TDK External 4x Multiformat External DVD-Rewritable Drive

Rating:
Summary: TDK Supports Their Products
Review: I bought the TDK DVD drive and it was not able to recognize DVD+RW media after writing to the media one time. (DVD+R media worked fine.) This problem had existed since I purchased the drive. I "chatted" with tech support and they agreed that it was a hardware problem with the drive. When I called tech support for an RMA number, they informed me that I was past the warranty period (by a couple of months). I requested they cover the repair anyway as a gesture of goodwill, since the drive had never worked properly. THEY AGREED TO REPAIR THE DRIVE! Now that is what I call great support. Had the drive failed after the warranty period expired, it would not be right for anyone to expect TDK to repair the product. As it is, I feel that TDK has shown incredible integrity and gone above and beyond the call of duty. Hat's off to TDK!

The drive is a solid performer and installs easily. I suggest using Nero with this drive rather than the bundled software.

Rating:
Summary: If you've been waiting to buy...you can stop
Review: I've been watching the price of external DVD writers for over a year. This particular item has dropped from over $400 to a little more than $200 (with a current $30 TDK rebate and careful comparison shopping --not neccesarily via Amazon) during that time. It has many positive points to recommend it, and only a few minor issues.
Strenghts:
(1) The external option is a blessing if you are not comfortable with --or simply don't want to spend the time-- messing around inside your computer. Even though my currrent desktop is homebuilt and I'm fine with working inside the case, both of my IDE controller "master" settings are already dedicated (one to the hard drive, one to an existing CD-RW. The latter is capability I'll want to retain for a while longer).
(2) The presence of both USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces adds obvious flexibility to this unit. Since the data transfer rates are nearly the same, this is a matter of personal preference (unless you only have one type available on your computer, of course).
(3) The ability to write in both DVD+RW and DVD-RW formats spares consumers any painful -and possibly regretable-- "vhs vs. beta" type decisions as this market segment matures.
(4) This unit shipped with a surprisingly good printed users manual for both hardware and software operation.
(5) Worked great first time out of the box. Extensive data backups of up to 4.7 GB on a single DVD....how cool is that!
Nitpicks:
(1) The CD drawer operation is a little on the noisy side.
(2) Personal preference issue: The included burning software is Roxio's EZ CD Creator. I prefer Ahead Software's Nero package based on a couple years of experience with both. Your mileage and user experience may vary, of course.

Rating:
Summary: Fast Service
Review: The customers service and quality of service was excellent. I received the order the same day that it was esimated to be shipped. Previous to my order, I read consumer reports that provided positive reviews about the hardware and negative reports about the software that came with it. I had purchased new software and had no problems.

Rating:
Summary: Lost a star for bad software
Review: This DVD burner comes with Roxio's Easy CD and DVD Creator software. While the software is very easy to follow, the DVDs I produced were choppy and, most importantly, HAD NO SOUND. I checked with Roxio and indeed they have a fix for the sound problem, but it doesn't work (for me at least). While at the Roxio site I saw many, many complaints about this software.

The burner itself has functioned great and set up easily. I think once I find a usable software program to work with it I'll be very happy with the product.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible Dvd burner, great if you want nothing but COASTERS!
Review: This dvd burner is horrible, I had nothing but problems with it. I bought this thinking it was the best but it fell very short of my expectations after the second burn. Also the software is garbage and you are better off using Dvd shrink (which is free software) and Nero to burn .

Most of the problems being with dvd-r disks. I used the two free dvd+r disk fine but it was downhill after that. I bought a stack of 10 tdk dvd-r (dvd-r runs on all of the dvd players in our house and dvd+r doesn't), it encoded just fine, started to burn for a few minutes and then the burner would freeze up and a error message would pop up on the screen. After a few more coasters, I called TDK and they tried to say it was my computers fault, I informed then my computer was brand new and then they said it was the burner driver that needed to be updated. I updated the driver on their website, yet this still did not fix the problem, I had an even larger stack of coasters by then and said forget it, I will be broke with no movies to speak for it before I get this thing working. I returned it and bought the external 8x Plextor px-708uf and have been happy ever since, and have burned over 50 copies of my movies with no coasters! If you want a burner that gives you nothing but hassle, headaches and a stack of coasters for your drinks by all means waster your money on this. If you want a great dvd burner take a closer look at the Plextor 8x.