Hello everyone, first post and entering the world of dvd burning for the first time so go easy on me

I have for years been burning VCD's but decided to try out dvd burning for the first time.

Ive gone through the forum and read lots of reviews, and have seen 2 different drives i'm interested in.

1. Pioneer 110
2. Plextor 716

I'm not sure whether to pay out a pricey £80 for the Plextor or 'go safe' with Pioneer for only £30!
They both have pos/ negs about them but i have seen the price difference being about £50, my question is, is there £50 worth of differnce on the drives?


Is one so much better then the other and if so whats the main differences?

Or is there a better alternative to either of these 2 which i'm missing out on as the shop where i buy most of my PC just has these on the shelves http://www.rlsupplies.co.uk/Products...mentID=75&MID=

many thanks

If you want overburn DVDs then go for the Plex.
I think it has no other advantages over the Pio 110, which has DVD-RAM write support which the Plex doesn't have.

Can't you get a BenQ 1640 ? In my opinion (and if you only need a pure, no-Bulls**t DVD writer), this device gives the best bang for buck at the moment ...

The Plex has great advantages in audio ripping (additionally, I found my 716A to be less sensitive towards ARCCOS-protected Video DVD's and superb when handling copy protected audio discs), comes with Plextools Pro and undoubtedly the best RMA policy ... on the other hand, it is some kind of picky towards media quality (feed it Taiyo Yuden or MCC and this won't be a problem, though) ... and it is far more expensive than any other DVD writer.

My suggestion:

If you need DVD writing only, forget the Plex and go for a 1640 BenQ ...
If you need DVD-RAM, there are few choices (Pio 110, LG, new NEC's)
If you are interested in a versatile device and don't need DVD-RAM, go for the Plex (but I would wait for the 760A reviews - this next model should show some improvement in writing quality)

BOTH - No idea about the BenQ 1640 but my 1632 LS (lightscribe enabled) went dead after 4 months of well, excessive use - about 30-50 burns and well 10-20 lightscribes a day - hehe got a different drive from my vendor ....

if u go for the pio 110 and u do not need ram a pio 100 D would do fine and you can find rpc-1 and even bitset firmware for that one - no idea about the 110 DVDR Multiwriter - but i am sure that firmware will be available too sooner or later.

hope that helped - ahab666

Of my 7 burners I find that the Pioneer is the least versitile and only turns out top quality burnes with MCC 003 media. However I would find even less use for a Plextor and certainly would not pay extra for one.

So between the two, the Pioneer wins.

I presently own:

Benq 1620
Benq 1640
Nec 3550 crossflashed to 4550
Nec 3540
Nec 3520
Nec 3500
Nec 2510
Liteon 1693

In the past, I have owned
Pioneer 108
Pioneer 109
LG 4163
Liteon 1213

and other assorted older models. The Liteon 1213 died (out of warranty), and I sold the Pioneer 108, Pioneer 109, and LG 4163. If I could pick up another LG 4163 for cheap, I would.

If I were to choose only ONE drive to keep, it would have to be the Benq 1640. If two drives, then the Benq 1640 and the Liteon 1693.

I have never been willing to pay the extreme price penalty for any Plextor DVD burner, although I have owned Plextor CD burners in the distant past.