Please choose from this list of DVD burners

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve decided to buy a DVD burner. I’m going to go with the dual format dealy so that I’ll have more options (DVD-R and DVD+R). However, beyond that I don’t really know what to look for.

Here are four drives from newegg.com that are in my price range:

1
2
3
4

Which would you choose? Also, eventually I’ll have to make a choice on format when buying blank media. Which should I go with, i.e. which is more widely compatable? I want to be able to make DVDs that can be played on my home computer’s DVD-ROM and my friends TV-style DVD player. I’ve read some DVD FAQs but they don’t seem to be very specific.

Thanks in advance.

(btw, WinXP if it matters)

2

Definitely #4. Grey is soo boring.

3

Perhaps I should just buy a nice bright green colored iMac?

4

I wouldn’t get #2 (the “Optorite”), I’ve never heard of that brand. And aren’t #1, #3, and #4 all the same NEC ND-1300A model? The only difference I noticed was that #1 is $5 cheaper and doesn’t include software.

I’d say get the NEC and spend the extra $5 for software. I recommend DVD-R for write-once media and DVD+RW for rewritable media.

5

None of them. Get this top rated Sony multi-format one instead. $ 199 after using this coupon code.

6

I just bought an LG GSA-4040B. It handles all five formats (DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM), and cost CAD 330 including all taxes and two additional blank disks.

The most common recordable disc for playback in standalone players is DVD-R, followed by DVD-RW. I’ve heard that some standalone players can only play back DVD+ recordable discs and not DVD-, but I haven’t confirmed this.

A friend as a computer DVD recorder that can only record DVD+; this was a problem when he gave me a DVD+R disc and my reader drive and standalone player couldn’t read it at all. Taking it to work, I found that only about 1 out of 4 computers with DVD drives could read it.

At DVDR Help, there’s a listing of standalone players where, among other things, they list what disc formats each can play.

7

Here, for example, is the DVDR Help listing for my standalone DVD player.

8

A sony 510 would be very nice. Right now sony made some software to let it read dvds at 8x-12x (System Speed Selector).

astro, that one you listed is OEM, so no software, etc. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Also worth checking out is the new Plextor 8x if you can find 8x media.

I got some Sony 500ax’s (4x dual) from Office Depot this month for $140 each, no coupons & no rebates. (I did come back & use a $15 coupon to get one at $125.00)

9

Quite frankly Handy [i[none* of the bundled OEM DVD software impresses me and I include the stuff I got with the Sony 510 full retail box I paid $ 330.00 for a few months a go.

IMO the two critical apps (for me) were Roxio 6.0 which is a very full featured CD/DVD ripping/mastering/burning etc. app ( 70- 100) and DVD Xpress ( 50) which allows me to make backup copies of my personal DVD movies. I bought these two *after* I bought the Sony for 330. and the more or less identical OEM U10 drive for 200. a month later (the 200 drive did include some OEM DVD burning software BTW) None of the bundled SW with either drive compares in power or ease of use to the two I listed.

The reason I got the Sony units for a few bucks extra is that I determined after researching the issue on the net, that they are essentially (at this point) the defacto DVD multi-format burner standard and pretty much any DVD burning app will be certified to work with them.