hey guys,
i'm looking at buying a DVD burner since I figure i can actually SAVE on buying CDs that way, and well, because hey, they're better than CD burners. the thing is, I'm COMPLETELY clueless when it comes to DVD burners. whats the difference between DVD+R and DVD-R, and one thats DVD+-R? Which one should I get? What about the different kinds of DVDs, etc? I understand this is a completely ****ie post, but hey, I admit it: i'm a dvd burning ****ie, so help a poor fellow out 
just buy one of those combo drivers for 30 EUROs..... they can burn everything (CD/DVD all formats).
You should consider buying a DVD+/-ROM (the difference in price is not an issue). The capacity of dvd+is a little smaller than dvd- (that mean that a full dvd- can not be burned on a dvd+). I guess that there is no difference in quality of the written data (for me at least).
Now let's hear a word from experts arround.
Get the Sony dual-layer, and you won't have to buy another burner for a long, long time. It was only a hundred or so and it made its money back the first day.
The best one out there right now is the NEC 3520 A. I just bought one of these after they were highly recommended at the Anandtech forums. Its damn cheap too. I bought it for $49 at Newegg. The burner does + and - R at 16x and supports dual layers too . There are also firmwares out there which allow you to rip dvds at 12x and also quiten the drives (useful for ym HTPC).
The only drive which is supposed to be better is the Plextor ones which cost upwards of a $100.
i have the forementioned NEC 3520a and it works perfectly.
hey, harsha_c, if i understand correctly, you have a firmware that will make the drive less noisy. may i please have a link for it?
btw, my drive is only noisy while reading (because the discs spin at greater speeds then), while burning is almost silent.
i have the forementioned NEC 3520a and it works perfectly.hey, harsha_c, if i understand correctly, you have a firmware that will make the drive less noisy. may i please have a link for it?
btw, my drive is only noisy while reading (because the discs spin at greater speeds then), while burning is almost silent.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=134047
Its quiten down my drive compared to the stock firmware.
everyone's experience with dvd's are different... some people say they think the -R has better compaitibility with standalone DVD players, others say the +R... you just have to find one that works for you.
some advice for buying blank DVD's:
--don't buy DVD's made in Taiwan. as a (general) rule, they are usually lower quality and less reliable.
--don't buy generic DVD"s (e.g. compusa brand, anything that says "house" brand, etc)... they're usually worthless. (YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR)
--DVD's from japan are usually better quality, better inks are used...
--while adhering to the above rules, don't shop by brand... just because it says Sony, TDK, etc. doesn't mean it's good. Look for the manufacturing country!. one of the best brands out there is from Japan called Taiyo Yuden (ever heard of them? me neither)... what's important is the Media ID. unfortunately, you can't find out the ID until you open up the case and put it into your drive. thus, you have to purchase it first and hope for the best. to find out the media ID, get a app called dvdinfopro, from (drumroll) http://www.dvdinfopro.com/.. once you know the ID, go to http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm to see if you have a winner or a new skeet shooting disc...
--anomalies do exist and just because you buy a 50 pack that was made in japan doesn't mean it's going to be a spotless pack. expect to make coasters out of some... i bought a 50 pack of Taiyo's a while back and they were all crap... they're a fluke when it happens, but it does....
a good source of assistance, dvdrhelp.com
they have all of the software you need to do backups, conversions, editing, etc... forums for questions...
ask questions if you have them...
enjoy
Just to let you guys know if you don't already, NEC recently released a new official firmware update for that drive that add DVD-R Double Layer burning support or something like that, I think.
I plan to buy that drive when I'm going to build a new computer.
i've got the nec 3520a and i can tell you that it's great - burns well/no coasters/cheap
and as others have said you can get it for about $50 shipped. vcdhelp.com is also a good resource for info
vcdhelp and dvdrhelp are the same sites... also videohelp, they all go to the same place
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=134047Its quiten down my drive compared to the stock firmware.
thanks a lot
Taiyo Yudens are usually rebranded and sold by other big companies and well known companies. They are pretty hard to find. I bought 200 of them on sale a while back. Even though they are rated at 4x, they burn at 8x . I have been thru alomost 120 of these buring at 8x without a single coaster. They get sold out like hot cakes when one of the sites put up a hot deal on them.
plextor and pioneer are very good for me. currently i use 16x dual layer dvd burner from pioneer. works fine
Taiyo Yudens are usually rebranded and sold by other big companies and well known companies. They are pretty hard to find. I bought 200 of them on sale a while back. Even though they are rated at 4x, they burn at 8x . I have been thru alomost 120 of these buring at 8x without a single coaster. They get sold out like hot cakes when one of the sites put up a hot deal on them.
and it's usually Fuji that uses Taiyo's, as far as major brands go...
Hard to find??and it's usually Fuji that uses Taiyo's, as far as major brands go...
Wow thanks for the links. I had searched for about 2months before I could find them But that was ages ago.
wow! thanks a lot for all the help guys 
!!!
thats certainly helped me a lot, so thanks again
i was personally thinking of buying one of the removable dell 600m laptop dvd burner drives. should i go for one of those, or should i stick to an external drive?
thanks
Aqua-Soft Forums