Samsung or Sony? i need help...

[javier]

Hi!

Finally, my HP 9100 stopped recording (this is a GOOD thing ), so i have to buy a new burner.

Being from Argentina, and worse, being from the South of Argentina, i don't really have a lot of options here...

These are the burners i have to chose from (damn my english sucks ):

- Sony CRX220A1 52/24/52
- Samsung SW-252B 52/24/52
- ASUS CRW-5224A 52/24/52
- LG GCE-8520B 52/24/52

And that's about it...

Right now i'm between the Samsung and the Sony.. leaning towards the first one (8mb against 2mb buffer at the ~same~ recording speed).

But first... of course i wanted to ask the pro's here!

So, help me here please!

(before you ask... no Lite-On available )

[dhc014]

The Sony is a Lite-ON

I'd choose the CRX220E1, but I am highly biased

[CDRecorder]

I'd go with the Sony or the LG. The Sony is probably a Lite-On, and the LG has a good reputation, too.

[javier]

So I should go for the Sony... why? Because it's a Lite-On...
...


I'm not sure about that reason... i hoped to get a reply like "take this one, its great, does this, does that, and that other one is crap, because this, because that"

I guess you can't help it, you already have Lite-On's shirt on

But, really... looking at Ian's review i must say that both the Sony and The Samsung performed great, but i have read more possitive reviews (a lot more possitive than Ian's) about the samsung... and... 8mb buffer... that has me doubting...

you increased my doubts

hehehe

[CDRecorder]

OK, I guess some clarifications are in order.

I wouldn't recommend the Samsung because I have heard of some reliability issues with those drives recently. I don't know if they're all bad, but I'd rather stick with a drive known to be reliable.

I wouldn't recommend the ASUS because, AFAIK, its writing quality isn't as good as the Sony, or the LG, I think.

I would recommend the LG because it's fast and it has a solid reputation for reliability and solid construction. I don't remember how good its writing quality is, but I think that it is good.

I would recommend the Sony because it's fast and reliable, and it has solid construction. It's writing quality is good. Its main downside is the "turbo boost" feature, which means that it defaults to operating at 40x, and you have to enable "turbo boost" every time you want to use it at 52x.

BTW, I don't recommend Lite-On exclusively. Lite-On is my personal favorite, but, as you see, I happily use other drives, too.

Edit: Added more info about Sony and LG drives.

[MediumRare]

Another advantage of the LiteOn (and rebadged) drives is that there are powerful diagnostic tools like CD Doctor and (even better) K's Probe that let you check the burn quality. None of the other drives you mentioned offer this.

Maybe I'm biased too , but I haven't had any bad experiences with my LTR 48246S.

Don't worry about the buffer size- 2MiB is plenty with BurnProof and similar anti-coaster tools. See (e.g.) this thread: http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11132

By the way, your English is very good. Don't worry about that.

G

[javier]

So are you 100% sure that the Sony drive is a Lite-On? I don't wanna end up getting a crappy cdr (here in argentina you cant return things that easily... )

Actually i'm not 100% sure if the Sony is that specific model... are there other Sony 52x24x52x?

[4zkxa]

He he, here is another opinion for you. I think you should stay away from both Sony and Samsung. Sony because you don't know what you will get a Liteon or a sucky BTC. And Samsung because I think their drives use the same technology as Aopen, which just plain suck.

Between the last two, I would recommend Asus. Anyway, why don't you just buy all 4, try them out. Then return the 3 that you don't like.

[TheWizard]

Sony because you don't know what you will get a Liteon or a sucky BTC.

I'm pretty sure it's been proven that all Sony CRX220A1 drives are made by Lite-On.

Anyway, why don't you just buy all 4, try them out. Then return the 3 that you don't like.

Read what he said, he said returning items in Argentina is not that easy.