The Dolphin tells it like it is....

[lionhe@rt]

Hey DD, I have a few questions for you....

I'm looking to get a DVD burner. I'm looking at the following drives....

NEC ND-2500A 8X DVD+/-RW OEM $99
Pioneer DVR-107 8X DVD+/-RW OEM $113

Of the two, which would you suggest (Or are they any better drives in this price range)?

Also, which media would you suggest for it? I plan to archive data, and make videos to be played on standalone DVD players. I dont mind spending the extra bit on durable/quality media for archiving data. After reading up on some of the threads, it seems like I should use + for my data archiving and - for videos/movies. However, there seems to be so much info on media alone, that I dunno which is good, and which I should stay away from.

Thanks

[The Digital Dolphin]

Hrm... tough call, since both drives are great.

Here's the kicker, if you are okay voiding your drive warrenty by installing a hacked firmware, then go with the NEC 2500a. If you don't want to hack your firmware then go with the Pioneer DVR-107.

The NEC 2500a with hacked firmware will burn Optodisc 4x DVD-Rs even at 8x with very good results. It also performs very well with overclocking 4x Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim media (if speed is your concern). At this point, if you want 8x recording on media that is not being overclocked, go with Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim's 8x DVDRs just aren't working as well as they should.

The Pioneer DVR-107 seems to work best with DVD-R media with the 1.16 firmware, and best with DVD+R media with the 1.18 firmware... not sure what went wrong with the DVD-R writing in 1.18, but there have been some noticable problems coming up with some DVD-Rs I've tried since then. Generally the Pioneer is an excellent drive, and hardly needs the hacked firmware anymore even!

Hope that answers your question somewhat at least

[The Digital Dolphin]

Looks like Ritek has stopped production of their 4x DVD+Rs now... the G04 4x DVD-R will be next.

I suggest staying away from Ritek's G05 8x DVD-Rs completely... they seem to have very low compatability, and will soon be replaced by Ritek's G06 8x DVD-R, which will be much better for quality, although it might suffer the same lack of support that the G05 does

[bigdaddyyc]

Hey DD, what do you think about this?

http://forums.redflagdeals.com/forum...ad.php?t=92274

are they fakes?

[The Digital Dolphin]

Thanks for pointing the topic out! I didn't notice it previously since the subject header didn't make it look like a blank media question

EDIT: Question has now been answered within the thread

[mrken]

Can I tell my secrets? sorta. Take a look for the Omni Patcher for LiteON drives... but don't blame me if it kills your drive, or makes coasters out of all your DVDRs. I've literally wasted dozens of DVDRs just to get one writing strategy hacked for one media type! so don't even start trying to do this is you aren't prepared to lose at least 10-20 discs, and possibly not even see an improvement. Also, you need to be able to test to see if there is an improvement, and that takes even more time.

Will there be pop-ups? no. But if you push the eject button on your drive, the tray will still pop open

Interesting! So the patcher wasn't made by you. I would be pretty scared now if it was.

Since you don't get any money, is this just for personal satisfaction?

As for the eject button, does it mean that the disc will come out with an advertisemnt even when it is locked by a DVD-burning program?

[The Digital Dolphin]

Interesting! So the patcher wasn't made by you. I would be pretty scared now if it was.

Since you don't get any money, is this just for personal satisfaction?

As for the eject button, does it mean that the disc will come out with an advertisemnt even when it is locked by a DVD-burning program?

I'm not a programmer really... was never my thing. Kinda like I'm not a webdesigner either

Personal Satisfaction would deffinatly be one of the main reasons, yes.

umm, sure... yeah, if you eject your CD/DVD tray, it'll throw porn and viagra adverts at you

[mrken]

I'm not a programmer really... was never my thing. Kinda like I'm not a webdesigner either

Personal Satisfaction would deffinatly be one of the main reasons, yes.

umm, sure... yeah, if you eject your CD/DVD tray, it'll throw porn and viagra adverts at you

What are your other "main reasons"?

