[Yensen]

First, please don't link or name custom firmware. I think it's against the rules. No PMs either

So... I need another DVD burner, and I've been out of the loop for a while. I tried to do some research, but there were just so many new ones out there. I'm basically looking for a sub 45$ dual layer burner with the latest speeds (16x?) and high stability. (And good custom firmware of course.)

Any recommendations are welcome.

Cheers

[Brando]

I'm curious too. My burner just died about 15 minutes ago and I see no point in making another identical post. As far as I know the new LG drives are pretty good with great write quality and cheap too. People also seem to like what Liteon has been coming out with recently and I believe they're the ones with the biggest custom firmware community. However, by some miracle I managed to track down a BenQ DW1655 on a somewhat obscure website so if nobody knows of anything thats been made since that's better I'll probably get that. Is the DW1655 still king of the hill or is there something better now?

[g14novak]

Id say go with a AOpen drive. They work great and their not very expensive.

[Rysjimmy1994]

Just out of Curiosity, why would you need custom firmware?

[Yensen]

Thanks for your replies guys.

Gonna do some more research and probably order something on tuesday.

Rysjimmy1994, basically to get more cheapo dvd-/+r/w compability. And some other stuff.

[freakdiablo]

I was waiting for something like this. Im holding my dvd burner right now (a 3 year old Magic spin ) and I think the motor just took a dump. (spins up, dies. spins up again, dies. Spins up a third time, dies. Remains dead.)

[Rysjimmy1994]

Ah ok That makes sense

[Yensen]

I've narrowed it down to two choices.

The Samsung SH-S183A for 35€. Mostly because it's SATA and because it has some great custom firmware.

The LiteOn LH-20A1P for 30€. It has good custom firmware and is 20x, as opposed to the Samsung's 18x. But it's ATA.

So... 5€ for SATA. The speed doesn't matter, because I won't be buying 20x dvd-r:s anyway. I'm sticking with cheapo 12-16x.

Thoughts, comments?

[Brando]

Heres a list of the most popular drives with the dvd burning crowd on cdfreaks. They seem to know whats up with burners.
http://www.cdfreaks.com/devices/DVD__RW/
If the Liteon you mentioned is an update of the one on the list then it's probably a good choice. Then again just because it's the same brand doesn't mean it's as good as the last model. It's probably just the same model with a firmware update but you might want to confirm.

[Yensen]

The only differance I can find is that the 20A1H has Lightscribe and the 20A1P does not.

I just ordered the 20A1P

[Clockwork_Apple]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned any Pioneers, they usually get the best support for custom firmwares.

[Mpegger]

Or NEC for that matter. I'm pretty happy with mine. May not be the fastest, but supports DVD DL +-R/W, and of course, has the custom firmware to boot.

[QuietIce]

I tried Sony last time and ran into compatibility problems. This time I'm going to give Samsung a try. I wasn't very happy about the LG or LiteOn reviews I saw. I did consider the NEC - saw a very good review for one of them but couldn't find the exact model. Sony and NEC have collaborated in the past so I'm a little cautious ...

[Griff65]

The Pioneer is the drive to have! My DVR-111D is the only drive out of the 3 i own that i trust to write to a duel layer disk.. The Lg and NEC both have made their fair share of coasters..

[pillfred]

Not sure about custom firmware but i have two Samsung drives that work rather well. The cd burner is about 5 years old, a little loud but it works. My DVD drive i have had for about a 1 1/2 now, the door sticks so i have to leave a blank in it but other wise its fully functional and not nearly as loud as the other one. For the price i paid for the dvd burner i got not complaints.