Advice on which drive to buy?

[cjv]

I am about to purchase a DVD bruner, and am thinking about either the Oprorite DD0401, the I/OMagic IDVDRW8D, or the NEC 2500A. They each seem to have their advantages and disadvantages, and seem to be prices similarly (about $140 or so). Does anyone have any recommendation either way, and if so, why?

Some quick questions:

I was wondering what software does each of them come with?

I have been only looking at drives that are multi format (+ and -). Is one format really better than another, and I would be better off focusing on a drive that only burns in one format? If so, what format, and what drive would you recommend. The DVD's I burn will ideally be used to play in DVD players. I will generally be burning videos that I make from my camcorder. My computer is a little slow (800Mhz) so I don't know if that will factor into it.

Also, would I be better off getting a "slower" 4x drive, but has a "brand name" (Plextor, Pioneer, Sony, etc) and presumably better quality? What sort of real time difference will the DVD recording speed make?

Lastly, are there any other 8x drives on the horizon that would warrant my holding off on a purchase? I only can spend about $150 or so at most, so if something new is coming out that is $250, that really isn't in my price range.

[Ian]

Do a search on the drive names. There's already a lot of discussion about these drives.

[cjv]

I have looked, but the threads haven't seemed to answer any of the specific questions I asked (software, differences in burning speed, etc)

I think I am leaning towards to Optorite at this point.

Chris

[rdgrimes]

I just saw some early burn quality tests on the NEC-2500, it looks VERY good. Maybe the best we've seen yet.

[Telstar]

I will generally be burning videos that I make from my camcorder. My computer is a little slow (800Mhz) so I don't know if that will factor into it.

If you are mainly planning to burn videos from a camcorder, you need to focus on how to 1. capture the videos in digital format onto your computer's HD, 2. encode the videos into the MPEG-2 format, 3. author the videos in the DVD-Video format, before you can actually burn them using a DVD burner. As you can see, choosing a DVD burner is the last thing you need to worry before taking care of the other 3 steps, and your 800MHz CPU isn't going to help very much when it comes to encoding the AVI format videos (assuming you have a DV camcorder) into MPEG-2 format. You probably need to visit the following website to learn the first three 3 steps:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/

Believe it or not, you need to spend more than your current budget on both hardwares and softwares to make it work on a computer or you can just consider buying a standalone DVD recorder which will do everything for you in real-time.

Finally to answer your original question, the NEC ND-2500A is the best DVD burner among the three, but it doesn't come with any software since it's sold as an OEM or bare drive in the US.

[Raz0rX]

One thing that you have to beaware of buying an NEC drive in North American is that you will not able to get any help/support from NEC. If you have any problems with your NEC drive, you must deal directly with the place of purchase.

[cjv]

I already have the hardware and the software - the DVD recorder is the last thing I need.

Chris

[hoxlund]

go for the NEC ND-2500A, i give my 2 thumbs up for it, this coming from a sony, plextor, pioneer drive owner

for copying movies i recommend either Nero Recode 2 (nero 6 package), or DVD Fab

also that 800Mhz cpu is gonna really hold you back, most burners recommend minimum 750Mhz so your just sqeakin by, if you can get at least 1Ghz with 256-512mb ram

[Papag]

I gots me a plextor 8x for 140 after rebates. Hey hoxlund, hows that chip in ur xbox holding up? I think I'm going to flash 2 bios on my TSOP using 2 switches involving the A18, A19, Vcc and ground points on the MOBO. This only works on v1.0 and 1.1 boxes though. That way, I don't have to worry about a "chipper" of the ol "blocker".

[hoxlund]

well my chip is very, very good

only problem is the 200gb limit hard drive on the xbox mobo, im running a 120gb hard drive and it keeps getting full

i have all my games on there, and then some, heres a list of all my games:

007: Agent Under Fire
007: Nightfire
All-Star Baseball 2004: Featuring Derek Jeter
Backyard Wrestling
Baulder’s Gate: Dark Alliance
Blood Wake
BMX XXX
Brute Force
Burnout 2
Chase: Hollywood Stunt Driver
Colin Mcrae Rally 4
Conflict Desert Storm
Counter-Strike
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Dead or Alive 3
Deadly Skies
DOA Extreme Volleyball
Dynasty Warriors 3
ESPN NBA Basketball
FIFA Football 2004
Freedom Fighters
Ghost Recon
Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance
Grand Theft Auto 3
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Gun Valkyrie
Halo: Combat Evolved
House of the Dead 3
Jedi Starfighter
Madden 2003
Madden 2004
Marvel vs. Capcom 2
Mech Assault
Medal of Honor: Rising Sun
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Moto GP 2
NBA 2K2
NBA 2K3
NBA Live 2004
NCAA 2K3 College Football
Need for Speed: Underground
Oddworld: Munch’s Oddysee
Outlaw Volleyball
Phantasy Star Online
Project Gotham Racing
Project Gotham Racing 2
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Sega GT 2002/Jet Set Radio Future
Shenmue 2
Simpsons: Hit and Run
Splinter Cell
SSX 3
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: The Clone Wars/Tetris Worlds
The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind
The Sims
Tony Hawk’s Underground
True Crime: Streets of L.A.
Unreal Championship
WWE Raw 2

Not bad for someone who has never boughten a single xbox game, lets just say i put my Gamefly account into good use: http://www.gamefly.com

[cjv]

I think my thread was hijacked!!



Chris