Nec's has been reccomended to me, but I see here and elsewhere that Plextor are also highly regarded. My last 2 dvd writers have been Pioneers 104/107 but I am now in the market for a 16x drive. Looking at Plextors site: http://www.plextor-europe.com/products/all/DVD-recorders.asp?choice=DVD-recorders has confused the hell out of me, and after a while all those stats have left me dizzy, confused and non the wiser. Anyone fancy guiding this poor lost soul? By the way, is it a good time to upgrade now? I mean, 16x has been out a year now and I`d hate buy one only for 24x to pop up next month...
It's not necessary for you to upgrade to 16x. Especially, if ur mostly burning DVDs. Faster speeds generally present more errors and problems. Burning at 2x, 4x and 8x speeds is sufficient. 16x is good for music and photos and data. Remember slow and steady breeds quality, fast and unsteady breeds nice shiny coasters with a handy hole in the center for easy pick-up :~)! I'd wait until they've figured out how to make speed and steadiness best friends! Plextor is an excellent brand but so is Pioner, NEC etc... It's like anything else, trial/error and personal preference. Personally, I use the NEC ND-2100AD 1X-8X +R/RW burner. It's the only one I've ever used. It's almost 2yrs old. I always burn at 4x. If there's a problem, it's never been with the burner!
hi again kotsu, i think i was of of those that recommended you go NEC. Come to think of it a colleague received his 3540 last night i must find out how he's getting on with it. Great reply by YOBUZZB there. I personally used to use Plextor kit back in the days of their SCSI 32speed readers, 32TSi or something, byt haven't used anything since. I do know their kit/software is highly regarded, but for me everything comes down to price (and quality too). I can get drives such as £35 OEM so there's just no contest. However when i did have money to spend i bought my Sony for £90 or so, but now i would only buy online from a reputable site such as svp.co.uk as the cost difference is staggering.
Hi guys! My what a friendly forum this is ^^ Thank you both *very* much for your advice [yup, it was you regarding the NEC Creaky, ta!]. I'm going to have a good think again about upgrading and burning. I always burn with Nero at 8x and use the Verify option. This takes around 16 minutes on average. As I have so much data, I thought that burning an archive of 300 dvds [mostly Japanese tv and music, but also my written work and personal data like photos] would be best done at 16x but after the comments here, it looks like patience would be wiser. My current Pioneer 107 cost me £120! I really appreciate your input cheers!
you're welcome. ps i keep reading that nero's verify isn't too hot. i never verify anything, my way is simple. Top media, everything up to date,no multitasking during the burn. Keep the speed down etc. Zero problems for many many 100s of burns..
Really? Damn! I tend to write, assume the verify is correct then delete... Which writing program should I be using? Even though I have 1.5 gigs of ram I always make sure that Nero is the only program running.
Nero itself is fine, it's just the verify that's not so good. As i say i never have problems as i stick to the golden rules i mentioned before. However if you ever want to check a disc, it's better to do something like a CRC scan via something such as dvdinfopro (free). Have a look thru the first link in my sig for more info...
Thank you very much for clearing that up, Creaky, I will be sure to check out and use that tool for future burns!
no worries, good luck and do have a look at the first link in my sig, there's some good stuff in there from a lot of the guys..
