The Dolphin tells it like it is....

[divx]

Dolphin - I don't have that much data to backup - just the mission critical stuff. I guess if I really wanted to get anal and back up the MP3's I ripped of my CD's (to save the time of doing it again should I lose the data) I could make an argument for the DVD burner, but I just can't see making the investment when I still don't really need it.

divx - I don't have a PS2 or Xbox. And if I did, I'd purchase the games, just like I did for my Dreamcast and like I do for my GBA. And any DVD's I feel are worth watching repeatedly, I buy (usually on sale). If it's just a renter, I hit the local mom'n'pop video store and rent it cheap, cause I'll never watch it again.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's not legitimate uses or compelling reasons for getting a DVD burner, but for now, for me as Joe Q User, there isn't any benefit or cost savings.

Keep up the research on the media, though - when I do eventually take the plunge, I'll wanna make sure I get the best bang for my buck.

lucky you. you should've seen how my 4 year old brother treat my vice city disc. Just doesn't last.

[chdude3]

Rabbit:
chdude3:

To each their own I'm not here to force anyone to buy one product or another. If your needs are simple, and you are happy with what you have, then why change it? Why fix something that's not broken, right?

LOL... No worries, my friend. I also wasn't trying to dissuade anyone from moving to a DVD burner. As a techno-minded kind of guy, I'm always keen to hop on with new technology, so consider my posts also reaffirmations to myself that I don't yet need to spend the money on a DVD burner. I have a feeling in the not-too-distant future I will, though, so I appreciate your research efforts.

divx - Would it be possible to keep your brother away from your Vice City discs?

[sfu_lifer]

divx, I sure hope you're not letting your 4-year brother play/watch you play Vice City

As for DVD burners, they're getting quite cheap nowadays.
If your CD burner ever dies, then you might consider getting one .

[divx]

I got a stack of original ps2 games. But non of them are "suitable" for young odience, and plus vice city disc is the only game i play now and I always kept in the ps2. So my bro came down stairs and fire-up the ps2, vice city automatically starts. Now he is addicted to the game more than me, he plays vice city more than i do. Can someone recommand me a kid game he might like now that he loves ammu-nation?

[The Digital Dolphin]

EDIT// Hmm, according to CD Freaks, the RICOHJPN R01 is "Simply amazing! The results show that the BenQ DW822A is fully optimized for the Ricoh media. Highly recommended media for this drive."

ATIC's website lists Plextor +R discs which I think are TY. $2.00 with case. Too bad they are out of my way or else I would pick some up instantly.

Any comments for the Verbatim DigitalMovie discs (the ones that look like a film reel)? I picked up a couple packs of these but haven't opened them yet. Made in Singapore. I just wonder if the top surface is not balanced properly because of the graphics. I think you said the Verbatim Vinyl CDRs had this problem.

Hey Rabbit, no editing your posts please makes it harder to respond...

Personally, I don't trust CDFreaks' testing at all. They use some of the worst techniques, and the worst hardware. They often trade off quality and accuracy for quantity of tests, something I refuse to do. This isn't to say it isn't possible they are correct, a shot in the dark still has a chance of hitting right?

Regarding the Verbatim Film Reel DVDRs, if you have the Made in Singapore discs, that means you have the 4x DVD+Rs right? They work well, and C't's testing of your drive shows that it works pretty well with Mitsubishi media, so you should have good results. I have a hard time believing that future firmware upgrades could have screwed it up *THAT* much, if at all.

[Evil Techie]

ive liked RICHOJPN R01 discs and been using them for a long time
they are awesome for me PX708A
DVD+R 4x can be burnt at 8x

[The Digital Dolphin]

ive liked RICHOJPN R01 discs and been using them for a long time
they are awesome for me PX708A
DVD+R 4x can be burnt at 8x

Apples and Oranges. My Optodisc 4x DVD-Rs burn beautifully on my Pioneer DVR-107, but can't even complete the burn process on the Plextor 712a. Quality and compatability do not always go hand in hand

Optodisc 4x DVD+Rs are very low for compatability, but the PX-712a can burn them fairly well actually (still not great though).

All I'm saying is you can't say a disc is going to work well with one burner, because it works well with another. This is 100x more relevent with DVDRs then with CD-Rs, which means I need to buy more DVD burners

[konfusion666]

FYI Dolphin, those Optodiscs that NCIX has had on sale recently (DVD-R) burn perfectly on the 2500A at 4x using stock firmware, and are read perfectly on both my JVC standalone (6mo. old) and my Pioneer DVD-105S reader (4 yrs old!!!).

