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General discussion

NEED SOME HELP ABOUT CHOOSING EXTERNAL DVD BURNER !

May 13, 2006 12:04AM PDT

Hello, people !
It's difficult for me to make my choice about what external dvd burner for my computer to buy. I looked in some stores and in Internet and I got more confused. What activities I would do using this device ? Burning some videos (from camcorder, VCR, TV, iPod, pc) and data on dvd disks. Also playing movies (dvd, avi , divx , xvid , wmv, mpeg) and music (mp3, wav, wma). I know some parameters that are important , like : sustained data transfer, recording speed, different media files that may be played & recorded, etc. , but I need help.
What would you say about these optical drives I found in a local store (which one is better and more reliable): LG GSA-5169D or HP DVD 840e . Their prizes are almost the same. Thank you in advance.

Discussion is locked

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I'd prize the HP.
May 13, 2006 1:19AM PDT

The package is nice and many seem to be able to use the supplied software bundle.

Bob

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most of the newer DVD burners are OK
May 13, 2006 2:55AM PDT

having a USB 2[or USB 1 backwards compatible]will make hook up easy!

in addition: using good DVD burning software helps, Roxio, Nero, etc.

I recently installed an "interal" DVD burner/player in my Dell 8200, it was easy, just removed the DVD player that came with the unit, and hooked up the new clips/wires in the old spots! I'm not a geek, but this was easier than you'd think, and it was only $56!!!

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Hello again
May 13, 2006 11:22PM PDT

I salute you about changing your unit by yourself. I have got a Compag Presario notebook , but heard the internal dvd burners for laptops are expensive (something like 250-300$). That's why I decided to buy external one. Also I read some negative reviews about the HP DVD 840e. In one of those it was said that the rewriter has problems about burning some media files(difficulties about the media formats). And some guy wrote that his HP has broke after the 2nd burned dvd disk. He supposed that HP DVD 840e was a rebadged one. And I heard from a computer shop-assistant in a local store , HP make also rebadged
pcs. I think I'll buy the LG one. Anyway, thank you very much for your reply!