Topic: DVD drive - recommend one for ripping CDs (Read 7762 times)

Listener · « **on:** August 15, 2006, 01:17:43 pm »

(I asked for a recommendation for a fast DVD drive for ripping with MC 11 in the other hardware forum a few days ago. No reply, so I'll ask on the Media Center Forum.)

I'm about to build a new PC so I'd like to get a DVD drive that will work well with MC 11 in secure ripping mode. (fast and accurate!)

I have been using the internal DVD drive in a laptop (P4 2.8 GHz and 512 MB ram) and getting 2-2.5X overall speed. Using a new Lite-On USB DVD drive on the same laptop go me to 3X.

Any recommendations for something faster?

Bill

glynor · « **Reply #1 on:** August 15, 2006, 07:59:24 pm »

This is the only drive I'd recommend right now. I have three of them I like them so much...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

NEC 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner -- $30

Listener · « **Reply #2 on:** August 15, 2006, 08:24:40 pm »

Thanks for the specific recommendation.

I've been reading user reviews of DVD drives on newegg.com for days and finding it scary. Most of the drives listed have quite a list of negative reviews - DOA, died in a few months, makes only coasters, etc. I imagine that people with serious problems ar efar more likely to write a review but it is still rather scary.

So thanks for passing on your real-world experience.

Bill

Krazykanuck · « **Reply #3 on:** August 15, 2006, 09:05:46 pm »

I've been using LG drives in any builds/upgrades for a while now without problems.
I tend to stick with a brand until it gives somebody a problem and that hasn't happend yet.

hit_ny · « **Reply #4 on:** August 15, 2006, 09:34:18 pm »

http://club.cdfreaks.com/

THE place to go for such matters.

Spend a month reading there..

glynor · « **Reply #5 on:** August 15, 2006, 11:13:04 pm »

I read LOTS of reviews at a wide variety of places (including CDFreaks) to come up with that NEC drive. It's not the newest thing out there, and BENQ also makes some very nice drives, but it's cheap and very reliable. Doesn't burn many coasters, wide compatibility, low error rate for burning, and rips like a charm.

Like I said... Can't speak for others, but I have three of them with no problems.

(I can't say the same for the Pioneer 109 that was getting such rave reviews for a while there. Nothing but problems with that sucker.)

GHammer · « **Reply #6 on:** August 16, 2006, 12:32:29 am »

Quote from: glynor on August 15, 2006, 11:13:04 pm

(I can't say the same for the Pioneer 109 that was getting such rave reviews for a while there. Nothing but problems with that sucker.)

Likewise. Worst hardware I've had in quite awhile. Back to Plextor for me.

hit_ny · « **Reply #7 on:** August 16, 2006, 04:23:24 am »

Orig poster asks about ripping ?

ripping what ? CDs, DVDs, Games ?

cdfreaks taught me there are different drives for different tasks.

For ripping just about anything i'm told in general Lite-Ons are the most tolerant, check the board for which, folowed by LG & NEC. Again here the difference is a hairs. Games are slightly different, LG & NEC might be better here.

For writing and verifying the write, BenQ & slightly lower down are Lite-oN for the simple reason their firmware allows to test the quality of the write. Plextor can do it too but its twice the price and not worth it imo.

After reading that board i settled on a BenQ and am quite pleased with it. Since i was most concerned about a writer being good at writing and verifying the job after.

Pioneer hehe, i too thought that was a very good writer to have, dunno why, they make decent audio equipment, wouldn't the same apply for their other products as well.

..but nobody seemed to rave about it that much.

dcwebman · « **Reply #8 on:** August 16, 2006, 07:55:27 am »

I have to agree with glynor. I have had a NEC 16X drive (don't know if it's the same model number) for quite awhile now and haven't had any problems. I know I paid more than $30 for it though!

In fact I have a regular CD burner drive in the same computer and ended up getting more accurate ripping through the NEC DVD drive so have switched exclusively to that.

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #9 on:** August 16, 2006, 07:57:25 am »

Quote from: GHammer on August 16, 2006, 12:32:29 am

Likewise. Worst hardware I've had in quite awhile. Back to Plextor for me.

Same again on the Pioneers, it's a shame cuz they make fairly nice car stereos.

LonWar · « **Reply #10 on:** August 16, 2006, 08:01:09 am »

I've tried most of the drives out there.

I prefer the Plextor's. I have not come across a cd evern protected one that I couldn't rip.
Plextor drives don't seem to recognise most CP.

