Well, I'm at the point where my CD-RW isn't really cutting it anymore so I'd like to purchase a DVD-RW.

I've basically narrowed my choices to the Benq DW1650 or the Pioneer DVR-111D. Both drives are the same cost so this isn't an issue. However, I would like a drive that is very capable in reading copy protection. I have one CD especially that I would like to rip, and none of my other older CD-ROM drives can read it.

Thanks.

My choice would be the Benq, the pioneer is good too but does not do bitsetting for dvd+r or dvd+RW, Plus with the Benq you can scan your burns for errors using cdspeeds pie / pif scanning.

Pioneers are good writers I just feel they need a push to bitset and then I would recommend them. They are very good dvd-r burners.

Just wanna add that the mentioned Bitsetting disability is not fully correct.

currently it is, unless a new release of Pioneer firmware is going to fix this. So it is correct especially for the 111 series. What he is referring to is a japanese company named buffalo releases rebaged pioneers with bitsetting firmware. Though you will have to crossflash the drive. currently the 111 firmware is not released for public yet but as Chef is aluding too will be soon. I can not say for sure though that the buffalo firmware will be exactly the same as the pioneer firmware as far as write strategies. Same goes for nec drives for bitsetting you need liggy and dees firmware or crossflash the nec drive with maddog firmware.

Main thing is if you want bitsetting now get the benq, else go with the pioneer a wait for a release.

Thanks for the replies.

Also, I heard that the Benq burners are very loud, how do they compare with the Pioneers in terms of this.
I'm not really sure if bitsetting is that important, but I don't really want to be stuck if I need it and pioneer doesn't have a release for this.

Edit: Also, both drives are OEM, does this make a difference? I was looking through the forums and I saw some instances where OEM drives were worse than Retail drives in quality.

I would not give up a good drive because of noise. I would also go with the BenQ based on features and burn quality equal to the 111 on TY T02 and MCC 004. The Buffalo firmware will have some differences in burn strategy as it is 8.07 as opposed to the Pioneer version 1.06. It does bitset.

Well, it looks like I'll be going for the BenQ then. Thanks for the advice all.

For the 111, why do you need bitsetting though anyway? Doesnt a video dvd you burn automatically get set to dvd rom when you burn with decrypter, and don't Dual layer dvd's automatically also get set to dvd rom for playback on standalone's??

Dude, you need to learn the search function (2500 listings for bitsetting). Your own post will give you the answer:
http://wiki.cdfreaks.com/index.php/Book_Type

lol, every time i do a search with two words, seperating with commas like this;

'bitsetting, pioneer'

it never works for me. Pretty useless unless im doing it completely wrong here. So basicly that doesnt make a difference to me just because my dvd standalone is a dvp-ns29, and so not have a problem with the booktypes.