Home News Reviews Forums Shop


what's the worst DVD burner u have owned?

DVD-R/W, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM

Postby TCAS on Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:11 pm

If the DVD Burner from all these different manufacturers which some of them we all have claim during the course of last 4-5 years to be the best for producing the writers (Burners) are all some how troublesome and these companies are incapable to manufacture fault free burners then for god sake whom the consumers should trust for good products?. May be we all have rush some time in to judgment as defining what drive is good and which one is not.
TCAS
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 981
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2001 8:00 pm

Postby kirpen on Sun Aug 08, 2004 9:00 pm

I had an nu-081 that i didnt care for but my 811 has been alright in the +R department. I have read very bad things about it & -R so I never tried it. I do know I'm not getting a new dl drive unitl they are second generation 4x and I people say its good on all media types.
kirpen
CD-RW Thug
 
Posts: 66
Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2003 3:07 am

hey, wesociety

Postby liteonrules on Sun Aug 08, 2004 9:47 pm

wesociety wrote:
liteonrules, are you regretting your choice of a forum username now


no way, i still love LITEON, I only had one bad experience and i believe it should be the last as i will choose a better LITEON dvdrw model and i will read more reviews to find out which dvd burner is good
my regular cd burners made by LITEON were the best in my opinion and i believe they will make better dvd burners in the future
NEC 2500A $20 10/04
NEC 3500AG for $47 4/05
NEC 3540 for $35 9/05
BENQ 1620 for $36 9//05
liteonrules
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 230
Joined: Sat Nov 16, 2002 11:34 pm
Location: pittsburgh, pa

Re: hey, wesociety

Postby HyperYagami on Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:33 am

liteonrules wrote:wesociety wrote:
liteonrules, are you regretting your choice of a forum username now


no way, i still love LITEON, I only had one bad experience and i believe it should be the last as i will choose a better LITEON dvdrw model and i will read more reviews to find out which dvd burner is good
my regular cd burners made by LITEON were the best in my opinion and i believe they will make better dvd burners in the future


I agree that their CD-burners did/do rule, but on the DVD-ROM/burner field they're pretty...weak. My 1st DVD-ROM was a Lite-On and it screamed like a chicken being slaughtered. The newer ones are OK but not among the best like they did with CD stuff. Their 1st gen DVD-burners were disappointments, and the newer ones aren't anything special. Yes they'll make better burners, but so will the others and the others will still probably be better...
HyperYagami
CD-RW Thug
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Wed Jan 22, 2003 1:17 am

Postby aviationwiz on Mon Aug 09, 2004 4:18 am

Well, so far, here's what I've had:
Ricoh MP5125A
Plextor PX-708A
Pioneer DVR-107
Plextor PX-712A

DVD+R discs burned on the Ricoh wouldn't play on one of the DVD Players, the DVD player isn't supposed to play DVD+R (per the specs) but seems to play with some newer DVD+R media. This I would not qualify as my worst drive, because I am certain it was media issues now that I look back on it, even with bad media, it did pretty well.

The Plextor PX-708A suffered many firmwares where 8x writing on 4x media would be slowed at the end of the disc, and some discs burned were bad burn quality, unreadable, or, a flat out coaster. Otherwise, it was a solid drive, however, this drive does qualify for my worst drive.

The Pioneer DVR-107 was horrendous. The DVR-107 popped out more coasters than any of my other drives, and much of the burns were unreadable. This drive does qualify for my worst drive spot. This drive also has a very noticeable, and large bias for DVD-R media, burning DVD+R media, well, generally poorly.

The Plextor PX-712A has so far been excellent, 8x (or 6x) writing is flawless, where as it was flawful on the DVR-107 and the PX-708A. 12x writing also is flawless. Coupled with the 8MB buffer, which I give credit to for making higher speed writes flawless (unlike the DVR-107 or PX-708A.) I am also able to check the media quality, which seems much easier, and more reliable than the equivalent testing on Lite-On drives. This drive does not qualify for my worst drive spot.

So, who gets the final spot for the worst drive I have used? It's a close one between the DVR-107 and the PX-708A (which neither was all that bad anyway.)

