What is the best DVD burner under $400 for your computer? I was looking at the sony? would this be a good choice??
Here is the one im talking about.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=285365&is=REG

That's the one. That's a great price.

I may have to pick up another one, I've got one of the originals, only burns at 2x.

I bought that same Sony for $179 on a whim. However, when I got home and read about DVD burners on the web, I quickly took it back and swapped it for a Pioneer DVR-A06U, which was $169. You can read over and over again that the Sony is decent, but the serious DV & DVD guys all use the Pioneer. I recommend you goto dvdrhelp.org, where you will find all the info you need, and you will probably see too that the Pioneer is the most well-respected and best value DVD burner on the market today. I have burned about 10 DVDs this week, and it works perfectly everytime. I read somewhere that Pioneer has sold over 5 million of these units, and has all of the bugs out; mine would suggest so.

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdwriters

No doubt the Pioneer is great, but I've been using my Sony for almost a year now and have probably burned about 300 DVDs without any trouble.

great, thannks dudes

I bought the external Sony 500 burner when it first came out. Knock on wood, it's still working well. And the Sony 500/510 line of DVD burners has consistently gotten good reviews.

Pioneer, as well, gets good reviews for the A05/A06 line of DVD burners. I've been thinking about getting one to replace my internal CDRW drive (and why no, I don't consider having two DVD burners to be excessive)

Your real concern will be the brand of media you purchase. Recording DVDs that will play in set-top players is not an exact science. Factors that can effect compatibility include format (+R or -R), brand, and even the application used to author the DVD. One site to search is dvdrhelp.com -- they have lots of user reviews of dvd media, dvd burners, and dvd players.

You'll see on dvdrhelp.com that Sony refuses to burn much of the cheap media, whereas the Pioneer will burn every piece-of-junk-no-name DVD-R I put into it. I've been burning up the CompUSA DVD-R that come in a stack, not on a spindle, but literally a stack of 15 discks shrinkwrapped, with nothing in between them, and only shrinkwrap protecting them from the world. They are 15 for $14 and they work perfectly in this Pioneer. However, I've also read that the Sony is really fast.

I only know all of this because I just recently poured through the web comparing Sony and Pioneer burners.

I mean compatibility in set-top players. My Sony will burn pretty much whatever I throw at it. I meant that it is some discs/formats/brands/etc compatibility with standalone DVD players that can cause problems.

Computer DVD drives are typically more forgiving, as are many "cheapo" set-top DVD players (my Mintek 1600 will play most anything you throw at it). But some players are very particular. My Toshiba 5-disc DVD player, for example, won't play certain discs, and will lock up on any DVD authored with DVD Complete. The Mintek's only weakness seems to be discs authored with DVDLab.

The Plextor burners are usually considered the very best. The newest one burns at 8X speed (with certain media).

The Pioneer is very likely more bang for your buck though. Plextor burners are expensive.

<<<-- Originally posted by Glenn Chan : The Plextor burners are usually considered the very best. >>>

Plextors have a pretty good name, but funny enough, the CDRW drive I want to replace is a Plextor -- it's starting to act up and has spit out a couple coasters...

Bryan

Have you updated your firmware...>?!

It increases your burn speed....

I've got firmware F, anything better out?

I don't know much about disk compatibilty, I went through only a couple before sticking with some Ritek printables that have never had a problem.

The DVDs I make generally are for training sessions for companies. So they can get played 5-10 times a day on any number of different brands of DVD players (whatever happens to be around).

I've not ever had a client tell me they had a compatibilty issue, these disks (-R) have played on everything.

Anybody have experience with LG-Hitachi 4040B drive?

It's the hotest deal in the moment with super low price supporting not only -R and +R but also DVD-RAM (without cartridge).

It's speed seems on paar with Pioneer A06 or other top players but it's strenght is ripping DVDs with speed nearly twice as fast.

Any experience somebody with Vegas?

I cannot compare to any other drives, but I have used the Sony DRU-510 for 5 months, and no complaints yet - well, except from being unable to dig up a drive firmware version that turns it into a region free drive.

don't forget plextor.

i have a plextor + and - drive that does 4x and i love it.

i always get plextor, never had a problem. previously i used to get other brands and the plextor is just a lot faster.

matthew