Pioneer DVR-107, NEC ND2500A, NEC ND-2510, Plextor PX-708A?

[chiyoaiki]

I am looking to buy a DVD writer. I have been reading this forum and also at dvdrhelp, and have narrowing my choices down to the following four writers. However I am still undecided on which of the four should I buy. Please could someone give me a recommendation?

- Pioneer DVR-107;
- NEC ND2500A;
- NEC ND-2510;
- Plextor PX-708A.

What are their pro and con? Performance and reliability wise, which is better? Does the Plextor worth paying extra for?

Thanks.

[hydrogen]

Those are basicly the best drives out there right now. You didn't mention the Plextor 712a though.

The Plextor 712a seems to be a really good drive. It can scan for pie and pof. None of the other ones mention can.

To me it would be between the Pioneer 107d and the Plextor 712a. I wouldn't get the Nec. I'm going by officially released firmwares and not hacked firmwares. So far, they haven't released many new firmwares for the Nec drive. The only thing good about the Nec is Herries firmware. He does a good job. Using it will void your warranty.

Pioneer has released a lot of new firmwares for the 107d. There have already been two firmware upgrades for the Plextor 712a. So, firmware wise, support seems really good for the Pioneer and the Plextor 712a. I wouldn't get the Plextor 708a. It doesn't have the pie and pif scanning ability.

To be honest I don't think I could decide between a Pioneer 107d and a Plextor 712a. They both have pluses.

I would probably lean more towards the Plextor 712a only because of the pie and pif scanning. If it didn't have that, I would pick the Pioneer 107d hands down.

This is my personal opinion and other people opinions may differ.

In the end it is your decision to make. I wouldn't rush out and by a burner just yet. I think there maybe more new drives on the way.

[axelrod]

what is pif and pie scanning, and how does it help you?

I've been looking into the Pioneer 107 or the Plex 712a myself.

thanks!

[hydrogen]

It shows how good a burner, burned the dvd media. It's a quality check of burnt dvd media.

You can see some scans here.
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=16597

I can't go into detailed about it like some other people can. If you want a technical explanation, somone else may post that here.

I just know that it shows how good your burnt dvd media is.

[hoxlund]

i love my pioneer 107, so id say go with that

ive seen quite a few problems with the nec 2500a (used to own one)

if you wanna drop the extra $$$ go for plextor 712a

[ItalianJob]

Is dual layer support important for you ?

NEC ND2500A
+ price, good DVD writter
- no official dual layer, poor DVD reader, not enough official firmware (for speed support, bitsetting, dezoning (but hacked firmware exist))

NEC ND-2510
= ND2500 + official Dual Layer support

Plextor PX-708A
+ A plextor ! Good quality, good support, firmware and now at a good price because of the new 12x
- No dual layer support

I don't have experience with Pioneer, but it's not a dual layer burner as I know.

[Ian]

Plextor PX-708A
+ A plextor ! Good quality, good support, firmware and now at a good price because of the new 12x
- No dual layer support

It's expensive as well.

[ItalianJob]

117 euro, is not really expensive for such a DVD Writter...
Some shops...

I just bought a NEC 2510 for 86 euros.

[Scour]

Hello!

The Plex is the best, but expensive.

I think the Pioneer is the second behind the Plextor. Good quality, but slow CD-R-Speed.

What about a LG GSA 4082 or 4120? I think that LG not expensive, but have real good DVD-writers

[thegdog]

Is dual layer support important for you ?

NEC ND2500A
+ price, good DVD writter
- no official dual layer, poor DVD reader, not enough official firmware (for speed support, bitsetting, dezoning (but hacked firmware exist))

NEC ND-2510
= ND2500 + official Dual Layer support

Plextor PX-708A
+ A plextor ! Good quality, good support, firmware and now at a good price because of the new 12x
- No dual layer support

I don't have experience with Pioneer, but it's not a dual layer burner as I know.

Just to comment on this, Plextor drives don't offer bitsetting either (and unlike the NEC, don't offer hacked firmware that enables it).

The Plextor PX-708A also only writes DVD-R media at 4x, unlike most other current drives which can write DVD-R media at up to 8x (with the right media, of course).

Not sure what "dezoning" is, but if you mean "region-free" then none of the drives offer that. Its something that's only available throuch hacked firmwares. The NEC drives, the Pioneer drives, and the Plextor drive all have RPC-1 firmware available (though not official releases).

While there have been complaints about the NEC ND-2500A drives being poor readers, this sentiment is not shared by all ND-2500A users. I've had my ND-2500A for a while now, and I've yet to find a DVD that I can't read with it, including media that I burned way back on my first DVD writer, the Pioneer DVR-104.