[The Digital Dolphin]

FYI Dolphin, those Optodiscs that NCIX has had on sale recently (DVD-R) burn perfectly on the 2500A at 4x using stock firmware, and are read perfectly on both my JVC standalone (6mo. old) and my Pioneer DVD-105S reader (4 yrs old!!!).

Hrm, that's saying quite a lot actually, since I happen to know from personal experience that the Pioneer 105s (that would be the trayless slot loader right?) was very picky about what media it would play!! I got rid of mine as soon as I started getting into DVDRs, since it wouldn't read almost anything... actually now that I think about it, it would make a WONDERFUL testing drive! ...great now I have to go barter for it back

Thanks for the info on the NEC though, I hadn't had any firm positive feedback on that yet (you know, other then directly from Optodisc, which I usually take with a grain of salt ).

[konfusion666]

DD, I`m afraid I`m going to have to update you on that Optodisc report.

I`ve only burned about 5 discs so far. I THOUGHT all 5 worked fine (at `full speed`) in the Pioneer but I was wrong.

The first 4 DID work fine, just like a factory DVDROM. These 4 had computer data. First 2 was just media files (avì), the second 2 were backups of DVDROM games.

The 5th was an SVCD converted to dvd format. It plays fine on the JVC standalone but the Pioneer goes into a recurring spin-up, spin-up cycle when I put it in. I thought it would slow-down to 1x reading speed and then try to read it, but that never even happened. So perhaps your theory about the Pioneer was right.

For now I`ll stick with the Pioneer and see if it hiccups on any other media. Running the most recent RPC2 firmware, which was 1.33 I believe, of course that was posted to the Net *ages* ago. New DVDROM drives are just pennies anyways. But I loved the aesthetics of the slot-load feature though

[The Digital Dolphin]

If I didn't know that drive the way I do, I might be more concerned about the compatability between the NEC 2500 and Optodisc 4x DVD-Rs

[Doogie Howser]

When I bought my BenQ DW822A I first made sure I had the lastest firmware installed "rev. I" before burning anything. I checked the discs with dvdinfo2 to see that they were able to burn at 4x.

I went through the first 5 at 4x coastering each one of them, and it was only after I set the speed to 2.4x that I was able to make success burns. Never again will I use RData discs (aka RiTek).

As DD already knows; I bought two packs of 25 of eWorks 4X DVD+RW recently, and have had great success with them; they are Optidisc 04 brand.

Regards,
Doogie

[rabbit]

Hey Rabbit, no editing your posts please

Yeah, sorry, I was doing it during the time the forums were going all screwy, otherwise I think it would have been done before you read it the first time.


But I loved the aesthetics of the slot-load feature though

I have that same Pioneer drive that I just swapped out for the Benq writer. Yep, I like slotloads also and wish more standalone players would use them. You don't ever scratch the disc with slotloads.


I flashed the Benq 822 to the latest firmware right away. The last two firmware revisions supposedly added 8x -R speeds (previously it was 4x) so I've decided to revert back to the firmware before 8x -R to see what happens. Burned a couple of -R discs and they checked okay but I don't remember if I had problems with -R before. I'll burn a couple of +Rs soon and see what happens.

Bought 10 x 3packs of those Verbatim (Singapore) MovieReel discs from Staples. They were $5.95 online (but $9.95 instore) and I figure you won't find Verbatims for that cheap that often. I have a few music DVDs that use those super jewel cases so it is nice to have some extra ones handy incase one breaks .

[othy]

But I loved the aesthetics of the slot-load feature though

I have that same Pioneer drive that I just swapped out for the Benq writer. Yep, I like slotloads also and wish more standalone players would use them. You don't ever scratch the disc with slotloads.

I have a pioneer slot load DVD reader, never again.. I find slot load is too noisy, making lots of nasty ka-chunk-ka-chunk noises that are a little scary..

Mebbe if the mechanism is much improved now they are ok, but that one is crapola.

[rabbit]

Hm, never had any noise problems. Anyhow, asides from the different disc loading mechanism, the disc is sandwiched on a spindle when being read, just like most other CD/DVD devices. Maybe you just had a bad unit because it is not like slotloads in general are uncommon. Almost all car CD/DVD stereos are slotload.