Burning


Click to enlarge.


Above is an 8X DVD+R burn with some MMC media (CD Speed reports CLV instead of Z-CLV). Notice that the strategy is very similar to Plextor's; the burn starts at 6X and then adjusts to 8X Z-CLV. However, it looks apparent that there are some stability issues at that speed, since we see several stop gaps in the burn. Perhaps we are seeing the 4X Nexperia PNX7850 chipset showing its incapability to run out of spec.

Below are the CD-R, CD+RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW speed tests. We used DVD/CD Speed with the same configuration as the previous test.

Label Rating Average Write Length Mode
Ritek 97m31s01f (Cyanine AZO) 52X CDR 23.48X 74:43.00 P-CAV
Imation 52X CDR 29.32X 74:43.00 P-CAV
Mitsubishi 97m23s24f 24X CDRW 9.95X 74:43.00 CLV
RICOHJPN R00-01 (Imation) 4X DVD+R 7.72X 4.38GB Z-CLV
FujiFilm 2.4X DVD+R 2.36X 4.38GB P-CAV
YUDEN000T01 4X DVD+R 3.91X 4.38GB P-CAV
MCC 002 4X DVD+R 7.62X 4.38GB Z-CLV
Ricoh RICOHJPN 2.4X DVD+RW 2.37X 4.38GB CLV
PHILIPS 041 4X DVD+RW 3.92X 4.38GB P-CAV
RICOHJPR01 4X DVD+R 7.63X 4.38GB Z-CLV


Compatibility on the drive was a little sporadic. Some of our Ricoh based FujiFilm, which is rated for 4X, only trickled out of the burner at 2.4X. Fortunately, this was the only media that wouldn't burn as advertised. We are not 100% sure why this happened.

Bit setting does not seem possible with this drive, which is a shame. Most drives based on Ricoh design are capable of bit setting the book mode to other formats. We have heard conflicting results claiming that this particular drive does; although with Nero, it seemed not possible. Using BenQ's bit setting tool was not supported by the drive.

Testing the drive Final Thoughts
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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 links
  • Anonymous 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.

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