Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 9/13/2003, 10:34 AM
Neither is better. The internal variety slides into an empty slot in the front of your PC and runs off its internal power. The external kind come in various flavors, firewire, USB... they usually require their own external power supply. If there is an advantage, they can be easily moved from one PC to another. You pay a premium for an external model. It will take up room on your desk or somehwhere.

Today the newer models burn both R- and R+ media. If I was getting a new burner, I'd buy one that handled both rather than picking one over the other.
riredale wrote on 9/13/2003, 4:32 PM
I guess the only thing I would say that differs from BB is that I would go for whatever is cheapest at the moment. For example, I saw a +R burner for $139 a few weeks ago, and this week you can get a -R burner for $150. From what I've seen on www.dvdrhelp.com, the -R is a bit more compatible with existing players, but the two are pretty close. I would expect -R media to be cheaper, since there is a larger installed base of -R burners. I have a Cendyne/Pioneer -05 burner, purchased last winter for $149. Works great. I have no desire to get a dual +- burner, since before long either type of disk will work fine in every player.

As for external versus internal, keep in mind you can convert an internal drive into an external one by buying an ADS Pyro enclosure for about $100. If you have a need to move a burner around among various PCs, this might make sense; otherwise, I'd go for the internal installation, since it's simpler.

Do a search on this board for DVD burners. There's a lot of information here.

I love Ritek G04 DVD-R blanks. They burn at 4x, are very highly regarded, and cost only about $1.50 each in quantities of 25+.