PC Peripherals Which DVD writer to buy?

B

b_naresh

Contributor
I am thinking of buying a DVD writer next month. I stay in Mumbai and will be buying it from Lamington Road. I looked up reviews on the net for DVD writers (cdrlabs and cdfreaks) and found that there is no single DVD writer which is good at everything. LG 4163B has got some decent reviews and I am leaning towards it right now. Please suggest some good options which would be available in Lamington Road and the indicative prices too.

I currently own a Lite-on CD Writer which has never given me any problem for the last 2 years. But, apparently Lite-on's DVD writers have not got good ratings in any reviews.

Plextor (716 something I think) has got a good rating at cdrlabs but I don't know about its availability here. Also, it would be too expensive.
 
how about a benq 1620.. last time someone posted that it was 4.5k and i think its quite easily available as well
 
why so sunny.. i know 16x burning takes some effort but 8x and 12x have given good results for a lot of ppl
 
mate we dont have 8x media, at large scale yet

not much benefit over 4x yet

i mean , 4.5gb written in 13 minutes (4x) can u really complain
 
well good quality media like tdk and verbatim are available in the 8x variety quite easily.. also i m using a tdk writer that has the overspeed feature that writes 4x tdk dvds at 8x. and if you get hold of some really good 8x media by ty etc they can be written even at 12x by drives like the 1620 pro
 
Yeah even the Benq 1620 that i have features burning of media other than the supported speeds. Although only good quality media will make it through................
 
But Moser Baer 8x DVD -R media is readily available in Delhi. There are other 8x brands also. But the Moser Baer ones are most easily available. At the rated speed they are not bad. Interestingly Moser Baer disks are identified as 'Fuji".
 
A 8x dual layer 8.5gb DVD costed rs. 550 and a rewritable costed rs. 990!!! IS it worth such a amount?
Also 4x DVD costs rs. 20 (or less) and 8X/16X DVD's costs 45rs. So is it worth buying a 8X DVD burner or a DVD burner which is a dual layered one?

My opinion:
1. Benq 16X burner : Benq 1600/1620 ->Same drive (1600), can be flashed into the 1620 (done by the company themselves) , officially using a Benq sanctioned firmware.Superb reviews out at CDRLabs and CDFreaks, indicate this is "THE" drive to own.
Cost: rs. 4500

2. Sony 720-b
A very good drive, only the second best after benQ :twisted:
Cost: rs. 4.8k
3. LG-4120B and 4160B
The good thing about LD drives is the can write almost all formats, including DVD- RAM
Cost: 5K

Cost of other drives:
Samsung 16X :Rs.5K
Liteon 16X :Rs.5.5k
Pioneer 16X :Rs.5,000
Plextor PX-716 A - 6.5K
 
drgrudge said:
A 8x dual layer 8.5gb DVD costed rs. 550 and a rewritable costed rs. 990!!! IS it worth such a amount?
Also 4x DVD costs rs. 20 (or less) and 8X/16X DVD's costs 45rs. So is it worth buying a 8X DVD burner or a DVD burner which is a dual layered one?

My opinion:
1. Benq 16X burner : Benq 1600/1620 ->Same drive (1600), can be flashed into the 1620 (done by the company themselves) , officially using a Benq sanctioned firmware.Superb reviews out at CDRLabs and CDFreaks, indicate this is "THE" drive to own.
Cost: rs. 4500

2. Sony 720-b
A very good drive, only the second best after benQ :twisted:
Cost: rs. 4.8k
3. LG-4120B and 4160B
The good thing about LD drives is the can write almost all formats, including DVD- RAM
Cost: 5K

Cost of other drives:
Samsung 16X :Rs.5K
Liteon 16X :Rs.5.5k
Pioneer 16X :Rs.5,000
Plextor PX-716 A - 6.5K
Click to expand...

Disagree. Benq 1620 and LG4163B are equally good, the 720A is messed up for burning at speeds >8X. The Pio A09/109 and Plex 716 are excellent..
Don't buy the Lite-On 1673 or Sony 720.. they suck..
 
drgrudge said:
A 8x dual layer 8.5gb DVD costed rs. 550 and a rewritable costed rs. 990!!! IS it worth such a amount?
Also 4x DVD costs rs. 20 (or less) and 8X/16X DVD's costs 45rs. So is it worth buying a 8X DVD burner or a DVD burner which is a dual layered one?
Click to expand...

Media prices drop very fast. Look at the CDR, CDRW prices today. Once DL DVD disks become more popular, its price will also come down. It is better to invest in a drive which is capable of using dl disks, when their prices come down in future
 
hey techhead , come across any interesting media lately ? ;) or are you using the verbatims ? i cant find any more of the 4x tdks anymore (ty) only get the 1-8x tdk that seem to be made by tdk themselves.
 
hehe another question from here as well techhead... did they fix the plex 716 with firmware updates? When I read abt it last(read preview), the drive had severe problems with write quality on -R discs.
 
1. Benq 16X burner : Benq 1600/1620 ->Same drive (1600), can be flashed into the 1620 (done by the company themselves) , officially using a Benq sanctioned firmware.Superb reviews out at CDRLabs and CDFreaks, indicate this is "THE" drive to own.
Cost: rs. 4500
Click to expand...

Correction 3.8k, but the after sales support is pathetic.
 
really ? here in chennai i see quite a few shops supporting benq products that i thought after sales experiences would be good..
 
bottle said:
hey techhead , come across any interesting media lately ? ;) or are you using the verbatims ? i cant find any more of the 4x tdks anymore (ty) only get the 1-8x tdk that seem to be made by tdk themselves.
Click to expand...

Heh..no TDKs here. Still using Verbatim 8X and 16X discs.. very good quality.

Chaos: Yep.. get the 1.05 FW for the 716.. fixes pretty much all the writing problems.
 
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