Best internal DVD burner as of Jan 15, 06????

[Chewy]

nor the 4550, seems europe wants dvd-ram, we do not!

You don't like the new Benq, the 4550 has a very hit or miss scan capability.

of course like dee's says the nec 3500 still reign's supreme with dvd-r media

[UncasMS]

i know about the scanning issues with the 455x and the benq would be an alternative if only my hardware dealers were offering them

since i prefer to buy from local stores benq is no option these days even if i wanted to

so i will have to choose lg4667 or nec4550

[Chewy]

nec 4550! as the LG later models have some issues also, if they can't scan
and aren't as good as the LG 4163B, sad

My nec 3550 scans fine and consistent with the benq 1620, I asm sure the
3550/4550 will improve with firmware and write startegy tweaks.
My nec 3550 is great @8x on most +R media. forget 16x!

[UncasMS]

looks like the 4550 is available in the us:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=1191625&postcount=69

[Chewy]

rebadge and crossflash????

same with the benq 1650 here, can of worms

[geno888]

In my opinion lightscribe or labelflash or similar are totally useless. They are very slow and require special media not always available everywhere.

If you like to decorate your discs, the best solution is to use printable media. They offer best results and printers able to write on discs are rather cheap. And printable media are largely available.