_Quiet_ & reliable burner x16 (long)

[Ke-vin]

First, as this is my first post on this forum, let me thank you for many helpful news I have found here so far!

Second, I am about to get my first DVD burner ever, so please forgive my ignorance. However, I am a happy owner of a Teac 16x10x40 CD recorder that still serves me well and has never let me down! (those good old Teac drives... )

My story: I bought NEC 3500A couple of days ago. Before even tried to burn any disc, I noticed one thing: the drive got quite noisy while reading data DVD with max speed.

Under Nero DVD-Speed, when playing video DVDs the speed was relatively low (~x2 at the beginning) and the drive worked perfectly: just a delicate, barely audible noise. But when I put some recorded DVD+R, the drive started with max speed (~x6 at the beginning, reaching promised x16 at the end) and got quite loud. I tried many data DVDs, both recordable and pressed, so definitely it was not a matter of disc.

I did expect the drive gets louder with the speed, but the point was the sound was quite different: instead of "white" noise there was annoying whir, sort of vibration. I didn't like that.

Is it normal for NEC 3500? Is it normal for all drives at x16 speed? All DVD recorders I can compare with are x8 max

I returned the drive and got my money back but now I don't know what to do next. Look for another 3500? They are praised for quality, value etc all over the net. Did I have bad luck and got just one faulty drive?

How about Pioneer 108? They are ~ +30% more expensive where I live, are they worth it? They use Z-CLV, does it mean they are not so loud?

Finally, now there are new interesting x16 burners to choose from (I mean: really new devices, not new OEM repackages). Samsung TS-H552 (same price as 3500), Toshiba SD-R5372DL (20% more expensive), LiteOn 1653... any of these seems to be a worthy alternative to those standard (and now - 'old') options: NEC 3500 & Pioneer 108?

For me, noise generated by DVD drive is quite important factor. I have spent some time silencing my system (4 low speed fans extra , Zalman cooling on 9800 Pro) and I don't want to hear a chainsaw starting every time I put a DVD in!

Also burn&read quality and media compatibility are more important for me than, say, 5% increase in speed.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Kevin

[Ian]

When a drive reads or writes at DVD at 16x, the disc is rotating at almost 10k RPM. At this speed, you're going to have some noise no matter what. If you want to reduce noise, you can use utilities to slow the maximum speed down.

You might want to check out the DVR-A08XL (not the DVR-108). It has a bunch of noise reducing technologies. Plextor's drives also offer a Silent Mode.. but all that really does is slow the maximum speeds.

[hoxlund]

vote goes to Pioneer 108/A08 based burner

[jhigh2000]

I concur. I have the DVR-A08XL and it's very quiet.

[overclockxp]

Oh man! I forgot I even had an A08 drive in my computer until you reminded me. The thing is so silent. Time to burn!

[btiger]

Get a Sony DRU-710A, VERY VERY quiet (both burning and reading)! Burnt about 10 CDRs, 5 DVD +R RWs and 15 DVD +Rs at full speed with no problem.

Noisy drive does not equal bad drive, I've a very old (8yrs) Mitsui/Mitsumi 32X CD Rom that's very noisy but it can read whatever CDs/CDRs that pop into it and still going strong.

[Ke-vin]

Thank you for all replies and suggestions!

Finally, I decided to get a Pioneer DVR-108. Couldn't find any A08-XL where I live

So far I am very pleased: it burns reliably everything I put in and is not louder than my old Teac CD-RW 16x10x40!

Hopefully, my new Pioneer will be as good as that Teac as far as reliability and longevity is concerned.

BTW: AFAIK, the main difference between OEM DVR-108 and branded A08-XL (apart from the housing) is Quiet Drive Technology. I downloaded the utility form Pioneer site but it does not recongizes 108; any chances to enable it on my drive? Is it possible to flash 108 to A08?

Ke-vin

[hoxlund]

honosetly is the dvr108 even audible to where its distracting?

[Ke-vin]

Why do I need Quiet Drive Technology? Watching DVD movies is actually the only reason. The drive does not appear to have any DVD rip-lock which is great for ripping itself, but when I play a movie under WinDVD it seems to run with max speed (~8000 rpm).

Not a huge noise, but still it would be nice if I could tone it down. Did I mention that my PC is pretty well silenced? Playing DVD, albeit not very loud, definitely becomes the loudest part of the system.

BTW: why I cannot limit the reading speed under Nero DriveSpeed for that drive? The box for DVD setting is grayed-out. I have the latest version dowloaded.

Is there any other utility for that?

And maybe I could write such utility myself? I am not a professional programmer, but I know a bit about Visual C++ programming and Windows API. If there is any standard API for communicating with DVD drives this should not be difficult: limit the drive speed, spawn WinDVD (or any other given application) and remove the limit after it finishes. Is it possible to get some documentation about that from the web?

Sure I will look for it myself, but maybe someone could direct me a bit?

Thanks,

Ke-vin

[Han]

With AnyDVD and some other utilities (Nero DriveSpeed) you should be able to slow down your drive.

[hoxlund]

playing a dvd back for watching shouldn't spin the drive more then 1x or 2x if im not mistaken