CD-RW or DVD-RW advice wanted

stjames

stjames

Sebenzanista
Joined
Oct 26, 1998
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Hello all, my Iomega CD burner seems to have given up the ghost and I am in the market for a replacement. I might want to upgrade to a DVD burner but don't have a video camera yet so am not sure if it is worth the extra expence at this time.

So, what is about $100 best spent on? Can I get a decent CD burner for that or should I put it towards a DVD burner you would reccomend? At this point I am just making audio and MP3 cd's and photo or file storage.

Thanks for your time.
 
DVD burners are neat, but...

The media is still fairly expensive, relative to CD-R's. The format isn't exactly universal yet, and I think the speed is quite a bit slower than CD burners.

Unless you're heavily into video, wait for another year or two on the DVD burner.

Go out and get yourself a cheap cd-burner in the meantime. Check out pricewatch - you can get an internal drive in the $40-50 range, depending on speed.

-- Rob
 
A cheap burner will work just as well as a more expensive one for your needs. They're all around 50X for CD-R speed, and the CD-RW speed doesn't matter because those things barely ever get used. I haven't had trouble with any low-end brand (mitsumi, LG, cheap Toshiba) so just get a $50 one and don't worry about it.
 
I'm going to end up going the DVD burner route one of these days, but that's only because I'm getting into the video thing. Most (if not all) of the Sonys come with the DVD burners already installed. The Sonys supposedly take all different formats and I've seen DVDR media go as cheap as $1 per DVD in a bulk quantity (can't remember where, though).

Regarding the CDRW--a lot of them go up to 52x right now, but according to some things that I've read--they don't actually run that fast and most don't go over 48x. You shouldn't notice the difference--just don't buy something based on that "extra" 4x. The CDRWs should be pretty much the same, but one thing I've found is that the software makes the most difference for me--I like Roxio's software the best, but it isn't compatible with all brands (at least mine isn't).
 
There's a link on their page to an OfficeMax deal on a 48X CDRW. It's $70.00 with free shipping and there's a $20.00 rebate AND a $50.00 rebate! I got one yesterday. After rebate I'll only be out about $5.00 in tax. I've never heard of the brand Khypermedia before, but it's pretty hard to find real junk these days.

There's also some deals on DVD burners, but as noted, the media is still pretty expensive and there's too many competing, incompatible formats for me at this time (DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD/RW, DVD+RW etc..)

If you don't mind spending more money. The best, most reliable CDRW drives (according to magazine reviews and my experience) for the last couple years have been made by TDK and Plextor. Recently a company named Lite-on has also received good marks. I own drives froom all these manufacturers and can attest to their quality.

The most important feature is some sort of buffer under-run prevention technology, often marketed as "Burn Proof". If your machine suffers from a buffer under run, you will be making coasters instead of CDs.

jmx
 
The format isn't exactly universal yet, and I think the speed is quite a bit slower than CD burners.
Click to expand...

That's the misconception.

You see the "4x DVD-RW" drives and think, "wow, 4x is wicked freaking slow compared to my 48x CD-RW"...not quite;).

1x CD-ROM = first gen CD-ROM drive speed (a longgggg time ago)
1x DVD-ROM = first gen DVD-ROM (a few years ago AND different technology)

1x DVD-ROM drives provide a data transfer rate of 1.321 MB/s (11.08*10^6/8/2^20) with burst transfer rates of up to 12 MB/s or higher. The data transfer rate from a DVD-ROM disc at 1x speed is roughly equivalent to a 9x CD-ROM drive (1x CD-ROM data transfer rate is 150 KB/s, or 0.146 MB/s).
Click to expand...

Conclusion: My 4x DVD-RW drive (actually it's a combo CD-RW drive) is equivalent to a 36x CD-RW. Pretty fast.

If it's only gonna take you, say, a few months or less to get the $$$ for a $200 drive (or so), I personally would go for it. Sure, in a year that same drive will be less $$$ but I'm not the type to wait around for technology to get cheaper.

Or you could get a CD-RW drive for about $50-60.

Highly recommended retailer:
www.newegg.com

Need help from real computer freaks (You could get a much more conclusive answer there):
www.techimo.com

Warthog
 
Thanks for the advice so far, it looks like I'll stick with a CD-RW for now. I'm looking for an external drive for a laptop, and would be willing to spend a few extra bucks for one that is decently portable but won't crap out on me in a year. Thanks again.
 
I have one for my Mac Powerbook with a firewire connection. It's not the tiniest as it's based around a standard IDE drive, but they are affordable and the one I have is based on one of the Lite-On drives. It hasn't spit out a coaster yet.

AS for DVDR, IMHO, unless you're doing huge archieving or making home movies, I just don't see the application and I'm one of those dreaded "early adopters"

jmx
 
In the past couple of months, I've purchased two 52x CD-RW drives. One a Lite-On (52x, 2MB buffer) which can be had for $45 right now at www.newegg.com. This one I purchased for my brother who wanted to save money. It's a very good drive at a great price. 80 minute CD-Rs take under 3 minutes to burn.

I also purchased a Plextor Premium (52x, 8MB buffer) for $101 from New Egg. This one is for myself, and I am willing to pay extra for the very best CD-RW out there. Without a doubt, Plextor makes the best. I can burn a 80 minute CD-R in about 2.5 minutes.

Either the Lite-On or Plextor would make a fine CD-RW for you. As others have recommended, www.newegg.com is an excellent online retailer.
 
I was going to put the "Free after rebate" CDRW I just got from OfficeMax in my box and remove my now old and slow 12/10/32A Plextor that has been awesome, but after your post and the review I just read in Maximum PC, I think I need one of those Plextor Premium drives. I think the free Khypermedia 48X is off to ebay. Once again Plextor seems to win top honors. What's even cooler is that the Plex Premium is less than half of what I paid for my trusty old 12/10/32a.

jmx
 
LOL, sorry to do it to you. :) If it makes you feel better, I had paid in excess of $400 for the Plextor 4/12 SCSI CD-R I had before this. :o
 
Look for a lite-on. It's a korean brand I believe, but they make the innards for more than a few Sony, Plextor and several other brands of cd burners.

I've had 2 of them for about 2 years now and they work great still. You can get an internal for about $30-$80

Khypermedia is the brand that BigLots sells. Take that for whatever it's worth.

N2
 
I got a CD-RW from officemax 2 years ago, it was 90 bucks, 30 bucks off right when you buy it, and 60 dollar mail-in rebate. So it was free minus tax. It has been the best damn thing I have ever gotten. I have burned over 500 CDs and it has never stopped or broken or anything. Also, they have the rebate on blank CDs and it makes them free, I have STACKS of them at my house...it pays to be a cheap bastid.
 
Originally posted by Neko2
Look for a lite-on. It's a korean brand I believe, but they make the innards for more than a few Sony, Plextor and several other brands of cd burners.
Click to expand...

Lite-On is Taiwanese and while they do manufacture for a few other brands, they do not manufacture for Plextor.

Plextor manufactures all of their own CD products. Currently, some of their DVD writer products are manufactured by third parties, but this too will soon change.
 
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