Throughout this review, we compared eight of our most recently reviewed drives. We compared reading speed, ripping speed, error correction capabilities, backup capabilities and drive features. We saw how all eight drives perform with specific media and the best burns from each of the drives. What we have is a general idea of what the drives can do and how good a quality burning devices they are.

The term "Best Drive" is subjective and in truth, very much depends on the needs of each buyer. Writing quality with CD or DVD media is an important issue, since we are talking about DVD burners. However, many people might think that CD burning quality is not an important criterion for basing a decision on which drive to purchase. And while for many, reading speed is something important, it has to be combined with good error correction. It is very common for a drive to offer a higher reading speed but with inadequate error correction. Many of the latest drives however have succeeded in combining both and this is an advantage. Bitsetting is another strong feature which we highly recommend you look for in a drive since it increases compatibility, mostly with older standalone, non PC players and not only.

DAE ripping speed, ability to play and rip audio protected discs or create working backups of protected games, overburning, region free utilities, strong official/unofficial firmware support, ability to measure the writing quality of burned media and many others, are features which can make a DVD burner better and/or more attractive than the competition. However, it is very difficult to be good at everything and this is the main reason we believe there isn't a "Best Drive". Finally, for most buyers, the price in most cases is what will determine if a burner is worth buying or not.

So, we won't recommend which drive you should buy. This is something you'll have to decide for yourself. What we would recommend is that you look at what needs you have and find the most suitable burner for the job. We hope this comparison has helped make your decision a little easier :-)

Feel free to discuss this review here.