BenQ DW1620: An Elegant, Robust DVDR Surprise
by Kristopher Kubicki on September 29, 2004 10:32 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Burn Tests DVD+R Media (cont'd)
MCC 004
This is a Verbatim disc rated at 16X write speeds. Below you can see our first attempts to burn this disc with the B7H9 firmware shipped with the drive.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
We were really disappointed to see this high end drive fail on good media. We immediately contacted BenQ and received the new firmware that was used in this review. You can see the night and day difference between the two burns. We ran some quick burns with the Pioneer DVR-108D for comparison as well.
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.
Still not very pretty, but it burns all the way through without choking.
Click to enlarge.
MCC 004 media clearly works great on this burner. It certainly doesn't burn at a clean constant rate, but we can't argue with the quantitative numbers.
Sony D11
Here are some Sony discs, again rated at 16X.
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.
Here, we see similar patterns to what we saw on the MCC media.
Click to enlarge.
Under Plextools, this media behaves very similarly to the MCC 003 discs, but burns fine at 16X. There still is no cause for alarm as to the write quality of these discs.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
17 Comments
View All Comments
amdfanboy - Monday, October 4, 2004 - link
*Test*chucky2 - Friday, October 1, 2004 - link
As a follow-up to reviewing the LG GSA-4160BI drive, it'd be nice if you do review the drive that you use the lastest revision of the firmware, which I belive is available here (http://us.lgservice.com/b2c/jsp/SubSys.jsp?SYS=SWL... by choosing DVD-Writer.In fact, I think the latest revision of firmware for each drive should be used so as to be fair to all drivers involved.
Thanks either way for doing the review, even if you don't include the LG!
Chuck
deathwalker - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
A final thought on my original post...the Pioneer 108 is $79 at newegg and this BenQ is $77...for a $2 difference give me the pioneer any day of the week. I'll pay $2 more for a company that has been doing it right for a long time vs. a company that is still tring to figure out how to do it right.deathwalker - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
Well..just call me a stick in the mud..but..if the chipset in use on this burner is a version of the one that was in the NU-082, then they can keep it. I have a NU-082 and it is quite possibly the worst optical device i have ever put in a computer..and just to think I bought it due to the praise it recieved from AnandTech. Having gotten that off my chest..keep up the good work guys I know you do your best to bring us quality reviews with objective analysis.WooDaddy - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
A couple of questions:- What is Mount Rainier?
- Will the overview include a table of features per drive? In particular I'd like to see things like HD-Burn and DVD-RAM read capablities, etc.
- Bitsetting disks .... why not just burn all discs in DVD-ROM format anyway? Is there a benefit to burning in the other? DVD-ROM is supposedly more compatible anyway. (This is a question, not a statement.)
And last but not least,
- Why won't Ian STFU!? Geez... Quit acting like a hater... If Anandtech doesn't have something you like, do you own damn website. oh wait.. YOU DO! So go do it! (Kris, I know you wanted to say that.)
For the record, IAN YOU HAVEN'T EVEN DONE A REVIEW ON THE DVR-108 YET! NOR HAVE YOU DONE A REVIEW ON ANY DRIVE WITH 16X -R MEDIA...
Gawd...
You do have a nice website and whole helluva comprehensive reviews. But because you're such a d|ck, I'll wait for Anandtech to come out with their review.
assemblage - Thursday, September 30, 2004 - link
I don't like the mouseover images you all are using.KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
Ian: Got any 16X -R media for us to test it with?Kristopher
Ian@CDRlabs - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
It says Pioneer DVR-108 above the specs.Why no 16x -R writing tests?
chucky2 - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
I'd really like to see how the LG GSA-4160BI drive stacks up in the roundup...with a current price of $86 + $4 shipping, it'd be interesting to see how it compares to the larger names like Sony, Pioneer, etc.KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - link
lennylim: Fixed.Kristopher