BenQ DW1620: An Elegant, Robust DVDR Surprise
by Kristopher Kubicki on September 29, 2004 10:32 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Burn Tests CDR Media
We use the following configuration to test our burners:Albatron 865PE Pro II
Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz 800FSB 512KB L2
2 x 512 DDR OCZ PC3200 EL
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM 8MB PATA
Windows XP SP1
We are going to run this benchmark in the same manner in which we ran our Sony DRU-540A benchmarks. We first burn the media with the BenQ DW1620 and then use Plextools v2.12 to test C1/C2/CU averages in a Plextor PX-712A. Good burns have low C1/C2 averages and are considered the most readable. We used Ahead Nero's CD-DVD Speed 3.12 for burn and read tests. We will also provide images of the Pioneer DVR-108D for reference, copied verbatim from the analysis several weeks ago - just mouse over the image to see the Pioneer DVR-108D images, or move the mouse off the image to see the BenQ DW1620 image. This is not a comparative analysis of the drives yet; as mentioned before, we have a roundup scheduled in two weeks to answer that question.
Imation CDR
Click to enlarge the BenQ DW1620 image.
Hold your mouse over for the Pioneer DVR-108D image.
Click to enlarge the BenQ DW1620 image.
Hold your mouse over for the Pioneer DVR-108D image.
The Imation burn graph has us extremely nervous, but the write quality actually turns out OK. Below you can see how the discs read back in a Plextor PX-712A.
Click to enlarge the BenQ DW1620 image.
Hold your mouse over for the Pioneer DVR-108D image.
Hold your mouse over for the Pioneer DVR-108D image.
The BenQ does not have much competition for CDR burning with the DVR-108D, but we will get into more details concerning that in the roundup. The BenQ does better on its own, but we would like to see better write quality.
Memorex CDR
Click to enlarge the BenQ DW1620 image.
Hold your mouse over for the Pioneer DVR-108D image.
Click to enlarge the BenQ DW1620 image.
Hold your mouse over for the Pioneer DVR-108D image.
Click to enlarge the BenQ DW1620 image.
Hold your mouse over for the Pioneer DVR-108D image.
Hold your mouse over for the Pioneer DVR-108D image.
This set off the red flags for us. Although this disc is still readable, it's very close to becoming a coaster. We are not very pleased with the way that the BenQ drive performed on the CDR media.
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Compddd - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
Is the Pioneer DVR-A08XL still the best one though?lennylim - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
Firmware link is incorrect, although it doesn't take much to figure out what it should be.Fionavar - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
Did you say weeks on the round-up? I hope it is much sooner than that as I need a new DVD player and at the moment I am seriously considering the NEC ND-3500 ... the specs and the fact that it comes with the full Nero 6 package is a seeller - of course your round-up might tell me otherwise ...Resh - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
Why did you guys put this out before the round-up? Seems to indicate you think this one is better than the rest, which makes one wonder about the point of the round-up.Anyway, get the damn thing out so I can buy one already. :)
Basse - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
...and some are missing!Looking forward to reading the roundup :-)
Basse - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
Check the mouseover images, they seem a tad large.UlricT - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
uuhhh... what is this here?Page 3:
"...Unfortunately, the drive lacks DVD-RAM and Mount Rainer support. The drive claims slightly quicker than average access times as well.
Make a special note of some of the neater capabilities of this drive, including DVD-RAM support,..."