Best DVD burner today?

After searching, I see that this hasn't been discussed lately... The Sony DRU-500AX seems to have been favored at one point, but that was almost a year ago.

What internal DVD burner would you guys buy if you were to do it today?

- Thanx
- Jon

Looks like the Plextor PX-708A is top rated on a few sites...

- Jon

I've got the DRU-500, it's great, never made one coaster with it.

So I'd buy what ever the current Sony model is, without even thinking about it

Cheers

Cris.

If I recall correctly, that Sony was one of the first (if not the first) to support all forms of writeable dvd media. But as you said, that was new almost a year ago. Now, several companies make DVD burners that can do the same job.

I don't really think I can offer you any suggestions. I have my favorite brand of optical drives, and have been buying them exclusively for a few years now. I'm sure other people here also have their favorites.

But which is the best? In terms of speed, reliability, compatibility, etc.? I might try looking around on ZDNet myself, and see what they say over there.

Edit: I forgot to offer my suggestion; that is what you asked for. If I were to buy a DVD burner today, it would be this one.

Yeah, the current Sony model. I have the DRX-500UL and its been flawless.

Another vote for the Sony. I've got a DRU-510A.

I chose it over the Teac (which was out at roughly the same time) because it comes with a natty silver-coloured drawer, which matches my ShuttleX box nicely.

But it burns CDs and DVDs really well -- never had a coaster (this is using Nero 6).

I can't rip CDs with it, but that appears to be a problem with the drivers for my nVidia chipset. Anyone else having problems ripping CDs with their Sony?

Excellent. Thanks for all the quick suggestions. I've been researching this all morning and people are definitely passionate about their choices... Seems that a lot recommend the Plextor, the Sony, and the LiteOn.

They all seem pretty similar in terms of features and speeds. Is any of these better in terms of being able to set it up as region free? Any other distinguishing features?

- Jon

No problems ripping here.

I've got a DRU500A. I think the current model is the 530A or something like that. They've gotten really cheap, too. I think I saw it in a brick and mortar store for around $130, and was jealous because the numbers before every 'x' were half again as much as my drive, which was more than twice as expensive

But anyway, Sony, which did indeed have the first all-format drive, makes one solid burner. I personally wouldn't go with any other drive, given how this one has performed. I've burned over 250 DVDs and 300 CDs and still going strong.

Regardless, the use of a DVD+RW disc is wonderful. I've burned so many test video DVDs I've lost count.

Oh, and when you do get a drive and want to start making your own video DVDs, IMO there is no better choice than DVDlab. It's by far the best DVD creation software, with near-professional quality and capability but very useable. It's definitely worth the sub-$100 price tag. Heck, it's worth twice that.

I'd have to agree that the "Sexy Plexy" is the best currently out there.

So I bought the TDK (Plextor) drive and 100 DVD+R's. I have been playing around with DVDShrink and Roxio (which came with the drive).

The fact that the burner can only write single layer makes it a big compression game to copy DVDs... I am experimenting with DVDShrink to ONLY copy the 5.1 track and the movie with as little compression as possible. For this movie, it had to use 80% or so compression. I'm afraid to see what it will look like. Not sure this will be suitable for me...

I have to admit that I'm a video snob and anything less than perfect is gonna be unacceptable for me. With 20% compression, I'm sure it will be obvious.

What a bummer. I now understand why the doul-layer burners that I saw at CES were such a big deal...

- Jon

Ok, finished burning my first movie. I gotta say that it looks pretty good. I ONLY burned the AC3 5.1 track and the movie itself.

One thing that I'm surprised about is that when I play it on a 2 channel only TV that it seems to sound fine. So does a DVD player convert a 5.1 track to 2 channel??? If so, why is the 2 channel track even necessary???

- Jon

I now understand why the doul-layer burners that I saw at CES were such a big deal...

Thats why I am waiting. I got a SuperDrive equuiped PowerBook (aka, 2x DVD-R), and have used it once to help a fried create a DVD archive of some TV show.

Most of what I want to archive ends up coming out on DVD anyhow. So for me, it's more for data use, and having almost 9gb on a single disc will be handy.

So does a DVD player convert a 5.1 track to 2 channel???

Yes. I believe that it's a requirement of the spec that they do that.

If so, why is the 2 channel track even necessary???

A mix created especially for 2 channels is going to sound better than one automagically down-mixed.

Ah. Thank you wfaulk!

What do y'all do for disc labels? Scan your original and use label making software with a inkjet? Siince I don't have a scanner, are scans available on the net? Is it illegal to share that???

- Jon

I've previously raved about the drive that Rob turned us all on to, the Casio CW-50.

The labels it makes, while only on part of the disc and merely two-color, have really impressed people I've shown them to. IMO, it beats inkjet and Sharpies equally

Siince I don't have a scanner

Buy one. They're not exactly expensive. I've got a Canon N650U, which works well.

The problem isn't the price, it's the space... or lack thereof.

- Jon

it's the space... or lack thereof.

Fair enough. They can take up more space than you'd think, I know.

For this movie, it had to use 80% or so compression.

Which movie? So far, only one of the movies that I have backed up have required any alteration in order to get them to fit on a 4.7GB disc, and the one only required the removal of the French subtitles. Who needs the French anyway?

> I've got a DRU500A.

I know it is a little late, but I have to personally dis-recommend the Sony DRU-500 burners. I had a dru500a as well, and it died a couple of months after I got it. There is also a problem with that drive burning at the top speed; many people (including me) have been completely unable to burn at 4x. Sony is aware of the problem but refuses to take any blame for it. I got a Lite-on to replace it and it works much better.

I have an nec1300a, burns fast, cheap and no coasters so far...

The movie that required compression was Luc Besson's "The Messenger".

So I've now ordered the Casio printer. Thanks for that tip too!

So one last one... Anyone know of a good disc case that can be used to hold and display your DVDs for easy browsing? I've looked at the Case Logic stuff, and that would work, but is there anything really good/cool that I should consider before going with something like that one???

- Thanx
- Jon

No offense, but I'd have to say it's difficult to turn your experience with the product into a universal fact about it. I'd be willing to bet that it's the best selling device of this type, and that means that there will be plenty of people with problems. It sucks that yours died in a couple months, but I find it hard to make that common trait, given what I said earlier about the hundreds of discs I've made in the year I've owned mine.

When you say that there's a widespread problem with burning at 4x, do you mean after the firware upgrade?

> No offense, but I'd have to say it's difficult to turn your experience with the product into a universal fact about it.

Didn't mean to imply that it was, hence the use of the word "personally" There were a lot of personal positive reviews of it here, I thought I would just throw in my opinion.

The upgrade to get from 2.4x to 4x when writing Plus discs? Yeah, after the upgrade, and it wouldn't write Minus discs at 4x either. There was a huge thread about all of this on some board where people were coming out of the woodwork to say that they too can not get any dvds to burn at 4x. A lot of people had emailed Sony, who were trying every stupid thing they could think of to shift responibility away from them. This was all when "f" was the latest firmware version, maybe the latest version fixed it, but I doubt it, considering it isn't their fault anyway. Typical Sony BTW, their tech support really is attrocious, between this and all my friends problems, I got plenty of horror stories about them.

Ah, understood. I really don't burn at 4x anyway, since I usually go the cheap route and get the lest expensive media I can find

As usual, there are lots of different experiences with products like this. Mine has performed perfectly, and yours didn't perform at all. I will agree, however, that Sony has pretty bad support. Their online support page alone is far too confusing and difficult to use.