How about Plextor PX-740A?

Pioneer and Plextor make great burners. I have also had excellent results with the NEC 3520. The 3520 has been at the top of the Videohelp DVD writer ratings for quite a while.

DVD Writers at www.videohelp.com sorted by rating

The Pioneer burners use the NEC chipset and, for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that the Plextor 740 uses the Philips chipset and the drive itself is made by BenQ. In fact, for those considering the Plextor 740, you might consider just getting a BenQ 1650 drive and saving $50 or so.

You might also want to checkout out the "Optical Drive" forum here:

cdfreaks.com

All that said, I've had a series of Pioneer, Plextor, Sony and NEC burners. I have been the most satisfied with the NEC. When I need another burner, it will most likely be the NEC 3540. You can read a review here.

John

Thanks for your replies!

V

FWIW

My new NEC DVD_RW ND-3520A in an Alienware AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+ with NVIDIA super stuff was not seen by DVDA3 nor Vegas 6c when I first brought the system up a few months ago.

Sony support has been working very patiently with me over several weeks and as of this morning BOTH DVDA3 and Vegas 6c see and use the burner flawlessly. It performs very well indeed. Darryl

I have the Plextor PX-716A and have not had any problems. It is a great drive.

---
Using it with Vegas 6 & DVDA 3 though.

darryl,

Just out of curiousity, what turned out to be the problem with your 3520 and Vegas/DVDA?

John

John_Cline,

Vegas and DVDA have known problem not recognizing DVD burners with motherboards based on nVIDIA chipsets.

I have Gigabyte motherboard GA-K8NS Pro with nVIDIA nForce3 250 chipset, and niether Vegas nor DVDA 3 see my LG-4163B DVD burner.

Hmmm, I guess that's one more reason for sticking with Intel processors and chipsets...

John

Well,

Windows Media player recognizes my LG,
Nero 6 recognizes my LG,
all my DVD and video software players recognize my LG.
all other applications recognize my LG DVD drive.

Hmmmm, may be it is time for Sony to fix this problem.....

I have a duplicator full of NEC ND-3520A's. They work very well as John Cline indicated.


If you want the NEC 3540A the best price (delivered) is $44.99 from xPCgear.
Newegg is $43.99 + shipping.
John

John, Over time Sony Support worked me forward from a complete and clean reinstall of both aps, each time their new files generated logs, which I returned to them. Over the last week, Sony engineers provided me with 6 new *.dll files, one set of 3 for DVDA and one set of 3 for Vegas 6. These files WORKED and generated log files which I returned to Support. For the time being, I have renamed the original *.dll as *.dll.bak and am running the latest *.dlls which no longer generate logs. Support recommends we run this situation until completely satisfied, and then I can drop the baks.

I'm going to add a personal note: Sony/Madison Support was absolutely professional and to the point. It was frustrating for me to have such a powerful upgrade and having to workaround with Nero. But you know what? If you're having troubles such as mine, log in and put it into the works. My faith and trust in the DVDA and Vegas people is at an all-time high (which goes all the way back to VideoFactory 2.0!

Processor 1
Name: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+
Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
Caption: x86 Family 15 Model 35 Stepping 2
Version: Model 3, Stepping 2
Processor Id: 178BFBFF00020F32
Current Clock Speed: 2412MHz
Address Width: 32Bits
Data Width: 32Bits
Socket Designation: Socket 939
Processor 2
Name: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4800+
Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD
Caption: x86 Family 15 Model 35 Stepping 2
Version: Model 3, Stepping 2
Processor Id: 178BFBFF00020F32
Current Clock Speed: 2412MHz
Address Width: 32Bits
Data Width: 32Bits
Socket Designation: Socket 939

BIOS Information:
Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
Name: Phoenix - Award BIOS v6.00PG
Version: ASUS A8N-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 1011
Version: Nvidia - 42302e31
Motherboard Information:
Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Product: A8N-SLI DELUXE
Serial Number: 123456789000
Version: 1.XX

Darryl

> These files WORKED

So what is Sony’s recommendation? Should customers contact them for these DLL’s. I just ordered parts for my new system build around an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium mother board that uses the nVidia chipset.

> Hmmm, I guess that's one more reason for sticking with Intel processors and chipsets...

Unfortunately Intel is asleep at the wheel. I have never owned an AMD processor in my life. But this time around I got an AMD X2 4600+ for doing HDV editing. Intel Pentium D’s run hotter and slower than their AMD counterparts and with Vegas rendering, CPU power is all that matters.

~jr

Don't know what the current Sony access would be. I actually asked them that question just recently - how do we get the word out. You might go to e-mail support with an inquiry. Just in case, you get the new system and the DVD isn't seen, e-mail me and I'll copy the files and the instructions to you. We'd need to be careful to be able to reverse in the event the issue is NEC3250 specific.

Darryl

Thanks Darryl. I'll wait and see if I have the problem. I just ordered the parts today so they probably won't arrive until Thursday or Friday and then I have to put it together. ;-)

~jr

Yup, I have the problem. DVDA3 Doesn’t recognize my Pioneer 110D.

Darryl, how did you get these DLL’s? I called support but the only options are for activation support.

~jr