My sony DRU-710A just after more or less 2000+ burns+rips, I know this drive is a rebranded Liteon, I looked towards the Sony DRU-820A but I dont trust benq that much, so know I have lower the search to this two brands but the problem is that I dont know which to choose, first of all Ill take this into consideration: 1.The drive has the ability to booktype (bitsetting) which I know liteons do, but not sure of the plextor benq. 2.I want the best quality burns, and that to make sure my burner last more than my Sony did, I dont want to see myself changing burners each year and half or so. 3. Good format support, although Im sure both brands are more than enough on that topic. So please guide should I buy the plextor or Liteon, I think that if plextor drives cannot booktype I will be discarding them immediately, another issue is that if I choose to buy the plextor Ill be stuck for a 2 or 3 weeks without burner, If I do choose the Liteon I will have it immediately, It is worth waiting for a plextor, and if its premium prices worth its quality..Guide me
If money is not the issue, I'd go with the Plextor PX 716A. Then the PX-740A. The 740A is a rebadged benq 1640,but doesn't have the philips chipset.It may have masushita chipset? Booktyping: With plextor drives,these drives will booktype.You'll prabably have to use a utility called plextools to set your drive to booktype? Lite-on also has a utility to do the booktyping.I'm not sure what the model#'s are for the best ones. Benq 1640 uses qsuite. That plextor 740A can't use it,but that drive can be crossflashed to the benq 1640 fw.Boy can those benqs booktype. You'll probably want to stick with the plus format because of booktyping. Verbatim/Taiyo yuden/and the Japanese spindles of sony/fuji/and maxell are top quality stuff. My benqs even love Ritek-R03 which is the +8x speed. Not really any media that they didn't like. If you want the new drive to last longer,just use it for burning only. If you have room in your tower,throw in a separate dvd-rom or dvd-rw drive to do the ripping. Ripping puts the heaviest burden on a drive. I've got a thread in this same forum titled: Where are all the benq 1640s. There's a link posted in there for my next burner I have ordered. Benq 1650. If it works as well as both my 1620s and 1640, I will be a happy camper. Probably have to use qsuite 2.0 to set the booktyping. I have all the benq links for all that stuff in case you need any of the utilities and fw updates. It'll probably take 10-14 days,but I can wait. Qsuite does have some nice programs in it. Qscan/Overburn protection/solid burn/and booktyping. It's arriving from canada,and I'm from the US in case. The 1650 hasn't hit the us markets yet so I can be one of a few with this drive, LOL Defintitely give that thread a look.
I would go with a Lite-On, Plextor is overpriced imo. I just picked up the SOHW-1693S, and it works pretty well with the latest fw update.
I think Ill buy lite-on, as neurokasm said Plextors are overpriced, and at this time I dont wish to spend that much on a DVD Burner, plus I know lite-ons are good because my sony-dru 710a was a rebadged lite on,so still thanx for your advice and as saugmon said Ill buy a dvd-rom drive to do my rips.
It's funny that you said your Sony drive is a rebadged Lite-On. I just pulled my old dead Lite-On drive out of my computer, opened it up out of curiousity and discovered it must be a rebadged Sony. The circuit board has Sony printed on it, as does the actual optical unit... lol
I've had nothing but success with my Lite-On 1693S, firmware KSOB. It burns and booktypes well using high grade media (Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim +Rs), and it's handled TDK DVD-Rs pretty well, too, although we all know TDK degrades much faster than good media. If I didn't already have my Lite-On (which I wouldn't trade for anything on the market, I personally consider it the best bang for the buck. I got mine for around $40, retail version), I'd consider a Benq 1650/1655, which will be showing up tomorrow to provide me with some burning options. OEM version of the 1655 is around $50ish.
Out of all the burners I,ve had my Plextor 716 is still my favorite. May be over priced ,but then again I'll pay for the Quality.Am buying another for the other computer. Just my 2 cents. Happy Burning Chris
