DVD burner information

The main alternatives to DVD burners are CD burners, external hard drives, portable hard drives and USB flash drives.

A 4.7 GB DVD has about 6.7 times the storage capacity of a 700 MB CD. CD burners cost as little as $20, but many are as expensive as DVD burners. If you're an audiophile, you'll prefer the playback and recording quality from a dedicated CD burner that can burn at 1x or 2x. See our report on CD burners.

For storage, external hard drives are the most cost-effective alternative. They are cheaper per gigabyte than any other current option (given that you have to buy media in addition to a burner).

Flash drives are the fastest alternatives and are easy to store anywhere. Capacities currently range from 128 MB to 64 GB, though 128 GB drives are coming soon. Flash drives have become less and less expensive of late. Currently, 8 GB drives have dropped to as low as $15, while 64 GB devices run about $140 each.

If you are deciding between a DVD burner for your computer or a DVD recorder for your home entertainment system, consider what you want to do. Computer-based DVD burners are better if you want to edit and record footage from your camcorder to DVD. If you don't really need or want a DVD burner for your computer, but want to convert analog VHS tapes to DVD or record TV programs, you should consider a DVD recorder rather than a DVD burner. DVD recorders use the same format types as DVD burners, but instead of connecting to your computer, they connect to your TV and A/V system. See our separate report on DVD recorders.

BurnWorld.com is one of the best sources of information on the Internet for DVD burners. The site offers everything related to burning discs except detailed reviews of burners. It does have product information, software reviews and how-to guides.

DigitalFAQ.com has an exhaustive, regularly updated guide to DVD blank media, ranking different brands and manufacturers of discs. DVD burner owners should be aware that not all media are reliable, since a burner is only as good as the discs it uses.

Many of the sites listed in Our Sources provide up-to-date information about DVD burners as well as good general information.

Manufacturers' websites have detailed specs and product information:

HP

LG

Lite-On

Memorex

Pioneer

Plextor

Samsung

Asus

Sony Optiarc