Customer Reviews

TDK 4x2;16x10x32 Internal IDE DVD+R/-RW/CD-RW Drive

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Installation was extremely easy, just plug and play. This is also the cheapest 4x or even 2x DVD burner I found, and I did some serious shopping around from major retailers (Dell, Amazon, BestBuy, CircuitCity, CompUSA).

It came with 1 free disk.

Just some hints for people who are burning DVDs for the first time.

Some good software is:

DVDXCopy (can copy copy protected DVDs for home/backup use).

MyDVD by sonic (good point and click DVD maker, came free with my Adaptec FireWire/USB 2.0 expansion card).

Adobe Premier (very very high end, not for beginners).

The DVD Drive was packaged with 2 CDs, screws, data cable (most people won't need this as their PC should have a cable already installed on their existing CD or DVD drive. Each cable can hook up to 2 drives) a manual and a foldout step by step installation instruction sheet in english and spanish. The first CD has a bunch of programs on it, such as the lite version of Nero and some videos and manuals. The second disk has the Pinnacle software. Also with the drive comes a 4x DVD+R blank disk.
Installation was a snap. Just opened the case, popped out the 5 1/2" bay's cover, slid the drive in, screwed in the 4 securing screws and plugged in the existing data cable and power cable. Closed up the case and booted up the PC.
I am running XP, so Windows automatically recognized the drive and allowed me to use it to install the software off both the enclosed CDs. Both programs seem easy enough to use, but I have one complaint: I cannot seem to get either Nero or Pinnacle to burn at 4x. It uses a default value of 2.4, which I cannot change. I guess either the drive is too new and they haven't updated the software packages to recognize the faster DVD speeds yet (maybe I can download updates online) OR I need to change my settings in XP. Hope to figure that out soon. Otherwise, the drive is (supposedly) fast, easy to install, and seems like a great value, especially since i got such a great deal on it!

This is my first DVD burner. I choose this model after much resarch and have not regretted the choice. It was easy to install and indeed has some nice software (Nero and Studio 8).

I bought this along with DVD Xcopy by 321 Studio because of the reviews of Xcopy and how well it works. (see review of Xcopy)

Looking to burn you home digital movies or back up others stuff! This will do it with ease.

This drive -- which is available ridiculously inexpensively if you shop around -- does exactly what it sets out to do. It burns DVD+R/RW discs, and CD-R/RW discs, and does so quite reliably.

The drive installs easily and will be recognized by Windows XP without any further need for configuration.

The included software will be sufficient for creating DVDs of your own videos (from your digital camcorder, say, or captured from videotapes if you have a capture card), and burning them, as well as creating and burning MP3, audio, and JPG CDs. None of the included applications are industry leaders, but they're competent.

If you want to copy commercial DVDs you can, using tools you can find easily, but I won't go into that here.

I've successfully burned TDK and Ritek DVD+R blanks at 4x, and some generic blanks at 2.4x, and no coasters yet. I've also successfully written, played, erased and reqritten Imation DVD+RW blanks.

Just keep in mind this is a "plus" drive. While DVD+ is compatible with most DVD players, it's not compatible with equipment that is DVD "minus" only, such as many Apple computers.

A 5-star drive would write both "plus" and "dash," and would come with better software. But as of this writing, it would also cost considerably more.

After looking at many reviews of DVD burners I decided to give this one a try, and so far I'm pretty happy with it. The TDK 4X DVD+R it came with burned perfectly, but the Memorex 4X DVD+R's I bought will only burn at 2.4X for no apparent reason. I have yet to figure out if it is the media, burner, or software. My guess is the media because it was very cheap.

+ Inexpensive
+ Quiet
+ Gets the job done

- Cheap build quality
- Nero Express 5.5 not Nero 6 included

Hey, systems engineer, the reason you can't burn a DVD-R is because this burner only burns DVD+R/RW. You should know to read the specs on hardware you buy. The reason this product is priced $... below it's dual format brother, is because many DVD players won't play back the DVD+R format.

Nice drive and a good price - but the title is incorrect:
"TDK 4x2;16x10x32 Internal IDE DVD+R/-RW/CD-RW Drive
by TDK " Is *does not* read or write DVD -R or DVD -RW. The description lists the correct formats.

This drive is a great value if your dvd player will play R+. One poster complained that it won't burn R-; well obviously, this is an R+ burner!

I burned my first back-up using DVDXCopy and it worked good except 10 minutes towards the end of the 1st DVD was messed up. I don't know if this was the blank DVD itself, the burner or the software.

I work as a sys engineer and no matter what application (Nero or Roxio)...the burner will not burn 1x media (Ritek) Dvd-R
the slowest it can burn is 2x....(no where on the box does it say that this unit cannot record 1x dvd media)

save yourself the trouble and buy a Sony that can support 1x media....

tech support for tdk is abysmal...took me 1 week of calling to finally get someone to find out that this drive cannot burn 1x medias