Recommend dvd drive

The dvd burner in my hp computer, an Optiarc DVD RW AD-7201S5, will
not recognize most published dvd's; that is, store bought copies of
movie discs. It whirs for a bit, then the pc thinks the disc tray is
empty. I have tried all of the recommendations on the hp web site for
this problem, but to no avail.

I have decided to get another drive to install in the computer, and
would like to know if anyone has experience with a drive that will
reliably read published discs.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
--
"...Amusing, yet not without a certain understated omniscience"

Eric Tiberius Duckman wrote:
> The dvd burner in my hp computer, an Optiarc DVD RW AD-7201S5, will
> not recognize most published dvd's; that is, store bought copies of
> movie discs. It whirs for a bit, then the pc thinks the disc tray is
> empty. I have tried all of the recommendations on the hp web site for
> this problem, but to no avail.
>
> I have decided to get another drive to install in the computer, and
> would like to know if anyone has experience with a drive that will
> reliably read published discs.
>
> Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Eric,

Have you updated the drive's firmware? HP's web site has a page with
this title:

Optiarc AD-7201S5 DVD-R/RW Drive Firmware Update

Is this a full sized drive or laptop sized? If the latter, you need a
drive to fit the HP laptop chassis exactly. If the former, Liteon,
Hitachi-LG and Toshiba-Samsung are the leading brands, and they all work
well.

Do you have software installed to read DVDs in movie format?

.... Ben Myers

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:45:57 -0400, Ben Myers <>
wrote:

>Eric Tiberius Duckman wrote:
>> The dvd burner in my hp computer, an Optiarc DVD RW AD-7201S5, will
>> not recognize most published dvd's; that is, store bought copies of
>> movie discs. It whirs for a bit, then the pc thinks the disc tray is
>> empty. I have tried all of the recommendations on the hp web site for
>> this problem, but to no avail.
>>
>> I have decided to get another drive to install in the computer, and
>> would like to know if anyone has experience with a drive that will
>> reliably read published discs.
>>
>> Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
>
>Eric,
>
>Have you updated the drive's firmware? HP's web site has a page with
>this title:
>
>Optiarc AD-7201S5 DVD-R/RW Drive Firmware Update

Yes, I already flashed the new firmware, to version 1H0E.

>
>Is this a full sized drive or laptop sized? If the latter, you need a
>drive to fit the HP laptop chassis exactly. If the former, Liteon,
>Hitachi-LG and Toshiba-Samsung are the leading brands, and they all work
>well.
>
>Do you have software installed to read DVDs in movie format?
>

It is a full sized drive, in a desktop machine. I have been looking
at Liteon at

On Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:45:57 -0400, Ben Myers <>
wrote:

>Eric Tiberius Duckman wrote:
>> The dvd burner in my hp computer, an Optiarc DVD RW AD-7201S5, will
>> not recognize most published dvd's; that is, store bought copies of
>> movie discs. It whirs for a bit, then the pc thinks the disc tray is
>> empty. I have tried all of the recommendations on the hp web site for
>> this problem, but to no avail.
>>
>> I have decided to get another drive to install in the computer, and
>> would like to know if anyone has experience with a drive that will
>> reliably read published discs.
>>
>> Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
>
>Eric,
>
>Have you updated the drive's firmware? HP's web site has a page with
>this title:
>
>Optiarc AD-7201S5 DVD-R/RW Drive Firmware Update

Yes, I already flashed the new firmware, to version 1H0E.

>
>Is this a full sized drive or laptop sized? If the latter, you need a
>drive to fit the HP laptop chassis exactly. If the former, Liteon,
>Hitachi-LG and Toshiba-Samsung are the leading brands, and they all work
>well.
>
>Do you have software installed to read DVDs in movie format?
>

It is a full sized drive, in a desktop machine. I have been looking
at a Liteon at Newegg,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106280
but it just went out of stock there.

I use Windows Media Player and VLC to play dvd discs.

Thanks for your help, and sorry for the extra post. I accidentally
hit CTRL+N, the Agent shortcut for "send now", instead of SHIFT+N!