I would have to go with the DVR-107 because it popped out a higher percentage of coasters, and unreadable discs than any of the other drives, however, the PX-708A follows in close second place for worst drive I have used.
User avatar
aviationwiz
Plextor Fan(atic)
 
Posts: 4069
Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2002 2:55 am
Location: Home of the Red Tail

Postby dolphinius_rex on Mon Aug 09, 2004 4:28 am

Weird... I find my Pioneer DVR-107 to be MUCH more forgiving on media then my Plextor 712a :o
Punch Cards -> Paper Tape -> Tape Drive -> 8" Floppy Diskette -> 5 1/4" Floppy Diskette -> 3 1/2" "Flippy" Diskette -> CD-R -> DVD±R -> BD-R

The Progression of Computer Media
User avatar
dolphinius_rex
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 6923
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2003 6:14 pm
Location: Vancouver B.C. Canada

Postby ClayBuster on Mon Aug 09, 2004 5:24 am

dolphinius_rex wrote:Weird... I find my Pioneer DVR-107 to be MUCH more forgiving on media then my Plextor 712a :o


Same here
Rick
User avatar
ClayBuster
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 205
Joined: Sun Apr 11, 2004 1:11 pm
Location: MI.

Postby Kennyshin on Mon Aug 09, 2004 6:32 am

Toshiba SD-R5002.

Because that's the only drive limited to 2x among what I have had. :D
Kennyshin
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 1173
Joined: Tue May 14, 2002 12:56 am

Postby Shredder on Mon Aug 09, 2004 9:42 am

aviationwiz wrote:12x writing also is flawless. Coupled with the 8MB buffer, which I give credit to for making higher speed writes flawless (unlike the DVR-107 or PX-708A.)


8MB buffer doesn't help DVD burning at all. Specially not at speed greater than 4-6X.
User avatar
Shredder
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 156
Joined: Tue May 04, 2004 7:38 pm

Re: what's the worst DVD burner u have owned?

Postby VEFF on Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:47 pm

liteonrules wrote:my first dvd burner and it is LITEON 811S, i hate it


It's ironic that your member name is 'liteonrules' then. ;)
Burners only:
Pioneer DVR-115D
Pioneer DVR-111D
Plextor PX-716A TLA0304
Plextor PX-716A same TLA

LiteOn 52246S 52X CD-RW
LiteOn 52246S (another)
LiteOn 52327S 52X CD-RW
TDK 40X USB 2.0 CD-RW
TEAC CD-W540E 40X CD-RW
User avatar
VEFF
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 2025
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2002 9:36 pm

Postby alexnoe on Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:49 pm

Maybe he chose the nick in the times when LiteOn CD writers were working nicely?
alexnoe
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 405
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2004 2:31 am

Postby VEFF on Mon Aug 09, 2004 1:54 pm

I can't say that there is a "worst" DVD burner in my case.
- I first had a 1X DVD-R/DVD-RAM combo Panasonic LF-D311SC
- I upgraded to a 4X dual format Sony DRU-500A (for $3 more than I sold the Panasonic for)
I added a 4X DVD-RW Pioneer DVR-105 and a 4X DVD+RW
NEC ND-1100A
- I then sold the Sony, Pioneer and NEC and bought 2 Plextor PX-708A drives.
- Sold both Plextors and bought a Benq DW822A-OC2.

I liked every single one of them.
I never had a problem with coasters or other issue with any of them, except for DVD-RAM packet-writing errors, but that is like CD-RW packe-writing - very unreliable.
Burners only:
Pioneer DVR-115D
Pioneer DVR-111D
Plextor PX-716A TLA0304
Plextor PX-716A same TLA

LiteOn 52246S 52X CD-RW
LiteOn 52246S (another)
LiteOn 52327S 52X CD-RW
TDK 40X USB 2.0 CD-RW
TEAC CD-W540E 40X CD-RW
User avatar
VEFF
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 2025
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2002 9:36 pm

Postby BoGMan1a on Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:18 am

Sony 500ax(mainly because it cost $350), followed by HP 300c($49 on clearance and still a piece). I really like my Lite-on 811s, but I try to buy only quality media to burn on it. And finally, I regret giving my NEC 1100 away to my cousin. I rarely had a problem with it and wished that I had kept it in my secondary box instead of the Sony.
Main Computer:
ASUS A7N8X deluxe
AMD Athlon XP2500
1Gb PC3200
6600GT AGP
BENQ 1620
NEC 3500AG
Lite-on 52246S
Lite-on LTC-48161H
1 Tb of internal HDD space
750+ Gb external storage
Dual Boot Win2000Pro/XP Home
User avatar
BoGMan1a
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 211
Joined: Fri May 31, 2002 9:57 pm
Location: Holland, Michigan (Texas transplant)

Postby dodecahedron on Tue Aug 10, 2004 12:51 am

aviationwiz wrote:Well, so far, here's what I've had:
Ricoh MP5125A
Plextor PX-708A
Pioneer DVR-107
Plextor PX-712A

DVD+R discs burned on the Ricoh wouldn't play on one of the DVD Players, the DVD player isn't supposed to play DVD+R (per the specs) but seems to play with some newer DVD+R media. This I would not qualify as my worst drive, because I am certain it was media issues now that I look back on it, even with bad media, it did pretty well.

