11/28/07 - In seemed like DVD speeds reached their peak with 16x drives, but more and more companies are offering 18x and even 20x drives now. Even with these max speed differences, recording times can vary greatly. The real differences in the drives are what extra features they may offer. With all this in mind, here is the selection of the best DVD burners currently available based upon my research and experience. This list only covers drives that use the IDE interface.
Sony has been a major player in the optical storage market. The DRU-840A may be a bit more expensive than many other burners on the market, but it is clearly the best IDE desktop drive currently available. The drive supports a fantastic 20x recordable DVD speed along with a an extremely fast 12x speed for dual layer media. It even supports DVD+RW recording at 12x speeds. Access times are quick for both DVD and CD media. About the only real drawback to the Sony drive is the lack of support for Lightscribe or other label burning media.
LG Electronics may not be as well known as many other optical drive manufacturers but they have produced some solid drives for very reasonable prices. While it may not match all the speeds of the Sony drive, the GSA-H55LK does support the 20x DVD recordable speeds and slightly slower 10x dual layer speeds. Access times are a bit slower but not by much. What the drive does offer over the Sony model however is the ability to support Lightscribe media for burning labels directly to compatible DVD and CD media.
HP used to be a major player in the storage market, but they have scaled back their product lines. They continue to create DVD burners but limit the number of products they have on the market. The dvd1040i is their latest burner and it has some surprisingly fast performance for those with the IDE interface. It supports 20x recording for the DVD recordable formats with 8x speeds for dual layer. Access times are a bit alower at 160ms for DVD and CD media. Since this is HP who had a major hand in the development of LightScribe, the drive also supports burning labels directly to compatible media.
The Lite-On LH-20A1H was one of the first DVD writers to reach the 20x recording speeds. Since its release, other drives have come out with faster support for dual-layer or rewritable media. It does support LightScribe media for burning labels to compatible media like many other drives now do as well as DVD-RAM media. What the Lite-On drive provides is a solid DVD writer for a relatively low cost that has been tested for some time.
Sony may have its own optical drive lineup, but they also have a partnership with NEC that produced the newer Optiarc product lineup. These drives are significantly less expensive than a Sony produce alone but still provide a solid overall experience. The AD-7179A certainly isn't that fastest drive on the market but it does provide good overall performance. It supports the 20x speeds for DVD recordable media along with 8x dual layer. Lightscribe media can be used for burning labels directly to compatible discs. All of this comes in one of the least expensive drives available.
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