i have a Liteon LDW-411S and a SONY DRU-500A, both of these drives are very good. the Liteon LDW-411S needs the latest firmware update to be able to write to dvd-r media without any compatibility problems in stand alone dvd players. the SONY is just a bad ass!
i use both drives in 2 different PC's and i write to RITEK 4x G04 media without any problems. I also use TDK 4x DVD + and - R without any problems. if i had to choose on what drie to have i would want the SONY. i like SONY's products. i am not a fan of pioneer, but i am not bashing them either. rom what i hear the drives are great, and hell PIONEER invented the dvd-r drive. it use to cost $8000 for a 1x Pioneer dvd-r drive. then dropped dramaticly.
well thats my $0.02
