DVD/CD writer - do any brands last?

[me]

Looking for recommendations for a brand of DVD/CD reader/writer. Seems
like all those I've purchased, regardless of name brand, die in a
coupe years. Are there any that last longer? I see some LG & Samsung
for low prices, are they junk or just as good as the rest of the
crowd?

FWIW, this is for an IDE interface.

Thanks,

 

[Frank Williams]

Looking for recommendations for a brand of DVD/CD reader/writer. Seems
like all those I've purchased, regardless of name brand, die in a
coupe years. Are there any that last longer? I see some LG & Samsung
for low prices, are they junk or just as good as the rest of the
crowd?

FWIW, this is for an IDE interface.

Thanks,

Stay away from the Junk that you list and go for Pioneer or Panasonic..

I have a old Liteon that seems to last for ever.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> me

Looking for recommendations for a brand of DVD/CD reader/writer. Seems
like all those I've purchased, regardless of name brand, die in a
coupe years. Are there any that last longer? I see some LG & Samsung
for low prices, are they junk or just as good as the rest of the
crowd?

FWIW, this is for an IDE interface.

I've got a couple LGs here that have warranty stickers from 2006, and
the one I got rid of to buy one of these was probably two years older
and is still going.

Antidotal, but I'd buy LG again.

 

[Bob Willard]

Looking for recommendations for a brand of DVD/CD reader/writer. Seems
like all those I've purchased, regardless of name brand, die in a
coupe years. Are there any that last longer? I see some LG & Samsung
for low prices, are they junk or just as good as the rest of the
crowd?

FWIW, this is for an IDE interface.

Thanks,

All CD/DVD devices are prone to die due to dirt & dust, which can
coat the lens. If your environment is not air-conditioned, or if
people are allowed to smoke, then your optical devices are likely
to die early.

 

[me]

All CD/DVD devices are prone to die due to dirt & dust, which can
coat the lens. If your environment is not air-conditioned, or if
people are allowed to smoke, then your optical devices are likely
to die early.

Bob:

Are you suggesting that a simple lens cleaning might restore errant
devices? I don't have smoke, but I do have dust, and a "test" device
causing issues right now (the subject to be replaced) that I could run
a pilot on.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> me

Are you suggesting that a simple lens cleaning might restore errant
devices? I don't have smoke, but I do have dust, and a "test" device
causing issues right now (the subject to be replaced) that I could run
a pilot on.

If the device is destined for the trash anyway there is little harm in
trying.

 

[Rod Speed]

Looking for recommendations for a brand of DVD/CD reader/writer.
Seems like all those I've purchased, regardless of name brand, die
in a coupe years. Are there any that last longer?

I havent had any of my LGs die and they arent as picky about the media as many too.

I see some LG & Samsung for low prices, are they junk or just as good as the rest of the crowd?

The LGs are better than most.

 

[Rod Speed]

Frank Williams wrote

Stay away from the Junk that you list and go for Pioneer or Panasonic..

I have in fact had a Pioneer die and the LG that replaced it last forever.

 

[Rod Speed]

Bob Willard wrote

me wrote

All CD/DVD devices are prone to die due to dirt & dust, which can
coat the lens. If your environment is not air-conditioned, or if people are allowed to smoke, then your optical
devices are likely to die early.

Its not die so much with smokers, the smoke just
coats the lense eventually and can be cleaned off.

 

[Rod Speed]

me wrote

Are you suggesting that a simple lens cleaning might restore errant devices?

Yes, with smokers.

I don't have smoke,

Then that isnt your problem.

but I do have dust, and a "test" device causing issues right
now (the subject to be replaced) that I could run a pilot on.

Wouldnt hurt to try cleaning the lense, but it isnt likely to help if you arent a smoker.

 

[gumby]

Stay away from the Junk that you list and go for Pioneer or Panasonic..

I have a old Liteon that seems to last for ever.

You have just been lucky because they are all junk. That is why they are
cheap to buy, just like women's pantyhose are designed to not last the
same can be said of DVD-RW drives.

 

[gumby]

Its not die so much with smokers, the smoke just
coats the lense eventually and can be cleaned off.

How do you clean the lens properly? I have a lens cleaning cdrom but it
is just a delicate brush glued to the cdrom and that is not going to
remove cigarette smoke. I just replaced a DVD-RW with a new one
yesterday because it was having issues reading some disks and I do smoke.

 

[Rod Speed]

gumby wrote

Rod Speed wrote

How do you clean the lens properly?

I personally open the drive and use isopropanol on a
bit of cloth etc and am careful to not damage the head
mounting mechanism which is very easy to damage.

I have a lens cleaning cdrom but it is just a delicate brush glued to the cdrom and that is not going to remove
cigarette smoke.

It might do if you wet it with isopropanol first.

I just replaced a DVD-RW with a new one yesterday because it was having issues reading some disks and I do smoke.

Yeah, smoking produces that result with optical drives eventually.

Its amazing where the smoke gets to, a smoker's system
stands out like dogs balls when you open it, its obvious
which are smoker's systems from the smell alone.

