I recently burned out my DVD recorder in my PC, I have a Vaio M1 which basically is a kind of laptop meets desktop hybrid; as a result replacing the DVD recorder would mean sending the PC away to be repaired. Being as I use the PC frequently I opted for a different tact…. The purchase of an external unit.
I needed one in a hurry and descended on my local PC world where I found this Freecom model priced at £49.99. There was not a great deal of choice in PC world having three different recorders to choose from, two of them were out of the question simply because they were in the + format which I tend to find less reliable.
Having bought the recorder and taken it home I found the contents self explanatory The DVD Recorder, a leaflet of instruction, a disc, USB lead and a power cable (annoyingly like other Freecom products the plug is bulky and generally tends to intrude the adjacent plug hole if you use an extension lead). The installation was simple, plug all the parts together finally installing the USB lead to the PC “bimble bimble” went the noise and the PC recognised the DVD writer instantly; it even adapted existing drivers to work with the Freecom product. This can I add is a nice touch, as with many external disc drives you need to use a disc before installation, as my drive had gone to that drivebay in the sky this was impossible. The disc however includes DVD burning software this is of the ULead brand.
The writer needs top connect via a USB 2.0 port (so make sure you have one prior to making a purchase, you can check by doing a diagnostic via your PC’s control panel). The disc burns (records for the less technical) at up to 32X (this is the speed faster than standard content plays) for a CD, 6X for a DVD in – format, 8X for a DVD in + format, and 16X for a DVD Ram (read speed 48X for a CD, 16X for a DVD). From that you can gather this is a multi function DVD recorder, that records on CD and variable DVD media. I find the speed for copying a DVD (not that I’d promote this of course) to be about 9 minutes for a completely full disc; a CD takes around a minute and a half. When it comes to selecting +/- format regardless of machine I’d always recommend the – format. It’s a bit like the betamax/VHS war + format is cheaper and less accurate, the images on a + don’t dilute after time but you often find that after several plays you cannot get to the end of the disc without removing the disc for a while to cool down.
The DVD writer is the second Freecom product that I have purchased and touch wood (banging head) it’s a quality budget brand. The recordings with this product are nice deep burns, even with scratches (not gauges) on the disc it will still burn to it, some recorders do not.
This is a cheap, cheerful and very easy to install product; it takes minimal space (being only slightly larger than the size of a DVD or CD) and does the job (ALWAYS) it’s paid to do. As a result it gets a big thumbs up from me. These are still retailing at £49.99 at PC World, in-store or Online.
More details
Memory / capacity
Excellent
Design
Excellent
Ease of use
Very easy
Instruction manual
Good
Manufacturer Support
Good
Speed
Very fast
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quality design combined with the latest technology Super Multi DVD RW drives, that read from and write to any CD and DVD recordable format, including DVD+R(W), DVD-R(W)...
