DVD drives that will actually work?

The DVD drive that came with my computer, which is several years old, takes about five minutes to start playing a DVD. If I pause and restart a DVD, or do anything to it once it starts playing, the drive will freeze up. This seems to happen especially on some DVDs that have some kind of "copyright protection".

It's supposed to be a DVD burner as well, but CloneDVD fails to detect it as such, and it only works with some crappy HP software that came with it, for burning home movies to a DVD.

Due to my experience with this DVD drive, I am very hesitant to rely on my computer as a means of watching DVD movies. If someone can recommend a DVD drive that will actually work, I might get one in my new machine.

Is it normal for computer DVD drives to just not work?

I've never had any problems with my DVD-RW drive that came with my laptop (ASUS A4K Notebook) - it plays movie DVDS, can read/write DVD-Rs and presumably rewrite DVD-RWs (although haven't tried). The only issue I have had with CD/DVD drives on my machines is they seem to take a few seconds (~5) from putting the disc in to being ready to use.

All the DVD-ROM/RW drives I own are from LG (3 total I own), and they all work flawlessly, more-so my Super-Multi Writer (re: writes all DVD types) which I got during xmas.

Only thing about my super-multi is that it takes about 3-sec longer to spin up than my other two drives for some reason.

Probably doesn't help that I got a bit of brand-thing going with LG though, since I also own a couple CD-RWs from them back in the day which never died or me or that I had troubles with, just a brand I trust personally, unlike the Sony DVD-ROM I got about 4 years ago, who's front-plate warped or something, making the entire drive stick when it was trying to open, requiring a knife handy.

Most any DVD reader made by LiteOn will serve you excellently. Any DVD recorder made by Pioneer will also serve you excellently.

Plextor are also very good, but expensive (but they do SATA drives, which may be useful).

I have a fairly vested interest in having the best DVD-R and DVD-R/W hardware, and I have a LiteOn SOHD-16P9SV drive with firmware patched to allow faster reading of media (wears the drive out faster, but they're only cheap). I have a Pioneed 111D as my recorder, it provides the best quality recording when using the best media (Taiyo Yuden factory direct discs).

Heh, this is that 'deja vu' thing. "halo" you posted a similar thread to this a couple of years ago. I remember people querying why you didn't just buy a set-top DVD player.

I'm not picking fault - I just think it is odd/funny that virtually the same thread appears a couple of years later.

Plextor always worked for me.

Plextor were the best of the best back in they days when they made only SCSI devices. These days, they're about as good as other leading manufacturers but with perhaps a few more features (like the SATA optical drives).

For consumers, Plextor may not always be the best choice. Even for pro users and server applications, they don't seem to be touting better MTBF or anything. Perhaps they offer longer warranties than Pioneer or LiteOn?

The only reason I'd choose a Plextor right now was if I was building a media PC or a machine where I was trying to keep power consumption to a minimum (what with SATA being more efficient and nicer to cable etc).

I get good results watching DVDs on my Pioneer DVR-109 using PowerDVD software. For most viewing, I just use my cheap, standalone player with my TV, but I take screencaps with my Pioneer drive.

My old Toshiba drive was more picky. It wouldn't play some video DVDs* (even if inserted when holding down Shift) unless I rebooted and put them in it before Windows loaded - then it was happy. I guess it scanned them when the drive was opened then closed, but if it booted up with a disc already in, it didn't.

* legit ones - some movies & TV series just didn't get along with it.

I've had Pioneers, LiteOn's, Sony's, Philips', and probably a few other brands, and I've never found much to choose between them. All the major brands seem to be pretty good.

On the other hand, my LiteOn set top DVD recorder is a pile of junk that isn't fit to act as a stand for my Daewoo DVD recorder which cost half the price at the same time I bought the LiteOn.

I have a LiteOn CD writer and a Pioneer DVD writer. No complaints with either.

I know the feeling my DVD player and DVD-RW in my computer are tempremental atm and need replacing. It seems they have a shelf life unlike the CDRW that I have in there thats been in there over four years the DVD's I replace every couple if years.

Yeah, watching movies isn't a real high priority for me.

Thanks, I'll order a new one from newegg.