DVD Burner Advice

Hi,

I'm thinking about buying a DVD burner for my PC. The one I'm thinking about getting is the Sony DRU-810A. I've read some reviews on this and it sounds good, however, one review stated that I might wait to upgrade for LightScribe or Blu-Ray DVD writers. My PC was bought in 2000 and it has a PIII 735 MHz, 256 ram, WinXP pro spects. What is the difference between the DVD burner I am thinking about buying and the new technology I have mentioned above. Moreover, would my computer be able to handle DVD technology at all? And if I waited, would it be able to handle the new stuff? Thank you so much!

Happy Holidays,
James

 

Interesting? Thinking about the latest technology in DVD burners for system featuring stonage technology. (maybe not quite stonage but I'm sure would struggle depending on the task at hand, and only 256mb memory running XP, think about adding another 256)

If I were you, I look into your run of the mill dvd burner maybe 8x or 16x multi format
At newegg they have several Burners for under $50
Here's a couple:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106990
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152055

I own two DVD burners one is the Liteon I posted above, excellant Burner only $43 shipped.
I usually use 4X media as it's cheaper.
Nero is Excellant burning software.

 

Thanks so far. But I was wondering if you would recommend the Lite On or the NEC? I'm not sure which one I'd want? Also, if I disconnect my current CD writer and replace w/ one of these DVD burners, can I just use teh exact same cables to hook it up?

Thanks,
James

 

I've read a few places that have said the NEC has trouble reading DVDs--is that true?

 

The same cables are fine
A new cable is included with most retail drives

I dont know about any reading problems.
I have a eariler model Nec 2501A 4x it has been flawless

I own the same model Liteon, it's been flawless
I think either one is Great

Here's the Nec OEM on sale till 12-19-05, yikes tomorrow, It's got 92 good reviews at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

 

Personally, I wouldn't buy either drive.

Pioneer and LG make excellent drives, and they also support DVD RAM.

Nothing major wrong with LiteOn and NEC, but I don't think they are as good.

LiteOn make the best CD burners, but their DVD drives haven't been of the same quality, although they have improved recently.

One advantage of LiteOn is that there are plenty of utilities and firmware hacks written for them.


Lightscribe is a good idea, but the images aren't in colour, and can take a while depending on how complex the graphic is.

You also don't have the range of brands available for the media, and they cost more. (or at least used to) Not to mention the extra wear and tear, for what in the end is a dull monochrome graphic that can be hard to read in certain light.

I would rather use a good printer that can print direct to media.

I'd also leave your CD writer and dedicate that to CD burning. DVD burners don't burn CD's as good, especially for some specialised applications.

 

Thanks Insomniac. What is Lightscribe? And why do I want my DVD burner to support DVD-RAM--what is DVD-RAM? What added functionality will i have with this? Am I going to have limitations burning DVD w/ this old system? Thanks in advance! Also--what is Blu-Ray?

 

Don't worry about DVD-RAM. It's been around a while now, but hasn't really caught on. DVD+R and DVD-R have really become the standards.

As far as Blu-Ray it's just a larger capacity disk. Supposedly the next generation in Optical storage. I think they are supposed to be like 40Gb or something. But they won't be here for a little while and they will be outrageously expensive at first.

I also have had an NEC burner for about a year now and would definitely recommend it.

 

Why not worry about it?

A lot of video cameras that record directly to DVD, like Panasonic and Hitachi, use DVD RAM.

Anyway, if it's not any extra, it doesn't hurt to have it.

 

Lightscribe is a process for lableling CD and DVD media.

It was invented by HP, and uses a laser in the drive to etch designs on specially coated media.

You can read more about it HERE.

As I explained in my earlier reply, a lot of video cameras use this format.

It doesn't cost any extra, so why not, even if you never used it?

Even without DVD RAM, the Pioneer is still a better drive.

Not burning you won't, but if you want to do any video editing you will.

BluRay is one technology that you really shouldn't worry about, as there is a chance it might not even be released, or the specs will change.

Anyway, HERE is some information.

 

Check out CDRinfo. Exhaustive reviews, and more information than you can use to make your decision.