Advantages: Extremely fast, Dual Layer, multi formats
Disadvantages: Needs firmware upgrade for some DL discs

...I have used a NEC 1100, then a NEC 1300, and now have the NEC 3500, and have found them all to offer excellent value for money and good reliability. I paid only £41 at www.ebuyer.co.uk and have found the drive to burn to all formats (plus and minus, r and rw : once and re-writeable). It burns some discs faster than what it says on the disc, for example some 8x discs will burn at 16x. However I have had some discs that are 8x that only burn at 4x speed. It depends on the media, not all are supported at the claimed speeds, but some do exceed the stated. I was eager to try out the Dual Layer (DL) recording facility and had purchased some Datawrite DVD+R DL discs for just under £4 each, which is still expensive compared to the approx £0.25ea for DVD+R single layer discs but competitive at the time of writing. The disc was not recognised... Read review

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Advantages: Supports all media except DVD-R DL
Disadvantages: doesn't support DVD-R DL for burning

...A good CD/DVD burner. Reads and burns CD's and DVD's (-R, -RW or +R, +RW) with no problems. (with firmware version US09, - note: 0 is a zero) Plays DVD films with no problems. Supports digital playback of CD's. Works with Nero, Pinnacle, Deep Burner and every other burning program I have used. Burnproof / Justlink technology for succesful burning. It once started acting sluggish and made a loud wrrr noise, but after close examination this was caused by the notorius starforce protection driver software that came with a game. I uninstalled the starforce driver and it worked fine again. The game installed fine, and worked without problems - It was just that wrrr thing. Why 4 stars instead of 5: If you want to burn Dual Layer (DL) you can only do it with DVD+R DL discs. It doesn't seem to support DVD-R Dual Layer discs for burning... Read review

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Advantages: Fast, Reliable, Cheap (Could you want anymore)
Disadvantages: None

...<<>> |> Writes and reads DVD-R/RW, +R/RW and CD-R/RW formats |> Buffer under-run protection for CD/DVD, |> Performance Adjusting Firmware |> Max. 16x writing speed for DVD-R/+R* |> Max. 8x writing speed for DVD-R DL (Dual Layer) and +R DL (Double Layer) Discs |> Max. 6x writing speed for DVD-RW |> Max. 8x writing speed for +RW I bought this item as my cd-rw was quickly becoming obsolete, i did have many choices to go for, all where pretty similar in specification and in also in price, so I thought that any of the following manufactures: LG, Sony, Pioneer would provide almost identical products. After all they are all the same aren't they? Well the answer to the question is that they are and they aren't oddly enough, if you are a rare user, then it shouldn't really matter too much, disk writing errors are rather low... Read review

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Advantages: Stylish looking, easy to use, supports every format, cheap
Disadvantages: None

...This drive is undoubtedly one of the cheapest DVD Dual Layer drives available. LG have done well with this drive, and have made it look stylish and work well. This drive has support for up to 48x burning speed for CDs, 16x speed for DVDs, 6x for DVD+R DL and 4x for DVD-R DL. These speeds are correct, and I have extensively tested all these media in this drive. It has burned perfectly each time and I have never had a problem. I have also owned this drive for a year now, and had absolutely no problems with it - it was simple to install with an IDE cable to the motherboard and normal molex connector to the power supply, and worked simply as plug and play. When installing the drive it is also possible to place it into the case either extruding, level or slightly into the case depending on where you want the drive to be. The drive is quiet... Read review

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Advantages: Good looking set with stand
Disadvantages: Connecting non-Sony VCR/DVD's may limit features

...fit neatly through big holes in the rear leg of the stand, a neat bit of design. So what does it offer and how good is the picture? Well let’s begin by saying you don't have to worry about tuning the set - it does all this itself. However, a word of caution. Please read the instructions first before you switch on – even the aerial connection is complicated as this set has two of them! Once you start to wire your VCR and DVD things can start to get quite hectic. Fortunately there are diagrams in the instructions to help, but there’s a lot you can get wrong. All going well however when you switch the set on the tuning will take care of itself, storing all the available channels, both analogue and digital applicable to your broadcast area. Congratulations it time to enjoy television! There are effectively two tuners in the KD28DL11... Read review

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Advantages: Built in HDD, Plays Alomost All media, Built in Freeview
Disadvantages: none that i can think of

