For those who missed the Pikaone....

TheChillPill

I can back up the NEC recommendation - I have the 3500A myself and it will handle anything I throw at it.

The Panasonics in the same price bracket can be a bit more picky about what they handle, and most of the cheap ones handle pretty much anything.

If you want something that will handle anything, but also want a good brand name, the NEC gets my vote.

Niggy_2

Thanks TheChillPill, I've just found the black NEC for £36.57 inc p&p from Savastore – quite a bit cheaper than SVP – anyone used Savastore before? Seems like a bargain!!!!!

http://www.savastore.com/productinfo/product.aspx?catalog_name=Savastore&product_id=10279703&pid=45&tid=279

TheChillPill

Without sounding like the voice of doom, be careful with savastore - they are part of watford, aka watfraud.

Having said that, they do alot of business so I guess the number of complaints is going to go up relative to the amount of business they do.

Can't find a better price than that though

Mark_Ice

caverncity wrote:

I bought the Pikaone @ £29.99 from Amazon and its still in its box never used, Just after I bought it I bought a new dell with a DVD writer in it hence no reason for it now. Stuck it on ebay for what I paid as it is still cheap and never got any bids. What a waste of money. :doh:

Might try a carboot instead.

Let me know if you get no joy cav, my mates looking for one.... script kiddie wants to play around with the firmware....

Hintza

£41.32 delivered here:-


http://www.pless.co.uk/customer/home.php?cat=64

Glasgow company and well regarded by those in the know.

AlanS

Niggy wrote:

Need to get a faster DVD writer (got a shed load of 8x disks but only a 4x drive) and thought I might as well get a dual-layer whilst I’m at it. This one seems quite a bargain but have been looking at the NEC 3520A for £35 (£40 for a black one + about a fiver p&p) at SVP as well http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog/drivescddvd.html

and if you're quick you can get it for 99p delivery ( www.svp.co.uk ) aka www.blankdiscshop.co.uk

I've got one of these and it's brilliant !

tryingtosave_3

There is a whole bunch in the £30-40 price range (+ about £5 p&p) from Dabs, including the NEC one mentioned above (comes in at about £40 incl).

They are listed as drive only, which might mean no software? Does anyone know?

Rave

Mark_Ice wrote:

Not the fastest writer (x16)

Actually 16x is as fast as you can read/write a DVD, any faster and the disc would be spinning too fast. This drive is not particularly fast at writing -R, RW, DL discs etc. though.

I also would recommend the 3520, apparently the latest firmware from NEC enables error scanning- I have a 3500 and had to buy a seperate DVD-Rom drive to scan my discs!:rolleyes:

itstelboy

I very much agree with the advice on the NEC 3520 an excellent drive - had mine a month now & writes eveything I throw at it, very pleased!
Anyone living around Leeds/Bradford can get them over the counter from CCL (near Tong on the A650) or online at https://www.cclonline.com for £34-77 + P&P

aghent

The following site has the NEC 3520A for £34.99 plus p&p:

SVP Communications

Worth checking out as they do all sorts at really good prices - players, recorders, disks, paper, ink you name it. Sign up for their newsletter and you become a member of their UK Buyers Club. This is great as every now again they do special prices on delivery, normally just 99p if you order over £30 worth of goods. Great for stocking up on paper, disks, inks etc.