What do you r-e-a-l-l-y NEED in a "burner"?

MegalosSkylaki · March 27th, 2002, 09:05 PM

I keep seeing mega-speeds advertised --although here and there I also see something like "it's better to write at [slower] speed" etc.

Also, have we reached the point where it comes to spending an x-tra $40 to shave 1 1/2 mins. off six ?

I need some "real world " numbers I can work with in buying a burner and a DVD player. Obviously, the best prices--and what hasn't been gobbled up in a sale--are the slower speeds.

Would a 12 X by 8 X by 32 X burner from a good Co. be adequate with "burnproof tech" and Roxio or Nero SW ? Right now I'm basically interested in data files of the box--not MP3 off the Net. But that could change.

Why and --more importantly -- WHEN would I need faster ?

Given how rarely I use the CD, why would 32 X read be a problem I remember when people still had 2 X CD and some SW called for minimum of 4 X but those days are long gone and I've never seen any SW say 32 X is too slow and 52 X is needed.

What I'm driving at --no pun intended --is what could be an overiding consideration to overlook a seeming bargain with mediocre numbers if everything else is alright ?

And what is the Minimum I should reasonable demand in a DVD player?

Either it plays --or it doesn't play the DVD. Or is it more complicated ?

Need burner and DVD player for two machines I will be building/upgrading and need some "minimum" numbers to work from.

Not interested in HYPe or speed for its own sake.

ThanX for your help.

DOOOG

P.S. Also can I mix N' match the SW/ HW e.g. if I have Power DVD, can I use it on a DVD player that comes with WinDVD ?

MrFrost · March 27th, 2002, 09:33 PM

When I looked to upgrade from my LiteOn 12X10X32 I decided to go with.......a LG-GCC4021B combo drive.
A 8XDVD player and 12X8X32 CDRW w/underrun protection.

Doesn't look like an upgrade, does it? When you get down to it, a 12X burner, 8X Rewriter, 32X reader was more than fast enough - but being able to combine dvd and a burner into one unit was a BIG improvement.....for my system. Less resources used, less overall power demands, and opened up an IDEslot/power connector. Convenient to throw in the disk, whatever it is, and get going.
Pricewatch has it listed for 88 + 8 shipping. (I paid 113 about a month ago)

Solid Snake · March 28th, 2002, 02:18 PM

I find Ricoh burners to be great performers at a great price. Also DAO-mode is very important to me.

thekingofpain · March 28th, 2002, 02:23 PM

---burn-proof---

EndobioticChaos · March 28th, 2002, 02:29 PM

Quote:

What do you r-e-a-l-l-y NEED in a "burner"?

Yeah, what tkop said... burn proof, or buffer under-run protection if you want to get technical about it.

If I understand this correctly, what sometimes happens is if you're writing to your CD at a high speed (say 24x) sometimes your computer can't keep feeding it enough information... in which case your burner keeps on burning, but with no information to burn, thus ruining the CD.
Buffer under-run protection (burn proof) keeps this from happening. I think most newer drives have this, but check just to make sure.

otheos · March 28th, 2002, 02:32 PM

Speed only becomes important when you need to burn many disks. So at 8x you can do 6 disk per our while 32x will make you 15 disks. Do you need to burn 15 disks in an hour? and how often?

Underclocked · March 28th, 2002, 02:37 PM

I know a fellow that burns about 150 CDs a week using the same HP 8250 (I think) burner for the last 2 years. Thing still works just fine.

Guess a reputation for reliability and longevity would be a good consideration. 8X burn speed is about as much as I ever use for any serious stuff (have two 16X burners in my box). You can find the Plextor 12/10/32 pretty cheap right now but the hype and zoom models aren't much more expensive. I'm amazed at the price plunge in components (memory seems high but $1/MB was cheap not so very long ago).

**RobRich** · March 28th, 2002, 02:50 PM

Otheos is dead on here. I still use an 8x myself, what's the point of upgrading any further? I burn maybe one CD every couple of days, so does it matter if I turn them out in 10 minutes instead of 5? Not really to me.....

To more important aspects, yes you can use any most any software DVD decoder with about any DVD hardware drive. DVD drives use an ATAPI transfer for compatibility across nearly all brands.

The only time you may not can use different software is when the software is OEM packaged. Some drive manufacturers build in detection routines to limit the software so that it can be used with only one particular series, model, group, etc. of drive. Retail copies of DVD playback software should work with any DVD drive.

I recommend Pioneer if you are looking for quality DVD drive that will withstand countless hours of viewing enjoyment. If DVD movies are only going to be an occasional thing for ya', then pick up whatever is on sell within your price range. DVD's are burnt at 1x, so higher transfer rates only really help when copying movies for backup or reading traditional CD's. As with my CD-RW, my fastest DVD drive is a thrilling 8x. It works, simple as that.

crazyray · March 28th, 2002, 11:42 PM

A key issue MAY be the software provided with the drive....

If you don't have software already, having a burning program you like and is compatible with your operating system is a huge plus. Many drives have been dumped on the market in the last year with "unusual" burning programs.

eagle1 · March 28th, 2002, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Speed only becomes important when you need to burn many disks. So at 8x you can do 6 disk per our while 32x will make you 15 disks. Do you need to burn 15 disks in an hour? and how often?

YAY to that!!

All I have is 4x write, 4x ReWrite, 4x DVD and since it is very rare that I burn cd's, it suits me good! This is a Toshiba combo drive and it has been pretty good to me. Maaybe one or two coasters but they were my fault!!