Best DVD Burner?

Question

I've got a fairly old generic DVD burner that doesn't support dual layer, and I'm looking to upgrade since they seem so cheap these days. Does it matter what model I get, or is it such that I can just buy whatever happens to be on sale today? Are there advantages to a certain brand over another? Basically I just want something that's fast, cheap, and produces good quality burns. Any advice would be helpful.

Answer 1

i recently got a Lite-On iHAS324, certainly as fast as they come. very satisfied.

the Lite-On iHAS324 also happens to be the current reference for DVD Burners at German compmag CHIP.de

Answer 2

They are so cheap that it doesn't matter that much. My last machine ate through 3 DVD burners in its time and it was only like 35 bucks to replace them each time. My advice is hit up http://www.newegg.com and go to the dvd burner section and look at the reviews.

Some points that reviews will bring up:

• drive noise
• any issues they had installing it (it is pretty straight forward though)
• drive life

Common features:

• Dual Layer burning
• Lightscribe labeling
• Combo dvd-r burners and blue ray rom/readers (If you desire it and want to spend the money)
• Sata or Pata interfaces
• There is not too much speed difference between 16x, 18x, and 20x burners.

You could also probaly buy just an OEM version to save a few bucks since you probaly have the cables and software you use already.

Answer 3

The Sony Optiarc AD-7240S (USD 30 at newegg ATOW) is well recommended and reviewed by cdfreaks:

Positive:

• Good to very good writing quality on all used CD-R/RW media.
• Good to very good writing quality and speed on DVD±R/RW/DL media.
• Can burn selected DVD±R media faster than its rated speed.
• Excellent CD and DVD reading performance and reliability.
• Reads pressed DVD Video SL/DL and recordable media at 16x/12x.
• Noise level at high speed still acceptable.
• Supports Bitsetting (Booktype DVD-ROM) on DVD+R DL.
• Supports Disc Quality Scanning.
• Excellent third party support here on CD Freaks.

Negative:

• Does not support Bitsetting (Booktype DVD-ROM) on DVD+R/+RW.
• No disc labelling technique (Labelflash/Lightscribe) included but available on the AD-7241S and AD-7243S models.

If Bitsetting is important to you, then the LiteON iHAS422 could be a better choice.

Answer 4

The best thing to do is read consumer reviews on reseller websites (like NCIX) to see if the drive itself is any good. Many people buy $30 drives which last the lifetime of the computer.

As for speed, if you can, try to get a SATA drive as opposed to an IDE drive - if your motherboard supports it. SATA is a higher bandwidth connection, and while you won't exactly be maxing the thing out when burning/reading DVDs, it will help any buffers.

Answer 5

I have been buying Samsungs for awhile now really solid and do everything including lite scribe.