Legit Reviews

I'm about to purchase a new DVD burner and thought I'd ask everyone what their favorite brand name is for DVD burners.
Now, I already have my favorites, but I like to get a consensus of what everyone else is using before making my final purchase decision.

Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I'm about to order a Lite-On LH-20A1L drive. Newegg has a good deal on them right now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106073

i have that drive...really haven't used it though

The non Light scribe version of the Lite-On is what I use, works great and its a lot better than the old Lite-On it replaced (less noise).

Samsung for me. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827151153

I mistakenly ordered IDE drivers for my build. Once I get a few bucks, I'm replacing them with the above linked drive and putting the IDEs in my older machines that only have CDs.

I go with the cheapest I can find

dicecca112 wrote:I go with the cheapest I can find

How often do you burn DVDs?

Depends. Keep in mind I haven't used a Desktop since May 07. I use a laptop now. I sold my old tower to a buddy in May 06, his Lite On el cheapo is still working great. My last Desktop went to my sisters fiancee, another elcheapo Lite On, works great still. I guess I should have said Lite on then huh?

I have a non light scribe versoin of it also. I too go with the cheapest with the best reviews.

Depends. Keep in mind I haven't used a Desktop since May 07. I use a laptop now.

Laptop only huh? I guess you're not much of a gamer then?
I've romanced the idea of dumping the desktop for a laptop, but as long as game developers keep pushing the limits of hardware, I'll probably just stick with the desktop.
Hell, I call my last upgrade the "Crysis Upgrade". This is the second time now where a single game release has caused me to upgrade my rig.

nope, not anymore. I play Wii occasionally.

I usually go Lite-on or Sony depending on if I buy it locally. Locally Lite-on from Wal-Mart cause if they die their replaced locally. Online I buy Sony. If it's going in a gaming rig you might think about dual layer. Like you my last upgrade was a Crysis upgrade, not so much to play it but to be ready for up and coming games. Now at least one game is requiring a dual layer dvd drive. Specifications here: http://forums.legitreviews.com/about13781.htm

If that's any indication of the future format their releasing games in I'd hedge my bets and go dual.

I have one Lite-on IDE burner and two Samsung Sata burners...never had an issue with any of them. You can't really go wrong if you just go with the speeds you need and pick one with decent reviews.

Topher wrote:Unless someone can convince me otherwise, I'm about to order a Lite-On LH-20A1L drive. Newegg has a good deal on them right now.

I have that same drive and it has had no problems whatsoever other than reading the Securerom disc protection.
It'll beat, bang, and pop for several seconds and finally get past it to read the software.

I bought a Plextor and it doesn't have that problem.
http://biz.tigerdirect.com/applications ... 4&CatId=89

I have used several for long periods. I've been using the below LG for about 14 months now. I get new movies every tuesday and then back them up. I use the backups for daily use. I can tell you that I have only had a few platters - usually caused by my own mistakes. I don't know how many spindles of discs that I've gone through on this drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827136103

For media I use Taiyo Yuden only for movies. For data I typically use Verbatim or TDK. I get my media at supermediastore.com.

Other drives that I've used on other builds:
Lite-On SOHW-1633S -- beat the heck out of this drive, still running on one of my guinea pig systems
There's also an NEC drive that I've put in a few systems, but can't remember the model # off the top of my head.

I have yet to try a SATA burner, might go that route on the next build or if my drive happens to tank.

Don't get the ASUS drive, I just got it, and it is kinda loud, and wrote 4 backup discs with a ton of files with errors. I was so happy to find that out after formatting the drive all of the files were on. luckily they were audio and EXEs mostly, which I can get again.

I have a Samsung (a built by Toshiba product iirc)

After about a year, it started to make a LOUD squel whenever reading a dvd. Cant even watch DVD movies with this pc because of it.

From what I have been reading around the web, Lite-On seems to be the best, and will be the next drive I buy.

lite-on or sony usually.
though my last purchase was an Asus. unlike other reviewer here, i have no problems whatsoever with it under XP or Vista. *shrug* beats me.
burns like a champ through every program and brand of media i put it through and reads loads better than my poor dying second-hand-Samsung drive it's supposed to replace.

My favorite is NEC DVD RW ND-3570A

I have two of these, on separate puters.
Have burnt some 2500 DVDs on different brands of disk and only had 1 bad burn.

I use a lite on with lightscribe. I have to say no complaints yet.

I've already purchased the Lite-On LH-20A1L drive and it arrived today.