I want a dvd writer drive...

purplemoon

Is there anything I should look out for, and where should I look for a good deal?
Cheers

simsun

purplemoon,

As with most pieces of PC hardware the prices are coming down at an alarming rate.

You really should be looking at your budget first of all and see how much you can afford to spend.

As for features well you could really do with getting a Dual Format (will wirte both DVD + and DVD - disks) and if you can afford it, Dual Layer (this will allow you to write almost 10GBs worth of data onto a single disk). This will ensure that your drive becomes 'old' in the next few months.

The down side to Dual Layer is that presently the media is quite expensive.

The fastest Dual Format Drives I have seen are around 12x + / 8x -, compared with 52x CD Writers, but are reasonably priced from around £60 up. A local PC supplier to me has the ARTEC 12 x DVD + R Dual Format Writer, Retail Boxed for £75 inc VAT. Their website address is https://www.falconcomputers.co.uk, you could also try https://www.cclcomputers.co.uk

HTH

cheers
simsun

Donnie

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/home.html

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/home/

onzey

Never used this company but came across this link on another forum. I think they are some of the latest drives around.

http://www.burn-media.co.uk/acatalog/DVD_RW_Drives.html



Also svp are having a 99p delivery (orders over £30) weekend if you join the Buyers club(free).

http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/Hardware_Section__.html

purplemoon

Thanks for the advice. We found found dual format, dual layer drives around £55+. Still looking.

simsun

I've just found these dual writers from Ebuyer. Some have a long order time tho, so choose wisely.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=1201875889&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=62271

Apologies for the long link!

HTH

cheers
simsun

purplemoon

Ebuyer looks good, cheers. I've not bought anything from them before, but they look like they could also be good for the sound card, hard drive and TFT screen that we're after.... The dvd re-writer is the top priority, though.

wyatt_earp_2

I can vouch for the drive at the link below. It's from NEC and is both dual-layer & dual-format.

With windows XP you just open your case, screw it in, plug it in and restart windows. It self installs drivers from Windows automatically.

I have bought lots from E-buyer with no probs.

Take a look at this link.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=62725
Regards
Wyatt

purplemoon

...that was the one I was looking at! I just want to run it by my partner before buying and he's not around. We use windows ME- surely that's ok, just a bit trickier setting up?

chalky_bertie

BIT OF A NOVICE - do you need special discs for recording? would they work on windows me, and a computer thats 3 years old and slowish? can you record music on to the same disc or are 2 different types of discs required - one for cd music and one for dvd playing?

Does this make sense or am i talking stupid?

callmeroy

Do you need special disks for recording?

Yes. Either recordable CDs or DVDs. I won't confuse you with the various formats right now.

ME and a Slow 3yr old computer.

It'll be slow (stating the obvious) but you can do it.

Can you record music....?

Depends on where you intend playing back the disk.

If it's to be played back on a CD drive, it needs to be a CD. If you're going to play it on a DVD drive, then it can be either CD or DVD.