DVD Drive: Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, other

[Gator]

My Pioneer 16x drive has died. I purchased it Fall 2000, so I guess it had an ok life. I tried cleaning it and everything, but it continues to lock up on me.

So, should I buy another Pioneer 16x (model 120) from Newegg at $44? Or the SONY for $42. Or Toshiba for $40. The Sony & Toshiba caught my eye only because I know their regular DVD Players are considered some of the best available.

[jAkUp]

i have the liteon 16x, and i have heard nothing but good from it

[Starscream]

I think my Pioneer 10x is getting near death. It doesn't properly read a lot of my dvd's anymore and makes a ton of clunking noises while accessing some cd's. Many that used to work properly and still do occasionaly.

I think I'm going to go with a 16x LG dvd drive. I've got a 32x LG burner that works very well, and every other LG drive I've used has been superb.

[sbp]

Another satisfied Lite-ON DVD drive user here.

[vampireuk]

Pioneer for DVD and liteon for CDRW:cool:

[|JuiceZ|]

Another happy Lite-On customer, no probs here. Lite-On 16x dvd & Sony cdrw.

[Head_slinger]

Yup my LITE-ON is best DVD rom ive had and ive been through 4 :D

[Shinri Hikari]

I am doing fantastic with my pioneer 10x/40x Ultra2 SCSI dvdrom drive, and I will never go back to IDE(eww:mad: ) if I can help it.

[LTech221]

Toshiba makes great DVD drives, best drives to use with clone cd (making the image) but the only draw back has always been the slow DAE speed.

[NeoGeo]

1 dead lite-on waiting on RMA from OCUK right now... damn thing :( my lite-on writers have always been trouble free tho..

[Gator]

Well, I was so impressed about how many people voted for Liteon even though I hadn't mentioned it as an option, I decided to give it a shot. My order came from Newegg yesterday, tried a DVD with no problem, tried playing some MP3's off a data CD with no problem, and best of all this drive is VERY QUIET. I'd say I'm pretty happy with the choice, thanks for the feedback everyone! :)

PS - upgraded from 512 to 768 Crucial memory while I was at it. Crucial 256mb 2100DDR chip was only $37!!! I couldn't say no! :D

[Iron1384]

For anyone else having problems with their Pioneer 16x DVD drives, you should update the drive's Firmware. After about 2 years, my Pioneer DVD-115 16x drive stopped playing certain DVDs; it wouldn't even recognize them. I updated the Firmware with the files from the Pioneer website,(Pioneer Firmware (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/Pioneer/CDA/ServiceAndSupport/SelfHelpForIndFirmware/0,1465,60~6020~60201100,00.html)), and the drive now works great, just like new.

[styles-T]

I had a pioneer with no CD draw eject..It was awesome..and it would never get in the way..

Now I have a lite on that Im also satisified with..Great products..

[Gator]

Originally posted by Iron1384
For anyone else having problems with their Pioneer 16x DVD drives, you should update the drive's Firmware. After about 2 years, my Pioneer DVD-115 16x drive stopped playing certain DVDs; it wouldn't even recognize them. I updated the Firmware with the files from the Pioneer website,(Pioneer Firmware (http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/Pioneer/CDA/ServiceAndSupport/SelfHelpForIndFirmware/0,1465,60~6020~60201100,00.html)), and the drive now works great, just like new.

DOH!!! I should have tried that!!! ugh! Well, I still have the Pioneer 16x in a desk drawer, maybe I'll hook it up to another machine and see if firmware fixes it. But the problem I was having was it would start reading CD's and DVD's, but then lockup the system, and cleaning it didnt seem to work. That's why I suspected drive death.

[Kain]

Toshiba!