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the first DVD burner i got was the BenQ DW1620, and that too was when it wasn't a very new model.
i've regretted not waiting a little longer and getting the 1640 that came not long after. oh well.

i happend to go yesterday to a supermarket store which isn't the one i usually go to, it's a bigger one and has an IT section.
i was very surprised to see 3 boxed 1640s on a shelf.
(note: this supermarket chain is the only place i've ever seen the BenQ 1640 sold in Israel. the 1620 was sold in numerous places but not so the 1640. and for a long while now no BenQ DVD burners are sold in Israel. plenty of BenQ LCD screens but no DVD burners. there are BenQ CDRW and CDROM drives strangely enough).

it got me thinking maybe to get one to replace my 1620.

i was wondering what would your opinion be of purchasing a 1640 in the present. it's been a long time 'winner' of the monthly polls and high praise from everyone. OTOH i've read posts saying that the 1650/5 are just as good and even better.
maybe the 1640 is an anachronsim now?

note: since i have the 1620 and not a newer BenQ, i never learned what all the SolidBurn and WPOC stuff is all about. are they truely very useful features?

is there a difference between various BenQ drives (specifically: 1620 vs. 1640) as far as scanning is concerned?

on the minus side, my 2nd (and last) DVD burner is LG GSA-H10L (main drive i use for burning), the 1640 would do me no good for scanning these burns.

Dodeca, I wouldn't buy a 1640 to replace a 1620. I feel it would be an incremental upgrade, especially when you already have an (excellent) H10L.

1640 has some faster DL speeds.. that's it compared to the 1620. Stick with the 1620, don't bother changing.

Bhairav wrote:1640 has some faster DL speeds.. that's it compared to the 1620. Stick with the 1620, don't bother changing.

i hardly use DL...so that's not the big deal.
but what about the 'special' features of the 1640: SolidBurn, WOPC?

dodecahedron wrote:

Bhairav wrote:1640 has some faster DL speeds.. that's it compared to the 1620. Stick with the 1620, don't bother changing.

i hardly use DL...so that's not the big deal.
but what about the 'special' features of the 1640: SolidBurn, WOPC?

Solidburn and WOPC are very useful

I have a 1655 & a 1620.

I'd just about kill for a 2nd 1620...best burner I've got, by far. The 1655 is 2nd...

MonsterMan wrote:I have a 1655 & a 1620.

I'd just about kill for a 2nd 1620...best burner I've got, by far. The 1655 is 2nd...

Hrm, I'd say the Pioneer DVR-111D and DW1640 are still my top 2. I'm not overly happy with the DW1655/DW1650.

Hmm.

My 1655 can do this.

I love my 1640 and will use it until it's dying day.
LONG LIVE BenQ!

dolphinius_rex wrote:Hrm, I'd say the Pioneer DVR-111D and DW1640 are still my top 2. I'm not overly happy with the DW1655/DW1650.

Would have agreed wholeheartedly with you last month, the recent BCIB update has really improved my DW1655 burns by quite a lot though.

Ok, i don´t burn DL-media, but for all other media my 1640 burns very good. I never was a freidn of Benq, because the earlier Benq-drives sucked hard with DVD-R/RW, but the 1640 is a huge improvement in my eyes

The 1640 and 1655 can do some real crap media at great quality and fast speeds when the solid burn and wopc are used. Both of mine did some excellent burns at 12x to 4x prodisk media, also did some not so great burns but all my others can hardly burn that stuff at rated speed.

Dartman wrote:The 1640 and 1655 can do some real crap media at great quality and fast speeds when the solid burn and wopc are used. Both of mine did some excellent burns at 12x to 4x prodisk media, also did some not so great burns but all my others can hardly burn that stuff at rated speed.

Yeah, BenQ's can be real miracle workers sometimes!

DDH,

so what did you decide? did you buy the 1640? I have been completely happy w/both of mine--albeit I only burn MCC 004 and Yuden T02 media in it. I burn my -R TYG03? media in a Liteon 165P6S..and that is about it.

It's nice to be able to burn various media at good quality, but once you find a good combo of media and hardware, I tend to buy in quantity to keep them together...or maybe i have just too much media...

no, i didn't.
i'm still deliberating.
my guess is that by the time i'll decide to get one they'll be gone! typical of me

i didn't mention this in the first post butthey were rather expensive: 300 shekels = $69.
i can get a Pioneer 111 for 250, well most DVD burners are around 250 shekels here nowadays (prices have gone down..) so 300 shekels for the rather antiquated 1640 is rather expensive.
on the other hand with BenQ drives out and there might not be any more, and them being good scanners, it might be a good investment in the long run.

i'm deliberating between the:
Pioneer 111 (excellent burn quality, and i've always wanted a Pioneer)
a new Lite-On (for media scanning, esp. that will enable me to scan burns of my LG GSA-H10L which don't scan well on BenQ)
that BenQ 1640 for reasons mentioned above.

anyway cash is tight and so far i didn't get any of them.