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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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Plextor PX-708A PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated:

1. Plextor PX-708A

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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Lite-On LDW-811S PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated:

2. Lite-On LDW-811S

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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Kano Technologies K8Xtreme PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated:

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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TDK External Indi DVD 840G 8x Multiformat PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated:

4. TDK External Indi DVD 840G 8x Multiformat

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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Pacific Digital Mach-8 DVD Burner PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated:

5. Pacific Digital Mach-8 DVD Burner

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 DW800A PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated:

6. Benq DW800A

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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Memorex True 8X Dual Format DVD Recorder PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0PCW Rating: 4.0

Last Rated:

7. Memorex True 8X 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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HP DVD Writer DVD400i PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated:

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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Alera DVD Cruiser 8 Plus PCW Rating: 3.0PCW Rating: 3.0PCW Rating: 3.0

Last Rated:

9. Alera 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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Pioneer DVR-A07 PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5PCW Rating: 3.5

Last Rated:

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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