Customer Reviews

HP 640VI Lightscribe 16X Dual/Double DVD-RW

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Especially for the money. Easy to install, great software bundle to boot. I simply love the drive. Now, a little skinny on the media. As of now (3-23-05) the dual layer DVD's are about 3-4 bucks a piece. They are convenient, but as of right now, you pay for that. The light scribe technology is also not free. Light scribe cd-r's, which you must use to get the light scribe to write a label, adds about .40 cents per cd-r. Does not sound like a lot, but buy a 100 cd-r's and this adds up!!! The technology is cool, it takes about 20 minutes and you have a really cool (greyscale) label imprinted on the cd. No labels, using sharpies etc. The speed of the drive is fantastic. 16X for a DVD is really flying as of now. You can't beat this drive, just don't get too excited about the technology it uses at this time, you pay for convenience. All that being said, the short falls of the drive are not the actual drive's fault, it will just take some time for the media to drop in price, and it will.

I purchased the drive because I was interested in the Lightscribe labeling capabilities but I found a more significant and useful feature was the much faster read times compared to the DVD-ROM drive that it replaced.

As for the Lightscribe features, printing is slow, the media is expensive and the label has low contrast text and graphics.

The lowest contrast (least legible) print setting for a simple two-line text label takes about 5 minutes to print. A high contrast (most legible) text and graphic label can take up to 30 minutes to print.

Based on various prices and brands, the Lightscribe feature adds about $0.50 per disk to the cost of media, both CD-R and DVD+R (there are no DVD-R's yet available).

The printable side of a Lightscribe disc is a dull bronze color. The text and graphics produced are darker shades of bronze depending on the print quality level selected. It never reaches a true black.

This labeling technology is still in its very early stages but has great promise.

This review is of the HP DVD640e (same as the i - only external) Bought the burner 4 days ago - and I loved it!!! Burnt 8 discs in row and was completely amazed at the lightscribe! (it is slow and could be better - but hey it's new!)....... AND THEN on the third day.... disc failure one after another and the error message so helpful (try another brand of disc, make sure the disc is clean, etc!) Are they kidding? I tried creating iso's and then burning that - I did the "C" firmware upgrade - I tried different software - I reinstalled software...... FINALLY I called HP, they have a special tel number for these burners - I was told to install the "B" firmware upgrade (I hadn't as it was a very involved upgrade and the description of what it was supposed to fix had nothing to do with my problem) I tried installing that version and IT WASN'T FOR MY BURNER!!!!
So I did a system restore back to the day the burner worked.... and it WORKED!!! - my joy was short lived... the third disk failed.....
Of course I called HP again - they told me the burner must be bad, I exchanged it last night and today.... FIRST BURN HUNG UP AND NEVER FINISHED!
So in conclusion - awesome technology - when it works. The software that comes with it is rather pitiful. And HP support STINKS!

Note: This review is on the external version of this drive, the 640e. The products are the same except that the external drive has both USB 2.0 and 1394 connections. It also ships with six Lightscribe DVD blank discs. Naturally, the power supply and all cables are included, too.

First, as a DVD writer, this works as advertised. The copies are quick (depending upon the speed of the media used, of course)and the number of failed copies has been very low relative to the drive that is in my desktop PC (and which failed just when I needed to create 16 disks in a hurry!).

Hook up was a snap, as it should be. Simply load the drivers from the included CD, reboot and then power up the drive. WinXP installs everything and you are ready to burn away. As noted, I made 16 DVDs (2 copies of 8 different discs - not copyrighted, of course!) and other than the fact that the copy software prefers to be the only thing running, things worked smoothly. (The only failed burns occurred when running other applications at the same time. The copy software politely notified me that the copy had failed and that it is best not to run other apps while copying.)

The weakness, in my opinion, is the software that is included. I am used to using a Roxio package and have also played with Nero software, both of which are fairly intuitive (translation, I didn't have to read the manuals!). The software that comes with this drive works fine, and the Arc software in particular seems to have some nice, if not always intuitive, features. But rather than being one integrated package, there are a couple of different pieces of software supplied with little or no instruction on what might be best to use in a given situation. The lack of integration and the limited info about the software are the reason that I dropped the rating to 4 stars.

