hotrodtylers

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Nov 3, 2004
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Which is the best in your oppinion and why. i am looking at a 16x duel layer model of both and the #'s are the same the plextor is just $60 more.

Want a free samsung 17" LCD <A HREF="http://www.FreeFlatScreens.com/?r=14238250" target="_new">http://www.FreeFlatScreens.com/?r=14238250</A>
 

khha4113

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Can't tell you about Plextor (although I have its CD writer, and it's still working great after 4 years), but I've been using NEC ND-3500A and I'm very satistified with it.

:smile: Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.
 

sobelizard

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Dec 31, 2002
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Only have NEC 3.5 floppy drives, no optical. I have several Plextor CD-RW, DVD-+RW and I would recommend them for their rock solid performance and reliability. I have never had a bad disk with Plextors.

<b><i>Powered by <font color=blue>V</font color=blue><font color=purple>E</font color=purple><font color=red>R</font color=red><font color=purple>T</font color=purple><font color=blue>O</font color=blue></b>
Fueled by <b><font color=blue>CL-</font color=blue><font color=red>ONE</font color=red></b>
 

diplomat696

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Nov 30, 2004
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i have a px712a and have had nothing but problems, just took it out again last night, this time for good. Ordered the benq 1620 today for 70 bucks which I have heard is supposed to be decent (cdfreaks.com has an excellent forum regarding dvd hardware and media) As i understand it the NEC 3500 is supposed to also be an extremely good drive. As i understand it the plextor px716 and apparently the 3500 is meant to be a better drive than the 3520. This may have changed recently if they are doing more firmware updates but who knows.

To be honest I am pretty disappointed with dvd burners in general, all of them seem to have flaws and when you pay anything from 35-50 cents on the low end of the scale for blank media you dont want to be having issues just because your drive is fussy at the type of media you are putting into it.

Someone needs to make a more reliable drive as far as im concerned. Then again right now i hate dvds full stop cos i just wasted about 10 with my soon to be hammered to bits px712a.
 

pat

Expert
I look for a replacement for my old Verbatim (ricoh 5125A) DVD writer. At first, I was tempted by the plextor 716a, but I keep reading about bad issue with them. I was looking too at the 3520 from NEC. I've found 1 review of this drive ..well more a preview than a review ... and the only downside was with -R media, which seem to be more problematics as speed goes higher than +R media. And it could not yet write -R DL media, but that should be in the next firmware realease. It seem to be a good reader and burner, so I'll probably get one.

My old drive never give me a coaster..the only problem, it write a 2.4X max...which is slow. My sister want it so it will get a nice retirement...

One of my friend has the BenQ and he is satisfied with. He as to update the firmware to have is computer to recognized it properly, but once done, it is working good.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

pat

Expert
I finnaly got the BenQ. I has good review, was costing less than either the NEC and Plextor and readily available.

I just got the wrong firmware from BenQ Canada which had maybe one of the worst firmware.. Ended up by downloading the latest one at BenQ Europe, which was maybe 3-4 version up than the one on Canada site. Everything is going fast and smooth now.

Happy to get simple BenQ, instead of just a name... as NEC or Plextor..

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

diplomat696

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yep, I just ordered the benq as well :p, also found out that my pletor 712a is fuxxored, i did the self test last night and it failed so im gonna rma that and see if i can get an upgrade to a px716a, will keep that for my new system when i get around to building it some time in the next few months.......

pat have u got a link for the benq europe site so that I can save it for future firmware upgrades?
 

pat

Expert
Or better, this is what I did. I turn my OEM drive to a real BenQ drive...

Downloaded WinDWFlash.exe (It's rar format so you have to unzip it)
http://dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BenQ/WinDWFlash.rar
Downloaded B7P9.cvt (rar format again)
http://dvdpro.club.st/firmware/BenQ/B7T9.cvt.rar

2. Ensure there is no disk in the drive.

3. Run WinDWFlash and follow the instructions.

After, you have a 1620 drive in your settings, not the OEM. This will give you faster firmware update than the OEM version.

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

DrJeckyl

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Aug 17, 2002
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I have the NEC 3500A as well. Great drive, never any problems at all.

-- the Doc

8PENXP(Rev.2)
P4 2.8C@3.4
512mb Mushkin 3500 Level II@472 (2-2-2)
R9800Pro@463/380
(grrrr.....I fried this one)
WD 80gb(SE)x2(RAID 0)