Many 20X DVD-RW-R-DL +/- SATA drives are under $40 from a variety of brands and models - Liteon Toshiba, samsung, Asus, even Sony and Pioneer. The review of the samsung over at newegg was that it is very loud.

What's the most quiet model under $40 for everyday use - watching movies, burning, archive, installing software, etc.? What's the SPCR recommended?

Id recommend the Pioneer DVR-215. Very fast when needed, but when watching movies it spins down to near silent. Pretty much all the drives you'll be looking at buying are the same price.

Ok thanks. Actually when I burn, I always burn at the slowest speed -- high speed i only use for application installs. some folks complain the liteon and samsung models are loud when watching movies

Wait a few weeks for the Pioneer dvr-216/dvr-116!
It has a whole heap of new features - redesigned, quietest chassis on the market, 'best quality' speed option. (the lowest speed does not always give the best burn quality!)
The Pioneer will generally have the best burn quality too.

thanks -- what's its expected street price?

Or you could just but whatever DVD drive you like and use Nero Disc Speed for slowing it down. You can choose 1x when watching movies and crank it up when you need speed.

Pioneer DVRs do not write DVD-RAM. RAM is the most reliable (through hardware means) media for modifying disk contents.
What DVD writer is good at RW writing quality and can write to DVD-RAM?

Pioneer DVRs do not write DVD-RAM. RAM is the most reliable (through hardware means) media for modifying disk contents.
What DVD writer is good at RW writing quality and can write to DVD-RAM?

Pioneer DVR-215 DO write DVD-RAM. It's the DVR-215D model who can't write DVD-RAM, just read.

Does Pioneer DVR-215 or LG GH20NS10 write a DVD RW better?
LG GH20NS10 writes DVD RW much better than Pioneer DVR-115 D here:
http://www.cdrlabs.com/forums/test-resu ... 5-225.html
DVD players show blocks on a video on a DVD RW written by my current Sony Nec AD-7200D.

Because I am so lazy these days I've only managed to find this one: http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews ... &PageId=37
Hope it helps.

"The first table contains model and firmware and the c't grade for various categories. The quality and speed ratings for DVDs are combined in a single grade.
DVD Burns CD Reading Noise
Model + Firmware R / RW / DL Burns CD / DVD CD / DVD

Asus 1.00 - / --/ -- + + / + + / -
DRW-2014L1T

LG EL00 - / - / -- 0 0 / ++ 0 / ++
GH20NS10

LiteOn BL05 ++/ --/ 0 ++ ++/ + - / +
LH-20A1L

OptiArc 1.01 + / --/ 0 -- 0 / 0 0 / --
AD-7200S

Pioneer 1.06 0 / --/ 0 0 + / ++ 0 / +
DVR-115 D

Samsung TS00 + / --/ + -- ++/ 0 0 / +
SH-S203

The next table contains the actual and recommended burning speed for these drives and selected media. The recommended speed is based on details of the CATS scans. The second line shows the c't quality index and grade (# means POFs occurred for DVDs or E22/E32 for CD-R).

The results for DVD+RW are again based on a 10 part burning cascade. In addition to a recommended speed, an entry of e.g. 3i means "write completely 3x before regular use". In most cases where a NO = "don't use" is noted, the error rate actually increased with repeated rewriting. c't suspects that the laser power is too high in these cases.
DVD-R 16x DVD-R 16x DVD+RW 8x DVD-R DL 8x CD-R 48x
Taiyo Yuden Taiyo Yuden Verbatim Taiyo Yuden Taiyo Yuden
20x sel. 8x
Model

Asus 20 / 8 8 / 8 8 / 4 5i 8 / 3 32 / 32
DRW-2014L1T -122 / --# 43 / 0 -100 / -- -81 / --+ 63 / +

LG 20 / 4 8 / 4 8 / 4 3i 8 / 4 32 / 32
GH20NS10 -83 / --# 33 / 0 23 / - -118 / --# 47 / 0

LiteOn 20 / 16 8 / 16 8 / NO 8 / 4 32 / 32
LH-20A1L 67 / + 84 / ++ -66 / -- 43 / 0 82 / ++

OptiArc 18 / 18 8 / 18 8 / NO 8 / 6 32 / NO
AD-7200S 62 / + 80 / ++ -132 / -- 43 / 0 -46 / --#

Pioneer 11 / 8 8 / 8 8 / NO 8 / 6 40 / 24
DVR-115 D -65 / --# 87 / ++ -318 / --# 48 / 0 32 / 0

Samsung 20 / 20 8 / 20 8 / NO 8 / 8 40 / 24
SH-S203 62 / + 62 / + -70 / -- 56 / + -8 / --
The LG (with Renesas chipset) is the fastest drive- ... It's the only drive that digests the +RW media without hiccups.
The Pioneer has problems with higher data rates. A firmware update may fix that."
Do you believe this?