Hey all and Binkie7. Pardon my frustration please. I have recently built myself a new system in a black case and need to replace my beige NEC 3550A. I have tried to research this and have found that most threads go something like this... My Benq [insert whatever Benq model # here] stomps a mudhole in whatever brand is mentioned next...Look here's the mouthwatering, jawdropping scans to prove it. While this is great for them, it's fairly useless for anyone that can't purchase a model that was discontinued years ago. There in lies the frustration. It seems that no model does all or anything as well as they may have in the past. I see people vouch heavily for LiteOn, Pioneer or LG, but the reviews don't seem to bear out what the users are saying. I realize that reviews are usually slanted too, however... So in closing...is it possible for me to find a relatively good quality drive that possesses good burn abilities that won't take a dump in 2 months, that will yield some type of playable disc that can be read in other machines besides itself? I use Verbatim brand only and ImgBurn 2.2.0.0 to burn with. Any/all help will greatly appreciated. Even Benq snobs can check in
Hey Munch58 Well I'm a LiteOn fan and have been for a few years now. I have 3. One is about 3 years old and is still going strong. The dvd's burned on them are played in many different players w/o a problem. I mainly use Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim on them. But they pretty much burn anything I've thrown at them (well did have some problems w/ cmc & princo media ) The only model I won't suggest right now is the 20x - jury is still out on that one. I also have a Pioneer that's over 2 years old and same thing - still does a good job. I prefer the LiteOn because it can booktype right out the box and rips faster then my Pioneer though the newer Pioneers may be faster. LiteOn's give good scan too - they're just pickier on the quality score w/ Nero. A 95 scan on a LiteOn can be equivalent to a 98 or 99 on a BenQ. So I'll vouch for LiteOn - great burner imho.
Thanks Binkie7 Any LiteOn in particular? I don't know if I'd really use Lightscribe, and have noticed that the following drives are auto-notify at Newegg forever. LiteOn SHW-160P6S-04 SHW-160P6S-05 SH-16A7S-06 SH-16A7S-05 SHM-165H6S OEM Are the 18X burners worse qualitywise compared to the 16X's? I won't be burning over 8X on dvds more than likely. Should I bother waiting for one of the "out-of-stocks" to become available? And finally, does SATA have any real advantage over IDE?
Just saw this in the other thread.... will give it a try. Seems that there's a new firmware dated 1/18/2007 too. Thanks Binkie7.
Not a problem Munch58 There's a few members here at least that have that 18x LiteOn and love it. So looks like quality wise is still the same. I just wouldn't burn at 18x - well I might test a few for the heck of it My 2 newer ones are the SHW-160P6S & SHM-165P6SX (external). Both good too. SATA can have faster access and transfer times than ide. You would just need a sata port on the motherboard and a sata cable. I think you will good to go with the 18x.
