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Best Dvd Drive Varient/Blank Media


JamerDoo
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DVD Drive  

14 members have voted

  1. 1. What is the best DVD Drive Variant?

    • Thompson
      0
    • Philips
      5
    • Samsung
      5
    • Hitachi/LG
      4


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Any opinions on which DVD drive variant is the best?
 

I know they are all getting old and lacking in reliability now.  I’ve got a Thomson in my OG 1.0 and a Philips in my OG1.1 and a Philips in a 1.6.  
 

I know my Thompson drive is very finicky about reading burned cds and some burned dvds (especially if only a small amount of data is written to it).  It still reads official discs well enough when I’m not playing off of the HDD.
 

The Phillips in my 1.1 seems to be much more forgiving when it comes to burned dvd media, and cd media.  
 

I can’t comment on the Philips in 1.6 As it is a recent addition, the seller said that it refused to open.  When the system arrived I powered it up and was greeted to a copy of Manhunt (that probably needs to be resurfaced).

 

What about blank media, any opinions out there?

 

I typically use RiData for DVD media and Imation for CD media.

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I have an Hitachi-LG "H-L"GDR-8050L in my 1.4 XBox (by default it was a Samsung which died).

I also have an 1.6 XBox with an Philips VAD6035/21 which dosen't like CD´s but thats not a problem for me since i don't have much CD´s at all.

I use "Verbatim DVD minus" only for the XBOX, nothing else even if the Game/Programm would fit on a CD. With a dummy file not problem at all.

Btw. not voted cause would buy both drives again. If i had the choice between both i would choose the H-L"GDR-8050L since it´s the lates one and will, hopefully, last longer as the rest.

And Samsung drives are like Rockstars. The play alsmost everything but die young. ;)

Edited by sweetdarkdestiny
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I always wonder in votes like this how many people have actually used all the drives. I thought I had until I found out there were actually two Philips and two Thomson models and both have, reported, somewhat different media preferences and reliability.

There are also significant variations in the published media compatibility tables you can find online too. My own quite extensive testing on the Thomson (late), Samsung 605B, Samsung 605F, Philips (late), Hitachi (I have two of each except the Thomson) supports some online compatibility information but completely contradicts others.

The only thing that is actually agreed 100% is that DVD-R is the only universal type and if it does not work chances are the media batch is bad or your disc drive has a problem.

There is also the question of what constitutes the "best". Quite frankly the fact the Samsung 605B has the greatest compatibility is irrelevant. It doesn't make it the best IMHO. Reliability is, for me the key issue, and the Hitachi wins hands down in that respect. Both my Hitachis gave me identical results. They do not like any CD-R at all but that is it, anything else they'll boot including DVD-RW.

I have an Hitachi in my most used Xbox and it has never given me any problems. All five Samsung drives I've owned have eventually needed replacement/reconditioned drive belts and even then that has not always cured disc tray eject/close issues 100%.

The only problem is that the Hitachi drives seem to be less common in the US so fewer users and therefore I would expect in a poll like this the Samsung 605B is going to walk away with the prize. Another example of how in a free poll the majority vote sometime produces the wrong result. 

    

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Thanks for all the input, much appreciated!

17 hours ago, Ging3rguy said:

I would only use the dvd drive when you have to and just ftp files to your hdd. You can try cleaning the laser lens with a cotton bud and isopropyl if the drive struggles to read discs. Last option would be a pot tweak. I use verbatim when I have to.


Agreed, I do try not to use the dvd drive too often on any of my consoles.  It just makes much more sense to load games of of the hdd, they load faster and saves wear and tear on the DVD drive.

I have given my Thomson drive lens a dab of alcohol, as well as the mirror underneath the deck as well.  Think I will leave the pot alone until things get exponentially worse (no discs are detected).
 

18 hours ago, sweetdarkdestiny said:

I have an Hitachi-LG "H-L"GDR-8050L in my 1.4 XBox (by default it was a Samsung which died).

I also have an 1.6 XBox with an Philips VAD6035/21 which dosen't like CD´s but thats not a problem for me since i don't have much CD´s at all.

I use "Verbatim DVD minus" only for the XBOX, nothing else even if the Game/Programm would fit on a CD. With a dummy file not problem at all.

Btw. not voted cause would buy both drives again. If i had the choice between both i would choose the H-L"GDR-8050L since it´s the lates one and will, hopefully, last longer as the rest.

And Samsung drives are like Rockstars. The play alsmost everything but die young. ;)

I’m abstaining from voting as well.  
Sounds like Samsung would be king of it wasn’t for long term reliability issues.  I suspect that my DVD-R burns that don’t read may likely be from lack of dummy files.

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^ Toss up between the Samsung 605F (second least compatible/tray issues) and the Philips (least compatible, becomes even less compatible with age and, my experience is that I've had one that was working fail completely). I've had a Samsung 605F totally fail recently too - the main ribbon cable connector just broke off.

In both cases these were Xboxes I bought used with who knows how much abuse but you can only go on your own experience if you're answering a question like that. My Philips disc drives are the ones without question ageing the least well.

Too be honest I haven't used the Thomson I have much at all. Its noisier than any of the others, something which I do not like, but it still works reliably. So better than the Philips.   

Edited by HDShadow
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I've owned two 1.6 Xboxes in my time.

The first one had a Samsung drive in it, which tended to work excellent for reading discs and up until the console itself (not the drive) died, it was still reading discs fairly well, though it did eventually experience the problem in which having no disc inside the unit would cause the tray to get stuck upon ejecting. 

My current 1.6 actually has the rarer Hitachi-LG GDR-8050L drive in it, and its been a champ so far. Reads just about everything I throw into it with no hiccups, and doesn't get stuck when there's no disc in the console. 

As for blank media, Verbatim has been relatively solid for me, though they were recently acquired by CMC, so the quality of the discs might be different going forward. More often than not however I've had the least amount of duds with them. I've also had good luck with Maxell discs.  I've not used many other brands that have worked as well as those two, but I'm told that some of the better options out there currently are CMC Pro (a.k.a. CMC's acquisition of Taiyo Yuden) and FalconMedia's "Premium" Line.

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My test DVD drive is a TGM600 Thompson and the media I use is Verbatim DVD-r and I always write as slow as the burner will go even for Audio cd's I write as slow as possible.

The Slayer 2.7 Disk I made when it was 1st released still work's as well.

 

Cheers

SS Dave


Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

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I have found that any Xbox with a softmod and stock or small (40 -160 gig) hard drive the DVD drive is weak,  Where if the Xbox has a modchip and bigger hard drive the DVD is in better condition due to less use but most of them have a stuffed belt due to lack of use.

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave


Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

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