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Cendyne 48x12x48x who made it?

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 1:38 am
by c5guy
I went to Office Max to get one of their advertised deals for a 48x CDRW for $9.95 after rebates.

The advertised drive was a verbatium drive but they ran out of those so they gave me the Cendyne Lightning IV 48x12x48x CDRW.

I have a couple of questions :

1) Is this a better drive then the Verbatium (for $9.95 I'm not going to do much complaining if it isn't)

2) I read the article about the Cendyne 48x CDR drive on this site and it said that Cendyne buys all its drives and most of these were made by Lite-On. Well the one I got is not a Lite on and does not have any manufture info on the label. The model number in the specs box on the back of the box is DRIVE MODEL : 4816P

Anyone have any idea who made this drive?

3) I was hoping this drive would support Clone CD raw-DAO but I'm not sure if it does cause I don't know the manufacture.

Thanks for any help

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 2:37 am
by dhc014
It's probably an Acer/Benq

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 3:44 am
by TheWizard
Yup, drive model 4816P is definitely BenQ. The drive isn't that great, there are better choices out there. For $10, can you really complain though? Furthermore, Verbatim has been known to package various CD-RW manufacturers' drives in their boxes too. Not all Verbatim burners are Lite-Ons just like not all CenDyne burners are Lite-Ons. So, even if you got the Verbatim 48X12X48 drive, there are no guarantees it would be Lite-On.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 8:03 am
by BillyG
Is there any information printed on the back of the Verbatim box like Cendyne's to tell if its a Acer/BenQ or Lite-On? Or is Smartburn or Justlink-Seamless Link mentioned on the front?

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 10:44 am
by LeBrian
yes, it's a BenQ which really stinks. i have a cendyne but samsung rebadged.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 12:28 pm
by miccha81
Whats so bad about the benq?

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 7:57 pm
by TheWizard
miccha81 wrote:Whats so bad about the benq?


Inconsistent burning results.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 8:28 pm
by Dartman
The one I tried overheated then wouldn't burn anything hardly unless it cooled off. I took it back and got a Buslink/Liteon 48x12x48 and it still works like a champ.
Some people had OK results with them so hard to say if you should just try it out or get something different. Mine also had a bad burning plastic odor so that might be a tipoff if yours does the same.

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 10:35 pm
by miccha81
Your drive actually had a burning smell? Was it all the time? Or just when burning? I'm wondering if I should keep this drive....$10.00.....

PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2003 11:45 pm
by miccha81
I just burned a 680 mb data cd with the benq. I ran the scandisc from cdspeed and it gave me a 100% good for both file and surface. I also ran the cd quality check and i got 24 errors at the very end i think. Is this bad?

I was using khypermedia branded cmc magnetics cdrs burned at 48x. No idea what they're actually rated as. Also, how do I actually use the smartspeed feature in nero?

PostPosted: Tue Feb 18, 2003 12:58 am
by Dartman
If it keeps doing OK yours is probably all right. Mine died pretty much the night I hooked it up.
Yeah it smelled kinda hot and like a tar plastic smell, hard to describe but if yours does it you'll know what I mean right away.
Mine might have just been defective but I didn't want to try another so I went back to LiteOns. It was very picky about media too but I'm sure they've updated the firmware a bunch since mine.
I think one of the regulars here had one too and his did OK for him, some others had trouble, probably about 70% OK and 30% bad I think.
If yours is doing that well sounds like they've worked out some bugs, it is sposed to do all the stuff LiteOns can do if it keeps going OK for you.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 21, 2003 3:55 pm
by miccha81
I decided to take a whiff of my drive today and noticed it had a faint burn smell....I guess i'll take this back and return it. If it died, it should be covered by warrany though right?

PostPosted: Fri Feb 21, 2003 4:04 pm
by Dartman
Mine the smell was enough that other people in the living room noticed it.
After that it wouldn't burn anything properly once it was warm the next day. A very faint smell might not be any problem becuase of the plastic it's built with. I got mine ove a year ago and they may have worked out what ever was wrong by now.
I don't know but if it still works for you it's probably fine, however if all this has made you nercous I guess you can take it back and get a Liteon like I did. I guess you can tell them it's not burning properly any more or it smells like it's getting hot and they should take it back.
I have never had a problem here with BB or Circuit City, I haven't ever dealt Office Max on a return.