A New Discussion about DVD-Writers (DVD Burners)

[MissFacetious]

There seems to be a lot of buying DVD recordable drives on these messages boards, but in every different forum I go into, each forum supports a different recorder.

For example, if you want to burn PS2 games to DVD, the consensus says to buy a Pioneer 104/A04. While the Pioneer seems a great burner that burns pretty much all PS2 games and is at a reasonable price, it only burns up to 4.7G on a DVD-R.

Now that is all fine and dandy if you only want to use your DVD burner for PS2 games, but what if you want to backup all of those DVD movies you have sitting around? Most DVD movies are more than 4.7G and would require a 9.4G DVD-R disc. So now the Pioneer doesn't look so good, but rather another burner that could burn up to 9.4 such as a double sided DVD-R or a 9.4G DVD-RAM.

Now for some reason, don't ask me why, I have a feeling that DVD-RAMs aren't going to be around very long. For one, DVD-RAM burners are not sold in local stores, and the DVD-RAM discs are rather expensive. Without being able to pick one up at your local electronics store and the jacked-up price of media, I don't believe they will survive the DVD standard battle, but then again, you never know.

So we are back to the question, what DVD burner can burn DVD-R up to 9.4G within a good price range? Although speed is also a factor, it's not the highest priority. What you want in a DVD burner is reliability (which means a well known company), compatibility (DVD-R up to 9.4G), and a good price (please be under $500).

Any thoughts?