Quiet DVD / BluRay drives

jonlumb · Post by **jonlumb** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:47 am

I have had a good hunt over the site, but failed to find anything on getting quiet optical drives.

Does anyone have any recommended products at all?

sweatypickle · Post by **sweatypickle** » Wed May 14, 2008 11:33 am

None of the Samsungs

Cryoburner · Post by **Cryoburner** » Wed May 14, 2008 1:35 pm

I just got a Samsung. : )

It's only a DVD burner though, and doesn't handle BluRay. I don't have any pressing need for BluRay yet, so I'll probably wait a while for the drives to improve and come down in price. I've only had this drive installed for a couple days, so I haven't really experimented much with it yet. I mostly use my optical drives for installing software and occasionally burning disks, neither of which takes any real length of time, so I don't consider the accoustics to be as important as something that's running constantly. There probably aren't any optical drives that are quiet at high speeds though. You're best bet would be to either use software to slow them down when speed isn't needed, or get a slower notebook drive. There isn't a huge selection of BluRay drives available yet though.

There's a fairly recent thread about optical drives here, but it doesn't touch on BluRay.

Tez · Post by **Tez** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:35 am

I have been looking to buy a quiet blue ray drive too. Currently looking at this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130747

jonlumb · Post by **jonlumb** » Fri May 16, 2008 5:32 am

Things such as writing aren't so much the issue, it is more the noise it makes whilst being used to watch a film where it obviously matters a lot more.

Cryoburner · Post by **Cryoburner** » Sat May 17, 2008 12:47 am

The speed at which an optical drive spins is the largest factor effecting how loud it is. Some drives slow down when they detect a video disc, while others don't. That's something you won't typically find listed in the product description, either. I've tested my Samsung DVD burner a bit more, and it does slow down to 6x for DVD video, as opposed to 12-16x for data discs. It's fairly quiet at 6x, but using Nero DriveSpeed I can further limit it to 4x, which is nearly inaudible over the rest of the system.

It might also be good to point out that a BluRay drive at 1x speed actually spins a bit faster than a DVD at 1x, so a 5x drive like that Pioneer probably spins a single layer BD disc about as fast as it spins a DVD at 7-8x. It's difficult to say whether it slows down for video disks though. I did read that the drive is currently not compatible with DriveSpeed, though I don't know which BluRay drives are.

One other suggestion is that if you're building a system, it's good to get a case with a door covering its drive bays. Even a thin plastic door should noticeably dampen the sound coming from your optical drives.

Architectonic · Post by **Architectonic** » Sat May 17, 2008 2:32 am

Supposedly the new Pioneer DVR-116/216 series have a redesigned chassis for lower noise. We'll see if they are any quieter next month when they are officially released.

biatche · Post by **biatche** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:13 am

i just bought a pioneer 213LS... the quietest drive ive ever own to date

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Sat May 17, 2008 8:05 am

Architectonic wrote:Supposedly the new Pioneer DVR-116/216 series have a redesigned chassis for lower noise. We'll see if they are any quieter next month when they are officially released.

Dangit, I was just forced to order the DVR-215.

It'll probably be a good drive in its own right, just annoys me to know now that there's something better waiting around the corner. But then again, that's always going to be the case.

Current optical drive is a Samsung 203B, not recommended. Noisy, and Nero Drivespeed can't properly control it. It's nice to install due to compact size, but frustrating to use at times - I was also decidedly unimpressed by Samsung's bullshit "MagicSpeed" function that doesn't actually do a thing.

Gillian Seed · Post by **Gillian Seed** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:24 am

Das_Saunamies wrote:
Architectonic wrote:Supposedly the new Pioneer DVR-116/216 series have a redesigned chassis for lower noise. We'll see if they are any quieter next month when they are officially released.
Dangit, I was just forced to order the DVR-215.

I have two DVR-215, and I hate to say this but I've found it to be quite loud. However, I have not experimented with slowing them down at all, my optical drives are used quite infrequently.

