When seaching for a new dvd-rewriter I came across this great site. I read a few reviews of dvd-rewriters, but the ones I read all seemed to be performing average.
I'm looking for the best dvd-rewriter at the moment, in terms of speed, versatility (can read and write all current formats), error correction, Audio-extraction quality, compatibility with media, built quality, durability, etc.
I know the perfect dvd-rewriter doesn't exist, but which ones come clos according to you?

Thanx in advance!

with plextor in my humble and little experience is the one you have the more control.. the others like sony for instance do whatever they like.. plextor is to avoid if you want dvd- ram and mount rainier.
very fast ripper, faster that the plextor dvd rom 116a
there won't be definite answer

(in reply to tbenschop)

First of all let me join Mario in recommending Plextor. A couple of my friends own these writers and they impressed me. However I also would like to cast a vote for Benq DW1620. I have recently purchased this drive and am extremely pleased with its performance. It is very quiet, has very good loading tray mechanics, good access times, good recording quality. I did not make direct A/B comparison between Plextor and Benq, but I believe Benq deserves fully to be considered along with Plextor.

(in reply to MarioGarcia)

Ok thanx for your reactions!

So Plextor, right? Any specific type you could recommend? I have two old Plextors in my computer now, also because that brand had been recommended to me back then. But actually I never thought they where great (UltraPLEX 40, and a Plexwriter16/10/40a). Sometimes they have troubles with reading certain cheap discs, when my third (cheap, dunno which brand) cd-player does the job easily! The system freezes up for about 10 secs when I insert a cd.. Burning with the 16/10/40a should go with 16 speed, and according to Nero it does burn at 16x, but it takes about 20 (!) minutes for a normal 700 MB data-cd to finish..
So my previous experiences with Plextor are not so great. But, maybe they have become better..
I'll also check the BenQ, thanx for the advise!

(in reply to tbenschop)

Most supported formats incl. DVD-RAM (and decent price): LG 4163B
Good (maybe best) writing quality and error scanning ability (decent price, too): BenQ 1620
Fast DVD reading, good DAE (Plextools Pro) and good writing quality (but somewhat expensive): Plextor 716A

One of these three would be my recommendation ... it just depends upon what you're priorities are

(in reply to tbenschop)

The Plex is great but IMO it just cost too much for what it does. For the price of a 716A you could get a very decent burner like the LG, NEC, or BenQ in addition to a good DVD-ROM drive plus a very good quality spindle of media. This will allow you to do everything you can with the 716 (including fast ripping speed and good writing quality), plus it'll allow you to copy discs on-the-fly, and save your DVD-Rewriter for writing tasks instead of wearing it out on ripping jobs. The only drawback is the need for an extra drive bay and IDE channel.

If you can only get one drive then the Plextor 716A, LG 4163B, NEC 3520A, BenQ DW1620 will all do fine. You can't really go wrong with anyone of them.

(in reply to JeanLuc)