One other gripe: When you load the drivers and software . . . surprise! There is a new icon on your desktop for some web-gaming promotion that wasn't there before! I really didn't buy the drive to get a come-on from some company selling game subscriptions. Tisk-tisk, HP! That should cost you a star but I will be nice since it doesn't impact the product's functionality!

Final note: I have not yet used one of the Lightscribe CDs to evaluate the labeling function. One reason I have not tried it is that it takes a LONG time to burn the lable and nothing that I have done yet warrents that time! Lightscibe media, both CD and DVD types, are now readily available so that is not an issue any more, although you will pay more for each blank disc than an equivalent disk without the Lightscribe capability. It appears to be a cool technology and would make for very nice finished products for those who need this and have the time (about 20 minutes) for the lable to be printed.

As a drive, I am very happy with the purchase and the way this drive works. I would happily recommend it. Four stars only because of the slightly weak software that comes with it.

Buy a different brand ! Made in Taiwan, no surprise there. With the very high cost of these types of discs, there is no excuse for such poor quality. I bought 100 of these and am getting a 15% success rate - that sucks ! If you enjoy throwing your money AND valuable data/ pictures, go ahead and buy these, if not, get a more reliable brand or wait on the lightscribe discs until they are more viable ? I have used memorex, philips, ETC. with no problems.

I've had my drive for 2 weeks and the labels look great! Verbatim makes both CD-Rs and DVDs for lightscribe and these are readily available on the net. The drive is a little slow-20 to 30 minutes for a label.Realistically I might burn 1 or 2 a day and the burn time has not been a problem for me. I sure liked throwing away my sticky label mess!

I am on my second drive now, the first had to be sent back. It barely worked and finally the tray wouldn't even open. The first and current drive had many failures. I mostly burn DVD's of home movies and have had to throw out as many DVD's as have been successfully burned. I now use the lightscribe for labeling only. I have burned one good label out of 1 attempt on the replacement drive, the first drive failed 2 out of 3 attempts. The old Plextor external DVD drive has been much more reliable burning DVD's. I have yet to try a burn of a CD, but would assume it works fine for that, but that's not the real reason to own one of these drives. I have not yet tried a dual layer, but based on current results, I would not expect it to perform well.

I've yet to see any blank DVDs for sale that are compatible with this Lightscribe system. CDs, yes, but DVDs? Not even on HP's website. Search Amazon and you'll find a product from Memorex that is, suspiciously, not available. Wish they'd change the promotional copy, or, if I'm missing something, I wish they'd make it clear where to find inScribeable DVDs.

I've used it for a couple of CDs, and it does look kinda cool, but it takes a long time, particularly at the advanced quality setting (don't bother, you'll hardly notice a difference), but I wouldn't base a computer purchasing decision on it. It came standard on my new Pavilion A1039n, which is doing great so far, no complaints-- unlike the lemon A630n which I purchased 1.30.05 and am STILL fighting with HP about.

NOTE THAT I'M RATING AMAZON, NOT THE DRIVE, BECAUSE I'M STILL WAITING FOR IT.

I intentionally paid a little more ($90.99) and ordered directly from Amazon, rather than one of their subvendors, because they claimed the drive shipped within 24 hrs, the quickest availablity I found. (Subvendor Tiger Direct, for example, charges $7 less but takes 1-2 weeks.) It's been a week and it hasn't even shipped yet, with no explanation. So much for 24 hrs....

I've been an Amazon customer for years...heck, I used to get the free Christmas mugs in the early years. I am appalled at how far the service has slid downhill in the past 2-3 years. My experience trying to get this drive is typical now, not the exception. Amazon used to be my default shopping destination, but now I only order here if I can't find the item elsewhere at a reasonable price. I'm not sure that's even worth the trouble anymore.

If I ever get the drive, I expect it to be fine, because I've never had problems with HP. (I'll submit a new review if there's any problem.) But I've pretty much had it with Amazon at this point. Buy it somewhere else if you can.