HP DVD Writer DVD420i

Regular readers should know how recordable DVD drives operate. For those that aren't as familiar, all you need to know is the type of media each drive supports. It will be DVD-R (minus), DVD+R (plus) or both. To avoid any confusion, we'd recommend opting for a drive that can do both, such as the HP DVD Writer dvd420i.

It's an internal drive that can write DVD+Rs and DVD-Rs at 8-speed, which equates to around 13mins for a full 4.7Gb disc. It writes to rewritable DVD+RWs at 2.4-speed and DVD-RWs at 2-speed. It's also adept at creating CDs, filling an 80min (700Mb) CD-R in about three minutes. It doesn't support DVD-RAM.

There's an abundance of software to play with: ArcSoft ShowBiz 2 for video capture and editing and slideshows; ArcSoft PhotoBase 4.5 for managing multimedia files; Sonic RecordNow 5 for creating music and data discs; Simple Backup for archiving files, CyberLink PowerDVD 4 for DVD playback; and Muvee autoProducer 3 for video creation. It's almost £50 more than our award-winning Toshiba DVD SD-R5272 (issue 163), but proves its worth with lots of software and fast writing times.

Contact: HP 0870 010 4320
www.hp.com/uk