Spring 2004 DVD Performance Roundup: More DVD Dual 8X
by Kristopher Kubicki on April 28, 2004 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Write Quality
In our last few DVD and CD recordable roundups, we have not taken the proper time to analyze read and write errors. For this section of the review, we give many thanks to our friends at cdfreaks.com for their insight and guidance with the KProbe error analysis tool. We used version 1.1.29 for this review. A disc written from each burner is loaded into our LiteOn LWD-851S drive and then run through KProbe. Since we are using the same DVD reader for all six probes, the errors on the disc should only represent errors generated by the write process. Lower averages are better.We used one DVD+R (MCC 003) and one DVD-R (MCC 02GR20) for each burn test. Both discs were burned at 8X. Our KProbe analysis was run at 4X read.
AOpen DDW8800 MCC 003
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AOpen DDW8800 MCC 02GR20
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On both media tests, AOpen had an unusual imperfection at 2/3 through each disc. Fortunately, both discs had very low PO error averages, lower than most of our other drives.
ASUS DRW-0802P MCC 003
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ASUS DRW-0802P MCC 02GR20
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Gigabyte GO-W0808A MCC 003
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Gigabyte GO-W0808A MCC 02GR20
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From the two burn modes, Gigabyte's GO-W0808A pulled the lowest PO averages. On DVD-R media, the GO-W0808A had fairly high PI errors, but at the same time, we had very low PO errors. We have seen this as a trend in most drives based on the MT1818E chipset.
NuTech DDW-082 MCC 003
NuTech DDW-082 MCC 02GR20
Our PO errors are incredible considering the almost laughable benchmarks on the original B364 firmware. Drives based on the MT1818E might produce better results, but considering the difference in price between the Gigabyte GO-W0808A and the NuTech DDW-082, we have to give NuTech a respectable nod here.
Sony DRU-530A MCC 003
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Sony DRU-530A MCC 02GR20
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Sony had real troubles writing 8X DVD-R media. Recall our DVD-R write tests that found the DRU-530A extremely touchy on CPU usage. This may have much to do with the fact that the DRU-530A was originally released as a 4X burner with firmware upgrades to an 8X drive.
Toshiba SD-R5272 MCC 003
Toshiba SD-R5272 02GR20
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24 Comments
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rlrus - Tuesday, May 4, 2004 - link
Nu has posted the official firmware upgrade B373, I hope this one is as good or better than the unofficial B372. I bought this drive and hope I have as good results as Anand Tech. With it's ability to write 8 times on 4 times Media and it's speed and error rate being almost as good as the more expensive drives it seemed a bargain.mcveigh - Sunday, May 2, 2004 - link
21:the Nu models do as well or better than everyone else and at the lowest price point.
why shouldn't they win?
KristopherKubicki - Saturday, May 1, 2004 - link
Jeff7181: I think there is a way to get it to scale proper. I will do that for the next review.Kristopher
QuaiBoy - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
Seems to me that all of the DVD writer reviews lately on Anandtech seem to favor the Nutech product. I don't see a reason from these results to pick that drive over any of the others. There's nothing that makes it anything special, and it certainly doesn't deserve an award over the other drives.Another vote for total write times and for not claiming that all drives with the same chipset will perform similarly. Too many variables. At least test with more media types, like TY and Optodisc. Cheapies like Princo appeal to many as well.
-Evan-
Jeff7181 - Friday, April 30, 2004 - link
The Write Quality graphs are very misleading/hard to read since they are all on different scales... makes on look like crap until you realize you're looking at a 0 - 10 scale rather than 0 - 70. Anything you can do about that or are you just stuck displaying what the crappy software showed you?KristopherKubicki - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
This was all commented on in the article. The 708A and the 2500A also use radically different pickups and servos. But then again, i never claimed those two were similar in the review either.Belzer: most of those drives i pointed out were clearly rebadges.
Kristopher
CrazeeHorse - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
Belzer,yes. Maybe I should have rephrased my statement, as MAXIMUM burning speed. Yep, it also depends on the burn strategy employed.CrazeeHorse - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
Belzer,yes. Maybe I should have rephrased my statement, as MAXIMUM burning speed. Yep, it also depends on the burn strategy employed.CrazeeHorse - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
Belzer - Thursday, April 29, 2004 - link
"If you mean burn speed, of course it will be similar in different drives that use the same chipset, as their burn speeds are defined by the chipset!"Uhm, no! Burn speed also depends very much on the write strategies implemented in the firmware. For example NEC ND-2500A and Pioneer DVR-A07 use the same chipset. The NEC uses a 4x-6x-8x Z-CLV technique for 8x burns, the Pioneer uses a 6x-8x Z-CLV technique and is faster.
Drives with the same chipset can have very different properties, only complete rebadged drives will have the same properties.