DVD Drives - Which one?

[alpha_man]

I have decided to get a DVD Drive, but which one? I'm not to clued up about DVD Drives. Are the better then CD Drives? What am i looking for in a very good quality DVD Drive? And has any one got any good suggestions to which ones to look out for and which ones not to go near.

Cheers for the help...
Alphaman!

[otheos]

The LiteOn 16x DVD 48x CD is currently the cheapest and fastest DVD-ROM in the market. I recommend this one unless you definitely want the slot it....

The Pioneer 116 (NOT 106/105 or lower) (16x DVD, 40X CD) is as good but has only 16X DAE (audio CD speed) but offers the nice slot in instead of the tray.

Aopen uses the pioneer drive (OEM) so it is an option as well, but DAE is only 12x

Toshibas are good but crippled. DAE is very poor (can't use it for CD-CD copy of audio disks higher than 4x and it's full of errors), and DVD rip is limited to 2x so I'd stay away.

Same goes for Creative (i.e. stay away)

For a more detailed catalog see: this for DVD speed (http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=dvdresults.php3) and look for the ones you're interested here (http://www.cdspeed2000.com/go.php3?link=daeresults.php3) to check their DAE ability.

DAE= the speed the drive can copy audio tracks from an audio cd to the hard drive. Important if you make mp3s from your CDs or copy audio CD's to CDR.

DVD rip speed= the speed the drive copies movie files from DVD movies to the disk for further manipulation. Important if you are in the "movie backup" business.

[alpha_man]

Yeah the drive must be able to playback cdrs! cdrw or cdi etc is an optional as long as cdr playback of movies is able then that is a major factor! cheers!

[Warthog]

(NOT 106/105 or lower)

Otheos - why not? Everyone and their brother has this drive (including myself). You are the first person that I've seen who doesn't recommend it.

Pioneer 106S http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/doc/a12180.html

I suppose the only "advantage" in getting the 106S over the 116 is for the slot loading capabilities (very cool).

Here is a full list of Pioneer drives: http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/ProdPIONEER.hmx?UID=&CID=343598%2DWARTHOG%5FII%40EMAIL%2ECOM&updepts=MM-CD&DNAME=%3Cb%3ECD+ROM%2FDVD%3C%2Fb%3E&Back=ProdPIONEER.hmx?

Warthog

[AndreRIO]

get a dvd with a decoder card!!!

[Nighthawk]

Otheos, the 106s is the slot version of the 116. The 106 has a digital audio out (2-wire connector) as well as analog (4-wire connector), while the 116 only has analog.

I love my 106s. Fast, quiet, and the slot feature is a lot cooler than I thought it would be.

[otheos]

that's the second mess I cause in two days, sorry!

The drive I should recommend is the 106s, and the exclusion should be for the 116 and the 105.

While the 116 is an excent drive I believe the LiteOn is a better performer for the price, and the only reason I *personally* go for the 106 isntead of the LiteOn would be the slot in, a feature that the 116 lacks (note taken about the digital out though).

As for the 105, while being identical to the 106 they have a difference in their DAE ability: The 105 is locked at 12x CLV while the 106 does 16x CLV. Given that the Liteon does a 20x to 48x CAV DAE, I would at least go for the fastest DAE DVD of the pioneers (i.e. the 106)

Don't misunderstand me the 116 and the 105 are excellent drives (as the Toshiba are) but the LiteOn is the most feature reach and the cheapest as well.

Personally I own the Pioneer U03S (6x) SCSI (hehe) that although is limited to 12x DAE I also have a fully DAE capable CDROM to compensate. If I was looking for a single drive instead of both DVD and CDROM (which unless you already own is an overkill) and given that at last DVD-ROMs have broken their DAE disability mark, I'd go with the LiteOn as a great all rounder.

Excuse the confusion.

[alpha_man]

Cheersd for the help lads. i'll look into it.

[VERT]

I understand that pioneer makes some of the best DVD Drives, get a decoder card if you want Digital/DTS sound, but you will have to have a Digital/ DTS setup for that

[edwelly]

But none of these can burn a DVD yet? Is that correct...?
I already have 3 CD Rom's, 2 CD-RW's so what kind of cheap DVD drive would be good for me? Can I use one of my CD-RW to right in DVD format?
---edwelly

[sys-eng]

OTHEOS

What is wrong with Toshiba DVD's?

from Clone CD site http://www.elby.de/CloneCD/english/requirements.htm
"Although all CD ROMs work with CloneCD, only a few read subchannel data. We recommend TOSHIBA DVD-ROMs for reading."