I've been happily using Panasonic DVD Movie Album SE on my PC to do extra editing to DVD-RAM discs I've copied from my Panasonic DMR-EX77. My DVD drive is the LG GSA-4163B Super Multi DVD Burner.

But now I've upgraded my PC and the motherboard only takes SATA drives, so I'm looking to upgrade my DVD burner too.

Can anyone recommend a SATA DVD Burner that works with the Panasonic software? Would any Panasonic burner work? Do I need a burner with a Panasonic chipset? Or is the software not tied to the hardware at all?

I realise it's a long shot, but I thought I'd ask just in case!
Last edited by 625 : 06-10-2008 at 18:12

According to a supplier - who knows about the problems that arise with some drives - the units that give the least trouble are Pioneer drives.

I have fitted a few of these and found them to be extremely robust, quick and quiet... and work well with RAMs... In fact they have worked totally flawlessly since I installed them.

Now the big problem with Pioneer drives is that they have several variations of the same model numbers with different variations of disc support.

Some only read RAMs but not write to them so check the specs very carefully.

It is the suffix that matters.
I think you require a unit with a BK suffix [ which doesn't mean black!]

It seems daft having such variation when the additional disc support only costs pennies.

So you require a unit with a SATA interface and RAM burn support so i think you will be looking at a DVR 212BK or a DVR 215BK... but please check the specs yourself carefully.

They can be had on-line typically for about £18 to £20.

Range HERE

The DVR 216BK is also an option

Thanks for that. I'll look into the Pioneer range. In the meantime I've bought a cheap ATA to SATA converter and, having used it to transfer my old HDD partitions to my new PC's HDD, I'm now using it on my old LG ATA DVD-RAM burner.

The BIOS gets confused, though, so I will be buying a new DVD-RAM burner soon.