You should see what its done to your lungs.

 

[Grant]

gumby wrote


I personally open the drive and use isopropanol on a
bit of cloth etc and am careful to not damage the head
mounting mechanism which is very easy to damage.

Plastic lens, isn't it? Be very gentle...

It might do if you wet it with isopropanol first.


Yeah, smoking produces that result with optical drives eventually.

Its amazing where the smoke gets to, a smoker's system
stands out like dogs balls when you open it, its obvious
which are smoker's systems from the smell alone.

You should see what its done to your lungs.

Ex-smoker Rod?

Grant.

 

[Rod Speed]

Grant wrote

Plastic lens, isn't it?
Yes.

Be very gentle...

Ex-smoker Rod?

Nope.

 

[Bob Willard]

Bob:

Are you suggesting that a simple lens cleaning might restore errant
devices? I don't have smoke, but I do have dust, and a "test" device
causing issues right now (the subject to be replaced) that I could run
a pilot on.

Maybe. I did have some luck cleaning the lens on one CDROM, using
isopropanol applied with Qtips. But given that optical stuff gets
better every year (like HDs), by the time your optical widget dies
you will probably want this year's version instead.

And, tobacco smoke is not the only culprit for coating a lens;
think about all those laptops in kitchens, parked next to the
fryolator.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> Bob Willard

Maybe. I did have some luck cleaning the lens on one CDROM, using
isopropanol applied with Qtips. But given that optical stuff gets
better every year (like HDs), by the time your optical widget dies
you will probably want this year's version instead.

To a point, this was true. However modern optical drives don't seem to
be substantially better than 2 year old drives at this point.

I think it's largely due to some physics limits in terms of how fast you
can spin cheap disks and how much vibration can be absorbed.

 

[Bob Willard]

In message <[email protected]> Bob Willard


To a point, this was true. However modern optical drives don't seem to
be substantially better than 2 year old drives at this point.

I think it's largely due to some physics limits in terms of how fast you
can spin cheap disks and how much vibration can be absorbed.

Well, the next generation (meaning the stuff that I can't yet afford)
is Blu-ray, and then comes multi-layer Blu-ray, and there will likely
be shorter wavelength LASERs beyond that to crank up the areal density
some more. I doubt if we have reached the absolute physical limits.
And, as long as optical widgets are a preferred medium for backing up
HDs, the ever-increasing areal density of HDs will supply market
demand for ever-larger optical devices -- even if Hollywood doesn't.

 

[DevilsPGD]

In message <[email protected]> Bob Willard

Well, the next generation (meaning the stuff that I can't yet afford)
is Blu-ray, and then comes multi-layer Blu-ray, and there will likely
be shorter wavelength LASERs beyond that to crank up the areal density
some more. I doubt if we have reached the absolute physical limits.

From what I understand, we're already about at the physical limits in
terms of rotational speeds existing disks can handle. Sure, many can
spin faster, but IIRC there were some fears of certain older disks
cracking and whatnot. That being said, it's easy enough to make design
tweaks going forward, adding a media speed indicator so that drives
would know what speed a disc is rated to handle.

Obviously high density can be accomplished, and ultimately our optical
media is still two-dimensional, moving to three dimensional formats will
open up a lot of higher density options (which also offers far higher
throughput if the same rotational speeds can be achieved -- If nothing
else, this moves the bottleneck to an area that is more easily
addressed)

However, my point was more that my 2-3 year old drives are still on par
with modern CDR/DVDR drives, there's no advancements that make them
worth replacing other than Bluray (which I don't really look at as an
"advancement" on current drives, as much as a new format entirely)

While I expect I'll have optical drives for the foreseeable future, in
my world optical drives are heading the way of the floppy. Oh, and yes
I still have a 3.5" floppy drive too. My optical drives get nearly as
much use as the floppy, which is to say none.

Between higher broadband penetration, flash media becoming so cheap, and
cloud computing slowly making inroads, I don't think we'll see much
beyond Bluray.

 

[Arno]

In message <[email protected]> Bob Willard

To a point, this was true. However modern optical drives don't seem to
be substantially better than 2 year old drives at this point.

I agree. There was a test in the lat issue of c't (they do
very thourough burn quality measurements with specialized
disk analysis equipment), and it seems burn quality has been
static the last few years and is not very good in general.

I think it's largely due to some physics limits in terms of
how fast you can spin cheap disks and how much vibration can
be absorbed.

Also the burner firmware needs to know a specific disk model
to set the right parameters. This requires expensive tests
and frequent updates. Seems most vendors are not willing to
invest the effort.

The only reasonable burner c't identified was a Plextor
PX-8805A, with only bad (not very bad) CD writing quality,
average DVD writing quality and very good CD and DVD reading.
All others (Samsung, LG, Asus, Lite-On) were even worse.
INterestingly this seems to really be a formware issue, as
two other burners had the same hardware as the Plextor
(not made by Plextor, incidentially), but apparently
significantly worse firmware.

Arno