My Pioneer A05 finally died and after researching the forums i decided to buy the benQ1620. I'd appreciate some feedback on a couple questions.

What firmware should I use? and how do I flash it...any special instructions?
I want to use only dvd-r media (my desktop dvd players won't read +r media) so what -R media should I buy?

Thanks in advance

You can use +R media because the BenQ will bitset to -ROM automatically which should play in all your players depending on the media. I would advise Taiyo Yuden +R 8x for you. This media will play on the most players out there even some 7 year old ones like mine.

If you are burning mostly movies, I would advise using DVDDecrypter to rip to your hard drive and then DVD Shrink 3.2 to make an ISO image, then DVDDecrypter to burn the ISO image to your media.

To flash it use WinDWFlash and the latest .cvt file in windows.

The BenQ sets the booktype to DVD-ROM by default, so there's an good chance that your desktop dvd player will read it. You should try this out before deciding to only go with -R media.

It's been said many times that the BenQ 1620 writes +R media better than -R. While this is argued, you would perhaps do best to not ignore this advice.

If you really only want to use -R disc, you must buy branded media and not the cheap stuff. It should also be from the list of compatable media that has been posted on this forum. The drive is very picky with -R media but when it likes one it will burn it well.

Taiyo Yuden is a manufacturer of very good cd/dvd media and in Bestbuy stores (since youre in the US) it comes with brands Fuji or TDK as long as it is Made in Japan. Currently Bestbuy has Fuji DVD+R in 25pack on sale for $8.99. Just find the Made in Japan ones. Yes I agree with other members here that 1620 burns most +R excellent and can bitset to DVD-ROM to give higher compatibility playback on your player.

With this method, you will have 2 ISO files (the original and the shrinked one). I would just shrink from the drive directly, and burn with dvd decrypter.

What version of dvdshrink are u guys using ?
mine is dvdshrink 3.2015 and i don't have the ability to make iso files only a folder

After you hit Backup, look for the first drop-down list to select the back-up target which can be a folder, an iso file etc..