Help recommend me a DVD burner from Newegg

and i get mine today

 

@doc

Yes, my build was Feb 06, you are correct. I think I will give a couple of burns with the current firmware for testing purposes. The wife and I are headed to Best Buy tonight for some Verbs.

I will begin burning them at 8x as I did a scan of a verb this morning that was burned at 6x and only got 88% quality on it. Pretty bad for MCC media.

According to Sauggy and you they will respond better at a faster burn rate (16x media anyway). The verbs that I used were only 8x though, so I really don't understand why I got such a bad burn. Maybe it's the NEC 3550A, but they are highly touted at the CD Freaks forum. The playback quality is great though.

I am looking forward to testing the drive out and seeing if I get better scan results with the BenQ. Also the comparison between the Nero Scan and DVDinfoPro scan on the same disc.

Anyhow, thanks for the time that you, catfreak, and saugmon have given. I appreciate the advice and guidance.

Cheers.

@mord

Congratulations! I had no problem installing the new unit, and it worked flawlessly.

 

All you BenQ newbies ... as part of the QSuite utility package there is a nifty DVD checker called QScan .. if you put a blank disc in your drive, you can check to see if it meets BenQ's standards to burn at any chosen speed

Play with it and learn ...

 

Hi,
For Nero you may want to try BenQ oem Nero.

ftp://ftp.us.nero.com/oem/Benq/Nero-6.6.0.19b.exe

Nero Vision Express

ftp://ftp.us.nero.com/NVE-3.1.0.25_no_yt.exe

Although still not listed yet, there are BenQ 1650s' being sold with BCFC f/w already installed. (Quite a large number of folks have got this with latest batch via NewEgg).
One retailer in the UK claiming that his latest batch of oem 1655s' has BCGB f/w.
I've been using both since they first surfaced without any problems.

 

My 1650 came with BCDC firmware preinstalled. On BenQ website this is latest version. Where is that BCFC firmware coming from ?

 

Hi,
BCFC f/w is listed on the BenQ China site only currently.
However several folk who have acquired the 1650 in the last couple of days from NewEgg. Have had BCFC f/w already installed on drive with labelling to match.

 

Do they list what changes have been made ?

 

Hi,
No explicit details, just new media code added plus bug fixes. Whatever that means.

 

Sometimes media code updates address media not even available in USA and therefore not every firmware update is essential.
With my Sony Vaio computer I got a Pioneer DVR-108 OEM that can't be updated from Pioneer site; you must get from Sony. When I questioned Sony support re: not keeping up with all the Pioneer firmware updates, they had a lengthy explanation as to why most of them were not pertinent to US market, or were just not necessary. Yes, the burner still works fine with any media I have used.

 

thanks...gonna install it and test it out this weekend...the lame UPS guy just put it outside the door...anyone could have grabbed the box!

 

@mord

If you look at the top of the drive it will tell you which firmware version it came with. Mine came with the BCDC version. Manufactured in 2/2006

Cheers.

 

Yep, that's the one I got. Will wait till official USA BenQ website offers a new firmware. Afterall, if everything is working fioen, why rock the boat?

 

The last few firmware upgrades from BenQ have dealt with QSuite v2.1 and adding new media to the list ... if you've activated SolidBurn, you really aren't going to have to update your firmware

 

Being a BenQ newby, what does solidburn do?

 

It 'learns' the media that you're using with your BenQ ... this allows your drive to optimize the disc burning process ... firmware upgrades accomplish the same thing, but with SolidBurn you can effectively eliminate all the firmware updates having to do with media compatibility ...

 

mine had BCFC firmware from march 2006

edit:
will the nero that came with the burner work any better than the one i have? i have nero 6.6.0.18 and 6.6.0.14 came with and its labeled oem suite.

 

What are all the features on your nero 6.6.0.18?

My oem disc of 6.6.0.14 has:

Nero express/vision express2
Nero burning rom
lightscribe labeler-which works very good
Nero showtime
And Nero recode2-which works very good.

I don't use the player,windvd 6 gold is my playing software.
Probably the same features?

I'd use your current version,if you are having no issues with it. There's a lot of good programs and tools in the little old nero oem disc.

 

The Nero disc that comes with the BenQ drives is worth the price that you pay for drive

 

I just used lightscribe labeler off that oem 6.6.0.14 disc of mine. Looks ok. Took a few minutes to figure out how to get my cover loaded to the template,but overall satisfaction-OK. Nothing spectacular.

The shiny inkjet printables still look way better.

 

When I print LightScribe, I do the label twice ... I'ts darker and better looking

You may want to download the Extended Label Contrast Utility, also .. you can get it here:
http://www.lightscribe.com/support/index.aspx?id=306