Final Words
What makes a DVDR drive perfect? Well, for one, it has to be able to write to just about any media that we throw at it and then read it back without a hitch. A perfect write should have no PI/PO(DVDR) or C1/C2(CDR) errors on it when read back with PlexTools.So, what makes a DVDR drive acceptable, a great deal, better than the rest? The ideal, best drive out of a group should be able to write to high quality media without any problems, and should be able to read back a disc to which it wrote in the first place. It should have no problems reading a disc unless it reports a successful write incorrectly. This is what we saw in our benchmarks today. There were a few drives like the Toshiba SD-R5372 and LG GSA-4163B that could write a disc "successfully", but not read it back with its own laser.
Half of these drives failed to even see Ritek brand RW media, which cannot be caused by a bad batch of media. Sony's DRU-720A wrote to them perfectly, but even its disc had a good number of PI errors. We were really dissapointed in the NEC ND-3540A's performance when compared to drives like the BenQ DW1640, but hopefully their performance will improve as their BIOS matures.
The only drive we saw that could write to the majority of discs and quickly at that was BenQ's DW1640. It had average performance on most of the benchmarks. but always had a successful read to go with the successful write. The only disc that it could not write to was the MKM A03 8x DVD+RW.
Besides that single issue, the DW1640 has features to aid in successful writes, as well as bitsetting features to allow greater compatibility of the media to which it writes. The bitsetting utility can be downloaded from BenQ's website. Over these 6 DVDR units, we recommend the BenQ DW1640 for its performance and reliability in writing to various types of media. Expect this drive to start showing up on retail store shelves very soon.
Special thanks to BenQ for supplying us with the DW1640.
Special thanks to Sony for supplying us with the DRU-720A.
Special thanks to Marken Communications for supplying us with Verbatim brand test media.
Special thanks to Antarra Communications for supplying us with Ridata brand test media.
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sprockkets - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
In a way yes, 23#, where are the pics of the drives and the insides if you like that stuff like the last review? Just a media test?If you like verbatim that is Mitsubishi Chemicals. An 8x dvd+r disc from Memorex came up as MBIPG101/R04.
valnar - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
Compared to the quality reviews CDRInfo.com and CDFreaks.com puts out, this review was next to worthless.vaystrem - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
You're using PlexTools - why no comparison to Plextor DVD burners?semo - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
#17, from what i read, the dw1640 is not yet available in the us (just barely made it to the uk recently). if you really want one you can get the plextor 740. it's a 1640 with a plextor badge (hence the higher price).nserra - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
What no PRINCO media, useless review!yacoub - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
And yeah, FWIW, I only buy Memorex or Sony media, and I usually burn at one or two speed notches below the max listed for the drive.yacoub - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
Welcome to rock-bottom competition where items are cheap and completely worth what you pay for them - ie 'not much'. What a pile of crap.Also would have liked acoustic tests of the drives - are any of them louder when reading different media? Some drives can be very loud when reading a DVD-ROM and that's bad if you want to play a movie on your PC.
danidentity - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
Is the DW1640 even available for sale yet in the U.S.?xsilver - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
isnt the errors going to be much lower on a new drive but burning at lower speeds -- I dont think buying an old gen drive is a good ideaBozo Galora - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
I agree - no Tayo Yuden - review is useless.I dont need 16X media - I use made in Japan 8X +R Fujifilm TY002 and burn at 16X reliably with Pioneer 108-109 and Plextor 716A.
8X Fujifilm -R MIJ TYG02 always burns at 12X
Anyone buying cheap crap Taiwan media deserves what he gets.