does samsung make a good cd writer?

Shadow250 · Post by **Shadow250** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 7:58 pm

i saw a samsung 48x24x48 cd rw in walmart for about 60 bux. anyone tried this company? is it good/ bad? opinions/warnings are welcome. thanx in advance.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 8:13 pm

I have heard of samsung. I have one of there set top dvd/vcr players. its ok. I would get a TDK or something along those lines personally.

Greg

Judg3 · Post by **Judg3** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 10:28 pm

You can get a Lite-On 52x CD-R at newegg for under 50$.

Slugbait · Post by **Slugbait** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 12:19 am

If you want quality, and a MaxPC KickAss Award winner, you could get a Plextor for $75 shipped (after rebate)

chottoED · Post by **chottoED** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 1:00 am

i've been using a samsung dvd/cdrw combo for a bit...

i've had lite on, plextor, tdk, sony, lg, panasonic, the list goes on and on..

the samsung is right up there with any of them

Shadow250 · Post by **Shadow250** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 10:42 am

well i got it, its 40$ with there rebate. it burns a disc in 2 1/2 minutes and its fast enough for me. i wish i could afford a dvd writer but its like 300 bux.

chottoED · Post by **chottoED** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 10:57 am

that's a pretty nice deal

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 6:52 pm

Another vote for Lite-on burners - $50 or so shipped from NewEgg and it comes with Nero.

I don't like Samsung HDDs - they're crap, so I can only assume their CD-RW drives are no better.

Judg3 · Post by **Judg3** » Wed Apr 16, 2003 10:23 pm

Originally posted by FlyingPenguin

I don't like Samsung HDDs - they're crap, so I can only assume their CD-RW drives are no better.

Hey! I love my Samsung drive! 3 year warranty and it's one of the coolest quietest drives I own. According to ActiveSMART my drive's running at 18C, and it's doing a lot of work right now pulling together several clips into one, too

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 12:56 am

Compaq uses Samsung drives.

Need I say more?

Slugbait · Post by **Slugbait** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 2:40 am

Compaq uses Samsung drives.

Need I say more?

Dammit, and I used to think Compaqs sucked because of Compaq...another childhood belief shot to hell...

canton_kid · Post by **canton_kid** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 6:03 am

I'd vote for Lite ON!
I've had memorex and Sony cd burners, but I like my lite-on the best. Cheap at Newegg, retail boxed, nero software, most the time I think free shipping, and no tax. About $50 total cost

For me in Mo. I normally get my orders from them in about 3-4 days after ordering. Fast enough for me.
And I have been as happy with them as anyplace so far.

I've got a 48x24x48x I use now and another 52x24x52x I haven't installed yet for a new system.
I have 2 Lite-on DVD drives also, one for me one for the kid, like them both too! Would probably bought a lite-on DVD burner too, but didn't see one anywhere

As for DVD burners, depends on what you want. Mine was an oem (drive only) toshiba rd5002 (I think)
and it was $177 at newegg.com, free shipping when I bought it about a month ago. This is a DVD -r drive. Lots of debate about rather -r or +r is better. From what I could tell, -r is more compatible with older set top dvd players than +r although most new players should play either.

-r disks cost less too.
And of course it burns Cd's also, though not as fast as a dedicated cd burner. I think it burns at 16x, though it might be faster. I use my Lite-on burner for cd's since I have it. No sence burning slower and wearing out the DVD drive on Cd's. Though for the price, if you want DVD -r burner you could use it for everything for $177 oem (maybe less now even) and I think the retail boxed with software was about $210 or there abouts. From what I could tell this drive comes in second only to the Sony Drue -r +r dual format drive which costs much more. I geuss I am happy with it. Drive seems to work great, I just can't figure out how to make videos in DVD format.

Sony has the drive that burns both DVD - r and +r, but you still have to make a choice what disks your gonna use, - or +
The cost and the fact you still can only burn a - or + disk is why I went with the Toshiba -r dvd burner.
Nice to have the choice, but if I'm gonna burn disks I got to decide what type to buy, and that's -r that I decided on for now.

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 1:44 am

Lite-ON = crap.

Cheap crap.

Compaq uses Samsung drives.

Need I say more?

Yes, you need say more.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 6:26 am

Jim-Z: What bad experience you have to give you that opinion?

Are you going by Lite-on standards more than 3 years ago? Yes they were crap back then.

I've literraly bought dozens of Lite-on CDRW for clients and have owned several myself. My server and LAN party systems each have one (a 32X and a 48X). They're great drives. Very reliable, they never blow a burn with good media, and I've yet to have one wear out.

I got one bad one in the box last year and they RMA'd it for me very quickly.

One the other hand I base my opinion on Samsung (and Fujitsu for that matter) hard drives on my experiences as an IT tech. They don't last. They barely make it out of warranty before the die. If you gave me one for free I would not use it as a mission critical drive.

Jim Z · Post by **Jim Z** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 12:10 pm

I bought several 16x DVD-ROM drives for various projects a few months back. These drives would choke on nearly every burned CD I'd put in them. Some would work, but only after the drives tried to read them for about 30 seconds. Most other media wouldn't read at all. Want to know how I fixed it? I had to chase down a firmware update from cdrinfo.com, written by a third party. Lite-On didn't think it was too important to keep firmware updates available on their site

The second bitch I have is with their writers. I had a 40x that would burn CDs that lasted a month, using quality Sony media. The same media burned in a Plextor is still perfect.