Best burner for a computer lab environment?

[Justin42]

Ok, this isn't a totally newbie-esque question, I hope.

At work, we're looking to buy 2-4 DVD burners to have them around a computer lab for graduate students. We don't expect them to get a ton of use, but as faculty members start moving towards a more 'multimedia' experience, we are expecting creation of DVDs might become more of an issue. (I'm not even thinking about the hardware/software video editing portion yet)

I'm just trying to figure out what burners are very reliable, able to handle poor treatment (like shoving in the door to close the tray on a repeated basis), and most importantly, able to handle a wide variety of crappy media. No matter how much you try to teach the students, they bring in the worst possible blank CD-Rs/CD-RWs, so I can imagine DVDs will be even worse. (I'm expecting to see a lot of Memorex) Plus, we won't know if they're bringing in +Rs or -Rs so it needs to be able to handle both fairly well...

I know in the past the Pioneers have been pretty good at burning low-quality DVD-Rs, but their +R performance isn't too hot. I have been thinking NEC or Benq; Plextor is a bit too pricy (not to mention to wild variances in 716A quality, and I'm pissed at their Linux stand). I've been leaning towards the Benq but it's harder to find from our normal suppliers.

Any comments? Anyone have experience supporting DVD burning in a lab?

[Scour]

Hello!

I don´t know what´s the big difference when burning in or outside a lab

If you are afraid of broken trays you must wait for the expensive Plextor 716 slot-in-Version.

If you looking for a drive that can handle cheap media well I recommend a Pioneer 109 or NEC 35x.-drive. The NEC-drive is better for CD-R-media, the Pioneer read bad DVD´s better.

[eric93se]

well if your on a budget and want good quality, then go with the NEC 3540. Right now its $43 shipped for the black version at newegg. Whatever you decide on, make sure its the latest version since there's very little difference in price.

[Justin42]

Sounds like NEC is promising.

My biggest thought in the difference for a lab is looking for good reliability, and good quality burns on a wide variety of mostly crappy media. Like I said, when people bring in blank CDRs, I see Memorex 90% of the time, and generic Fry's media another 5% or so of the time. Since we don't have control over what people buy and bring in I need a burner that isn't picky in the slightest.

Basically-- this isn't a burner for me that I will know, or learn, how to baby and give it exactly the media it wants, that is appropriate. It needs to hold up to some (slight, I hope!) abuse and burn whatever it's given and create a usable disc, even if it's not an ideal burn.

[RJW]

Well memorex is not allways bad. It's just they use much different manufacturers and some are quite crappy and some are good.
Problem is you don't know what you get when you buy.
NEC 3540 does burn very nice according to the results so far. Seems to be the best with most stuff. (Benq 1640 might be nice if you know that the memorex are CMC however with memorex you never know. 4 batches means most times 4 different manufacturers or at least mid codes.)

But does any folks know if the tray also can handle some roughness.
Because some of the older NEC cd-writers/cd-roms felt quite cheap when it came to the tray.

[eric93se]

He's not dealing with high school or junior high students, graduate students are smart enough (for the most part) not to rough up a dvd drive. (coming from a recently graduated grad student).

[Ian]

At work I just ordered about 110 Dell Optiplex GX620's.. all with NEC ND-3530's in them. This is the first time I've ordered DVD writers so it will be interesting to see what happens. I'm expecting our labs to become movie copy central.

They're all covered under warranty so I don't really care if they get destroyed. Just remember that no matter what brand you buy, they will get broken.

[Justin42]

Were you able to order the NECs through Dell, or are they aftermarket/vendor added? I've never seen the option to get specific brands on Dell's Premiere site...

[Ian]

Were you able to order the NECs through Dell, or are they aftermarket/vendor added? I've never seen the option to get specific brands on Dell's Premiere site...

That's what Dell currently includes with the Optiplex line.

As far as grad students beating on computers.. Around here, they are some of the worst. From my experience, they use them the more than undergrads and have no respect for them since they're not theirs.

[hoxlund]

slot loading plextor's where do i sign?

[Scour]

slot loading plextor's where do i sign?

http://geizhals.at/deutschland/a148570.html

If I can believe some shops (I´m really not sure If I can) then it´s avaible in the next 2 weeks

[hoxlund]

slot loaders make me horny

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/716AL.htm

[Justin42]

Were you able to order the NECs through Dell, or are they aftermarket/vendor added? I've never seen the option to get specific brands on Dell's Premiere site...

That's what Dell currently includes with the Optiplex line.

As far as grad students beating on computers.. Around here, they are some of the worst. From my experience, they use them the more than undergrads and have no respect for them since they're not theirs.

Yeah, we see that sometimes, although we bang it into their heads to treat them nicely. It's the PhD-students we have the most issues with.

I should have asked Dell what they include in the Precisions. I did some reading and it sounded like crappy OEM sort of setup, usually Philips. Oh well, it gives me the flexibility to buy anything.

[SkaarjMaster]

Sounds like you need to get two NEC 3540As and two Pioneers. If they have crappy CDs then use the NEC and if crappy DVDs then the Pioneer!

[Ian]

You're right. According to their support website its a Philips DVD8631 HH 16X DVD+/-RW