Well I expect you to get several responses here. I use the pioneer a03, original dvd rewriter released many moons ago. upgraded to 2x. This has given me no problems with burning, only problems encountered were due to burning software used. Superceded twice now by the a04 and now a05, all capable of higher burn speeds. For my money there really is no BEST dvd burner but WHEN I upgrade I shall purchase the sony dr500 - dual format burner +r/-r, both formats and then I can edit on the pc with dvd's produced from my standalone recorder.
I wouldn't get the pioneer, it had problems with burning out. It needed a firmware upgrade. The sony is at best buy, sony website, or you can do a google search for "sony dru 500ax prices" and find the cheapest price online. http://anchordeskzdnetshopper.cnet....=0&tag=st.cr.7375949-1411-20840921.sort.price
I'd go with the pioneer ao5/1o5. Tried the sony dru500 first but initially had firmware 'issues'. Eventually I found a good firmware for it and got to burning dvds. However, they sony was more expensive and was quite hard to source (short supplies from sony). Also, the fact that it could burn dvd+r as well as dvd-r became redundant as dvd-r are cheaper (59p each) and appear more compatable with standalone dvd players. My guess is that dvd-r will win the format war (remember beta-max?). I recently bought the pioneer 105 for £159 from bigpockets.co.uk and got it up and burning with no problems.
The sony dru 500a and dru 500 ax has no firmware issues. It was the dru 500. I've had the dru-500ax for 3 months now and it burns at 4x (if you buy the 4x media) great burner, I love it.(comes with Great software too)
I can't say about the others burners, all I know it's the Pioneer A-05 is a very good burner. I didn't upgrade the firmware and it works very well. Why fix something that is not broken? I had hesitate between the Sony and the Pioneer but because of the difference in price and the fact that I didn't really need the +r/+rw features, because -r/-rw are more compatibles and also cheapers than +r/+rw, I choosed the Pioneer instead. So far so good I didn't regret my choice.
scottvf, i beg to differ ;-] i was actually talking about the DRU500 but have a look at the thread re DRU500a below for starters, and i have seen firmware probs with the DRU500ax laters http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/34622
But in the link "So I recently bought the DRU500ax and it came with the 2.0c firmware. I also bought Maxell 2x DVD-R media and burned a couple DVD-Video DVDs at 2x, no problem. I then upgraded to 2.0e and started having problems" He upgraded his firmware. Why? It was working fine. I haven't upgraded mine and have not had any problems whatsoever. I have 2.0c firmware and not going to upgrade mine (if it's not broke why fix it) But the pioneer had problems with their firmware out of the box. I read in either PC World or Pc Magazine that when using 4x disks it would burn out the drive.
