I'm looking for a good DVD burner in the $40 range. I have purchased an NEC 3550A and it works well for me. The new drive is going in a PC to replace a Sony DRU-710A. I've also heard that Lite On & Plextor are good brands. My question is what is the best drive for $40. I've narrowed my search to:
Lite On Burner
or
NEC 3550A

The praised Plextor drives seem to be the higher priced models. Any other suggestions are welcome.

I have a Plextor burner model PX-708A and I hate it. It's great for playing DVD's and burning CD's, it's quiet, and it came nicely bundled with software. But, I have always struggled to get it to burn DVD's. It makes as many coasters as working discs.

Plus, when I first started having trouble and I called tech support, they are all about blaming everything else. First call, I was told to run the self diagnostic (it passed but I still had problems). Second call, they made me go out and buy both +R and -R media that's on their recommended list (recommended media still didn't work). Third call, they made me download a utility that checked the 'recommended' media because the name on the discs isn't necessarily the real manufacturer (manufacturer was ok). Fourth call, they had me move it from the primary IDE channel to the secondary IDE channel because their drives "don't like being on channel 1 and they don't like being slaves" (still had problems). On my fifth call, the tech suggested that I switch it to PIO mode and it finally worked, even though it takes an HOUR to burn a single disc. Tech support declared it "problem solved" and that's where I was left.

Through all of the trouble shooting, I burned up the time that would allow me to return the drive for a replacement. Back then (2003), this drive was $160 and media was still expensive so I didn't bother buying a new drive and taking the loss. The drive is currently in it's second computer and the problems never went away.

Long story short, Plextor drives may have improved in reliability, but I doubt their customer support is any better. They'll blame everything but the drive. I see the newer Plextor's are still demanding a premium price $100-$150. I don't have experience with Lite-On or NEC, but I was considering buying one or the other now that they're $40 so I can finally rip out that POS Plextor.

RP

It sounds like that was quite a nightmare. I can't see paying over a hundred dollars for a plextor drive when the NECs and Lite-Ons are so cheap and get their share of praise. Who knows if those reviews are posted by the manufacturers and their lackeys though. I guess that's why I'm here. Good CS info on Plextor.

I'd get the NEC. I have an older LITE-ON 851S which I use just to play dvds now. I've burned fifty very high quality blanks (Taiyo Yuden) with the drive but almost all of the disks had so many errors that they were unreadable.

Oh yeah, I also have the NEC your thinking about purchasing again and it works well for me also.

I see BenQ and Samsung have drives in the $40 range. How do they compare with NEC and Lite-On? Which one has the best track record, which one is fastest, and which is the quietest? Anyone?

A couple of people in my office have used BenQ drives in recent builds and had problems after about a month. The price drew them in. They said the drives were very tempramental when it came to media as well. I've never owned one though.

I'd get the NEC. I currently use the previous model (3520?) and it has worked like a dream ever since I installed it over a year ago. Never a coaster. I ordered the 3550A for my brother earlier today and I expect it to just as good. I settled on the NEC because, when I purchased mine, it continually outperformed most other burners and was an exceptional value. I haven't heard of any real changes since then, so I suggest the NEC 3550A.

I've been leaning toward the NEC burner. I do currently have one and it has performed well over the month I've had it, but what does a month really tell you. An OEM NEC 3550A sounds like the winner at $38 shipped.

Unbelievable! Not a single mention of the fact that Lite-On quality has suffered in the last few years. NO mention of LG what-so-ever! Plextor makes excellent DVD burners, but they are over priced and picky on what motherboards they like. LG on newegg in black is 39.95 plus S&H, used them in multiple builds, not had a problem yet.

I have two of those NEC's and I have NEVER had any issue whatsoever

Smooth as glass and worth every penny

That's too bad about Lite-On quality. I have a Lite-On CD burner that's 6 years old and runs like it's new. I have a feeling that Plextors are a lot like sports cars- you pay a lot for what you get and you have to use high octane media for it to run right. The problem is, most people just want a reliable Honda that gets you from A to B without a lot of fuss.

I forgot about LG, they do make pretty good stuff. AOpen is another $40 burner out there and it wasn't mentioned either. Does THG have a chart comparing budget drives?

I was under the impression that LG was relatively new the burner scene. Is this the case? I guess nothing says a new entrant can't make a quality product. I dismissed them because I didn't think they were an established manufacturer.