Hacking Best DVD Burners for Wii Compatibility?

[Louse76]

My experiences with drives...

I don't have the exact model numbers, but I have one 16x Samsung that I found to be OK, but inconsistent when burning Wii disks. My laptop's Matsushita drive is rock solid when burning at 2.4x (cheap media too). My external LG 16x drive didn't work for any games, though I only tried a few (stopped after that).

The best one so far was my 20x Lite-On, but now it's taking a dump on me!

So I'm looking for the best drive for burning. I'm assuming it'll be a Pioneer - they're always great.

The problem is, I would really like something with Lightscribe. However, I don't think there are any Pioneers out there with it, are there? I haven't seen any at Newegg.

So give me some advice, and post what drives you're using and what kind of experiences you've had!

I'll try and get back and post model numbers if anyone is interested.

I also have some NEC drives in two HTPCs that I have to test too one of these days...

 

[spotanjo3]

My experiences with drives...

I don't have the exact model numbers, but I have one 16x Samsung that I found to be OK, but inconsistent when burning Wii disks. My laptop's Matsushita drive is rock solid when burning at 2.4x (cheap media too). My external LG 16x drive didn't work for any games, though I only tried a few (stopped after that).

The best one so far was my 20x Lite-On, but now it's taking a dump on me!

So I'm looking for the best drive for burning. I'm assuming it'll be a Pioneer - they're always great.

The problem is, I would really like something with Lightscribe. However, I don't think there are any Pioneers out there with it, are there? I haven't seen any at Newegg.

So give me some advice, and post what drives you're using and what kind of experiences you've had!

I'll try and get back and post model numbers if anyone is interested.

I also have some NEC drives in two HTPCs that I have to test too one of these days...

# G DVD-ROM Drive of the following models : LG-8164b, LG-8163b,LG-8162b, or LG-8161b

1. ***the LG drives are the ONLY drives that will read Wii DVD data. this will not work with any other drives!

This is one you want:

LG Beige 16X DVD-ROM 52X CD-ROM E-IDE/ATAPI DVD-ROM Drive Model GDR-8164BB - OEM

 

[Bloodgod]

that's not what he's asking . . .

 

[robi]

I have a Pioneer DVR-110D & a Samsung SH-182M (lightscribe) and they both seem to work great.

- Using Verbatim lightscribe DVD+R and have tried a few Memerex DVD+R as well. All burned at 4x
- Some with the booktype set, some not.
- Wiikey

I recommend the free Imgburn (http://www.imgburn.com/) utility to burn cd/dvd images over Nero (which most people seem to use). It's a much lighter program anyway.

 

[aslacker55]

I use my laptop's TSS(samsung) burner and I haven't had a coaster yet. I use verbatim dvd-r and clonecd( very good software for burning wii and 360 images).

 

[outphase]

$ dvd+rw-mediainfo /dev/dvd
INQUIRY: [Memorex ][DVD+/-RW Dual-X1][1.05]

I use GQ brand DVD+Rs and k3b to burn.

 

[Louse76]

I have a Pioneer DVR-110D & a Samsung SH-182M (lightscribe) and they both seem to work great.

- Using Verbatim lightscribe DVD+R and have tried a few Memerex DVD+R as well. All burned at 4x
- Some with the booktype set, some not.
- Wiikey

I recommend the free Imgburn (http://www.imgburn.com/) utility to burn cd/dvd images over Nero (which most people seem to use). It's a much lighter program anyway.

I think that may have been the exact Samsung drive I was using. Did yours happen to have a black faceplate and a beige tray?

Actually, I checked my Newegg order history and I found that it was a SHS162LBEBN. However, my friend also uses a SH-S182D (which is likely exactly the same) and it doesn't do that good of a job. It may be the media, but her older 4x pioneer has been perfect with the same media.

With the 162 drive, I burned about a dozen TDK media at 4x, and NONE worked. Some partially worked and then would give errors. And these were expensive lightscribe media which is why I was so disgusted. I burned these before I had my Wii unfortunately... went through the trouble of lightscribing and everything! Note that I used Nero, and later went to Imgburn. I really don't think that there's a difference, as the write strategy is taken care of in the firmware, etc.

So IMO, Samsung drives aren't the best choice, although maybe in some circumstances, and with some media, they'll be perfectly fine.

 

[durix]

I have a pioneer 111d Recorder and a lg drive,

works perfectly for me with 0 DRE's at the moment.

My modchip is a wiifree 1.45

 

[Avenger]

I have a pioneer 111d Recorder and a lg drive,

works perfectly for me with 0 DRE's at the moment.

