best DVD?CD drive

dhutch · Post by **dhutch** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 2:32 am

ok i am about to buy a new dvd for the PC and i was wondering which is best?

- i know they made a huge noise, but my LG CD-RW is very much beter then the DVD (acer) while its running, but more importantly it has nice short "spin down" times (ie stoped as soon as its not needed) unlike the acer which take about 5mins to slow down and another 10mins of slow whining till it stops!! (by which time i've taken the cd out cos its drivg my nuts!!)

so what is a quite DVD/CD drive with short spin down times

thanks daniel
p.s. - also i would like to us it to play a few DVDs - and i heard that some drives automaticaly slow down to the minamum speed when they are only under small demand (ie when playing a DVD)

thanks again daniel

cmcquistion · Post by **cmcquistion** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 7:56 am

The quietest DVD/CDRW combo drive I have ever used is the LG GCC-4480B. I think they discontinued this particular model, but I recently bought the newer version of it and it was very quiet, too. By far, quieter than any other DVD-ROM I've ever used.

dhutch · Post by **dhutch** » Sun Feb 08, 2004 8:57 am

yeah - my LD CD-RW is quite,

also i want just a DVD/CD not a DVD/CD-RW combo

cmcquistion · Post by **cmcquistion** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 6:31 am

dhutch wrote:also i want just a DVD/CD not a DVD/CD-RW combo

Well, it is only about $50-60, so the overkill won't cost you much.

davidstone28 · Post by **davidstone28** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 6:50 am

The Pionner DVD 106-S slot loading DVD/CD player is noisy when spinning. The Liteon CDRW (can't be bothered to find out which model it is) is also pretty noisy. I just wonder if all optical drives are going to make quite a racket?

dhutch · Post by **dhutch** » Mon Feb 09, 2004 12:12 pm

Well, it is only about $50-60, so the overkill won't cost you much

yeah - bue I've got a CDRW (LG 40x) and thats fine, i just need a new DVD drive

dhutch · Post by **dhutch** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 2:33 pm

[BUMP?]

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:31 am

This has been covered many, many times here at SPCR forums:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

etc.... there are over 20 threads available, all offfering good suggestions.

My personal summary:

- in general ALL high speed (52xcd/cdrw, 12-16xDVD, 8xDVD+/-RW) are noisy by default. There is not much you can do about this, but you can find the least noisy drive

- in general LG and Samsung make the least noisy drives (either cd, cdrw or combo)

- for utmost in silence of dvd-roms, Sony DDU1621 (BTC OEM) is the most silent I have ever found. It does not have error correction for dvd discs however (which can be bad for htpc duties)

- damping the front door of your case helps A LOT!

- using utilities such as CD Bremse and Nero Drivespeed to control the spindown times and maximum rotational speeds of your drives, helps a lot too (not all models support these software, you have to try them yourself)

- of the current dvd-burner crop nec nd2500a seems to be amongst the least noisy and a decent burner otherwise as well

That's all I can think of. Maybe this should be made sticky? Or somebody should re-write a more thorough introduction to quiet/quieting optical drives?

best regards,
Halcyon

Beerhunter · Post by **Beerhunter** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:45 am

Thank you for summary.

dhutch · Post by **dhutch** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:15 am

halcyon wrote:This has been covered many, many times here at SPCR forums:...

... Maybe this should be made sticky? Or somebody should re-write a more thorough introduction to quiet/quieting optical drives?

Yeah - any one offering, cos its one think that isnt marketed/tested very well, i mean there allways quoting Fans db - why not CD/DVDs db rating

Devilsown · Post by **Devilsown** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:20 am

halcyon wrote:
- of the current dvd-burner crop nec nd2500a seems to be amongst the least noisy and a decent burner otherwise as well

Although dvd/cd players&recorders have been covered here a lot, not much discussion has been going on about dvd recorders.

DVD playback doesn't seem to cause a lot of noise (since it's a 1x), but what about cd playback in these dvd recorders? If possible i'd like to go for one drive, and not buy an additional one for my new pc of course (or are there any argument for having a seperate player?).

You say the NEC is good, do you know anything about the Lite-On as far as noise goes?

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:59 am

LiteOn are extremely noisy at almost any speeds in my experience. Some of the models even refuse to accept Nero Drivespeed commands.

I'd recommend Lite-On as a last resort to anyone seeking silence.

That's my experience on Lite-On (dvd-rom, cdrw and dvd+/-rw drives).

I'd pick Samsung or LG - even Toshiba - over LiteOn any day.

regards,
Halcyon

PS Not all dvd drives play back movies at 1x and not all can be speed throttled down to 1x with software.... that's the sad part.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 6:52 am

Ummm, yeah, I can back that up. I have 2 Lite-On drives (1 DVD and 1 CD/RW) and they are both *very* noisy. The only reason I haven't slung them out is that I hardly ever use them (only when installing software).

One of the two (can't remember which) doesn't respond properly to the Nero drive-speed software.

I did get close to replacing them when I found that my two fave games both required the CD to be in the drive in order to start up. I've solved this problem now though.

Devilsown · Post by **Devilsown** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:30 am

halcyon wrote:LiteOn are extremely noisy at almost any speeds in my experience. Some of the models even refuse to accept Nero Drivespeed commands.

I'd recommend Lite-On as a last resort to anyone seeking silence.

