"Need some DVD burner recommendations" Sun Apr-02-06 06:01 PM by _Chewy_
It's finally time for me to install a DVD burner in my PC and in particular I'd like to know if anyone has had experience with Pioneer DVD burners. Right now I'm torn between the following two models which only come down to a $7 difference but being on a strict budget, I'm trying to be careful about my spending this month.
The specs are nearly identical in every aspect but the biggest difference comes in the Access/read times. Would a 30 ms access time really make a noticeable difference??
#2. "RE: Need some DVD burner recommendations" In response to _Chewy_ (Reply # 0)
I bought the ND-3550A a couple months ago. I starts off slow and ramps up to max speed gradually. It has yet to burn a coaster. I crossflashed it the other day with Liggy's and Dee's modified firmware to an ND-4551A. It now has DVD-RAM and Labelflash support. It also burns DVD's in half the time it did before. Still no coasters, even after the crossflash. I'm happy with it now.
#4. "RE: Need some DVD burner recommendations" In response to _Chewy_ (Reply # 3)
Yes, it's like Lightscribe, but so far it's only available in the U.K. As a matter of fact, the NEC-4551A drive itself is only available in the U.K. and wasn't released in the States. I didn't cross-flash my drive for the LabelFlash or DVD-RAM features, but for the faster burn rates, write strategy tweaks, and the region-free abilities provided by the Liggy and Dee firmware.
DVD-RAM is optical storage that:
Is relatively inexpensive
Holds a large amount of data (4.7GB per side at this writing)
Can be re-written hundreds of thousands of times
Has an expected media life of 30 years
Is bootable
Is really ideal for small system backup
Quote:
>>It now has DVD-RAM and Labelflash support. > >What the heck is that? Is it similar to Lightscribe? And why >is DVD-RAM feature so popular these days?
#6. "RE: Need some DVD burner recommendations" In response to _Chewy_ (Reply # 0)
You can't go wrong with the NEC, they are dependable units...I've been using them for years and none have gone bad, I've graced friends and family with previous upgrades and the NEC drives are still working...Thanks Darren for the heads up for the upgrade.
You do know using modified firmware will void your warranty and could brick your burner, don't you? Having said that, I had no problems upgrading my ND-3550A to an ND-4551A.
#15. "RE: Need some DVD burner recommendations" In response to Pauliez (Reply # 11)
>I got this one about a month ago from Newegg and it works >great. > >LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X >DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache >ATAPI/E-IDE 16X DVD±R DVD Burner -Model #: SHW160P6S04 Item >#: N82E16827106013 > >Price is great too! $39.99 + S&H $4.99 Check it out.
Pauliez, it says the minimum requirement is atleast a Pent 4 CPU. I only have a P III 866 MHz - I'm not sure that I can use that model. What are your system specs?
#12. "RE: Need some DVD burner recommendations" In response to _Chewy_ (Reply # 0)
OK so far, the NEC model seems to be a clear majority winner. But the access time on the Pioneer model is 30 ms faster....I'm still wondering if it would be a big impact? I'm a little concerned about this because I have a NEC DVD-ROM (6-7 years old) that is very poor in access time. Whenever I click on My Computer icon, the drives take forever to show up if I have a CD in my DVD-ROM drive. It comes up almost instantly if I do not have a CD; it obviously takes less time if it doesn't have to read what's in the tray. But like I said, this is an old NEC model and I'm sure they have improved by now. I figured since I'm buying a new DVD burner, I might as well get a model with a fast access time.
#14. "RE: Need some DVD burner recommendations" In response to Shelly (Reply # 13)
>Access time has nothing to do with startup time for the >drive....
True, but I'm not a hardware expert. I thought it was the poor access time because even though I can hear it spinning very fast, I still have to wait several seconds before the contents of the CD show up. The one thing the confused me about the Pioneer model is that its access time & read time are the same, while the NEC model there's a slight difference. Does that mean the NEC model is able to read the sector almost immediately the moment it locates the track on the CD?
