Fall 2004 DVDR Roundup: Dual Layer and 16X DVD+R
by Anand Shimpi & Virginia Lee on November 1, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Write Tests
How else would we gauge a group of DVD burners if not by their write performance? We have compiled our results from the benchmarks that we have performed with a few types of media to which these drives are capable of writing.
As we begin to move into the realm of DVDs, we tend to forget about how each DVD burner will handle CDR media. Our results show that all of the drives can burn CDR media above an average of 29X speeds with exception to the DVR-108D which averaged a 24.95X write. The NEC ND-3500A tops out at slightly above the 36X mark to take the CDR charts.
The focus of our 16X roundup ultimately hinges on DVD write speed and quality.
Here again, the ND-3500A tops the charts by writing to the Mitsubishi 8x DVD-R media at an average of 10.22x speeds. LiteOn is left behind at the end of the list with an average writing speed of 6.04x.
Pioneer has the MCC 003 media in its grasp as it burns a complete Mitsubishi DVD+R, which is rated at 8x speeds, at an average actual speed of 10.01X. Let's see how it does with the Ritek media.
We expected the both the 108D and the ND-3500A to perform better on the Ritek media, but as the graphs show, they broke the 8x barrier, but not quickly enough to bring the average write speed above 8x. Sony's DRU-710A just barely made it to second to last while the first place position was taken, for this media, by LG's GSA-4160B at an average of 7.81X.
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Warder45 - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
I think some are forgeting that testing these things doesn't happen over night. Between other reviews, news, etc and normal working hours it could be quite easy to have a new firmware come out after you've already tested.For the plextor drive it does seem like bestbuy's website has them in stock for $140 with a $30 MIR. So is the extra's of a plextor worth the extra $30 to $40?
Mem - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
I notice with the Lite-On 1633 drive you was for the roundup still had the original firmware,there`s a new firmware "BSOK" update out dated 26th OCT that has "matched more media" support.I happen to own the external version and can say it`s very quiet while burning and also in playback mode,the only noisy thing is the tray when ejecting IMHO,btw I think it`s a great burner very low P1/PO errors and no bad burns so far.
Dennis Travis - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
What is interesting is I just bought a Plextor PX-716a at Best Buy this last week. It works GREAT so far. Will do more testing but so far it's fast and reliable. It is at UDMA 4 by the way. It flys.It came with both a White and Black face and door.
Bozo Galora - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
er, Nov 8 for PREORDERapparently they are still working out bugs
I note in the specs that the drive will run in UltraUDMA mode 4 or 66MB/sec in addition to PIO
Interesting
Bozo Galora - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
http://www.plextor.com/english/products/716A.htmlooks like Nov 8 for USA
Bozo Galora - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
#25-I have never seen a 16X Plextor review - care to link one?
Latest Plextools out today 2.18
http://www.plextools.com/download/download.asp
Mookie13 - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
Can anybody comment on the noise level of any of these drives (esp. the NEC, BenQ and Pioneer)? I'd like to throw one of these in a sff and use it as a htpc, so a loud drive spinning sound would really bother me.KristopherKubicki - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
Maverick215: Feel free to download the .zip files with all of the disc quality q-tools and nero tests.techfuzz: When we tested the drive 2.16 was the newest available.
As for the BenQ drive, we tested with the newest firmware possible.
Kristopher
Aquila76 - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
From page 9 (Sony Review) <<...dual layer burners are pseudonymous with 16X burners...>>I think the word you're looking for is 'synonymous', not 'pseudonymous'. A pseudonym means 'a fake name', whereas a synonym means 'basically the same thing'. However, in Sony's case, pseudonym may be more accurate.
Belzer - Monday, November 1, 2004 - link
I find the average write speed of 11.88x for the NEC on 8x DVD±R MCC media very hard to believe. It would need to support them at max 16x speed to get this average speed and it does not, unless you've used a hacked firmware.I also doubt that the Pioneer is faster than the BenQ @12x on 8x MCC DVD+R if you compare the actual write time. Other tests have shown the BenQ to be a good 30 seconds faster than the Pioneer at 12x thanks to PCAV write tech (vs. ZCLV).