Best external DVD Drive??

[cubbiephan]

I am in the market for a DVD Burner as I want to start using this site and making some DVD's off the Phish and random shows on here. Any advice to which drive will be best for me to buy? I am looking for an external obviously Dual Layered capable drive. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[crazytrain1968]

Originally Posted by cubbiephan

I am in the market for a DVD Burner as I want to start using this site and making some DVD's off the Phish and random shows on here. Any advice to which drive will be best for me to buy? I am looking for an external obviously Dual Layered capable drive. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Without doubt my Pextor PX755.
Or buy an internal with external case.

[pawel]

Check reviews at: http://club.cdfreaks.com/index.php

Plextor is very good but (over)priced. You may check Benq, LG and LiteOn drive - I don't know how performs external burners but internal are very good.

Drive is not the only to look for. Discs: TY, Verbatim (the only for DL), Ritek. You will get also a bit better burns with SATA HD.

[cubbiephan]

Thanks for the info. I was actually in Circuit City yesterday and a LG caught my eye, but I had no idea which of them were the best. I will those reviews before I make my decision.

[saltman]

I'd get the Plextor. You'll replace two other drives before that one messes up. They're worth the extra money for a good quality burn and dependability. I just bought a 18x internal for 39 bucks. not sure it gets much better than that.

[AAR.oner]

hands down, plextor is the only way to go when it comes to quality & longevity

[witkotatanka]

Originally Posted by AAR.oner

hands down, plextor is the only way to go when it comes to quality & longevity

Originally Posted by saltman

I'd get the Plextor. You'll replace two other drives before that one messes up. They're worth the extra money for a good quality burn and dependability. I just bought a 18x internal for 39 bucks. not sure it gets much better than that.

I heard that and spent $120 on a PX-716A and had problems right out of the box. Plextor wanted to rma the drive and I laughed. Why should I pay for shipping when i could just exchange it at the store? Then I had problems with trades because it was very limited on the number of DVD brands I could use and thus the brands ere limited for the dvd's I'd receive. I kept the firmware up to date. Then after 14 months it died. Plextor's response? Not covered under warranty. Not even a break on a new burner.

And it turns out this drive was just plain crap. Google PX-716A and you'll find many threads with people describing their nightmares. Many people rma'd several drives right out of the box before getting one that worked, only to have the drive die after warranty expired.

And the interesting thing is that www.cdrinfo.com gave the drive a great review. But then they probably received a drive to test that Plextor engineers went over with a fine tooth comb to make sure the drive worked at top performance.

So my experience is to look for reviews but take them with a grain of salt. Best to google the drive you're interested in and see what problems people are having and the frequency. And don't buy a drive that is relatively new. Wait for others to have problems and have their gripes posted on the internet. I haven't found a drive with more bad things being said about it than the 716A. I'll never buy a plextor again.

This PX716a hasn't met my 20 oz framing hammer yet. I'm waiting for my hallowween party btw I'm a carpenter

[saltman]

Originally Posted by witkotatanka

I heard that and spent $120 on a PX-716A and had problems right out of the box. Plextor wanted to rma the drive and I laughed. Why should I pay for shipping when i could just exchange it at the store? Then I had problems with trades because it was very limited on the number of DVD brands I could use and thus the brands ere limited for the dvd's I'd receive. I kept the firmware up to date. Then after 14 months it died. Plextor's response? Not covered under warranty. Not even a break on a new burner.

And it turns out this drive was just plain crap. Google PX-716A and you'll find many threads with people describing their nightmares. Many people rma'd several drives right out of the box before getting one that worked, only to have the drive die after warranty expired.

And the interesting thing is that www.cdrinfo.com gave the drive a great review. But then they probably received a drive to test that Plextor engineers went over with a fine tooth comb to make sure the drive worked at top performance.

So my experience is to look for reviews but take them with a grain of salt. Best to google the drive you're interested in and see what problems people are having and the frequency. And don't buy a drive that is relatively new. Wait for others to have problems and have their gripes posted on the internet. I haven't found a drive with more bad things being said about it than the 716A. I'll never buy a plextor again.

This PX716a hasn't met my 20 oz framing hammer yet. I'm waiting for my hallowween party btw I'm a carpenter

that's extremely non-typical. every manufacturer has it's lemons. sounds like you got one. it's a shame their customer service was as you described. They are probably not used to it.

[possessed]

I've been using Plextor exclusively with Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim (for dual layer) for years and had no problems whatsoever. They cost a little more but they test media for best compatability which your cheap burners don't. Sometimes the extra few bucks is worth the 0 coaster burner.