Nu Tech DDW-081: More DVD+R madness
by Kristopher Kubicki on October 22, 2003 10:54 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Specifications
Below is a quick overview of specifications on the drive. The Nu Tech website has the specifications listed as well:| Nu Tech DDW-081 | |
| Interface | IDE |
| CD Write Speed | 40X, 32X, 24X (CAV) 16X, 12X, 8X, 4X (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speed | 10X, 8X, 4X (CLV) |
| CD Read Speed | 40X Max (CAV) |
| DVD+R Write Speed | 8X, 4X, 2X (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Rewrite Speed | 4X, 2.4X (CLV) |
| DVD Read Speed | 12X Max (CAV) |
| Supported Modes | DAO / DAO-RAW 16 & 96 TAO SAO / SAO 16 & 96 Packet Write MultiSession |
| Supported Formats | DVD+R (DAO, incremental, seq) DVD+RW (random) CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-ROM XA, Mixed Mode, CD Extra Photo CD, CD Text, Bootable CD, UDF |
| Access Time | CD: 120ms DVD: 120ms |
| Buffer | 2MB |
Specifications on the DDW-081 are better than average, considering it only does one format. The 40X CDR speeds were not standard out of the box, so we had to run a utility to upgrade our CD burn speeds from 32X. Fortunately, all new burners should have this already enabled. Furthermore, we felt the CDRW speed is slightly weak, at only 10X. Our DDW-081 supports 8X DVD+R, but as we will see, it cannot write 8X on 4X media like the Plextor 708A. More confusion was thrown into the fray when we noticed that Nu Tech's specifications on their website were not similar over the entire product description. We contacted them to update their webpage, and confirmed with them that the above specifications are in fact the “official” specs.
However, we do like the lower access times on the drive. Many of the drives that we have seen have access times in excess of 180ms, and as we will see in the benchmark, the DDW-081's access times are actually a little bit better, in the 100-110ms range.
Underrun technology is backed by Seamless Link, which is commonly associated with BenQ for some reason. Quite naturally though, it's actually Philips' technology; a component of the Nexperia chipset that QSI/Nu Tech uses in this burner.
At the original time of publication, we had a beta firmware for our drive that still recognized the drive manufacturer as QSI. Two updates later and a separate firmware tool for 40X CDR speed, we were finally up to date with the Nu Tech BX03 firmware. We were a bit surprised that Nu Tech released two firmware updates within a week of each other, especially since the drive itself is only a month old.
Here we can see a few more specifications about the drive. Our first InfoTool capture is using the original firmware shipped to us from Nu Tech. As you can see, the drive is still labeled as QSI and only uses 32X write capabilities.
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Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
United Micro has it for $139 shipped.http://www.unitedmicro.com/partw.cgi?DWNT006++5
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
#11: My apologies, I did use DiskInfo Pro.Here is what DIP says AFTER I burned the media.
YUDEN Disks labeled Plextor
Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID YUDEN000T01
Format Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type DVD+R
Media Type DVD+R
Media Id Code Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Data area starting sector 30000h
Data area end sector 23053Fh
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1
RICOH Disks labeled Imation
Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID RICOHJPNR01
Format Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type DVD+R
Media Type DVD+R
Media Id Code Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Data area starting sector 30000h
Data area end sector 23053Fh
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1
MMC Disks labeled Verbatim
Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID RICOHJPNR01
Format Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type DVD+R
Media Type DVD+R
Media Id Code Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Data area starting sector 30000h
Data area end sector 23053Fh
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1
Another Ricoh Disk labeled FujiFilm
Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID RICOHJPNR00
Format Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type DVD-ROM
Media Type DVD+R
Media Id Code Speed 2.4x 3324KBps
Data area starting sector 30000h
Data area end sector 23053Fh
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1
There are two things I'd like to point out. The first being DiskInfoPro identified the MCC disk as 8X before it was burned. Furthermore, the FujiFilm disk was identified as 4X on the box, and 4X in DiskInfoPro before it was burned.
#12: Thank you for the updated link. The PDF I recieved was straight from QSI and I was unaware there was an update on the chipset.
Cheers,
Kristopher
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
Yes... MMC 02 is capable of 8x with that drive. That's why your utility is saying that. However, that doesn't mean that Verbatim/Mitsu. actually rates it at that speed.Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
One more thing, in the review you claim that the PNX7850 chipset does not support 8x speed. Not true, it does: http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/acrobat/lite...It was only early versions that didn't support 8x. The PDF you link to is for the complete reference design where the Philips OPU 66.20 limits the speed to 4x (I assume QSI uses a different PUH).
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
Then Diskinfo is wrong because MCC 002 (as in Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. and not MMC) DVD+R media are only certified for 4x speed. Use DVDInfoPro or DVDIndentifier instead for checking the media.Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
Thanks Christopher :)for the linksAnonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
#1: We did not have a verbatim disk included. We have a 4X DVD+RW instead. Remember, we had a review sample so ours might have been slightly different. We had to upgrade from QSI firmware just to bring ours to spec with the retail drives.#2: DiskInfo, kind of a neat utlity, claimed the MMC 02 disk is capable of 4X and 8X.
I uploaded the firmware for anyone who wants to download it. Its on the last page of the article.
Cheers,
Kristopher
Murse - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
You can also take a look at this thread:http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=...
They sell it at Newegg, Excaliberpc, Atacom, Unitedmicro, Zipzoomfly...to name a few.
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
Check this thread there are a few sites mentioned..http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=12956...
Anonymous User - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
If anybody knows where you can buy one, please post a link. Thank you.