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:36 am

When watching DVD's on my DVR-215 i cant hear it. When using data discs it does pick up in noise, but i dont mind too much, and the one i had before was much louder. Overall im happy with it.

Cryoburner · Post by **Cryoburner** » Sat May 17, 2008 4:39 pm

Das_Saunamies wrote:Current optical drive is a Samsung 203B, not recommended. Noisy, and Nero Drivespeed can't properly control it. It's nice to install due to compact size, but frustrating to use at times - I was also decidedly unimpressed by Samsung's bullshit "MagicSpeed" function that doesn't actually do a thing.

My drive is a Samsung 202N, which I believe is mostly similar, but with an IDE connection and LightScribe. It works perfectly fine with Nero DriveSpeed 3, which is the version that came with it. The only thing I can't change in DriveSpeed is the spin down time, which appears to be fixed at 2 minutes. That's not really a problem though, since it's fairly quiet at low speeds.

MagicSpeed does effect the drive, though I must agree that it's not all that useful. Basically, it limits the maximum CD read speed to 40x, instead of 48x. They refer to 40x as 'Silence Mode', despite it being only moderately quieter than 'High Speed Mode'. Since they don't provide any way to customize the modes, and it doesn't control the read speed of DVDs at all, the utility is pretty useless. It's better to just leave it at high speed and use Nero to control the drive.

By the way, while not directly related to making drives quieter, there's a neat utility for patching the firmware of recent Samsung DVD burners, available here. It allows you to make a drive region free, set the default book type for DVD+Rs to DVD-Rom for better compatibility, and increase the speed of certain drive modes. Increasing the speed probably isn't very constructive for someone trying to silence their drive, but you can select which features you wish to enable before generating a patched firmware file.

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Sun May 18, 2008 12:10 am

Cryoburner wrote:MagicSpeed does effect the drive, though I must agree that it's not all that useful. Basically, it limits the maximum CD read speed to 40x, instead of 48x.

I know what it does, and could perceive little if any difference between the two modes when restoring backups from CDs. Absolute bollocks.

I've been patching the firmware with the official releases, but they do little to improve the noise situation. It's a right buzzsaw when booting with a disc in, especially with my Battlefield 2142 disc. Once spinning, DriveSpeed can't shut the drive down when Windows loads, so I have to manually do it with the stop button. This is frustrating, as I rarely bother taking the 2142 disc out, and this is where the stupidly long spin down time gets really irritating.

Once in Windows, DS can control the drive reasonably well, but very rarely the drive suddenly bursts to full speed and quiets down again some ten seconds later. It's as if DS sometimes forgets the drive is there and then grabs it by the scruff again. I've reinstalled both culprits to try and fix that, but no go. My DS is from a retail Nero 8.

The drive has left a sour taste in my mouth - it's mediocre at best by itself, and won't play nice with DS, which I paid good money for. I'll see if the DVR-215 will be better, and thanks for the user experiences. Would the users with DVR-215s consider the 115 to be any quieter?

PS. The SATA controller on my A8N-E recently died, so I'm not beyond suspecting it for this atrocity as well, but so far it's just the drive I'm mostly disappointed with.

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:08 am

Already said this in viewtopic.php?t=48267, but I'll say it again: the DVR-215DBK I bought is brilliant, easily leaving the 203B in the dust in every way.

Licaon · Post by **Licaon** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 11:09 am

+1 for Pioneer DVR 215DBK

wolfticket · Post by **wolfticket** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 12:03 pm

The only really quiet optical drive is the one you don't use that often. The only time I use mine for media is when I'm ripping it to my hard drive. I know this is considered illegal (or semi-legal) with dvds, but I consider it fair use

, since I bought it in the first place.
Anyway, this is easy with cd and dvds, and definitively possible with HD media (googleisyourfriend). Although you'd be looking a 30-50gb a movie, uncompressed

, however, have you seen the price of hard drives these days

Just my two pence.