Specifically, if you can get your paws on PX-716A then grab it... 8MB CACHE!!

http://www.plextor.com/english/products/716A.htm

glynor · « **Reply #11 on:** August 16, 2006, 08:52:37 am »

Plextor does make very nice drives, but I agree with hit_ny.... Too rich for my blood. Generally, I too go with BenQ or LiteOn drives, but that particular NEC drive is just super-sweet. It has basically all the same features as the comparable LiteOn drives (I think the newest BenQ drive might be a tad better, but I haven't had any experience with it personally so I can't speak to reliability).

Pioneer. It's just sad. They used to have the best CD-Rom and DVD-Rom drives back in the day. I still have an older DVD-Rom of theirs (a slot loader) that'll read anything you throw at it (except DVD+RWs which weren't yet available when the drive came out). Their quality has just gone way downhill.

The bad thing was that all of the initial reviews of it were spectacular. Gotta be careful with those. Companies send the reviewers hand-picked samples with individually tweaked firmware versions...

Listener · « **Reply #12 on:** August 16, 2006, 02:45:38 pm »

Quote from: hit_ny on August 16, 2006, 04:23:24 am

Orig poster asks about ripping ?

ripping what ? CDs, DVDs, Games ?

Sorry, I lost track of this thread when it was towed back to the Other Hardware forum.

My main interest is in ripping music CDs. I will probably back up my music files to DVDs in addtion to having a hard Disk backup but that is a lesser criterion.

I got a Liteon 1673 USB DVD driver in hopes that it would be faster than the internal drive in my laptop. It is a bit faster but no miracle. Having a second drive is a big win though. I can type in my tag info using the laptop's internal drive while I'm ripping another CD on the USB drive.

I plan to use the USB DVD drive on the desktop PC in the same way. I'm hoping that the drive I buy based on your recommendations will faster.

Thanks to everyone for the info so far.

Bill

hit_ny · « **Reply #13 on:** August 17, 2006, 07:55:23 am »

Quote from: glynor on August 16, 2006, 08:52:37 am

Plextor does make very nice drives, but I agree with hit_ny.... Too rich for my blood. Generally, I too go with BenQ or LiteOn drives, but that particular NEC drive is just super-sweet. It has basically all the same features as the comparable LiteOn drives (I think the newest BenQ drive might be a tad better, but I haven't had any experience with it personally so I can't speak to reliability).

NECs don't allow to verify the write quality. This was the main factor i used to elliminate contenders.

The reason i dont see the point of a Plextor is if you can verify the write at any point in time after its done, you know how to tweak for speed & brand. Ultimately what you care about it being able to retrieve the data in the future.

BenQ Optical storage division has been bought by Lite-On, so lets see what their next drive will be like.

Quote from: glynor on August 16, 2006, 08:52:37 am

The bad thing was that all of the initial reviews of it were spectacular. Gotta be careful with those. Companies send the reviewers hand-picked samples with individually tweaked firmware versions...

One of the main reasons i prefer user reviews or forum feedback. But weeding out bias..is still tricky.

If speedy rips is what you're after, you might want to look up Test & Copy (re:GHammer) in EAC using your current drive. Provided the CDs are in good order, you might find you get a faster rip.

Listener · « **Reply #14 on:** August 17, 2006, 06:26:06 pm »

Quote from: hit_ny on August 17, 2006, 07:55:23 am

If speedy rips is what you're after, you might want to look up Test & Copy (re:GHammer) in EAC using your current drive. Provided the CDs are in good order, you might find you get a faster rip.

I found this in a recent post by GHammer:

"Personally, I like EACs copy and test mode. It allows me to rip at high speed and if there is an error I will see that the CRC did not match and can rip the track again in secure mode."

I started out using EAC with Secure Mode set in the drive options dialog and selecting Test&Copy selected Tracks from the Actions menu. Later I switched to MC 11 secure mode. Not much difference in speed between EAC and MC 11 with these settings.

Perhaps GHammer was suggesting using Burst mode or Synchronized Modes in EAC with the Test&Copy ... command. I have not tried that.

Bill

hit_ny · « **Reply #15 on:** August 18, 2006, 09:33:05 am »

Yes, in Burst mode as there is no error checking done so much faster.

Listener · « **Reply #16 on:** August 18, 2006, 07:08:25 pm »

After your previous post, I did a little experiment. I took two CDs and ripped them using EAC in Burst Mode using Test&Copy and then Secure Mode using Test&Copy.

CD 1 - 12 tracks. All were ripped successfully by MC 11 in secure mode

Eac Burst / Test&Copy
1st time - Tracks 1-10 had matching CRC values.
Tracks 11 and 12 had unmatched CRC values.

