What DVD Writer Would You Recommend?

Artemis Entreri asks: "I've decided that the next paycheck is going to buy me a DVD burner. The storage capacity is sexy, and the ability to make backups of movies and PS2 games is irresistible. I've done some research, but not enough to really reassure me. Between the three technologies (DVD+RW, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM), and the various companies making burners, I'm not sure what to get. Any ideas on which format is going to prevail? Anybody know which burners are the ones-to-get?"

Comments

Pioneer A03

[cymru1]

The pioneer-A03 is very nice, not too extortionate and can burn dvd's that are readable in standalone players

Re:Pioneer A03

[Judg3]

I second that motion. We've used several diffrent DVD burners and by all means the Pioneer DVR-A03 has to be the best of em.

We where using one of their older drives that required the "DVD Media for Authoring". Those are 4-5 times more expenisve then the "DVD media for general use" the A03 supports. A 4.7GB DVD-RW sells for only 11$ over at CDW versus 25$ for the other, 4.7Gb DVD for Authoring.

no to RAM

[heliocentric]

I have a DVD-RAM drive, and although it's great for my needs (storing mpegs from a survelance camera) the media is locked in what are basically fat 5.25" floppy disk like jackets - read: won't go well in your PS2, etc... Drive works great and the media prices sure have come down, but I don't think this product's feature set intersects your needs.

Pirates know Best

[TheDarkRogue]

Again, i'm not one to advertise, but GameCopyWorld and their daughter sites are imo the best for information on stuff like this. They are the ones that lead me to my decision on which CDRW to buy and I have been nothing but happy with it. You can find a link to a DVD Comparison of theirs Here which gives a comparison between them and different drives and such. They will also give you links and info on DVD Backup software that you can use.

GO with the Pioneer or Panasonic (Matsushita)

[Llama Keeper]

I consult for a video production company that has 2 DVD-R(W) drives. We test drove 5 different drives and settled on 2. We have a Pioneer DVR-103 (thats the "superdrive" thats in the new Apples) and a Matsushita LF-D310.

We use the drives for a couple of different things, permament archiving of Data, outputting video when it won't fit on a CD, and we have one in house production that we sell on DVD which we burn in house (1-2 copies a month).

I like the Pioneer because it burns at 2 speed, and reads and writes DVD-RW. It however is finicky about firmware versions, and doens't like to do more than 3 or 4 multiple copies.

The Matsushita accepts DVD-RAM and DVD-R (Both formats) and I really like that feature. It however only burns and 1 speed and I always have to do a test burn. I would recomend the Pioneer over the Matsushita for the average person, because DVD-RAM media is so expensive.

Shop around when looking for DVD-R media, if you buy in bulk (more than 10 units) you can often get media for $6 a piece. E-mail me if you need a link to buy the media.