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Top 10 DVD Drives

In a close field, Plextor's PX-708A and Lite-On's LDW-811S earned Best Buys, in part on the strength of their performance.

Melissa J. Perenson

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PX-708A: 8x/4x/12x DVD+RW, 4x/2x/12x DVD-RW, 40x/24x/40x CD-RW Burner with Roxio Software (Plextor-PX708ASW) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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1. Plextor PX-708A: 8x/4x/12x DVD+RW, 4x/2x/12x DVD-RW, 40x/24x/40x CD-RW Burner with Roxio Software (Plextor-PX708ASW)

4X DVD-R, 2X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 40X/24X CD-R/RW write speeds , 2MB buffer, Internal IDE drive, Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator 6.1

Bottom Line: The speediest drive on the chart overall by a small margin, this model can also write at 8X with some brands of 4X DVD+R media.

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LDW-811S DVD?RW Writer (Lite-On-LDW811S) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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2. Lite-On LDW-811S DVD?RW Writer (Lite-On-LDW811S)

4X DVD-R, 2X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 40X/24X CD-R/RW write speeds , 2MB buffer, Internal IDE drive, Sonic MyDVD 4.5, Sonic RecordNow 4.6

Bottom Line: Reasonably priced drive is a strong performer, but software bundle is a couple of versions behind (Lite-On says upgrades will be downloadable at no cost).

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K8Xtreme PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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3. Kano Technologies K8Xtreme

8X DVD-R, 4X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 32X/16X CD-R/RW write speeds , 2MB buffer, Internal IDE drive, Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator 6.1

Bottom Line: Fastest drive on the chart for packet writing, the K8Xtreme is the only model to write to some brands of 4X-rated DVD-R media at 8X speed. Manual is skimpy.

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DED+840 DVD?RW Writer (TDK-DED+840) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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4. TDK DED+840 DVD?RW Writer (TDK-DED+840)

4X DVD-R, 2X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 40X/24X CD-R/RW write speeds , 2MB buffer, External FireWire and USB 2.0 drive, Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator 6.1

Bottom Line: Attractive, dual-interface external drive nearly matches the Plextor PX-708A in speed and features. Includes terrific documentation.

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8X DUAL INTERNAL DVD RW BURNER SUPPORTS BOTH DVD+RW & DVD-RW MEDIA (Pacific Digital-U30201) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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5. Pacific Digital 8X DUAL INTERNAL DVD RW BURNER SUPPORTS BOTH DVD+RW & DVD-RW MEDIA (Pacific Digital-U30201)

4X DVD-R, 2X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 40X/24X CD-R/RW write speeds , 2MB buffer, Internal IDE drive, ArcSoft ShowBiz 1.3, Sonic MyDVD 4.5, Sonic RecordNow 4.6, Sonic Simple Backup

Bottom Line: Inexpensive model offers average overall performance?and excellent CD-R performance. However, like the Lite-On and the Alera, it uses older software.

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BENQ DVD+RW 8X4X12 24X10X40 INTERNAL RETAIL PK (BenQ-DW800A0C2) PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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6. Benq BENQ DVD+RW 8X4X12 24X10X40 INTERNAL RETAIL PK (BenQ-DW800A0C2)

8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 24X/10X CD-R/RW write speeds , 8MB buffer, Internal IDE drive, InterVideo WinDVD Creator Plus 2, Sonic RecordNow 6.5

Bottom Line: Least-expensive drive on the chart works quickly when burning DVDs, but to one format only; it lags behind the leaders in burning CDs.

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True 8X 8X8X Dual Format DVD Recorder PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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7. Memorex True 8X 8X8X Dual Format DVD Recorder

8X DVD-R, 4X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 24X/24X CD-R/RW write speeds , 2MB buffer, Internal IDE drive, Ahead Nero Express 6.3, Ahead Nero Vision 2.1

Bottom Line: Supports 8X burning on both DVD+R and DVD-R, but its packet-writing performance was 34 percent off our leader?s. Has a great manual.

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DVD Writer Dvd400i PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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8. HP DVD Writer Dvd400i

8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 24X/10X CD-R/RW write speeds , 8MB buffer, Internal IDE drive, ArcSoft ShowBiz 2 and Sonic RecordNow 5.1, Sonic Simple Backup, Muvee AutoProducer

Bottom Line: Single-format drive is a fast DVD performer but is slower than most on CD-R. Packet-writing software is a separate download.

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DVD Cruiser 8 Plus PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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9. Alera Technologies DVD Cruiser 8 Plus

4X DVD-R, 2X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 40X/24X CD-R/RW write speeds , 2MB buffer, External USB 2.0 drive, ArcSoft ShowBiz 1.3, Sonic MyDVD 4.5, Sonic RecordNow 4.6

Bottom Line: External USB 2.0 model provides great write performance for both DVD and CD burning, but like the Lit-On and the Pacific Digital, it carries older software.

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DVR-A07 PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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10. Pioneer DVR-A07

8X DVD-R, 4X DVD-RW, 8X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW write speeds, 24X/24X CD-R/RW write speeds , 2MB buffer, Internal IDE drive, Ulead MovieFactory 3SE, Ulead Burn.Now, Ulead VideoSuite 7SE, NovaStor Backup 7.0

Bottom Line: We tested both formats on this dual-format drive and found that 8X DVD-R burning performed comparably with 8X +R. CD-R performance was sluggish.

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We test rewritable DVD drives under Windows XP Home on PCs with 1.67-GHz Athlon XP 2000+ processors and 512MB of DDR SDRAM. To test each drive, we use the DVD video authoring, mastering, and packet-writing software supplied by the vendor. We use media supplied by the vendor or media supplied by Verbatim.

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