DVD burner troubles

[Dr Klovernutz]

hi
here is my system
Dell 4600
XP home SP2
500W PSU
GeForce 7600GT
80 HDD
250 HDD
5.1 SBlaster
1/4 floppy

as for my drives:
currently
NEC 3550A
GDR8162B

the NEC has lately become unreliable in burning of RWs and the drive doesn't always see discs (CD or DVD recorded or "presses") which its been doing more and more lately

I recently bought the Samsung 202G to replace the NEC
I am very unhappy with it for the following reasons:
1. the tray door opens normal to about 50% then it slows down (you can hear the motor slow down too) I spoke to Samsung they said that is not normal.
2. I have some FUJI DVD+RWs, I burned a FUJI with imgburn (doing a full erase first). it failed the verify, and I couldn't get the Samsung to see the disc to erase it. (I had to use my laptop to see the disc to erase) then using the same disc I burned the same .iso with a successful burn...... (unreliable in my book)
3. I use Verbatim 16X for my DVD+Rs, EVERY DVD+R I have burned with this burner has a weird "smudge" in the burn about 75% out from the center. The DVDs all verify 100% (1 was an OS that installed fine..) but.......

so because of this I spoke to newegg and I am RMAing this drive.

I chose the Pioneer 112D (which I will flash to 112L ASAP)

however I am interested in another drive (DVDRW) for a second drive for this system.

if anyone can help with the following:
1. anyone out there with a Samsung 202G does yours act like mine (regarding the tray door)
2. what are the opinions of the following drives:
LITE ON
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106078
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106049
or should i try the samsung again?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827151151

or do you suggest an LG/ sony/ phillips...

It is too overwhelming to handle.

knowing that I already have a Pioneer 112D coming what would be the best burner to compliment it?

(honestly I like the GDR8162B I have/ great reader I would use it to read any "unseen" discs the NEC couldn't pick-up. However its OLD, noisy, and slow, plus say it can see a RW that the primary drive cannot, I cannot erase with this one....)

thank you all
I would like to place an order tonite (hopefully get by friday)

thanks~~~

[Chewy]

I would try the samsung again, they are having some quality problems with the new models, you either get a great burner or a bad one? Pioneer is having bad issues with 112's that stop burning cd's right away or soon thereafter. At least if you get a good samsung it should be more durable than a liteon and scan better than a pioneer.

LG would be a good choice but you already have a good dual layer burner that won't scan, don't need 2 of them

[Dr Klovernutz]

hey chewy

i will only be keeping 2 drives in the main system:
Pioneer 112
and the other I buy

I am assumin gthat you are referring to the NEC as a good DL burner. That drive will be in a backup system.

[Chewy]

the pioneer 112 is considered to be the premium dual layer burner

knowing that I already have a Pioneer 112D

the samsung would be my choice to compliment it

[Dr Klovernutz]

oh, ok
sorry I've been reading up on dvdrw drives ALL DAY....
honestly I miss when NEC/ Plexor/ benQ were the best and picking one was easy (well... easier)

you mention that the pioneer dies quickly? I read up on it at CD freaks and saw no mention of a wide spread issue such as this?

As for giving samsung another try? I think I'm gonna research until early tommorow so I can order B4 noon.

It appears that every1 at CD freaks accepts the Lite ons as the best scanners. Also I didn't see any mention of CD burning dying out after a few months in regards to the Pioneer 112?.

[Chewy]

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/top/cat/article/0,,2076_310069579_484923529,00.html

pioneer is not pushing this very hard

they and lg are known for durable drives

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=4859&view=findpost&p=54042

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=4859&view=findpost&p=54047

[Dr Klovernutz]

hey chewy,
I just read up on something re the pioneer, (note: not on newegg where I bought it) but every1 says that I should use an 80 pin IDE cable.
could that be causing the problems witht he sammy 202G? (even the slowing of the tray door?)

[Chewy]

might be? I never test 40 conductor cables with pata drives anymore, especially new ones

slowness can be misinterpeted, might be by design

hopefully it's not a power issue?

[Dr Klovernutz]

no, just changed it to an 80 pin. It did burn faster. But I still get the weird artifact on the burn side of a verbatim.. Also the door still opens weird.

[Dr Klovernutz]

hey chewy,

Of These 3 burners; (I think I'm gonna keep all three

- Pioneer 112D (check for CD issues; I'm in the clear) soon to be 112L Mod
- Lite On 20a1P KL0N with RPC1 fix/ reset utility
- SAMMY 202G with the modded firmware that just came out (weird thing with this drive; I disconnected all, reconnested brand new 80 condusctor wire; seems to be working good)

- NEC 3550 A 1.07 mod (doesn't always see DVDs burned or pressed) but when it burns its always 100% and works well with CDs

***I'm not considering the RW issues, They are old Fuji DVD+RWs
MID RICOHJPN W11 001 (01h)


anyhow,
I want the 2 Best drives in 1 box
what do u recommend and why?
1. Pioneer
2. Lite On
3. Samsung
4. NEC

[Chewy]

well the pioneer(if you get a good one) is great for DL(all kinds) but can't scan for squat

the samsung can scan, does great sl fast burns

it's a no-brainer

[Dr Klovernutz]

the lite on I have seen lots of people have it with no complaints
what is it specifically known for?

[Dr Klovernutz]

by scanning do you mean extracting discs (cds/ dvds)

[Chewy]

the liteon is a good scanner, scanning is loosely used to mean doing pie/f error scans with cdspeed

the liteon would be a close runnerup to the samsung

You could test and decide yourself, if you could find some premium consistent media.

Whatever you do don't put your best 2 scanners in the same box, I prefer to do a burn and then if pressed for time scan in another computer while I burn another disk in the original one.

[Dr Klovernutz]

well thats what I wanted to check, I have 2 boxes
I decided to keep the 3 since I have a project where I need to encode about 1000 CDs to FLAC to create a database. Since I don't wanna tie up my main machine I wanted to put one of the new drives in that box for the job. I think I'll use the Lite-ON.

scaning: do u have a good link for me to read about scanning? I mean all 3 drives have been extacting CDs fine with no errors/ matching accurip (dbpowerAMP) not sure about the scanning topic