The Plextor PX-708A suffered many firmwares where 8x writing on 4x media would be slowed at the end of the disc, and some discs burned were bad burn quality, unreadable, or, a flat out coaster. Otherwise, it was a solid drive, however, this drive does qualify for my worst drive.

The Pioneer DVR-107 was horrendous. The DVR-107 popped out more coasters than any of my other drives, and much of the burns were unreadable. This drive does qualify for my worst drive spot. This drive also has a very noticeable, and large bias for DVD-R media, burning DVD+R media, well, generally poorly.

The Plextor PX-712A has so far been excellent, 8x (or 6x) writing is flawless, where as it was flawful on the DVR-107 and the PX-708A. 12x writing also is flawless. Coupled with the 8MB buffer, which I give credit to for making higher speed writes flawless (unlike the DVR-107 or PX-708A.) I am also able to check the media quality, which seems much easier, and more reliable than the equivalent testing on Lite-On drives. This drive does not qualify for my worst drive spot.

So, who gets the final spot for the worst drive I have used? It's a close one between the DVR-107 and the PX-708A (which neither was all that bad anyway.)

I would have to go with the DVR-107 because it popped out a higher percentage of coasters, and unreadable discs than any of the other drives, however, the PX-708A follows in close second place for worst drive I have used.

quite unbelievable! :o
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie
-- JRRT
M.C. Escher - Reptilien
User avatar
dodecahedron
DVD Polygon
 
Posts: 6865
Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2002 12:04 am
Location: Israel

Postby Scour on Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:40 am

Hello!

My worst DVD-writer: NEC 1300A

Good at DVD+R, but the quality with DVD-R (which I use mostly) was terrible. That was disappointing because that writer came to the market a half year later than announced; I don´t know how worse the writer could have been when it came out a little time earlier.

The NEC 2500A seems to be much better

Now I have a LG GSA 4082 and no problems with all media I used :)
Benq DW 1640 and 1650 , Plextor PX-755, Pioneer BDR-208 and 209D, LG GH24NSC0, LG BH16NS40 and 16NS55, Liteon ihas 124F and 324F, Pioneer DVR-215 and S21, Samsung SH-224DB and 224GB, and some more

cu
Scour
Scour
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 1933
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: Germany

Postby wicked1 on Tue Aug 10, 2004 1:41 am

aviationwiz wrote:The Pioneer DVR-107 was horrendous. The DVR-107 popped out more coasters than any of my other drives, and much of the burns were unreadable. This drive does qualify for my worst drive spot. This drive also has a very noticeable, and large bias for DVD-R media, burning DVD+R media, well, generally poorly.


I have a very hard time believing this and even if it were true why not RMA it? Thats what most people did with the plextor 708A. I did 3 times total.I have yet to have a coaster out of my 107 and I use media from Longten(pure junk) to TY(godliness). My friends who have 107s and do duplication with them dont have porblems like that either.Anyway back to the topic.
My worst drive is the Plextor 708A.As a matter of fact its the only drive I have owned that I flat out hated. I used to get sooo mad with plextor tech support on the phone.Look up my posts with the plextor and you will see this.Here is my list from best to worst that I have owned.

Pioneer 107
Pioneer 106
Sony 500AX
LiteOn 832S
Nec 1300A
Plextor 708A
Pioneer dvr-108,NEC 3540,BenQ 1640,LiteOn 1693S
Intel pentium D 930 oc to 4.2 ghz
2 gb ddr2 1066 mhz ram
geforce 7600GT
sb audigy 2 zs platnum
hardware mpeg2 encoder card

Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good
User avatar
wicked1
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 831
Joined: Tue May 27, 2003 7:26 pm

Postby Wesociety on Tue Aug 10, 2004 3:33 pm

aviationwiz wrote:I would have to go with the DVR-107 because it popped out a higher percentage of coasters, and unreadable discs than any of the other drives

EEOC errors? :P

Edit: For those that have been wondering, this acronym stands for 'Equipment Exceeds Operator Capabilities'. :lol:
Last edited by Wesociety on Mon Sep 13, 2004 1:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
http://WesleyTech.com <- Blu-ray Disc & consumer technology news, opinions & articles
User avatar
Wesociety
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 1234
Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:33 am
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Postby digitaldoc on Wed Aug 11, 2004 12:13 pm

They should definitely give out this award. I can hardly wait to see the box in Best Buy with the "Worst DVD Writer" sticker emblazoned on it. The Geek Squad would probably use it as a selling feature.

