New DVD Drive

[Astra]

I would like to buy a new DVD drive.
Quality is no.1.

I thought about PX-760A/PX-760SA

IDE vs. SATA?

Should I go for IDE or SATA? Is this plextor drive any good? Are there known issues with it?

or maybe I should go for 3 times cheaper drive such as http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/125208 ?

My system is not very up-to-date. AMD Venice 3500, 2G=2x1G Crucial RAM, Gigabyte Nforce3 motherboard, 1 SATA-1 200G WD and 1 IDE 120G WD.

Thank you in advance.
A.

 

[bashPenguin]

IDE or SATA is basically a matter of personal preference. SATA is definitely not a necessary interface for optical drives, but the smaller SATA cable is very nice. You get a larger selection of drives (currently) with IDE. There may be technical differences of having a SATA vs. IDE drive, but it may just be attributable to the drive itself (not 100% sure).

I don't know what you can select from over the in the UK, but personally, for SATA, I'd choose a Pioneer DVR-212D first due to its write quality for on good media.

For IDE, Pioneer DVR-111D/DVR-112D.

Plextor's a quality brand, but too expensive for my optical drive tastes.

 

[Astra]

I have received Pioneer DVR 112 BK.

Even though people said it is not as loud as LiteOn I understand now what a quiet drive means. That's what my Plextor 712A is. I almost didn't hear it and took it for granted

while pioneer even at 12x is like a car.

I am not over impressed with its burning tests.
18x straight to the bin. By mistake I burned the first DVD5 with it.
16x is ...tolerable but not even close to plextor 12x.
12x is almost as good as plextor 8-12x. Most likely it is going to be the speed of my choice.

I have not tested DL yet, waiting for the parcel.

The only media I use is Verbatim.

Anyway, I am planning to build a super duper PC toward Christmas. I have never had a really powerful PC, sort of up-to-date. So, most likely I will buy plextor then. This one is fine for a price of 20 quid ~ $35

only, which is roughly 1/3 of plextor 760.

 

[bashPenguin]

Ah, I haven't used Verbatim media in a long while - all my burns are usually done on Taiyo Yuden discs, which I have found Pioneers are pretty good with.

Good to hear it's working decently for you, and that a Plextor is around the corner. Still, too much for my blood.

 

[TechHead]

I have received Pioneer DVR 112 BK.

Even though people said it is not as loud as LiteOn I understand now what a quiet drive means. That's what my Plextor 712A is. I almost didn't hear it and took it for granted

while pioneer even at 12x is like a car.

I am not over impressed with its burning tests.
18x straight to the bin. By mistake I burned the first DVD5 with it.
16x is ...tolerable but not even close to plextor 12x.
12x is almost as good as plextor 8-12x. Most likely it is going to be the speed of my choice.

I have not tested DL yet, waiting for the parcel.

The only media I use is Verbatim.

Anyway, I am planning to build a super duper PC toward Christmas. I have never had a really powerful PC, sort of up-to-date. So, most likely I will buy plextor then. This one is fine for a price of 20 quid ~ $35

only, which is roughly 1/3 of plextor 760.

Out of curiosity.. what metrics are you using to be "impressed" or "unimpressed" with the burning tests?