Need new computer. Please help.

Sami

Originally posted by billbillw
I disagree with Sami, I've built more than a dozen computers and burnt more than 100 dvds and 1000s of CDs.
I've used everything from the top quality Verbatim media to the cheapest GQ stuff from Fry's, and everything in between. For the most part, I've had 100% success after a short learning curve in the beginning.

What kind of standalone player have you played them on? That has a lot to do with it. The cheapos did burn discs (most of the time) that would play on cheap Apex players but my Denon and Sony would have nothing to do with.

Originally posted by billbillw
Most of the "no name" burners are just re-badged from one of 3 or 4 major manufacturers and are of the same quality. All of the burners out there should do their job correctly 99% of the time, unless they are defective.

Quality control my friend. There is a reason why they are rebadged and not sold by the manufacturer. Some of the big names selling rebadged drives I understand but what is the explanation of no-name selling a well known manufacturers drive rebadged? QC is the most logical explanation.

billbillw

Originally posted by Sami
Quality control my friend. There is a reason why they are rebadged and not sold by the manufacturer. Some of the big names selling rebadged drives I understand but what is the explanation of no-name selling a well known manufacturers drive rebadged? QC is the most logical explanation.

Actually, it has to do with distribution networks. NEC, Pioneer, LG, and Liteon don't have a large distribution network, they deal mostly with OEMs. Some 3rd party company like MadDog, that has distribution networks and deals with CompUSA or BestBuy comes along and buys up 50,000 units from NEC and boxes them up in a different box. They may put a different front plate on the drive, but inside its still the same top quality NEC drive. Thats just an example, but LG, BenQ, Pioneer, Liteon, and a few others all do this. You rarely find those brands on the shelf, but they are out there in rebadged boxes.

Oh, and I play my discs on one of three players:
a Pioneer DVD440, a Denon DVD2900, and a Panasonic RV-31.
The Denon is more picky, but since I've started burning all my disks with the booktype set to DVD-ROM, I haven't had any problems with any of the players.

Sami

Originally posted by billbillw
Actually, it has to do with distribution networks.

I've heard that one before but I don't completely buy it. Even then QC will pick the ones on the bottom of the chart to be sent to rebadged. The lack of distribution channels is believable in a lot of cases but there would be other ways to distribute these drives so I'd take this explanation with a grain of salt.

Sami

Originally posted by billbillw
The Denon is more picky, but since I've started burning all my disks with the booktype set to DVD-ROM, I haven't had any problems with any of the players.

Too bad I don't have the Denon anymore to try on, it was more picky than even the Sony. I would play with the burn settings more but I really don't have the need anymore. I have a decent burner and I'm playing from a HTPC anyway.

BTW, stay away from Emprex burners...

billbillw

Originally posted by Sami
BTW, stay away from Emprex burners...

Never heard of them, so that's probably good advice.

Greg, if you do decide to upgrade your burner, I would recommend the BenQ 1620.

It can be bought for around $50 or less and it is still an Editor's Choice at www.CDRinfo.com

I have one of these for about 6 months (but mine is the rebadged NU Technologies), and it is fast, quite, and I've not had one bad burn.

brettw22

Originally posted by billbillw
I would recommend the BenQ 1620.

It can be bought for around $50 or less and it is still an Editor's Choice at www.CDRinfo.com

Short of buying every off brand name and opening it up, how could he tell that he's buying a BenQ?

billbillw

Originally posted by brettw22
Short of buying every off brand name and opening it up, how could he tell that he's buying a BenQ?

By buying one from Here (newegg.com)

I should mention that there is no difference between the Pro and non-Pro version. Originally the Pro had 4x DVD+R DL and the non-pro was only 2.4x, but BenQ updated the firmwares to make all of them 4x. No difference after firmware update to version "p" or later. Of course, the Pro version comes with 25 CD-R and 25 DVD+R. Nice little bonus for $25 extra, but if you find the good sales, media can be had for less these days.

SuperDave

Dell has the best bang for the buck, you can get a bone unit up to an XPS with more features than all the rest. The design is better and they stand behind their stuff. I use them professionally for some extreme testing and thats what made me get one for the home.
I got an 8400 with a gig of ram 3.2ghz dvd+-,cd burners......, and it screams.
Don't get an EMachine,HP, or Compaq, I could tell some good (bad)stories about each. And for the small computer stores, they are ok but they will not be in business long enough to supprt the life of the computer and they cannot compete with a large direct maufacturer.
If you know what you want with no extras go to the dell site and order a custom setup, my advice is get more than you think you will need.
Just my 2 cents and no I don't work for dell, good luck.
SuperDave

brettw22

HP's have always been a good computer to buy.......the fact that they're Compaq related now sucks because IMO Compaq sucks the big one......

I still would feel comfortable with a HP machine based on their history of being one of the more dependable builders.

audiobliss

Based on my experience with 3 HP computers, I will never again buy anything HP. Based on my experience with 3 Compaq computers and my dad's experiences with 4 Compaq computers, I would never hesitate to buy a Compaq; except that now they're associated with HP. Ay de mi.


I guess what these last two posts mean is brand loyalty doesn't mean much in computers.

brettw22

Ya......honestly I haven't purchased a desktop in over 7 years.......just going off what my friends have experienced.

I've had 3 computers, all of which were laptops......based on that, NEVER EVER will I buy a Sony computer product. Toshiba is the way to go....

michael_w

If you don't have it already run two free downloadable off the net programs, Ad-aware and Spy Bot Search and Destroy. They will scan your system for spyware and other nasty stuff that greatly slows down your computer and remove it safely.

