Nov 5 2009 - DVD burners are now a very standard item for desktop computers. Performance between the various drives is almost identical and will vary more upon the media used then the drives themselves. Because of this, I've tried to narrow down the best DVD burners that use the IDE interface more upon their intended use rather than a simple list. With prices so similar, just about any drive will work in a pinch. Here are my selections for the Best IDE DVD burners based upon my research and experience.
Best All-Around - Pioneer DVR-A18M
©Pioneer Electronics Inc.
It seems that fewer companies are releasing new IDE based DVD burners but Pioneer is still producing a few. Their latest, the DVR-A18M may not be quite as speedy as new 24x SATA based DVD burners, but the 22x speed won't be that much slower and is still tops among IDE drives. It can handle 12x recording for dual-layered formats and 40x speeds for CD-R media. In addition, the drive also supports burning labels. Rather than the more popular LightScribe format though, it uses Labelflash compatible media to achieve this.
Best Retail Kit - HP DVD 1140i
©HP Inc.
Most DVD burners these days are sold as bare drive or OEM units. If you are looking to install a drive into your desktop and more than just a drive, then a retail kit is what you will want to buy. The HP DVD 1140i retail package includes a copy of Nero Essentials and mounting screws. To keep costs down, the company has removed the IDE cable from the package. Performance is solid for most recording tasks (22x for DVD+/-R and 48x CD-R) but it tends to be slower than many of the current drives for burning double layered media. The drive does support burning labels directly to LightScribe compatible media.
Best LightScribe Compatible - Plextor PX-870A
LightScribe is the more popular of the two available systems for burning labels directly to compatible DVD and CD discs using the laser within the burner itself. After creating the data portion of the disc, simply flip the disc over and use a program to burn a graphic directly to the label. With fewer companies producing IDE based drives, it is getting harder to find drives that support it. One of the few plentiful models available is the Plextor PX-870A. It features 22x recording speeds for recordable DVD media and 48x for CD-R. Rewritable and dual layer DVD speeds are a tad slower at the 8x speed though.Best Double-Layer - LG GH22NP20
©LG Electronics
Double layered DVD media is an important step for those looking to generate video or data DVDs that extended data. This is critical for many people looking to put more than roughly an hour and a half of video onto a single disc. The LG GH22NP20 is essentially a drive similar to the GH22LP20 without the LightScribe media support. So, why this drive for recording to DVD+R DL or DVD-R DL media? The performance is ever so slightly faster without the LightScribe firmware. Of course, recording at the 16x DVD+R DL or 12x DVD-R DL speeds will require finding compatible blank media which is relatively difficult.
Best Data Security - Lite-ON iHAP322
©Lite-ON IT
Many people don't consider how permanent data is that is recorded to CDs or DVDs. Since the media is so inexpensive, many people use it as a disposable data source. All those discs that get thrown away can be found and read by other individuals. Lite-ON's iHAP322 drive offers a unique feature they call Smart Erase. By using this, you can render even a single use CD or DVD recorded disc to be unreadable. Note that this feature does't work on commercially printed media. Performance is strong with the 22x DVD+/-R and 48x CD-R recording speeds. It is a bit slower on the dual layered DVD media than some of the highest performing drives. It does support burning labels directly to LightScribe compatible media.