If I new my BTC 1008 was such a close cousin of the LiteOn 811, I probably would not have purchased it, although it has been adequate for my needs thus far.
BTC 1008
BTC 316c 16x dvd-rom
LiteOn 52327S
LiteOn 52246S
Plextor 12x10x32
Benq 4816P
HP 7200e (retired)
User avatar
digitaldoc
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2004 5:46 pm

Postby Halc on Wed Aug 11, 2004 4:15 pm

Optorite DD0401: highest amounts of coasters (both CDR and DVDR), most problems with firmware upgrades, most problems with various software and picky in reading some discs.

Then again, I didn't buy Optorite to burn anything, so it's been useful nevertheless.

I've been pretty satisfied with PX-708 and so-so satisfied with hacked LiteOn 851s (original firmware it has it was crap). Then again, I didn't buy the LiteOn to burn with, so I've been quite satisfied with it for what I bought it for (kProbing).

The best one has been Nec ND2510A for me.

BenQ DW1600 and PX-712 I just got so I can't really comment on them yet.

Pick the right tool for the job you want. If you try to get the best of everything, you're going to fall short on some areas.
User avatar
Halc
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 599
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2002 9:13 am

Postby jase on Wed Aug 11, 2004 5:31 pm

I bought a Nu-Tech 8x thing based on reports that it was a good hacker's drive with good support, and can do good PIPO scans.

Mistake.

The drive is a load of rubbish IMHO. I must sell it on ebay with some decent +R discs thrown in (so the buyer can't bitch at me when he finds nowt else will work on the blessed thing)....
jase
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 965
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2001 8:00 pm

Postby Phoenix '97 on Thu Aug 12, 2004 2:54 am

Kennyshin wrote:Toshiba SD-R5002.

Because that's the only drive limited to 2x among what I have had. :D


Has yours ever jumped down to 1x during a 2x burn? I have a few discs like that. This only seemed to happen during the summer when the room was warmer than usual. :-?
Phoenix '97
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 213
Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2002 4:11 am
Location: Winterpeg

Postby machoboy6 on Fri Aug 13, 2004 3:14 am

anybody heard of emprex? me either til i punked the drive from my friend who got it for his birthday. its this cheapo 8x drive from fry's electronic that was going for 70 bucks. i gave my friend my old pioneer 105 in exchange which was dying. the epmrex worked like a charm for about a month only. now i cant even read/burn dvds. now i have a 70 dollar cd writer.
machoboy6
Buffer Underrun
 
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2002 9:44 pm

Postby digitaldoc on Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:16 pm

I believe the Emprex is a rebadged BTC.
BTC 1008
BTC 316c 16x dvd-rom
LiteOn 52327S
LiteOn 52246S
Plextor 12x10x32
Benq 4816P
HP 7200e (retired)
User avatar
digitaldoc
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 107
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2004 5:46 pm

Postby BillyG on Sat Sep 11, 2004 7:38 am

Lite On 411S for me and my first DVD drive. I thought because they made great CD-RW's that they would make a killer DVD drive... :(

I had a hell of a time trying to find media that constantly worked with my and freinds home DVD players. Verbatim DVD+R's using the booksetting utility set to DVD-ROM worked the best, but I had problems with all brands of DVD-R's, even after flashing to the latest firmware.

BTW does the 411S to 811S hack improve the drive's burn quality? And can I reflash it with the latest Lite-On 811S firmwar afterwards? (if theres a thread for this let me know)

I picked up a NEC 2500a (Mad Dog Dominator 8X) and after reflashing to Herrie's hacked v107 v2b bios I've been able to burn cheap Memorex, Philips, Khypermedia (CMC) and Spin-X (Prodisc) 4x DVD+R's at 8X with no problems! :) Looks like I will be sticking with NEC drives for awhile...
User avatar
BillyG
CD-RW Player
 
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu May 30, 2002 6:03 am
Location: Somewhere in Texas

NEC 2510a

Postby Coyote on Sat Sep 11, 2004 6:15 pm

The worst DVD burner is my FIRST, the NEC 2510a. The damn thing stutters when playing DVD's and HD light stays on continously when the DVD drive is accessed. Read my new thread for more details.
Coyote
CD-RW Thug
 
Posts: 77
Joined: Sun May 06, 2001 8:00 pm

PreviousNext

Return to DVD Writers

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Majestic-12 [Bot] and 13 guests

All Content is Copyright (c) 2001-2024 CDRLabs Inc.