Available speed and recording tests
VSO Inspector from VSO Software was used for gathering my information about the available recording speeds the Philips 16x DVD+R media on our review recording devices. This media information utility allows the user to easily see the rated speeds available for the Philips 16x DVD+R media according to the hardware used during this review. It can also tell the user the full Media ID code for any given media. Once the maximum available recording speeds for each device had been discovered using VSO Inspector, CD Speed from Ahead software was used to record a test DVD of maximum capacity to see if the review recording devices achieved their maximum recording speed.
The DVD's created here in this first test with CD Speed will be used later on during the Disc Quality, Transfer and Verification tests. Tests carried out included the recording of 5 pieces of media to each drive with some exceptions. The Plextor PX-755A which had 5 pieces tested under the default setting of Auto Strategy set to Auto and Power Record on whilst another 5 pieces where tested under a new strategy created with the full learn option in the Auto Strategy database, again with Power Record enabled. We also tested 10 pieces with the BenQ DW 1640, 5 with Solidburn on and 5 with Solidburn off. Only results under default settings are shown here as that is what most users will start recording with but I will make a mention of any improvements that where gained by using the non default settings.
The 5 pcs of media per drive used in this review exclude 1 pc that was used beforehand to let the drive learn the media. The tests on the 5 pcs per drive began after this first 'learning burn'.
Not all of the review recording devices where capable of supporting the Philips 16x DVD+R media at its rated maximum speed of 16x. The Pioneer 109 XL under firmware 1.58 only offered a max 12x recording strategy whilst the LG 4166B under firmware 1.02 only supported this media under a default 4x writing strategy. I always hope to see a brand of media fully supported by all review recording devices and this was not the case here.
Under default settings, the BenQ DW 1640 recorded the Philips 16x DVD+R media in the fastest time of 5 minutes 47 seconds, with 4 out 5 recordings making 16x and one limited to 12x. The NEC 4551A consistent achieved 16x recording times of about 6 minutes. Both the Plextor PX-755A and Pioneer 109XL couldn't quite make up their minds on exactly what was the best recording speed with both drives offering varying maximum recording speeds dependent on individual media. This made it hard to gauge a true average disc. It would be fair to say that more often than not the Pioneer 109 XL limited the recording to 8x in a time of around 8 minutes 13 seconds. The Plextor PX-755A offered average speeds of around 6 minutes and 32 seconds - sometimes at 12x and sometimes at 16x. LG 4166B users will be disapointed to see that with the default 4x recording strategy in place, very slow times of around 14 minutes 50 seconds where achieved.
Overview of recording times
These are the recordings that come closest to being the average recording times in each of the review drives used in this review.
| | Writer used: | Average recording time | | DW 1640 [OEM] BenQ (firmware: BSOB) | 05:47 | | | ND-4551A [OEM] NEC (firmware: 1.21) | 06:00 | | | PX-755A [Retail] Plextor (firmware: 1.01) | 06:32 | | | DVR 109 XL [OEM] Pioneer (firmware: 1.58) | 08:13 | | | GSA-4166B [OEM] LG Electronics (firmware: 1.02) | 14:53 | |
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"Of course achieving the fastest recording speed does not always mean you achieve the best quality recording as we will be quick to point out to our readers. There is no point in having the fastest recording if the quality suffers! Hardware manufacturers do sometimes slow media down in firmwares or limit the max speed for each particular piece of media recorded to achieve the best quality possible and prevent a bad recording."
Please read on to see what our other tests discovered about the recorded media during our Disc Quality, Transfer and Playback tests.
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