DVD Burner Prices Crash - Great for Consumers!

[Jason Dunn]

I've been reading about the dropping prices of DVD burners, but I didn't realize how low they've been getting until I went out shopping today. I've been testing out <a href="http://www.snapstream.com/">Snapsteam's Beyond TV3</a> loaded onto a <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,4956">Shuttle ST62K</a>, and it's very cool. The Beyond TV3 software is excellent, but the "circle of life" so to speak isn't complete because I have no method of getting shows from the Shuttle to my TV set upstairs. The Hauppauge card that came with the Snapstream bundle doesn't have TV out, and I'm waiting to get the Samsung DLP until I integrate a computer-based PVR in with my main entertainment setup. Anyway, all this is to say that I wanted to put a DVD burner in the ST62K and burn DVDs so I could watch them upstairs.<br /><br />I went shopping for one today, and was surprised to find an LG 12x burner that also had dual-layer writing abilities - I wasn't expecting to see a DL burner in Canada for several more months. It was selling for $199 CAN (about $154 USD) - only $50 more than I paid for my 8x LG burner I bought a mere two months ago. It wasn't until I hit local vendor <a href="http://www.memoryexpress.com">Memory Express</a> that I found proof of DVD prices falling through the floor. I picked up my first BenQ product: <a href="http://mirror.memoryexpress.net/ProductDetail.php?DisplayProductID=4536">an 8x DVD burner</a>. In this world of 12x and 16x burners, that might not seem very exciting. But here's what made it killer: the drive was only $94 CAN ($72 USD), and the drive is hardware DL compatible! There's a sticker on the box stating that by September 30th, BenQ will release a firmware update that will make the able to burn dual-layer DVDs. Under $100 CAN for a DL burner? It doesn't get much nicer than that. Things have gotten to the point now where it doesn't make much sense to put a regular CD-R in a computer - this is truly the year when DVD burners will become standard issue on computers (are you listening Dell?).

[Tim Williamson]

It's nice that DVD burner prices are dropping, but I won't be doing much with DVD writing until the blank DVD media prices start to drop.

[Chris Gohlke]

I hear that. I got an IO Magic 8x External USB 2.0 drive about two months ago as part of a door buster for just $99.

Media is dropping in price. When I first got a Panasonic DVD Recorder/PVR about 6 months ago, the media was close to $1 a disk. In watching for sales, it has just kept dropping. Paid $.40 a disk for the last batch. I think that is pretty cheap.

[Jason Dunn]

It's nice that DVD burner prices are dropping, but I won't be doing much with DVD writing until the blank DVD media prices start to drop.

A buck a disc is the threshold for me when I stop caring about how precious my media is, and that threshold has now passed.

The problem is, of course, that the high-speed media is still fairly expensive, so we buy these nice fast DVD burners and then burn at 2x or 4x because that's the maximum speed the cheap media can support. :roll:

[mcsouth]

I got my Lite-On dual format 4X DVD burner last Thanksgiving as part of a Black Friday special - $90 after rebates. I've been watching the prices fall steadily ever since.

My boss has been moaning that his DVD burner is only a single format (DVD-R/RW), and he has several times made the mistake of buying "plus" media for it. I forwarded a Tiger Direct flyer to him this weekend that was for a Toshiba 8X DVD dual format burner for $49 after rebates 8O - he immediately ordered one!

I don't really use my Lite-On to burn enough DVD's to justify buying an 8X or 12X unit yet - probably won't bother until the dual layer burners start dropping in price, but it is amazing how quickly this technology has advanced, and the prices have dropped. As far as I can tell, these prices have dropped far more quickly than even the CD burners did.....

[Chris Gohlke]

FYI, in the states, Office Depot has their store brand on sale B1G1 50 pack for $59.97. So you get 100 for that price. Not too bad.

[Neil Enns]

I entered the DVD burning world with an NEC OEM drive for $79, no rebates no taxes, no shipping, from a reputable online dealer. The sucker's got so many +/-/DL writing formats it makes my head spin, but it *is* dual-layer out of the box.

There are plenty of deal sites on the web that track pricing for DVD media. I got a 50 pack of high-quality 4x DVDs for $35ish I believe.

Neil