Are you going to come out from the drive and throw pills at me? Yay! Free samples! And no, I don't usually rest my hand in the position you see in my auto-photo. :ph34r:

[The Digital Dolphin]

What are your other "main reasons"?

Are you going to come out from the drive and throw pills at me? Yay! Free samples! And no, I don't usually rest my hand in the position you see in my auto-photo. :ph34r:

Wow... you never give up do you???

Well, if you have to know, another of my main reasons is "just wanting to see if I can do it, and how well I can get it to work" believe it or not... which I guess could also be compared to bragging rights There is another reason... which will not be named at this time, as it would give away something rather large and interesting that has no certainty of coming to pass just yet, so I'm not going to get anyone's hopes up just yet... including my own!

Will I hack your drive so it will be auto-pill popping for you? umm, no. I think that's crossing the line

[rabbit]

Plextor DVD+R discs use TY DVD+R

but yeah
super hard to find unless you buy directly from http://www.plextorshopcanada.com/

ATIC on Broadway has Plextor 4x +Rs listed on their website:
http://www.atic.ca/index.php?page=LongDesc&sku=03666
$2.00 with jewel case
(Ignore the Ritek photo. It is used for other DVD Rs also).

I have not gone there to buy any since it is out of my way.

[The Digital Dolphin]

Personally, I'm waiting for Plextor 8x DVD+Rs, that will be 12x compatible in my PX-712a

[The Digital Dolphin]

Looks like LiteOn just released some new firmwares for their current drives:
812s, 832s, and 1213s. Go check 'em out!

For those of you with the LiteON 451s or 851s I highly consider checking out http://codeguys.rpc1.org for information on how to flash your drive with the firmware for the 832s. We aren't sure if the dual layer support will really work 100% or not, but you will get to take advantage of the new writing strategies on your older drives, which is usually a good thing!!

That being said, I'm trying to see how performance has changed with the new firmware.... so far it looks like more media support then anything else. For instance Optodisc 4x DVD-RWs and 8x DVD-Rs are now officially supported... too bad neither code is in any available media yet

[mrken]

Looks like LiteOn just released some new firmwares for their current drives:
812s, 832s, and 1213s. Go check 'em out!

For those of you with the LiteON 451s or 851s I highly consider checking out http://codeguys.rpc1.org for information on how to flash your drive with the firmware for the 832s. We aren't sure if the dual layer support will really work 100% or not, but you will get to take advantage of the new writing strategies on your older drives, which is usually a good thing!!

That being said, I'm trying to see how performance has changed with the new firmware.... so far it looks like more media support then anything else. For instance Optodisc 4x DVD-RWs and 8x DVD-Rs are now officially supported... too bad neither code is in any available media yet

Hehe, LiteON beat you to it.

Do you still plan on releasing your version of the pill-popping firmware?

And are these DVD drives as fragile as CD drives? I have blown so many up by accidently "hot-swapping" them. And maybe it doesn't like that surge of energy and lights up in flames! My room was filled with the smell of sulfur for several days. Don't like that smell. Don't know why hard drives can handle it and not CD drives Can the Dolphin give an answer?

[The Digital Dolphin]

Sadly because of the new firmware I have to start again.... but I'm still planning on something yes!

And I would suggest *NOT* hot swapping any internal devices...

[Evil Techie]

mr. ken

you are one wicked strange person...


i noticed that atic sells it there
but for $2, id rather wait for maxell or memorex with richojpnr01 to go on sales for $8 at FS

its all about burning at twice the speed of the recommended speed by the disc vendors now eh
lol
quality disc vendors that is
i burn my memorex, plextor, maxell at 8x when their recommended speed is 4x
DD wants to go for a dance on the 12x track...

its silly how plextor never come up with a disc that is fully recommended for 8x or 12x burning for their own burners...