"J. Clarke" <jclarke.TakeThisOut@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:bv0llt016b4@enews4.newsguy.com...
> Louis Bybee wrote:
>
> > I have tried a number of hardware sites looking for in depth comparisons
> > of DVD-CDR burners without much luck.
> >
> > I am trying to decide on a solid unit with decent software (using with
Win
> > XP Pro), but being unfamiliar with the many units being offered it's
tough
> > to make a decision! I'm making the assumption that a combo unit is
> > preferable to two separate units? It seems as if everyone offers them,
> > even some brands that I've never heard of before (Lite-On ?). If the
> > burners are like other hardware items some are a pleasure to work with,
> > and others would make smashing your thumb with a hammer seem preferable
> > rather than using
> > them! :-]
> >
> > I'm not interested in emptying out my wallet, but I don't mind paying
for
> > quality either. Anyone have knowledge of a hardware web site that does a
> > good job presenting comparisons?
> >
> > Any suggestions appreciated!
>
> It's not really clear what you're looking for. Are you looking for a
drive
> that burns both CDs and DVDs or are you looking for a drive that burns CDs
> and reads DVDs but can't write them?
>
> On the question of combo drive vs separate drives, back when burners were
> expensive the logic was that you used a cheap drive to read and the
> expensive drive only to write. With all-format burners going for $130
> these days and likely to be $60 or below by the time that one fails,
that's
> no longer really that much of a concern. From a performance viewpoint the
> fastest read-only drives are a bit faster than the fastest burners, or
were
> last time I checked, but in real world terms that doesn't make a whole lot
> of difference for most uses.
>
> Personally I've found the DVD readers with CD-RW from Ricoh to be a bit
> flakey--a lot of people report good results with Lite-On but I haven't
> tried their drives so can't comment. The LGs work well but they had a
> command-set problem (they did something nonstandard) on some of their
early
> drives that has since been corrected on the newer ones--there are patched
> ROMs available on their site for some but not all of the older drives.
>
> I've only worked personally with two DVD burners--any current model DVD
> burner can also burn CD by the ways--the HP 200i and the LG 8040B--both
> work fine--I like the flexibility of the LG, which handles all the common
> DVD formats, but it's not as fast as some of the drives dedicated to a
> particular format.
>
> As for the software, the two major products are Roxio and Nero--both work,
> neither is perfect, for some reason Nero users seem to develop a loyalty
to
> the product that I don't see developing with Roxio users. Any drive that
> comes with either of those should work with little hassle--just don't
> expect to use the "packet writing" software that allows you to treat a CD
> or DVD as a diskette--if you want to work that way then get a DVD-RAM
drive
> (the LG can handle DVD-RAM) or bite the bullet and shell out for
> magneto-optical.
>
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Louis--
> > *********************************************
> > Remove the two fish in address to respond
>
> --
> --John
I thought it was perfectly clear that I wasn't clear on what I was looking
for! :-]
I am clear however, on what I would like to accomplish.
I would like the capability to read and write both DVD and CDR/W. I would
prefer a combo drive to save space. I do have a CDR/W drive, and it took a
few frustrating failures before arriving at one that would do the job
without a major production!
I was hoping to use the wisdom of people frequenting this group to avoid
duplicating failures they may have made.
Thank you.
Louis--
*********************************************
Remove the two fish in address to respond<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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