Advice for a new DVD-ROM

[jeanl]

People,
I"m not sure I'm posting in the right forum, sorry if it isn't..
I need to change the DVD drive in my Sampo settop DVD player (it currently has an ARTEC which is less than stellar, compared to my pioneer 107 burner in my PC, and often has problem playing DVDs that look just about fine visually).
I'd like to get one that will be pretty good at reading just about anything, even discs that have minor flaws/scratches.

I know that Pioneers are good at that, the only thing is they're a bit pricey (for DVD-ROMS). How about:
- Hitachi?
- Samsung?
- NEC?
- Others?

If any of you has any feedback on these brands, positive or negative, that would be extremely helpful. My main concern is robustness in playback.

Thanks!
Jeanl

[jmet]

I have a Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502. I bought it new like 5 years ago, and still works great to this day! It has read every DVD & CD I have tried put in it, no matter how scratched or dirty.

[jeanl]

Thanks jmet, that's exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. I assume I can infer that any Toshiba will tend to behave nicely (but maybe that's not entirely true)...
Jeanl

[ger@co]

No, they are not all the same. My daughter has a Toshiba (I don't know the model number) that's a couple of years old, and it will not play any of my backups. I bought her a cheap "Diamond Vision" (I know, I never heard of it either) from Walmart, and it plays everything except the few I have with paper labels.

Later.

[jeanl]

darn, well, I bought a toshiba loader (just the drive) but it was only $20, so no big deal if it does not work well. So far, so very good!
Jeanl