What happened to all the benq 1640 drives?????

I can't find a new benq 1640 dvd-rw drive anywhere! I went through shopzilla and a couple of other large searching sites and came up with squat!

Newegg.com has been out of them for months.Tigerdirect didn't have squat.

Everything is Benq dq-60/1620/1625/and a ton of 1655 lightscribes. I've even went through ebay and bid on a couple of used drives that went over $50! I paid $37 including shipping for my last 1640.

Are these now extict?

Anyone know of any sites that still sell this model or the benq 1650?

I'm located in the USA.

I saw a 1650 listed on ebay that is over in australia.I also notice benq has a dvd-rom drive with the 1650 model#. That seems to make it a lot more confusing for somebody looking for the 1650 dvd-rw drive or the 1650 dvd-rom drive! Just a letter or 2 difference,but same number.

Why the benq 1640: Overburn speed protection. Q-suite 2 controls the overburning of the 8x speed media.These benqs will burn +8x speed yuden000-T02 and Ty-g02 at 16x if left at max. When activated with my 1640, 8x speed media will only max burn at 8x. Qsuite will not work on my 1620s even though I have the B7V9 fw. Only my single optical drive pc requires this 1640. My only option is 1x/2x/2.4x/and max unless I abort after dvd shrink encodes to my hd/open up dvd shrink/locate that iso/and re-encode it to another folder. Doubling my process time to keep a 4x or 8x burn. I get too many read errors when burning this quality media at 2.4x and I don't want to risk burning them at 16x..

 

This is the only site I have found the 1640 still alive.
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=15642&vpn=DW1640-BEIGE&manufacture=BENQ
Out of Canada, Kind of pricey. The 1650 is actually cheaper. I plan on ordering the 1650 tomorrow.

 

  you may notice in the ad that it states:  

  I recommend getting as many DW1650 drives as you can afford .. get them wherever and whenever you can. It just may be the last BenQ drive available with the excellent Philips chipset ...

 

You are right Catfreak. On this page http://www.us.ncix.com/search/index.php?Manufacturer=BENQ
it says they are in stock. They need to update their pages.

 

If you want, go to MicroCenter stores in SF, USA. They are $99.

 

SF CA? Wtf! LOL

I'm here on the outskirts of Columbus Ohio. Too far a drive.

I believe columbus may have a micro center. May have to check it out,but if I pay over $100 for it,I'll just get a plextor 716.

Chears!

 

LOL saugmon,

but if you come to Cali, you could drive a few hours south and come visit me ~ LOL

there is a microcenter about an hour away from me too, but last time i went there (few weeks ago) they did not have ANY Benq 1640s in stock...the 1640s ARE DISCONTINUED in terms of production from what i've heard about from Benq, but good luck if you do find some available @ microcenter for less than a ben franklin~

p.s. i have 3 Benq 1640s, if you really interested, i would be willing to sell you one (it's an OEM, not retail, never been used, never been installed...paid a lil over $50 from newegg when they had them available back in the days- for me CA sales tax plus shipping on a $43 drive at the time was what bumped it up to $50+) PM if you would like it.

docTY

 

Yes the 1640s ARE DISCONTINUED and I've been waiting for the sales from Micro Center for 3 months now. But those suckers are not on sale yet. Today I come back again. The price is still the same but there are only 2 left in stock. Arrg...

 

Benq must be aiming all their 1640 production to the plextor px-740A! Those suckers are everywhere!

Philips also has a rebadged benq 1640 with the model # 1648p. Totally different fw.

Sony has the dru 810A,another rebadged benq 1640! UGGH!

Looks like benq is making them for everyone else,besides themselves, LOL

Edit: $59.86 for the total. Way cheaper than kivory666's buy here/pay here lot, LOL!!!!

 

hey saugmon buddy, please check your personal email addy...dunno what i started here, i've gotten 6 PMs so far with those interested in buying the ONE (1) NEW OEM Benq-1640 i am willing to sell from me~

docTY~

 

Actually the DW1640 is a Philips copy ... The DW1640 was engineered by Philips and the chipset was supplied by Philips ...

 

hiya catfreak ole' buddy...we on at the exact same time~ LOL

docTY~

 

Hey Doc ... I'm doing the ol' two PC thing right now ... burning on one and testing and surfing with the other ...

What made you decide on the TV card you purchased? It doesn't have any outputs does it?

 

@catfreak

yeah, it doesn't have any outputs (ie. component/s-video/etc), the reason i got it was because of the price i got on it...there was a limited $20 instant rebate, dropping the price to about $50 shipped. that was the only reason i went with this particular model, yes, it's definitely NOT feature rich and is quite "basic", but for the price and it being my 1st tv tuner card, i felt it was worth a try~

i've never really been into the whole turn my PC into a "media center" thing, so, i just needed a very basic card to do what it is supposed to do, that's all~

docTY~

 

I'm stepping up to the 1650. Just ordered it this morning from that link you emailed my kivory. I'll have to update fw so It'll have to go into my main pc. I'll just place the 1640 into that single drive pc-there goes a couple mins of time, LOL

Thanks all!

 

What? Is DW1650 available in US now? How much is it?

 

  Well, technically no ... but NCIX, a Canadian company will be more than glad to ship you one ...

http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=17704

... plus $15-$17 to get it to ya


Excellent burner

 

Damn. Too much money for shipping.

 

Patience is a virtue that will save you cash in this situation ...

 

hmm... your right.