DVD Burner Information Needed

[Rich B NYC]

I'm going to be buying a DVD burner to archive scans but know little

about them.

 

Any suggestions regarding brand, minimum specs, etc will be welcomed.

 

My only requirements are that the drive be external and have a USB

2.0 interface. Price (within reason) isn't an issue.

 

I'm running Windows XP with 512mb of RAM if that makes any difference.

 

Thanks.

[byronlawrence]

NEC makes good produces and some of their stuff supports dual layer writing. but I am unfamiliar with whether they have external drives.

 

if cost isn't so much an issue.. this is what I would get

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131609

[Rich B NYC]

Byron,

 

The link took me to a Sony rather than an NEC. In any case, it looks like an interesting model and is external.

 

I'll be adding it to my very short list of possible.

 

Thanks.

 

Rich

[byronlawrence]

yea sorry about that. I went to newegg.com (a good online electronics dealer) and looked for an NEC external burner, but there were none. Sony and Plexor were the two top priced ones, if you go to their site, look for dual layer write ability and 4 for the DL write speed.

[eric friedemann]

Something to look for, I just bought some Delkin "archival" DVDs:

 

 

http://www.delkin.com/delkin_products_archival_gold_dvd.html

 

 

However, my DVD burner, which is only a year and a half old won't take them because they are "-R" DVDs, not "+R" DVDs. Apparently, the newest DVD burners will burn both "-R" and "+R" DVDs.

 

 

This isn't a big deal for me, but you might keep it in mind in buying a new burner. I would note that Delkin's portable DVD BurnAway, which is cool, will burn both "-R" and "+R" DVDs. The only downside is that you are limited to a USB 2.0 connection; not FireWire:

 

 

http://www.delkin.com/delkin_products_burnaway_dvd.html

[Ed_Ingold]

I recommend Plextor drives. The build quality and robust firmware places them a head above their competition (I employ about 10 Plextor DVD drives on various computers in a recording studio and for digital imaging). The software, Plextools, is invaluable for setting up the drives and diagnosing problems.

 

DVD discs tend to fail because they are not recorded properly. Plextools gives you the ability to test for error rates, which indicate drive, memory or interface problems.

 

The discs themselves are very robust. Because the dye layer is sandwiched between two polycarbonate discs, they are nearly immune to physical damage (CD-Rs are easily nicked). The dye layer itself is supposed to be archival. They will probably last longer than the availability of readers.

 

512 Mb of RAM is seriously underpowered for XP and digital photography in general. If you can upgrade to at least 2 Gb. Life is too short to wait for virtual memory (the scratch disk) to thrash about.

 

USB2 can stream CD recording at 48x and DVD recording at 16x - speed is not a problem if your CPU and HD can keep up.

[william_john_smith]

Pioneer DVR-A09XL

[eugene_scherba]

Plextor.

[bdpics]

Sony. I have a Sony 530UL external USB drive that I'm very happy with. It writes to all the current DVD formats including 8X DVD+R's, 8X DVD-R's, RW, ROM, etc. It also writes CD's as well.

 

I've burned over 400 DVD's and have only made 4 or 5 coasters (discs where the burn failed). Dual Layers DVD burners are nice, but blank DL DVD's are still about $3 ea., whereas blank single layer DVD's are about $.40 ea. I got my Sony 530UL for $150 after rebate--I'm sure they're less now as the DL burners have come down in price. Don't forget that DL burners will burn single layer DVD's too.

 

Also, beware of faster burn speeds (16X, etc.) as often times I set my burns to below maximum speed so as to ensure reliability and consistancy--burning faster seems to have a much higher failure rate in most DVD players.

 

Lastly, be sure to buy quality DVD media. Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim, Fuji, TDK, Ritek and others produce consistant results and are often priced less than far inferior brands. See this link for more info about media: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

 

Here's a store that I've bought lots of media from and have always been very happy with their price and selection: http://www.meritline.com/

 

Good luck!

[lex_jenkins]

I bought a Lite-On external USB-tethered DVD burner a couple of months ago at Wal-wart for a little over $100. Had a bunch of files to save and couldn't wait for mail order.

 

It appeared to be compatible with just about every variation of the DVD non-standard, which is important because there isn't really any standard for DVDs yet.

 

Then I found out that Lite-On is supposedly no good. Hmmpphh. For some reason mine works fine.

 

Anyway, it works, the included software is pretty good and not just limited time trial versions, and includes a good utility for testing discs and burns.

 

It also works seamlessly with other software, such as Picasa for burning "gift CDs" with autorun slide shows.

 

Runs just fine on an old WinME P3 with 128 MB RAM. I just have to remember the hardware install/uninstall routine. Not necessary with XP.

 

I'm satisfied.

[jcs56]

I have Windows XP, 2.4 Ghz pentium procesor, and Pioneer model 106D. It is a model about 2 1/2 to 3 years old. It burns DVD+RW, DVD-RW plus CD burning. I can burn up to 4.8 GB DVD's in about 10 to 20 minutes each one.

 

I had 512Mb of RAM... the only problem I find with 512 Mb of RAM was burning and runing another program while burning... like PS Elements... May be you will have to upgrade memory after instaling your DVD'R. I did to 1 Gb.. now I can use any program while burning.

 

Verify guaranties and customer reports in brand and model ...

 

Greetings from Mexico

[jcs56]

Not sure about how old its my burner....

[seanpark]

I have this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?path=ASIN/B00068S5K8&link_code=as2&camp=1789&tag=itemsforsale-20&creative=9325">Plextor PX-716UF/SW-BK 6x Dual Layer DVD Drive (Black)</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=itemsforsale-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00068S5K8" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> and am very happy with it.

[seanpark]

A little slower at 4x <a href="http://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-1663058-10391416?&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebuy%2Ecom%2Fprod%2FPlextor%5F16x%5FDVDRW%5F4x%5FDual%5FLayer%5FUSB%5F2%5F0%5FFirewire%5FPX%5F716UF%5FSW%2Fq%2Floc%2F449%2F10385556%2Ehtml">Plextor 16x DVDRW 4x Dual Layer USB 2.0 / Firewire - PX-716UF/SW</a> but cheaper.

[seanpark]

Sorry both are 6x with this <a href="http://plextor.com/english/support/downloads/firm_716.htm">Firmware upgrade to 6x</a>

[jreades]

I have a LaCie external drive with Firewire/USB 2 interfaces and have been quite happy with it.

 

Since it was 'open box' I got the version with the LiteScribe for the same price as the regular burner. This means that I can pay a premium for burning bitmapped images on to the top side. :P

 

The more interesting part is that I originally bought a bunch of Sony DVD-Rs to archive off my slide scans. They have a generally good brand reputation, figured they'd make good DVDs too. Wrong. One in three would report write errors during verification.

 

Thinking that my drive was the problem, I bought a couple of Verbatim disks when I ran out of Sony disks since they were what the store had available. Miraculously, no problems. None. Every single burn verified 100%.

 

The moral of this story is pretty much that you need to experiment to find the right media for your drive. It's probably worth the premium to get a decent drive (i.e. no no-name drives for $50), but more than that you can't know just on the basis of the brand if the disks themselves are good or not.

 

HTH,

 

jon

[Rich B NYC]

Thanks to everyone for providing the information. Looks like I'll be going with a LaCie 300776U. Not the "top of the line" but it does exactly what I want it to do without the frills.

 

Rich