trying to find rebadged NEC/Benq to burn Maxell MXL RG02

[hrbngr]

hello,

does anyone know if Staples/BBuy/CCity are selling a rebadged NEC/Benq that burns Maxell MXL RG02 media w/quality scans? I have about 120 of these Maxell 4xDVD-R disks left and i dont mind burning at 4x as long as the scans are excellent. I'm thinking either the Benq 1650 or NEC 3540, but i cant find my scans of my media on CDFreaks.com--at least my old NEC nd-2500 still works w/the discs for now.

thanks!

[TCAS]

You can purchase any of NEC or BenQ drive from newegg.com for very reasonable price as for scan in reality scan doesn't tell you any thing as long as your copied DVD or Game play in any stand alone DVD player you are in a good shape the rest is just hobby we all like to play with.

[hrbngr]

TCAS,

thanks for the response, but it wouldn't be that much fun just to buy any dvd burner right? Of course, good, clean scans aren't the be all and end all, but at what point do you stop the comparisons? Is there any way to determine that an excellent scan might in some way contribute to a disc that lasts longer? or does it come down to dye or other more basic factors?

[TCAS]

TCAS,

thanks for the response, but it wouldn't be that much fun just to buy any dvd burner right? Of course, good, clean scans aren't the be all and end all, but at what point do you stop the comparisons? Is there any way to determine that an excellent scan might in some way contribute to a disc that lasts longer? or does it come down to dye or other more basic factors?

There is no that much data or evidence to what really contribute to longevity of disc containing recorded data since this technology is quite new. I won't worry that much as long as your recorded data plays Ok and you are using good quality of disc.

[dolphinius_rex]

TCAS,

thanks for the response, but it wouldn't be that much fun just to buy any dvd burner right? Of course, good, clean scans aren't the be all and end all, but at what point do you stop the comparisons? Is there any way to determine that an excellent scan might in some way contribute to a disc that lasts longer? or does it come down to dye or other more basic factors?

There's been a number of independant longevity tests on DVD media now... probably the one easiest to find would be the one done by C't, summerized here:
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic. ... 231#142231

It seems that longevity has a lot to do with the way the disc itself is manufactured, and somewhat to do with the dye, and burn quality compatability with the burner/media. Some discs that KEEP popping up near the bottom are Ritek and Prodisc... other discs like Verbatim and A Grade Optodisc (Samsung or Acro Circle brand are good choices) are almost always closer to the top. Discs frmo Taiyo Yuden can go either way, but generally Plextor brand seems to perform better, and Unbranded TY seems to perform worse. I think Sony brand TY is also more likely to perform better in the long run.

[dodecahedron]

off topic:
is Samsung brand always A Grade Optodisc ?

[dolphinius_rex]

off topic:
is Samsung brand always A Grade Optodisc ?

It's always A Grade, and it's almost always Optodisc. I think they buy from a few others sometimes, but not that often.

[hrbngr]

hey guys, thanks for the response. It looks like a nice drive would have been a BenQ DW1640, but i just can't find one for sale in the US.

NCIX seems to have stocked these at one time, but there isn't even one on Ebay for sale right now.

plus, i can't find much info on which drives are currently in the mad dog and i/o magic boxes at the local stores.

[dodecahedron]

off topic:
is Samsung brand always A Grade Optodisc ?

It's always A Grade, and it's almost always Optodisc. I think they buy from a few others sometimes, but not that often.

maybe i'll try some.
thanks for the info.

[hrbngr]

ok,

I have found that both the sony dru-810a and the plextor px-740a are based on the BenQ DW1640. I also noticed that the px-740a is on sale this week at BBuy for $80, and CCity has the Sony for $80 after $20 MIR. Finally, newegg has both the Sony for $63 and Plextor for $63 after MIR.

so, are these remotely hot deals? i know that the dw1640 was cheaper as an OEM drive, but i can't seem to find it anymore.

D_Rex,
would you recommend any particular media for these drives like Verbatim, Samsung or Acro Circle that are readily available and high quality? Burning at either 8x or 16x are fine with me and I don't need inkjet printable media. I can check Meritline/Supermediastore/newegg, etc. but I am not sure which Media you are talking about exactly.

[unclebud]

"so, are these remotely hot deals? i know that the dw1640 was cheaper as an OEM drive, but i can't seem to find it anymore."

no
the sony oem nero will be almost useless if using another burner in the same system (it will only read, not write)
and plextor benq doesn't work with plex tools (i have read - do not own)...

[hrbngr]

Unclebud,

thanks for the info. I was planning on using BKflasher to change the firmware on both drives to DW1640 FW.

I only use Plextools on my plextor premium drive and use sonic MyDVD to burn data...i know it's a pretty old program though.

I had hoped to keep to my usual routine of DvdDecrypt/Shrink/ImgTool/MyDVD.

I sure wish i could find the drives for cheaper, esp since it appears that DW1640 drives have problems w/ +R at 16x...though not that big a deal...8x burns plus some D/L burns at 2.4x or 4x would be fine w/me.

[unclebud]

np. officemax does have a lot of dvd burners on clearance, but the majority still available are lite-on... good luck
it was posted in another deal that the maddog triple format is an nec 4550?
http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=278
circuit city has had this in the past for $59.99 without rebate

[hrbngr]

well,

in the final analysis, i got caught up in the benq hype and settled on two plextor 740a drives that i flashed to benqs. i still need to make up my mind on the best firmware, but they burn the 8x sony ty +Rs and 16x mcc004 +Rs very, very well--strangely, however, they do not play in my denon 2900 dvd set top box but play very well in my panny xp50...

[TCAS]

It took you 3 months to decide what to buy while some many drive during this time have been introduced into market and the one you finally bought is already obsolete (BenQ 1640), Life to short and technology grows fast and these drive they are so cheap you can effort to buy use them and replace them in matter of months.

[hrbngr]

TCAS,

that's probably true, but as you know, most ppl are still burning the mcc004 and yudent02? at 12x and 8x respectively to get their best burns, so the Benq 1640 still does these speeds very, very well, right?

has a new media been found that works well in one of the newer 16x drives at 16x?--with quality levels in cdspeed of at least 97% or higher preferably?

[Dartman]

The BenQ drives are very nice units, I have a original 1600 still working as a 1620 pro, a 1640, and a 1655 which is the latest GOOD drive BenQ released and probably slightly better then the 1640 at some medias.
I also have a NEC 4550/51 and a new Pioneer 111. Its a fun hobby now that you can buy fast units for 50 or less and with all those one of them will burn anything I have well. I just upgrade when the next big thing hits if it sounds promising and sell or give away the also rans
My second favorite drive right now is the 111, it does DL media fast and so nicely.

[TCAS]

TCAS,

that's probably true, but as you know, most ppl are still burning the mcc004 and yudent02? at 12x and 8x respectively to get their best burns, so the Benq 1640 still does these speeds very, very well, right?

has a new media been found that works well in one of the newer 16x drives at 16x?--with quality levels in cdspeed of at least 97% or higher preferably?

I have not yet seen or experienced any media that burns at 16X with reliably good quality of scan. Also I have been using Maxell both DVD+R/-R MIJ but I won't buy next time around any more Maxell since they are not up to good quality atleast with my experience.