...1 x SPDIF output (RCA phono) - rear 1 x G-Link Interface - rear 2 x SCART (21 PIN SCART) – rear Cables included: Antenna cable Remote control cable Recordable media: DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL Playable media: CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-RAM, SVCD, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD, CD, Video CD, DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL Overall I think that this media player/writer is an excellent product and is a must have for the home theatre. And as movie fanatics will agree this is a great product to both watch and record your media with. Just imagine all your media in one place no more switching between DVDs and CDs or the old VHS, you can just navigate through the HDD and find what you like without leaving the comfort of your seat, I don’t know about you but that sounds great to me lol. And I recommend this product to anyone who would like... Read review

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Advantages: Great quality on picture and sound and easy to use
Disadvantages: Have to watch the channel you are recording if from a cable channel

...and the connections for the scart to connect to a games console or camcorder. To install is very simple with a quick set up guide supplied in the box - the only thing is you'll need an extra scart lead if connecting to a cable box as well as a TV. A remote is included in the box along with batteries which makes a nice change as not every electrical items seem to have these included lately! The remote is also easy to use with simple buttons that state the use rather than tiny little pictures to guess what they are for. The dvd recorder can obviously record dvds and also plays wide range of different formats of recorded dvds. The full features is listed below: Plays CD, (S)VCD, DVD, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R DL Plays DivX, MP3, WMA and JPEG digital camera photos which can either be directly from a USB connection or from a recorded cd Dual Media records... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: It's a Sony, so quality and style are excellent...
Disadvantages: It's a Sony, so it's a bit more expensive...

...burning... The DRX-700UL also comes with a CD containing the (award winning) Nero software suite that allows you to create a whole range of music/video& data CD/DVD projects - THIS IS NOT A REVIEW OF NERO SOFTWARE - I've used it for video DVD's, mucic and data CD's and it's pretty intuitive and full featured. The DRX-700UL certainly seems to do most things, claiming (in the Sony documentation) to work with: DVD-R/-R DL/-RW, DVD+R/DVD+R DL/+RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, CD-DA, CD-ROM (XA), CD Extra, Video CD, Photo CD*, CD Text, multi-session (!) I've used the DRX-700UL on some CDR's and some DVD+R's (4.7GB) and have had no problems, no burning or buffer errors (the drive has a 2MB buffer). It can record up to 8.5GB capacity on one Double/ Dual Layer disc, but I just happened to find some DVD+R's on special offer !. Overall, the DRX-800UL has... Read review

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Advantages: Nothing to complain about
Disadvantages: Could have sqeezed one more show in

...everywhere, with some such as Jamie Foxx, now a Oscar and Grammy winner as well as "Rush Hour" star Chris Tucker and from "Nick Cannon's Wild N Out" Red Squad member Affion. With so many that you already know are gonna be funny, and a collection of some you probably would not have heard of there is no reason to complain. The DVD is split up into three shows, each with a new host and different lie-up, none of these are weak links and so if you do buy this, which I recommend, then you shoould watch it all through. There are only a couple of acts which I couldn't connect with, but out of a total of 14, it doesn't lower the standard at all. It is important to know that those who you are likely to know, Martin Lawrence and D.L. Hughley for example, do not disappoint. Warren Hutchenson is one who I had never heard of, it surprised me how funny he... Read review

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Advantages: Supports most disk formats, fast, cheap
Disadvantages: I hate installing internal drives

...'s very important as it is what the actual drive does. Writing Speeds: DVD+R: 2.4X, 4X, 8X, 12X, 16X DVD+RW: 2.4X, 4X, 8X DVD+R DL: 2.4X, 4X, 6X, 8X, 10x DVD-R: 2X, 4X, 8X, 16X DVD-RW: 1X, 2X, 4X, 6X DVD-R DL: 2X, 4X, 8x DVD-RAM: 2X, 3X, 5X, 12x CD-R: 4X, 8X, 16X, 24X, 32X, 40X, 48X CD-RW: 4X, 10X, 16X, 24X, 32X Read Speeds: DVD-ROM: 16X Max DVD±R: 10X Max DVD±RW: 8X Max DVD±R DL: 8X Max DVD-RAM: 2X, 3X, 5X Max CD-R/ROM: 48X Max CD-RW: 40X Max Drive Size: 148mm x 165mm x 41.3mm INSTALLATION The one thing that really bugs me about any internal drive is actually getting it inside of the computer and installing it. It only took me a matter of minutes so it wasn't too bad. Optical drives are probably the easiest type of drives to install so don't be put off by this as it's not too bad. It's easy to learn how to do it and once you... Read review

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