The Pioneer DVR-107 drive also has a hacked firmware that allows burning of most DVD-R and DVD+R media at up to 8x, but does not offer the ability to bitset. Out of all the drives originally listed, only the NEC drives have firmware available that can perform bitsetting.

[thegdog]

I am looking to buy a DVD writer. I have been reading this forum and also at dvdrhelp, and have narrowing my choices down to the following four writers. However I am still undecided on which of the four should I buy. Please could someone give me a recommendation?

- Pioneer DVR-107;
- NEC ND2500A;
- NEC ND-2510;
- Plextor PX-708A.

You might want to spend some time looking over similar threads here as there has been plenty of discussion on the drives (with the exception of the ND-2510A which is fairly new).

If it comes down to price/features, and you don't mind using an unofficial firmware, the NEC ND-2500A is impossible to beat.

For a drive that costs under $70, you get a DVD writer that has excellent write quality, supports writing 8x to both DVD+R and DVD-R media (and can write most media at 8x), can write to DVD+R DL media (though how well may depend on the drive), and supports bitsetting of DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD+R DL media.

As said before, some of the features are because of unofficial firmware put together by a longtime NEC fan. Just like the hacked firmwares made popular for other drives like Pioneer's and LiteOn's lines, the NEC hacked firmwares are based on the official NEC firmwares and modified to allow other features like faster burning on more media or in a wonderful surprise, adding the ability to write to dual layer media.

I've had the drive for many months now and its been the best drive I've owned yet (my other burners include Pioneer DVR-104, Sony DRU-500A, and Sony DW-U18A [a LiteOn SOHW-812S OEM model]). I've been using the hacked firmwares for a while, and love the drive. Write quality has been great. I've had no problems with any of the discs I have burned, whether in my set-top DVD players or my Xbox. Even the dual layer media I burned worked like a charm.

Now, if I was buying a new drive today, I would buy the ND-2510A over the ND-2500A. Why? Because for the $15 price difference, the ND-2510A is warranteed to write to dual layer media. While my ND-2500A has written dual layer media well, its not a supported feature. I'd spend the $15 and get a drive that I know does support it officially. Definitely worth the price difference.

And while Plextor and Pioneer also both have great writing quality, the fact that the NEC drive also has great write quality, can support dual layer media (which the Plextor and Pioneer drives don't), and costs substantially less, makes the NEC a leader in my book.

[thegdog]

What about a LG GSA 4082 or 4120? I think that LG not expensive, but have real good DVD-writers

I don't know about other places, but LG drives are not easy to come by in the US. I don't think I've ever seen one for sale on the shelf in any store.

Do places like NewEgg.com even sell them here in the US?

[Kennyshin]

What about a LG GSA 4082 or 4120? I think that LG not expensive, but have real good DVD-writers

I don't know about other places, but LG drives are not easy to come by in the US. I don't think I've ever seen one for sale on the shelf in any store.

Do places like NewEgg.com even sell them here in the US?

LG drives not selling in the US market is really surprising because the US is the biggest market and has been LG's biggest market for long. I don't know what's happening with LG USA, perhaps they are on strike or something?

GSA-4120B and GSA-4082B are very easy to buy in South Korea and Japan, and they are cheaper than NEC and Lite-On.

[hydrogen]

For official firmware support, I would go with the Pioneer A07 or Plextor 712a. I'm sure the Plextor 708a drive is good, but it doesn't have the scanning ability that the Plextor 712a has and like thegdog said, the highest speed you can burn dvd-r at is 4x.

I wouldn't go with the Nec just because they are lacking on releasing new firmwares. If Nec doesn't release a new firmware with the new media id codes, and write strategy for that media in the firmware, then your screwed. You will have to use a hacked firmware on it if you want to burn the new media that comes out at the rated speed. I don't use hacked firmwares and I only go by official firmwares. I don't think hacked firmwares are perfect either. I trust the official ones more. Sometimes the hacked ones have bugs.

The only reason to go with the Nec 2510a would be if you want dual layer support. I wouldn't purchase the Nec 2500a at all. The 2510a is almost the same price.

If you care about price I would go with the Pioneer A07. If price is no object I would go with the Plextor 712a. If you want dual layer burning support then go with the Nec 2510a.

Pioneer A07 retail or 107d oem = if you care about price
Plextor 712a = if price is no object
Nec 2510a = if you want dual layer media support.

Nec 2500a = I wouldn't buy it
Plextor 708a = I wouldn't buy it