My modchip is a wiifree 1.45

I can attest to the high compatibility and great results using a pioneer branded burner.

 

[shiftybill]

i have an ASUS DRW-1608P3S, no bad burns as of yet

 

[kristijan08]

Pioneer DVR-110D. no problems, 95% + quality burns on TY media (not that i'd expect less

 

[Darkforce]

Louse76 - Supposedly there was a pioneer drive with lightscribe released; linky.

Pioneer don't list it on their European site though, the model is DVR 111-CBK.
EDIT - Seems to have been released in the US as the DVR-111C (or DVR-R200 for the retail boxed version?). linky

Anywho I'd avoid lightscribe media personally, it takes AGES to burn an image (20mins+) onto a disc and the media costs a lot more. If you want an image on top of your disc then grab some white or silver printable discs and get a disc printer like the Epson R200/220, R300/320, R265 etc...

 

[Louse76]

Thanks for the info Darkforce.

That lightscribe can't seem to be found. It's not on froogle at least

.

And I looked into the printing, but the ink price is RIDICULOUS! And I don't really want to have a third printer around only for that purpose!

 

[adgloride]

I use my pioneer 110. I don't think the wii games are fussy what burner is used (Not like the xbox 360). I use the datawrite optima blue and burn at X4 (I have to as it won't burn any faster as I'm using hacked firmware to set the bitsettings on xbox 360 games). I only have that problem with the optima blue discs though. I love these discs as I've yet to find something they won't work on.

 

[Darkforce]

Thanks for the info Darkforce.

That lightscribe can't seem to be found. It's not on froogle at least

.

And I looked into the printing, but the ink price is RIDICULOUS! And I don't really want to have a third printer around only for that purpose!

Forget what I just said... the R265 never even came out in the US, instead you guys have the R260, which is looks to be same except the R260 has more ink in it.
Anywho the printers were basically the follow up (cough-identical-cough) to the excellent R200/R220, except the R200/R220 cartridges had a higher capacity (17/18ml) than the R260 (15ml?) and R265 (9ml). The R260 compatibles seem to be going for $25'ish a set shipped on ebay btw.
The R200, R220 (same as R200 but in silver and with an improved dvd tray), R300/R320 (same as R200/R220 but has a screen) etc are now discontinued but I have seen several sites (at least here in the UK) that were able to get the odd few dozen units in from time to time, and if you want to pay a bit more you can still get them on ebay. Ink for those printers is craaaaazy cheap - like as little as $1-2 a cartridge, so for as little as $6-12 you can get well over 100ml of ink. Compare that to say an original HP 21 (black) cartridge which costs $20 and contains 5ml of ink (don't forget you'll need to fork out for the colour to) you'll understand why I like Epson (I have a R200 myself).

But yeah if you only plan to burn a few discs off then you might as well go the lightscribe route, otherwise a disc printer is a great buy; printable discs are generally the same price as normal non printable discs. I hope that's some food for thought anyway. Alternatively you could just scribble over the disc with a marker pen!

 

[Sick Wario]

on my rawdump/battlefield 2 PC i use
LG GDR-8164B to rip
LG GSA-H22N to burn and so far 100%

for DL isos then burn on my game PC i use
SONY DRU 800A (LiteON SOHW-1693S)

not as reliable as the LGs (few coasters)

all discs are 16x dvd+r verbs burned at 16x or 8x if the first has DRE

 

[Lazycus]

My Pioneer DVR-109 is still burning great. Hundreds of perfect backups for GC (on RiDATA DVD-R 4X minis) and Wii (Verbatim DVD-R 16X). Pioneer burns + those medias that the Matsushita drives love to read = no DREs.

 

[Bloodgod]

goddamn alot of users use Pioneer 110D. Well add me to that list along with whatever TSSTcorp drive is. Both work well and never produced any coasters.

 

[Tripp]

media + burner = result...

change either one and you change the result...

diff burners like diff media, here's a freeware tool to help... http://www.vso-software.fr/products/inspector/inspector.php

Me Lite-On SHM-165H6S + TY 8X white inkjet hub printable +R burned at 4X booktype DVD-ROM no problems for anything including Wii burns...

p.s. VSO Software is having a sale at 50% off including thier gold which I bought at another sale at 50%.

no I do not work for them just thought you folks should know...

 

[robi]

goddamn alot of users use Pioneer 110D. Well add me to that list along with whatever TSSTcorp drive is. Both work well and never produced any coasters.

TSSTcorp = Samsung