Whats the best DVD burner for price?

[TpGun2424]

Whats the best DVD burner for less than $100? Dual layer isn't needed but wouldn't hurt to have.

Thanx

[TwoRails]

The new Sony has been getting really good reviews,and it was on sale for $89 last week at Newegg.

edit: here's the link, and it's still $89.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=27-131-236&DEPA=1

[glc]

NEC 3500. Sonys are just Liteons with the bitsetting disabled.

[TpGun2424]

Thanks guys, I'll take a look at them.

[Harry]

If you shop around you can find bargains. I just got an 8 speed BTC DVD combo burner for $40. It burns DVD + and - and does CD recording and RW writing and reading. So it has the flexibility of all formats something that not all of them have. Mine is only 8 speed recording DVDs but is 40 speed recording CDs. 8 speed on a DVD is the equivalent of 64 speed for a CD rom. It reads DVDs at 12 speed and CDs at 40 speed. It's not double layer but all in all for the price, it's worth it. I just installed it tonight and the only thing is that Windows is not recognizing it. I'm guessing that it is a jumper problem. Now if I could only figure out what the right jumper setting is. What a pain in the neck. I don't think I even have any more IRQs available. I'm not even sure right now if I can get this thing to work. Hope you have more luck than me.

[idolcrash]

My DVD burner was only around 60-80 USD, and for that it burns single- and dual-layer DVDs (single layer up to 16x, dual layer up to 4x, I believe), 32x CD read, I forget how high it burns though.

It is a Pioneer DVR-108. Now when they come out with 16x DVDs....

[Harry]

Just a follow up. I moved the jumper over one slot from the middle to the left side and so it was finally recognized. I then installed a DVD playing program that came with it called PowerDVD 5 and luckily I had a sample DVD in my possession to try out which it then played adequately.

The thing I like about this DVD most of all is its compatiblity. It's going to be able to play any format drive type you throw at it and also record any format drive type. That is something to think about when you look to buy one. See if you can get a multi combo one like I have at 16 speed DVD recording. Maybe BTC or some other company makes one at 16 speed. Not sure because I heard these full combination recording and playing ones are kind of new.

I can't wait to start burning regular CDs at 40 speed instead of two speed from the one I was using. To begin with I need to make a lot of music CDs for holiday presents. Hopefully the burner will work and save a lot of time. Instead of 20 hours, maybe only 1 hour.

[Jaggannath]

2 speed?? Whoa, ouch, that'd he slow. How could you not make a change sooner, I'd have gone insane by now I reckon

[Rick Hall]

Yuo may want to look at the LiteOn 1633S or wait for the Lg 4163 (which will support booktype)

[glc]

Harry, I'm glad you are happy, but the last BTC optical drive I used lasted a whole 3 months. That's not a brand I'd recommend to anyone.

You paid $40 for an offbrand on sale, and that *is* a nice price for an 8x single layer burner. For less than $70 you can get a known quality brand drive that records DVD's at 16x, CD's at 48x, and is dual layer capable. Maybe you don't want to pay a premium for the 16x or the dual layer media now, but you will have the ability to do so when the prices come down.

[Harry]

Thank you GLC but a review I read gave it a 9 out of 10 score at:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=232&page=Features

In any case, I probably should have waited and not bought on impulse because
I just saw a double layer 16 speed one for 49.95 with rebate. Plus it offered a 39.88 mail in rebate when purchased with a 50 pack of DVD-R media.

http://www.pcconnection.com/ProductDetail?sku=5430000

It sure seems to me that these machines were a lot more expensive than this about a year ago.

[glc]

I take reviews like that with a grain of salt. They don't live with drives for an extended period of time, so they can't comment on reliability. As I said, I wish you luck, maybe yours will last a while.

That's the NEC I recommend - VERY good deal if you can wait for the rebate.

[kg3]

i secound the NEC i love mine