CDR-Zone reviews Traxdata 8x DVD+R media

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Posted on Friday 16th of January, 2004 at 00:24 by SirQUK
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Features
Packaging and presentation
DVD+R information
Burning
Verification and error checking
Conclusion

A few weeks ago we brought you news about Traxdata's plans to release their 8X DVD+R media onto the DVD market. Today we get to test drive this media for our CDR-Zone readers.

Features:

Write-once format
Complies with DVD+R 4.7GB version 1.0 standards
Compatible with existing DVD-ROM and DVD-VIDEO drives and recorders
Single format for the storage of video, images and data
Constant linear data density
Long archival and storage life
Very low recording error rate and low jitter

In these tests the software used to do the DVD burning where CopyToDVD 2.415 and DVD Decrypter 3.1.9.0.

DVDInfoPro was used for gathering our information about the inserted media, and the hardware used was the awesome Plextor PX-708 8x DVDRW with firmware 1.04.

Packaging and presentation:

Our test media arrived on a spindle, but the retail DVD+R will come packaged in a thin DVD case, as the above picture shows.The writing surface of the pre-sample disc we recieved has a familiar dark purple dye and the label side of the disc is silver, with the Traxdata logo on the top of the disc ( on the final version of the disc, instead of the black print traxdata will use a varnish layer on the complete disc with exception of the text, which will stay 'untouched' giving a nice shiny effect ). The discs look very similar to the Traxdata 4x DVD+R.

DVD+R information:

As the above screenshot from DVDInfoPro shows, the "Media Code / Manufacturer ID" is manufactured with the well proven, quality Ritek dye with the available burning speeds of 2.4x, 4x and 8x. Ritek are acknowledged as one of the leading manufacturers of DVDR+/- media in todays market, producing one of the most compatiable dyes around. Traxdata have long used Ritek dyes for their DVDR media and it was no surprise that they continued to use them for these DVD+R.

Burning:

To test the DVD+R Media at various burning speeds the latest version of CopyToDVD from VSO-software was used to burn a Video DVD and Data DVD from my Hard drive. DVDDecrypter was used to burn an ISO image of the same Video DVD. Due to the CLV burning technique of the Plextor, this media would start burning at 4x then progressively increase to 8x burning speeds. The entire process should take between 8 and 9 minutes to complete at 8x, and about 23 minutes to complete at 2.4x.

The above picture shows CopyToDVD burning the media at 8x.

The above picture shows DVDDecrypter burning an ISO image at 2.4x.

Verification and error checking:

To check for any errors on the DVD+R image , DVDInfoPro's "CD\DVD error test" utility was used to Verify the recorded Image. The test shows that no read errors were reported.

A second test was carried out to verify the DVD+R file structure. DVDinfoPro's "Compare" utility was used to compare the files on the DVD+R to the original source files on the Hard Disk.

As shown in the image above you can see from the right hand side of the above screenshot , the files on the DVD+R are identical to to the source files on the Hard Disk.

The DVD+R played well in my PC as well as both my Cyberhome and Bush Standalone DVD Players, with no problems.

Conclusion:

The Traxdata 8x DVD+R media burnt perfectly at 8x using both CopyToDVD and DVDDecrypter, using different burning modes. No Errors where found on the 5 DVD+R's used during these tests. All the Video DVD+R's played perfectly on all standalone DVD players they were tested on. It seems Traxdata are keeping up their good record for making quality media for todays faster recording needs. CDR-Zone have no hestitation in recommending this media to anyone that wants good reliable error free backups of their Data/Video needs.Traxdata 8x DVD+R is a media i will purchase and use when it becomes more widely available.

Reviewed by: SirQUK
Recording device: Plextor PX-708

Tip for Nvidia chipset users:

This was achieved using the default Microsoft IDE controller Drivers that are bundled with Windows XP. The reason for using the bundled XP drivers was that there seems to be issues with the Nvidia IDE Drivers burning at 8x speeds. It would appear to burn 4-6x upto to 20%, then goto 8x for a split second, then slow down to 4x again. CDR-Zone definitley recommend using the default bundled drivers for Windows IDE controller for burning at 8x rather the Nvidia enhanced IDE controller for burning past 4x on Nvidia chipset motherboards.

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