Looking for a new Burner, Any suggestions

I'm looking to get a new burner, i would like one that booktypes too.

Looking at these brands right now

Lite-on
Nec
pioneer

Which of these brands would you rate number one?
OR are your favorite?

Thanks for replies

Edit-
another question too, should i stay with 16x speed or get an 18x one?

 

I love my BenQ drives but they are discontinued! I'll be looking for a newer drive come a year or so down the road! I just hope that Blu-ray and HD-DVD get their act together and finally come up with a standard! Anyway..... I see that a lot of members here have Lite-Ons and they praise them! So that's what I would buy, as of now.

 

Lite-Ons are the best burners i have ever bought.id go with this one
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2665639&CatId=482

 

Might want to read this.



As for specific makes, I'd buy a Pioneer if I were you. The Pioneer 111D is still a strong choice for a new burner IMO.

Just some specs for you to look at. Still being sold here.

 

@ ripper,
actually i have that pioneer(DVR-111D), i also have a (DVR-A08) which I've had for 2+ years. basically i want to get one that is capable of bitsetting.

@IHoe,
I've just noticed that i haven't seen any of the BenQ drives on any sites, LOL, so i guess i wont be buying that brand.

thanks for the replies too.

 

Well then, get the buffalo patched firmware for the 111d and enable bitsetting ;-)

Edit:

Here are the instructions on how to do the above..

However, there is now a 8.29 firmware out I beleive.

 

Well I have owned just about every brand out there and I can honestly say the LiteOn's were always the best.

I currently have a ASUS which is just a re-badged Pioneer and don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with this drive except it won't book type your disks and I don't really have to worry about that to much anyway.

If you get a new drive I would recommend one that does it all as there isn't much of price difference anyway. Get Light Scribe even if you don't think you will use it, and get the fastest one possible. I would recommend this one LiteOn 20x w/light scribe LH-20A1H for $39 or if you want to go with a SATA drive then this one LiteON 20x LH-20A1S of course this isn't lite scribe, but it is SATA ;-)

For the money IMO you can't beat the LiteON's.

 

part of the reason why i'm looking for a new burner is my dvr-111d is having problems with verbatims all of the sudden, which i did not put in my original post.
heres the problem and i can't figure out way this has happened, as i'm totally stumped right now.

I had a 100 pack of verbatims 16x -R printables, and have burning them with no problem at all,
i am down to the last 15 or so and everytime i try a burn with them i get a power calibration error, i thought maybe my burner was dying, because i thought it couldn't be the media, plus a burned probably more than 150 burns with the same verbs,
so i tried my TYs -R 8x in the 111d burner and they burn without an error,
then i tried to burn another verb in my old dvr-A08 pioneer and dont get no error

typically the main reasons for a power calibration error is media or the burner, i know that,
so right now i have no idea why the verbs get an error

 

Have you tried simply replacing the IDE cable on the Pioneer with a new one? Made sure all the connections are OK..

 

no, but i will,
although, dont you think if the IDE cable was bad than i wouldn't be able to burn with my TY's?

 

Ah, of course, sorry, I didn't read your post entirely/misread it. >.<

Hmm, maybe you just got a bad few dics @ the end of the pack.. That's a bit of a long shot seeing as they're Verb, but it's possible. Have you tried any other Verb media etc?

 

no, have been using only -R 16x printables of verbs,

i did think that too that they might be bad, tried about 4 times and got that power cal error, but then tried the same verbs near the end of the pack with my other burner and did not get an error

this is so weird,


forgot to mention too, that i'm using an older firmware(1.23), new one is 1.29, but have been using it without any problems

maybe i should try the firmware update to see if that helps, or try the dangerous Bros. one you supplied

 

Well, the buffalo firmware i linked to seems to get good results with anyone who uses it on thier pioneer.. might be worth a try

You might want to flash to the latest manufacturers firmware before appyling the bitsetting firmware though.. Just a thought.

 

@300bowler

I say go with Lite-on, I've had Lite-ons for years and they're ripping and burning like new. Just my humble opinion only.

 

yeah, i'm probably going to get a lite-on,
thanks to those who replied.

hello, alkohol

how have you been? haven't seen you in awhile

 

Did you try a firmware update on the pioneer?

D/w, i'm not trying to push pioneers here, i'm just curious to see if you made use of the bitsetting firmware or not

 

you should also check out the newer drives from LG, the 112 from pioneer is awesome.

 

@ ripper,
i did successfully flash the drive with the buffalo firmware, however i still got the power calibration error with the verbs,

also i haven't got a chance to try the bitsetting yet, don't have any +R right now

i do have a question, though, when burning with nero doesn't it automatically booktype them, after you check that box? and does that box only show up if you have +R in the burner?

also when burning with IMGburn wheres the option to booktype?

 

thanks creaky for moving it,
probably the first six months here i didn't even venture down past the DVD discussion area, LOL
forgot about the PC hardware section

anyway i finally order this one that bbmayo suggested
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106045

also got some +R verbs, and cant wait to try them out

also going to booktype and see if they play in my DVD-recorder/player that only plays -R's.