Ad-aware link
Spybot link


btw personally I think that my computers amd 1.83 ghz processor is faster than my families p4 2.53 ghz... but it could just be the way I have my computer set up.

audiobliss

I definitely second those two programs. I run them both on my laptop and on my desktop.

gmorris

Gooood morning everyone. Sorry I haven't been responding. This week, I've been learning how to program & run the CNC mill in our machine shop. You know what that means, custom built speakers routed on the mill!!!!

Anyway, I'm going try to confuse everyone even more.

Someone asked which DVD burner I had. It is the AOPEN DUW1608 linked here.

Last night, I stopped off at Office Max, picked up a LITEON DVD burner, took it home, hooked it up, burned a flick, watched it, and :mad:BAM:mad:, at 2:40, freeze. So, it's not the DVD burner or the discs that are bad. The only variable left is it has to be the computer. (I'm taking the LITEON burner back tonight and getting my money back)

Also, I had the UN-compressed movie & the compressed movie still on the hard drive. I watched each version from the beginning up to the point where it froze, and on the computer, it played fine, with both version from the hard drive. This to me indicates severe burn problems.

Also, I checked the "Performance" tab on the Windows Task Manager while the burner was burning. It was averaging between 2-5% CPU Usage. Should this be higher?

Also, thanks to everyone for all the advice so far. I appreciate all the help, but to be frank, I am still not getting anywhere. I am very close to giving up. I currently don't have the money to go get a new computer (wedding in August). After August, then I should have some expendable income to get a new computer. I'm about to throw in the towel....:(

Sami

Get a cheap DVD player. $20-30.

billbillw

Originally posted by gmorris
Someone asked which DVD burner I had. It is the AOPEN DUW1608 linked here.

OK, I didn't know you were using such a new burner.
You should definetely stick with +R media and set the booktype setting to DVD-ROM. This will allow more reliable playback on set-top players. I believe the Aopen defaults to -ROM setting when using +R or +RW media.

Your CPU usage shouldn't be very high while burning. 2-5% is probably normal. The compressing step is where the CPU usage is very high.

janmike

I agree with SuperDave. I have used Dell laptops for years and never had a problem. For home, I have gone through the Compaq, HP, eMachine thing. Dell would knock them all down. My new Dell 8400 will arrive this week for home use. You will have a hard time beating the price, unless a know people in the business.

gmorris

Well, I actually have good news to report this morning.

Over the weekend, I stopped in the computer shop and talked to the Super Nerd who works there. This guy knows his stuff.

His advice was, just like all of you fine people, to get a better computer. But since that is a couple months off, he gave me some tips to try with the current computer.

First, he said download a free Registry Cleaner program. I went to download.com, and downloaded RegSeeker, a freeware registry cleaner.

Next, he suggested downloading the new Microsoft Anti Spyware software, right from Microsoft.com.

Lastly, he suggested defraging the hard drive.

I downloaded the 2 softwares, installed & ran them, and defragged. To cut to the chase, after doing these 3 things, I ripped/burned a movie, and it WORKED!! NO ERRORS!!

The only other thing I did was: In Nero, there is an option called Ultra Buffer, which by default has a setting of automatic. I changed the setting to Manual, and set the value to 80. (It doesn't say if this is 80 Mb of RAM, but I guess it could be) Either way, I set the Ultra Buffer to 80, and it seems to work.

So at this point, I've burned a movie successfully.

cfrizz

Good work. Are you still planning on getting a new one now? I probably would & keep the old one for a backup pc.

Cathy

gmorris

Originally posted by cfrizz
Good work. Are you still planning on getting a new one now? I probably would & keep the old one for a backup pc.

Cathy

I am now planning on getting a full blown Media Center PC, once I can afford it (cough, after the wedding, cough).

I think this is the way to go, and it is the future of home entertainment. No more discs.....

Thanks again to everyone for all the help. I just hope that I have fixed the problems and didn't just get lucky on this one disc.

michael_w

Yea it is essential that you defrag, scan for viruses and spyware and stuff like that frequently. I forgot about defraggin for a couple weeks and did an analysis on my system after deleting 55 gigs of stuff and found out that it was 24% fragmented.... good time to run it

Pablo

For future reference, you can try Dell Outlet for a refurbished machine (you may have to search the site for it, but it's there somewhere). They will have a ton of refurbished or "unclaimed" machines fairly cheap (you can't customize at all, but they ussually have quite a selection). And you do get a warrenty.

Also RAM is probably the most important thing when burning disks (there is a ton of I/O involved). I would get a gig if I where you. Also, get a P4. The celeron is cheaper, but much slower (I don't have an AMD to compare, so I can't say much about those, but I heard good things).

Also, thanks for the last post, I'm going to try the reg sweeper on my machine. (I was looking for one, but didn't find anything good).

stereo55

Originally posted by danger boy
sounds like you need a new DVD burner or more hard drive space. add a larger hard drive. less $ than a new computer.

*edited* due lack of reading of whole thread .

Paradoxex

Wow....what was this bot smoking?

Ok guys, a free vanilla "Like" to the first person to click on all of the URLs at the bottom of diana's post!

mrbigbluelight

Paradox, you'd make one heck of a well digger. This thread was almost 12 years old. I still gave you a "Like" for effort.

Paradoxex

There was a post above mine today from a bot that had some half intelligible English with a bunch of poorly tagged URLs.

Ken_S presumably edited out the post but left my response, making me look silly.

scubalab

That Ken S... he's such a ballbuster!