you should really only do it on x4 media. I tried it on Princos and it
> worked a treat, no glitches or playback problems, 8 min burns woohoo
>
> it also makes your drive region free and increases the rip speed to 12x.
>
> The higher recording speeds are only available on -R media, not on +R

[john]

"Neale" <no@thanks.com> wrote in message
news:40346ac3$0$5862$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au ...
> "G Hutch" <complex@love.com> wrote in message
> news:bLZYb.66178$Wa.30668@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> > The Pioneer 106 version is one of the best as you can flash it to an
> > unofficial 107 version and thus make it Region free ie RPCII rather than
> the
> > standards RPCI.
> > This is important if you are going to copy Region 1, 2 and 4 DVDs.
> >
> > Greg
>
> The 107 is an 8x burner, isn't it? Can you flash the 106 to burn at 8x? I
> don't think so, but feel free to prove me wrong.
>

Certain 106 can't be upgraded to 107, but there is 106 firmware version 1.07
that
will make 106 region free, it has nothing to do with upgrading 106 into a 8x
burner.

[john]

"HAH" <fujisan2k@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:4cb99c22.0402181959.3c0c7376@posting.google.c om...
> Gday,
> >
> > Just starting to research these items and was wondering if anybody had
any
> > comments (especially if you own one of these drives) about the following
DVD
> > Burners. I am looking at burners around the $200 mark. Is it worth the
> > extra for the "big" brand burners. If so, any suggestions?
>
> I'd advise you to go with "bigger" brands if technology was still in
> it's infancy. With the DVD red laser tech. ripe and mature, it would
> probably be safe to go for the unknown brand names as a lot of them
> will have either purchased the key components from the big firms,
> jointly developed them with the bigger brands or based their designs
> on the proven bigger brands.
>
> Personally, I've always gone with big name brands (got teh Sony CD
> burner) in favour of better quality assurance and after sales service.
>
> > I noticed the Panasonic does not do DVD+ format - is this a big issue?
>
> Not really these days as most DVD players are able to playback -
> formats. - formats IMHO were always the more accepted format.
>
> > If I mainly want this for Video Editing, is there a big benefit in
having
> > DVD-Ram format?
>
> Not too sure, but I'd say stick with the -/+ formats as they are more
> widely used. RAM formats seem to be limited to Panasonic machines and
> are not widely supported. RAM discs are also a lot more expensive seen
> that there are very few manufacturers who produce them.
>
> > Also, does advertising as DVD±R mean it does both DVD+R and DVD-R or
this a
> > third format type?
>
> This means they are dual format compatible, that is, both DVD-R and
> DVD+R, not a 3rd format.
>
> I'd suggest getting the Pioneer A07, it's proven for me to be a
> sturdy, reliable burner.

yes, I also second that opinion, A07 is a very good burner with its firmware
patch
you can burn 4x media using 6x and 8x speed, the other choice will
obviously
be NEC 2500D 8x burner which is available at $195. I will stay clear from
the
likes of LG, MSI or Gigabyte they simply not worth the risk .

[hmmmz]

> yes, I also second that opinion, A07 is a very good burner with its
firmware
> patch
> you can burn 4x media using 6x and 8x speed, the other choice will
> obviously
> be NEC 2500D 8x burner which is available at $195. I will stay clear from
> the
> likes of LG, MSI or Gigabyte they simply not worth the risk .

MSI, LG and Gigabyte are OK, just a bit slow in reading DVDs and writing,
apart from that they are OK. Note that these drives often use Japanese
designs or parts on key components.

[plod]

sorry it was $175

http://www.fluidtek.com.au/

near the bottom of their main page. Its a limited special i think.

Dunno if they (fluidtek) are any good or not, have never purchased from
them.

cheers,
plod
"Andrew" <aimcnabb@spamfreehotmail.com> wrote in message
news:5t59305mv9loonim6os86e45m3km7n8k79@4ax.com...
> Hi plod
>
> do you ahve aurl handy for that $170 price? I've checked my usual
> haunts but $200+ is the prices I'm seeing.
>
> thanks
>
> A
>
> On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 01:11:23 GMT, "plod" <plod@spankme.com> wrote:
>
> >Personally I have, and would reccommend the Pioneer 106D. It is a
> >fantastic burner. I know many people who are very happy with this
burner.
> >It has burnt every media I have thrown at it....
> >
> >I think they are below $170 dollars at the moment. The 107D (the 8x
> >version) is more expensive, ~$270.
> >
> >cheers,
> >plod
> >
> >
>

[G]

Apparently Sony did make there own DVD drives but have started to (or will
soon) outsource it to Liteon IT as it is too costly for them to make their
own drives.

>
> Aren't the Sony CD-RW drive made by LiteOn?
>
> G.
>
>