Liteon 811S or Plextor 708? Need some advice

[ryus]

These two drives have pretty much the exact same specs.

Was just wondering if anyone knows if the Liteon 811S can be firmware upgraded to do 8X - R recording?

I would be mainly concerned with burn quality and reliability. I have had only Plextor CD burners in the past and have been quite satisfied. But its just that the Liteon is cheaper, and I know Liteon makes some pretty good stuff.

Also, whats the diff between the 811S and the 851S? is the 851S the external version?

[Ian]

These questions have been asked about 20x already. I'll do my best to answer them, but you might want to do some searches.

>>Was just wondering if anyone knows if the Liteon 811S can be firmware upgraded to do 8X - R recording?

Supposedly it will be able to. There are a few companies like Norcent rebadged 811S's as 8x DVD+R and DVD-R drives. They've said that once the specs for 8x DVD-R are finalized a new firmware will be released.

>>Also, whats the diff between the 811S and the 851S? is the 851S the external version?

No, both drives use the same chipset. Due to manufacturing changes, the 851S uses a different PCB. There is an external version of the 851S though. I believe its called the 851SX.

[hoxlund]

go for the $130 NEC 8x dvd-r and 8x dvd+r

[aviationwiz]

I'd recomend the PX-708A. It's been proven to have high build quality, and high write quality on both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW.