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
Performance/Features Conclusion
Looking back to page two and three of this analysis, we wanted to give a quick reference chart to detail as much information as we could about the various burners in our roundup. Below, you can see how our burners performed under media in general. The DVD+R media listed is 16X MCC 004, the DVD-R media is 8X Ritek G05, DVD+DL media is 2.4X MKM 001, DVD-RAM media is Prodisc 3X, and CDR media is 48X Fujifilm.All speeds given as averages unless stated otherwise.
| Features Comparison | ||||||||
| Pioneer DVR-108D | NEC ND-3500A | BenQ DW1620 | MSI DR16-B | LiteOn SOHW-1633S | Sony DRU-710A | LG GSA-4160B | NuTech DDW-163 | |
| 80min CDR Read Speeds1 | 31.67 | 36.53 | 31.40 | 31.41 | 30.30 | 30.32 | 32.80 | 31.59 |
| 80min CDR Write Speeds1 | 24.95 | 36.43 | 29.20 | 29.84 | 32.36 | 32.28 | 29.15 | 29.68 |
| DVD-R Read Speeds2 | 9.38 | 11.88 | 6.25 | 6.25 | 7.72 | 6.09 | 7.73 | 6.26 |
| DVD-R Write Speeds2 | 10.01 | 10.22 | 9.31 | 9.13 | 7.81 | 7.07 | 7.81 | 7.71 |
| DVD+R 16X Read Speeds3 | 9.39 | 6.25 | 6.24 | 6.25 | 6.15 | 6.15 | 6.21 | 6.24 |
| DVD+R 16X Write Speeds3 | 10.00 | 12.03 | 11.38 | 10.46 | 11.90 | 11.90 | 11.24 | 10.38 |
| DVD+R DL Read Speeds4 | 5.70 | 3.40 | 6.04 | Coaster | 6.17 | Coaster | 6.17 | 6.02 |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds4 | 4.00 | 4.13 | 2.35 | Coaster | 2.40 | Coaster | 2.41 | 2.34 |
| DVD-RAM Read Speeds5 | 1.95 | - | - | - | - | - | 3.01 | - |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.43 | - |
| CD Seek Time in ms6 | 131 | 125 | 94 | 94 | 97 | 97 | 113 | 95 |
| DVD Seek Time in ms7 | 134 | 128 | 95 | 95 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 94 |
| Error Diagnostics | - | - | - | - | X | X | - | - |
| Booktype | Automatic | X | X | X | X | X | - | X |
| Chipset | NEC | NEC | Philips | Philips | MediaTek | MediaTek | LG-Hitachi | Philips |
2 8x 4.5GB MCC 02RG20 media
3 16x 4.5GB MCC 004 media
4 2.4x 8.5GB dual layer MKM 001 media
5 3x DVD-RAM Prodisc media
NEC's dominance of CDR burning came as no surprise. The Achilles heel of the Pioneer 108D is its CDR write speeds.
So, with all of the numbers that we have presented, what do they mean? Where does each of the eight 16X burners stand on the charts? As we presented on our chart above, there are a few drives that have the features and performance levels that put them towards the top. We mentioned earlier how Pioneer and NEC were the most matured drives, since they've been out for about 3 months now. Pioneer and NEC have had more time to test their drives with a long list of media, and have put out firmware updates to resolve some of the compatibility issues when first released while the manufacturers of the newer drives are just beginning to realize what works and what doesn't regarding compatible media.
For media compatibility, it is obvious that there are 3 units that come out on top: Pioneer's DVR-108, NEC's ND-3500A, and LG's GSA-4160B. All three units wrote to media of quality ranging from low to high in all formats including - R/RW, +R/RW, and +R DL.
It is obvious that performance is no problem for these 3 models, and what really makes them stand out from each other is their features. Seven out of the eight drives implemented the bit setting feature. We discussed earlier how setting the "Book Type" of the media increases its compatibility with set top DVD players. All three of our top competitors have this feature, but the 108D can only perform bitsetting automatically on DVD+R DL media. That knocks Pioneer's DVR-108D out of the race for the best burner, but keeps LG's GSA-4160B in the running for its DVD-RAM read/write capabilities. Pioneer may have stayed in the race for its DVD-RAM capabilities, if only it had write capabilities as well as it did read capabilities.
Finally, with the NEC ND-3500A and LG's GSA-4160B going head to head, we looked at the difference in features between the two and realized that the GSA-4160B's DVD-RAM read/write capabilities are not really useful in applications for the common end user. We feel the bitsetting function should take priority over DVD-RAM features, since it increases compatibility with set top boxes instead of creating another option to support. In the end, NEC's ND-3500A comes out on top to win the prize in both performance (fast read/write speeds, great quality of burns) and features (bitsetting, high DL write speeds). Though Pioneer's performance is just as impresseive, it is lagging behind in write speeds.
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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).