What CDRW/DVD Combo ?

[Phil K]

I'm going to get a CDR/DVD combo, and am after a bit advice. I thought I'd settled on the Samsung - 52x write 16xDVD, but I am a bit concerned over a review on here that stated that it didnt like playing DVD+RW/-RW, and that unless you did a firmware jiggle it only wrote at 40x

A bit (or a LOT would be better !) of advice would be appreciated !

[wicked1]

I have the samsung 352 and its a decent drive. It is dvd multi. Reads any dvd format including RAM. Mine has read alot of dvd+rws. They dont burn at 52x on many discs though. Most(read almost all) burn at 48X no problem.Rips good too. You may want to look at liteons 52X combo (5232K I think). Never used it but liteons are great cdr drives usually. Havent read a review on it either.If you do get the sammy get T808 firmware.

[TheWizard]

I would also take a look at LG and Lite-On combos. You've been around here long enough, Phil, to know which brands deserve your attention and which don't. I don't think a single review for a Lite-On combo internal drive exists here at CDRLabs...pity. But there are several reviews for Samsung and LG combos, and it's a close call between the two. All of them score 9/10, but I urge you to read each review to learn the details, then decide.

[Phil K]

I would also take a look at LG and Lite-On combos. You've been around here long enough, Phil, to know which brands deserve your attention and which don't.

But thats not quite true, is it ? One brand may be start off excellent and then slide. Another may bring out complete lemons then get their act together big time. You can't judge a brand by what they produced 2 years ago !
Besides, its always best to get wind of personal experience with a paticular model, surely ?

[TheWizard]

Personal experience leads to opinions, and opinions are a dime a dozen. Now, I'm not discounting personal experience or opinions, but if you start asking for opinions then it will only make your decision that much more difficult because I'll say buy drive X, someone else will say buy drive Y, and a third person will say buy drive Z. All the while, you'll develop a headache. That's why I urged you to read reviews, get to know the details of the drives, and coupled with user opinions you can make a conclusion on your own. An educated shopper is a smart shopper.

[Phil K]

One other thing - I've just about decided on the Samsung, went back to buy it on ebuyer.co.uk and - its been superceded by Samsung 52x32x52x16x Int Ide Combo Oem. Which itself looks like a LIteon from the picture shown, yet on the samsung site, it LOOKS like a samsung. Can anyone throw some light on it ?

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... _uid=60856

This is the one I was looking at.

[dodecahedron]

i don't know why you say it looks like a LiteOn. doesn't look it to me (anyway it's kind of hard to tell from this picture).

since Samsung manufacture their own drives, i find it very hard to believe that it's actually a LiteOn.

[Phil K]

Just looks like one to me. Nothing like the pic of the Samsung 52x32x52 combo on their site. And you must know how many other companies (Sony included) have their drives built by Liteon. Still, I'll get it anyway.

[Phil K]

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more....last and final question, I promise. I have ordered the Samsung OEM 52x32x52x16 Combo, and while having a look around at the samsung site for info, it says that it reads all DVD-R and -RW but NO mention whatsoever of +R +RW. Do I need to panic, as most of my DVD's are +R ? Or do I read what wicked1 has to say about his 52x24x52 and stop fretting ?

[wicked1]

IIRC the box mine came in when I got it at wal-mart didnt mention dvd+'s but it reads them fine. I use verbatim dvd+rws for data backups and the sammy reads them pretty quick without any problems.

[Phil K]

IIRC the box mine came in when I got it at wal-mart didnt mention dvd+'s but it reads them fine. I use verbatim dvd+rws for data backups and the sammy reads them pretty quick without any problems.

My mind is now reassured ! Cheers, wicked1 ol' bean !

[Phil K]

Personal experience leads to opinions, and opinions are a dime a dozen. An educated shopper is a smart shopper.

Its depends how you look at it. Opinions may be a "dime a dozen", but what are reviews but opinions ? "An educated shopper is a smart shopper" how do you get educated then ? By experience. How do you get experience ? By personal experience and...wait for it...weighing OPINIONS. Your own comments about LG and Lite-on are opinions. Its up to the individual person whether they regard such and such opinion as valuable or not. Its makes for experience which in turn leads to being an...."educated shopper".

Opinions value is in the eye of the beholder, eh ?

[TheWizard]

Opinions value is in the eye of the beholder, eh ?

This is true. And in fact, everything may be an opinion. And when I say everything, I mean everything! It's a sociological thing, and I won't bore everyone with a dissertation on this matter. My point about weighing reviews and opinions is as follows; usually with reviews, you get some hard facts: burning results (measured by a machine or program), ripping results, so on and so forth. Although, as I said, everything may be an opinion, even the results that the various testing programs return. For the programs were written by humans, therefore how do they measure an error on a disc? It all depends on what their opinion of an error is. Aha!

[Phil K]

Opinions value is in the eye of the beholder, eh ?

This is true. And in fact, everything may be an opinion. And when I say everything, I mean everything! It's a sociological thing, and I won't bore everyone with a dissertation on this matter. My point about weighing reviews and opinions is as follows; usually with reviews, you get some hard facts: burning results (measured by a machine or program), ripping results, so on and so forth. Although, as I said, everything may be an opinion, even the results that the various testing programs return. For the programs were written by humans, therefore how do they measure an error on a disc? It all depends on what their opinion of an error is. Aha!

Aha indeed !