Just bought a new 1640. Is BSLB still the best firmware? Mainly for burning Verb MCC 03RG20 or MCC 004.

refurbished 1640 available at geeks.com for $27.99

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...0-DO-R&cat=DVD

How much did you buy for?.

I wonder who refurbished the drive since BenQ no longer exist?. It is possible the refurbishing was done buy Lite-ON.

£22 inc postage

No such thing as a refurb burner at Geeks.com. Refurbished just means used. Lite-On is not providing or selling these drives. Geeks just cleaned up the outer appearance of a drive they had and called it refurbished. The only true refurbs come from the factory, and those don't exist.

I agree Negritude, these are drive that were returned and probably sat there for a couple of years and now they sell them as refurbs, they were out of stock in 24 hours so they probably only had a handful. I wouldn't touch them with a 10 ft poll. You can still find a decent Sony810A or Plextor 740A if you look hard enough. Same drive different firmware, crossflashing is always an option. Plus a bunch of Philips drives that you have to do your homework on can be had at a good price, just look and thee shall find.

And speaking of the Plextor, I think the 1.02 firmware for that drive is pretty decent. A PX-740A doesn't even need to be cross-flashed unless you want the drive for scanning. Also, the 2D06 firmware on many of the DVD8801 drives is really good. That's another drive that doesn't need cross-flashing. I haven't tested the 810A firmware, but I can testify to the effectiveness of the 740A and 8801 firmwares.

In fact, I have this unproven theory that many of the rebranded BenQs burn better with their own firmware, rather than BenQ firmware. I can't prove anything, but in doing a lot of cross-flashing, upgrading, and testing, I've seen a couple of my drives work better untouched, than when they were cross-flashed. This theory doesn't apply to actual BenQ drives with bulk firmware, boxed under brands such as Hi-Val, Norwood Micro, and Connect Computer. For those drives, flashing to retail firmware is always better. It's only the rebrands like the Sony DRU-810A/DRX-810UL, the Plextor PX-740A/PX-740UF, and the Philips DVD8801 that can often work better with the supposedly "crippled" firmware included with them.

So many users they like to have BenQ drives for their capability of Quality Scaning, otherwise majority of other drives perform writing and ripping at very acceptable or perhaps desirable level also.

On my Philips 8801/95 drive I never changed the firmware and its probably the best of all. I have many Plextors 740A, I bought them at Best Buy when they were on sale for 39.99, I have crossflashed 2 of them and the rest are still in unopened boxes. They all have the Nexperia chipset so they will all perform admirably. In the case of the Sony 810A, I have most of them crossflashed at the request of the person I build the box for, but they are also good. My favorite drive is still the BenQ DW1655, I wont sell any of them I will use them until computers no longer support Ide drives.

Got my Philips DVDR1628K (1648P) today, crossflashed to BSLB then to BSRB (speedpatched). Enabled SolidBurn for my crappy MCC03RG20 (MII). Results are quite pleasing, considering how my H55L was burning them. PIF is really bad across all the batch..

Just wanted to ask if the stops/starts in the read curve were fairly normal? I'm pretty sure I've seen other peoples scan with similar things but looking through the DW1640 SL thread, I don't really see anyone with the same thing... :?

I bet that disc plays just fine.

Ya, it does

Unfortunately some of the batch get PIF spikes into the thousands lol..

But what about the weird read curve. Does the same thing with any disc and I'm seeing a few scans around the forums with the same pattern but do you know an explanation why it's doing it?

Burned BSLB F/W no problem. Now it shows BenQ 1640!!....This was a new drive, and I got it for about $60. I used the firmware downloaded from the Bros......Now I'm wondering if that speed up FW patch is worth doing or not. I don't burn DVD's that much anymore.....I just rip em to my HD now...Storage is getting way cheap.......z

I had a Plextor 716A that died after only a few months of INFREQUENT use.....fwiw......and they won't RMA it.....I ran the self diagnostic and it crapped out, so it's not anything I did/media/whatever.........z

New OEM Philips DVD8701 (DW1640):

http://cgi.ebay.com/Philips-DVD-R-RW...QQcmdZViewItem

Don't be surprise that the disc you used for this purpose is not a good quality disc, at least among that batch of disc. Try to use another brand and see how the result would be.

Depends on the firmware used for scanning, BSLB doesn't have the huge drops scanning BSRB does.

This one is a real no brainer for anyone that really wants a DW1640. Plus its new. Good find negritude.

Ah thanks, I actually already flashed to BSLB yesterday and did some scans but I didn't even notice that the dips had stopped haha..

Good find with that 8701. My Philips 1628K (1648P) actually says DVD8701 on the label. I guess they just have different faceplates then

It says they only have one available????

I already have 3 1640 and don't want another one so I won't. But someone else hurry up and get it. It's $30, new, and the seller has 99.9% positive feedback. I'd rather see one of my fellow cdfreakers get it than some random jerk.

And that might already gone.

BTW, notice that the DVD8701s are made in Malaysia, whereas most of my classic BenQs are made in China. Is there anyone who owns both a Malaysian and a Chinese Nexperia BenQ, who can comment on whether there is any burning quality difference, or are they basically the same? I assume that the folks who own Philips 1628/1648 drives, which seem to also be 8701s, are happy with theirs?

Aye, mine's made in Malaysia. I am very happy with mine. Burn quality is excellent. Miles better than my H55L...