2nd time - Tracks 1-10 had matching CDC values (same values as 1st time.)
Track 11 had matched CRC values this time. That value matched one of
the values from 1st time.

Track 12 had unmatched CRC values. One of those values matched one
of the value from 1st time.

EAC Secure / Test&Copy
all 12 tracks were ripped with matching CRC values. Values for tracks 1-11
agreed with those from 2nd try with Burst mode.

CD 2 - 10 tracks. I had tried to rip this CD a week or two ago. Neither MC 11 in secure mode nor EAC in secure mode / Test & Copy could complete the first track in 0.1X time. CDex in paronoia mode had ripped the entire CD without apparent noises.

EAC Burst Mode / Test&Copy - Lots of errors on Tracks 1 and 2 but Tracks 3-10 were ripped with matching CRC values. For a CD that could not be ripped with MC 11 in secure mode, using EAC with Burst Mode Test&Copy might be another useful tool.

Bill

Listener · « **Reply #17 on:** November 01, 2006, 02:42:10 pm »

Since I last posted on this thread, I bought all the parts and assembled a computer to play music using MC.

The NEC 3550a drive worked just long enough for me to install Win XP and some drivers. The motherboard relies on a non Intel chip for IDE support so it is possible that that is my problem. It seems more likely that the drive just doesn't work.

I wanted to finish ripping the rest of my CD collection so I just used a Liteon USB DVD drive to rip CDs. Now I'm trying to get around to returning the NEC drive.

Thanks to everyone who shared your experience and advice.

Bill

InflatableMouse · « **Reply #18 on:** November 04, 2006, 02:01:59 am »

NEC's are good but I have trouble with burnspeeds on unrecognized media too often.

Funny you guys have issues with pioneer cos the latest drive I got is a Pioneer 111d. I think its an excellent drive and it supports mediacodes my NECs won't. Never had a Pioneer before so I wouldnt know about previous models.

My other drive is a plextor 716a. Good drive also but too expensive IMO.

newsposter · « **Reply #19 on:** November 04, 2006, 05:19:43 pm »

I have a stack of Samsung SpinWriters and Writemasters here that have run for 2+ years with no problem. No coasters that I couldn't track back to cheap/slow media.

But then I only run my rippers/writers on 1384, USB is too unforgiving of transient parity errors for my taste. I have no 'internal' drives, all of my machines have a good 1384 card and can boot from 1384-connected optical drives.

I rip with MC11, write with Nero 6 and 7.

I's not just a case of getting what you pay for in a drive. You have to understand the plusses and minuses of IDE/ATA connections as well as USB and 1384 to get the most out of any kind of storage including optical.

glynor · « **Reply #20 on:** November 07, 2006, 11:05:05 am »

Quote from: InflatableMouse on November 04, 2006, 02:01:59 am

NEC's are good but I have trouble with burnspeeds on unrecognized media too often.

Funny you guys have issues with pioneer cos the latest drive I got is a Pioneer 111d. I think its an excellent drive and it supports mediacodes my NECs won't. Never had a Pioneer before so I wouldnt know about previous models.

My other drive is a plextor 716a. Good drive also but too expensive IMO.

I haven't tried the Pioneer 111, but the 109 was the most ridiculously terrible burner I've ever used. I had three different ones (I kept RMAing them hoping I'd get a good one, and finally broke down and bought a Plextor 716a). I tried them (the 109s) in at least 4 different computers (including a mac and three windows machines).

First off, about 1 of every 6 burns would "crash" and I wouldn't be able to eject the disc or get it to stop spinning unless I completely rebooted the machine. More importantly though, the DVD-R discs it would burn (despite trying with a wide variety of recommended and high-quality media) couldn't be read by: any IBM thinkpad, any MPC laptop (we use those at work), many Dell Latitude laptops, most PowerMac G4 DVD drives, and a wide variety of other systems.

I like my NEC drives. If I need to do anything fancy, I use the Plextor 716A. Generally, this isn't necessary though, and I stick to one brand of high-quality media that I buy in bulk.

Mr ChriZ · « **Reply #21 on:** November 07, 2006, 01:05:38 pm »

My 2 NEC's are still going strong, over a year old now I think.
One of them is burning around 15 CD's a week.

glynor · « **Reply #22 on:** November 07, 2006, 02:06:25 pm »

I have one that burns a solid 100-150 per week and it's been going strong for about a year, and spits out relatively few coasters.

I also really like my new Plextor 716a (in my BravoII duplicator). Much, much, much better than that craptastic Pioneer 109.

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Author Topic: DVD drive - recommend one for ripping CDs (Read 7762 times)