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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JetBlack69 - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
Any information about how loud the drives where while reading the discs? I'm in the market for a DVD burner and I'd like a drive that's quiet.semo - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
btw, any news on the nec 4550a?semo - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
no taiyo yuden media tests?i personally don't like 16x media. tyg02 dye burned on the dw1640 @ 8x give really good results. i think you can also overspeed to 12x.
keitaro - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
Okay, so we see the latest generation of drives with their latest firmware installed. However, tested with only a handful of medias? How about comparing those to that of Taiyo-Yuden discs? It'd be interesting to see how they stack up when compared to the more commonly affordable discs.gdtaylor - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
I'm still waiting for affordable Dual Layer media.Calin - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
Looks like the past of the burners was great, their present is... well, see #3I think there is no reason to wonder, as I payed three years ago one and a half ($100) for a Teac CD burner that worked perfectly than for the LG 4160 burner that has strong media preferences
IceWindius - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
Hah, I love my Plextor 716A with the newest firmware that does 6x DL burning.HDTVMan - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
It most certainly can be crappy media from Ritek. Since they changes their media to AZO their media is crap. Look at the inner ring and notice that there is media seperation from poor manufacturing. The sad part is they were great started to sell like mad then went shotty but people still buy them. If you want reliable DL media buy Memorex or even better Verbatim. I will never buy another Ritek disc after a near 100 pack nightmare. One disc even seperated completely down the middle. Sad Pure Sad.sprockkets - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
The NEC model 3540 says on newegg it can do 8x DL. They list the older 3520A model for $38.No error graph for the 2.4x DL on reads for the NEC drive?
marcuri - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 - link
when the hell are we going to see burners that can do 8x DL? been waiting for one of those for awhile.....