That's my experience on Lite-On (dvd-rom, cdrw and dvd+/-rw drives).

I'd pick Samsung or LG - even Toshiba - over LiteOn any day.

regards,
Halcyon

PS Not all dvd drives play back movies at 1x and not all can be speed throttled down to 1x with software.... that's the sad part.

Well, i'm only interested in dvd recorders (since they suit all needs), and the companies you mention, as far as i know, don't produce dvd recorders yet..?

Hardware wise i'd pick Lite-on over NEC, although they come close.

It's funny though you say it's so quiet. Since they advertise with "VAS® system reduce vibration and noise during recording and reading" for their recorders. That isn't very efficient then.

Thanks for the info!

alexb · Post by **alexb** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 4:00 pm

halcyon wrote:This has been covered many, many times here at SPCR forums:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... =quiet+dvd

etc.... there are over 20 threads available, all offfering good suggestions.

best regards,
Halcyon

If this is pretty much covered all around, why don't we make a sticky or add a Recommended list for Optical drvies?

On another note, what's a relatively quiet DVD+RW, DVD-RW ? The ones mentioned here are mostly CDRW or DVDROM?

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:42 am

Plextor is coming out with SATA version. This will be quieter simply b/c of the very slight improvement in airflow...

I've read that Plextor drives not only cost twice as much as most any other drive but are also of the best quality. I've read, in here, that they are very quiet but cannot speak from my own experience. Notice though the "SILENT MODE™ enables user to tailor drive operations for specific environments" from the Plextor link.

Asus is another manufacturer that reputedly makes optical drives that can utilise the slow drive software. Notice the "Bundled Latest NERO Burning Software"

The SonyCRX140E and NEC DV-5700A are old'n'slow and still by far the loudest components of my system (while spinning)

jimbo7707 · Post by **jimbo7707** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:17 pm

A few random notes. If anyone is in the market for a DVD recorder, you might want to hold off for a bit if you can. See this link. DVD Recorder Update

I have Samsung DVD player. Very loud when it spins up. I would replace it but I only use it about .1% of time I'm at the PC so it is not worth it.

My Plextor 12/10/32A CD burning is reasonably quiet and a real workhorse. Over the last 3 years I have burned over 2000 CD's with it and had 0 problems. I would not hesitate to purchase another Plextor.

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:24 pm

could you describe "reasonably quiet"? - not meaning to be an ass but is it louder than / quieter than something else?

aidanjm2004 · Post by **aidanjm2004** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 9:30 pm

nutball wrote:Ummm, yeah, I can back that up. I have 2 Lite-On drives (1 DVD and 1 CD/RW) and they are both *very* noisy. The only reason I haven't slung them out is that I hardly ever use them (only when installing software).

One of the two (can't remember which) doesn't respond properly to the Nero drive-speed software.

If only I'd searched the forums here at SPCR before buying two Liteon drives (CD/RW, DVD)!! Yes, they are truly appalling -- particularly the DVD drive. It makes an astonishing range of gratingly irritating noises.

Also, my Liteon DVD drive doesn't appear to respond to Nero drive-speed. The CD/RW speed can be throttled back to some extent. These drives were as cheap as chips -- the lesson, I guess, is that you get what you pay for. I will put these drives in a backup machine, no doubt only using them in 'emergencies'. I'm now looking at the more 'silent' optical storage options -- Samsung, LG, Asus or Plexor drives.

(Is Liteon known to be a crappy brand, in general, by the way? )

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 10:03 pm

My Samsung SD-816B shakes the foundations quite deeply; I don't know if it's just mine or if they all are so incredibly bad. I've tried many, many discs, so it's not just one imbalanced disc.

-Ed

cmcquistion · Post by **cmcquistion** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:32 am

aidanjm2004 wrote:(Is Liteon known to be a crappy brand, in general, by the way? )

Actually, LiteOn makes very good CD and DVD Burners, in my opinion. They are just noisy. For an SPCR reader, that probably makes them bad, but many people could care less about how noisy their CD/DVD Burner is.

Edward Ng · Post by **Edward Ng** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:32 pm

Lite-On makes most of the Sony branded optical drives now; for the most part, that's an indication of how good Lite-On's drives are. Too bad it means nothing about acoustics.

-Ed

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 12:33 pm

They make good cd readers. This has been proven by numerous cdfreaks, cdrlabs, cdrinfo, c't magazine and personal tests.

However, they make relatively lousy dvd burners. That too has been proven by the aforementioned sources.

Yes, hackers like them, but compatible they are not nor are they best in producing quality burns.

Also, they are by far the noisiest (as tested by c't magazine again).

Again: Pioneer DVR-A08XLA is amongst the leasty noisy drives even at maximum speeds and it's max speed (hence max noise) parameter can be controlled with Pioneer's own utility. Also, it's a very good burner.

NEC 3500 is another good burner with the similar noise level to Pioneer A08XLA. However, it does not have detailed max speed/spindown utility to go with it. CD Bremse or Nero Drivespeed might work, but I haven't tested it.

These recommendations are not just personal guesses or hearsay, but based on actual anechoic chamber noise measurements done by c't magazine. The noise levels have been quoted in these spcr threads earlier (search if you want them).

Do note that A08XLA production is being/has been stopped and A09 model will follow soon (in about month or so). If that makes a difference to you personally.

regards,
halcyon

best DVD?CD drive

best DVD?CD drive

New DVD recorders coming