The best optical drive available today is:

[Steve R Jones]

Whole Story:

"We took the 8 fastest and most capable burners and put them head to head in our Fall 2004 DVD recordable roundup... "

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=2260


And the best optical drive available today is:
NEC 3500A Takes EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD At Anandtech
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/sho...px?i=2260&p=20

[Strawbs]

NEC drives are gaining a bit of a reputation as "The most complete" DVD writers available in recent months.



has been using them as a yardstick for a while now.

Personally, I can't criticise my 8x Lite-On! It's capability to write to most 4x certified DVD+\-R media at 8X speed is a bonus I never expected, especially as 8x disks are still thin on the ground in UK shops, & when they do become more prevelant, I'm sure they won't be cheap.

[Yoshi]

I still like Lite-On as the pineered cheap drives that don't skimp on performance.

[dajogejr]

Cheers...Yoshi.
Been loving mine since I got it...no issues.

Picked up my SOHW 1213S for a steal, and been burnin away since.

[Rabbitrunner51]

Well...awhile back I got the 2500A model NEC combo read /write burner and it was about $93.00.

Now they have a 16X dual layer for less than that..?? ugh!!

Its pretty good product i guess..although the read speed could be better...have only realy done some CD's so far and it is very fast there..flawless...and quiet too.

I guess I'll remain content with what i have for now. good product and got good reviews overall...

Great price for that one....

[custer]

I had expected dual layer discs to come down from $10.us per. But since they haven't and probably won't in the foreseeable future, my Liteon SOHW-832S pretty much just takes up space.

Like hard drive articles, the article doesn't go into life expectancy of these burners. I'd like to read one that reports owner's experiences with how long they last.

[Strawbs]

Originally posted by custer
I had expected dual layer discs to come down from $10.us per. But since they haven't and probably won't in the foreseeable future, my Liteon SOHW-832S pretty much just takes up space.
...

With the right software - DVD Shrink 3.2 (free) - a dual layer original will fit on a single layer disk, including menu's, etc.

I have the same drive and regularly back-up dual layer disks to single layer.

[RamonGTP]

Originally posted by Strawbs
With the right software - DVD Shrink 3.2 (free) - a dual layer original will fit on a single layer disk, including menu's, etc.

I have the same drive and regularly back-up dual layer disks to single layer.

But not at the same level of quality... Especially for longer movies.

[custer]

Originally posted by Strawbs
.....

I have the same drive and regularly back-up dual layer disks to single layer.

One of my clients loves her 832S and CloneDVD2. Since I convinced her to buy only Taiyo Yuden +R 8X and flashed a hacked firmware to auto bitset to DVD-Rom, she's had no more coasters. I just wish she'd do the reading at cdfreaks.

But I intended mine to back up hard drives, instead of buying a second drive and that hasn't worked out.

Oh, well. Maybe the prices will start to drop.

[Strawbs]

the quality can be improved by removing foreign languages , subtitles, trailers, etc! even so, I often fail to notice a drop in picture\sound quality from fully compressed movies of Dual Layer origin! Only in really dark scenes does it become apparent that compression has taken place IMO.

Try it, it'll only cost one disk.

BTW: I use 2x DVD+RW's to back up my Primary & Programs drives.

[cdroman]

The best optical drive available today is:

I'd just buy the cheapest fastest one available. Any actual speed differences are negligible if you don't have them side by side to compare.

[Ol'Tunzafun]

It confirms what I have been saying about LiteOns being "extemely noisy". That's the first time that I have seen that in print. I was starting to think it was just me.
Anyway, it makes me glad that I bought LG.

[zybch]

Originally posted by RamonGTP
But not at the same level of quality... Especially for longer movies.

Provided you re-author the movie, Its highly unlikely that you'll notice any difference.
Also, I recently bought Shrek2 and copied it so a kid I often babysit can watch it without killing my original DVD. The main movie, even with all 5 audio tracks fits on a single layer DVD-R with NO compression at all. A lot of movies are like this.
So many extras but the studios are too cheap to stick them on a 2nd disk, so you just have to put up with less space used for the movie itself.