Best DVD writer for making movie collection

hi all,

I am looking to buy a DVD writer for my pc and I was wondering If I could get some advice from others please.
Firstly, I have a Liteon 8xx series writer that I am having issues with. This is the reason I want to buy another brand. My Liteon only likes to burn TDK blanks. By that I mean that other media gives me problems upon playback. Hence I have to use expen$ive TDK media which is pricy here in Australia.
I was wondering if other brands like LG,SOny or Pioneer are less fusy with the media you feed them. I have a mate who can burn movies with his Pioneer using even Princo media which is dirt cheap. Any thoughts??? kind regards

 

I've had a Pioneer 106 for over 12 months and done over 500 burns.

It is very tolerant of media and I've used mainly Laser DVD - and + and also some Ul-Tran.

All burnt DVD's work well without skipping/freezing etc.

Also reside in Australia.

 

Thanks colw for your response.
That is exactly what I am talking about. I have tried using Princo and Lazer and some other no name brands and very often I have problems like freezing and stuttering upon playback. I have decided through various tests that it is really the fault of my burner and how it does not like cheap media. I have heard people like yourself who use the cheapest media and never have any problems with playback. I am looking at the Pioneer 108, and I just thought to ask the forums here for advice as well as maybe why my burner is so fussy!!! Thanks

 

It also depends on your dvd player. I have a nec 3500, which I love. It has great compatability with all kinda of media. They have a compatability list at the nec product page that I have found is pretty reliable. When I first got it I was still using crap media. Memorex, imation and fujifilm dvd+rw. They would skip and I'd get the broken glass effect playing them on my PS2, but after I got my philips dv642, the same ones that skipped would play fine. Now I use only good media, which the nec3500 loves and burns sometimes faster than what it is listed on the product as being capable of being burned at. My suggesttion would be to stop by the nec page, search optical drives and look at the media compatabliity list included to see if the cheap media you want to use is listed.

 

Behrad

While quality media is important, there are many other variables that need to be taken into account for successful burning - Some of these include:

1. Do not use labels on burnt media.
2. Keep your hard drive defragmented.
3. Ensure you have plently of free hard disk space.
4. Ensure you do not have sypware/virus on your system.
5. Keep you start up menu lean and clean.
6. Use a program such as HijackThis to ensure your start up log is lean and clean.
7. Avoid conflicting programs on your system e.g., Nero/Roxio do not play well together - choose one only.
8. Avoid the use of packet writing software e.g, INCD, Direct CD.
9. Avoid multi-tasking when ripping/encoding/burning.
10. Do not install problematic programs such as Interactual Movie Player and remove from system if installed.
11. Do not burn too fast (max 4X recommended).
12. Ensure definitions for virus and spyware programs are up to date.
13. Avoid burning unnecessary extras - do movie only in reauthor mode if using DVD Shrink.
14. Use an el cheapo Asian/Chinese standalone for playback - they are much more versitile and reliable than name brands.
15. Reduce target size of burnt DVD to approx 4400 if using Shrink.

This recipe has worked extremely well for me - give it a go.

 

hi Balaam
I went to NEC's home page and could not find any reference to optical drives. It is a good point you raised as I can see the other end of the equation is that my desktop DVD player should be able to play these discs too. As far as I understand, the critical step of the proces seems to be the recording phase. As long as the burner can burn correctly to cheaper media the player should not have major issues playing back from this media. I could be wrong though! I have been wrong b4

 

Colw,
The machine I use to burn movies is not my Internet/work machine. This one has never been connected to the Internet at all. As such I run no Anti virus nor spyware software on it at all.
It is a P4 3G with 1G of RAM and the drive I use to save encoded VOB files to has an extended partition of 40G used just for this purpose. I do defrag the drive regularly and I never lable my discs.
I wonder if not having a physical Hard drive for this purpose have anything to do with it. But then, the people who can use cheap media have not told me that they have a HD set aside for this purpose.
The players I use are like the ones you mentioned thanks to Strathfield stores

 

Hi behrad,

I would have given the direct link in my first post, but what can I say, I;m very lazy . Here it is:
http://support.necsam.com/oem/cd-rom/nd3500a/
Click on the media list link on that page.

And what I was saying about dvd players, experience seems to say that quality dvd players are better able to play vids burned on crappy media, even if the same disks would skip on a crappy dvd player.

And regarding your response to Colw, I use a partition of my hd for dvd burning, and have perfect results.

 

Though you do want to make sure that your hdd is opperating in DMA mode and not PIO. That will make a big difference in terms of you read/write speed, and can also be influencial in determining weither or not you get a successful burn.

Of course, if you want to stay with your current burner, go to its product page and see if it has a media compatability list.

Cheers

 

I am also looking for a dvd burner so I can transfer my vhs home movies to dvd. Is +r better then -r? I think I will get the combo drive so I can use either one. And should I get the dual layer burner? I wish I could say money is no object but I don't want to spend more then $150. Any help will be aprciated

 

have not seen too many plextors in Australian shops I must admit but thanks for the tip.