which optical drive manufacturer?

a bit ago lite-on was the manufacture rof choice hands down. well, my newer lite-on drive (DVD+RW 16x) seems to acting up. (hasn't stop working.. it just seems slow and seems to be making some noise or something, maybe it's just me... or I think it actually could be that I started burning CD-R's with it, cause I needed my CD burner else where.. I love my lite-on CD-RW.)

my sister wants a burner, so I was wonder what drives were of choice atm. I might just give her my lite-on and take the new drive

drive needs to be at least 16x (a few extra x's doesn't really do much, specially since all my media is 16x), but I don't mind the extra DVD-RAM and DL speed..., maybe I'll actually use DL at 8x
and it shouldn't have lightscribe (i'll never use it)

samsung seems popular at the moment..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151133

lite-on drive (20x? O_o) free shipping, so it's cheaper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106049

what do you guys think?

LG, LG or LG are my favourite burners by far. I like LG as well. And LG :D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SubCategory=5

I knew someone was going to suggest LG. And up until about a month ago I would have too.

HOWEVER. I have been having numerous problems with them. For some reason they are switching back to PIO mode on their own. On doing a search I found out a lot of other people are having various problems with them as well. I don't know what happened, but suddenly it seems like LG burners went down the tubes.

For a viable alternative, at least for now, I do recommend Pioneer drives. I have very good luck with them.

whoa. you guys FINALLY got quick reply. too bad it wasn't here when I was active.

so, you guys aren't gonna make the desicion easy, are ya? all the drives seem to be competively priced. hmmmm

btw, SirKenin: I like your signature- "Nothing is more despicable than a respect based on fear."

I use both a Sony and a Plextor...haven't had problems with either one. The Plextors are exactly for budget-minded folks however....

Without a doubt,,NEC imho. 3520,3540,3550A. All have been very reliable. If I told you how many burns were involved,you'd probably think I was lying. :p
Wrote Plextor off several years ago. LiteOn was very good to me through several units also.

Thanks. :)

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Originally Posted by Byan

whoa. you guys FINALLY got quick reply. too bad it wasn't here when I was active.

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We've had Quick Reply for something like 2 years :confused:

Will DVD burners only work in XP?

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Originally Posted by Speedwagon

Will DVD burners only work in XP?

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No, I have used them with Win2000 with no problems at all. And it would appear that DVD burning software works with W98/ME as well:

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&sear...oftware&page=1

Ditto to the recommendation of LG.
Specifically those models without LightScribe option.
Suggest updating the firmware before use, to optimize.

Does LightScribe really work or is that something else to go out on the drive?

Yes it does work, though it's a feature that has never particularly interested me. As far as I know it uses the same laser as for normal burning, so there aren't any extra parts to go wrong. I've never heard of any unreliability issues with lightscribe drives anyway. The media is quite a bit pricier at the moment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LightScribe