Ricoh 16x DVD+R media review

Transfer and Playback tests

So far in this review we have reported on how well/bad the Ricoh 16x DVD+R media has performed on our review recording devices and given you a good idea as to how many errors may be left on the media for a playback device to correct. One thing we haven't measured is jitter.

So what is jitter and how does it have an impact on the recorded media?:

Jitter is how well balanced your recorded media stays at any given speed. It is normal for jitter to increase slightly the higher you record and the faster you read but a really top grade recording will have jitter within set specifications ( 12-13%) and no long periods of lower reading or 'slowdowns' will be noted at even the highest reading speed. We can forgive the odd small slowdown as a lot of things may have an impact on the ability to read at maximum speed such as background applications if reading on a PC.

What we don't want to see is any places with data refuses to transfer or playback properly.

Below you will find the results of the Transfer tests on the NEC 3500 AG which is our fastest PC DVD reading device. CDR-Zone.COM have found it a very realible reader and a good judge of how jitter may effect high speed transfers, slowing down only when jitter is really high and the disc becomes unbalanced at certain parts of the disc.

High Speed Transfer tests Below you will find the transfer tests carried out on the NEC 3500 AG at its fastest reading speed. Click the image of the drive we used to record the Ricoh 16x DVD+R media for it's scan results BenQ DW 1620A with firmware version B7T9 LiteOn 1653S with firmware version CS0G NEC ND-3520 with firmware version LDv1.U7 NEC 3500 AG with firmware version LDv2.TB

Results show that the NEC 3500 AG encountered no fatal errors during the CD Speed transfer tests, reaching its maximum single layer reading speed of 16x for the NEC ND 3520, NEC 3500 and BEnq DW 1620A review recording devices. The Liteon-IT 1653S recording did produce some large slowdowns at transfer speeds above 12x giving us a very good idea that this recording became too unbalanced for high speed trabsfers of 16x. A 12x trabsfer test passed without any slowdowns noted and we can only hope this is a minor issue which Liteon can resolve via a small firmware update.

Given these facts we feel there are no reasons why we should see no problems with playback on these devices used for these tests with the NEC ND-3520, NEC 3500 AG and BenQ DW 1620 highly recomended for 16x recording to the media. The Liteon-It 1653S will transfer fine at on reading devices that are 12x max under present firmware but a DVD Video played at 1x we believe should have no issues but we will check to see how it plays back while fast forwarding at 16x on one of our playback devices.

Our final test is the playback test of a DVD Video. Given that the least favourable recording was achieved by the Liteon-IT 1653S at its maximum speed of 16x, it was this review recording device which was used to record a DVD Video ISO with DVD Decrypter of 4464Mb (4.36GB) in size to the Ricoh 16x DVD+R media, again at 16x. The theory behind choosing the Liteon-IT 1653S for this test is quite simple. Given that it gave the worst transfer result at high speeds, if this DVD was to playback without stutter or pixelation of any kind, then judging by their better transfer tests results, recordings on the other drives should be good too.

Another point worth mentioning is is that DVD+R media quite often benefits from haing its booktype of DVD+R et to that of DVD-ROM. This mimics a real pressed DVD and should make for better playback results on playback devices that can quite often have isues if the booktype is not set. To set the booktype on Liteon-IT drives you can download This utility from the Liteon-IT website.

What is Booktype changing and how does it work?

"Changing the booktype of DVD+R media basically tricks the reading device into thinking a normal pressed DVD-ROM has been inserted instead of a DVD+R. Players known not to like DVD+R discs quite often have great success in reading discs with their booktype changed."

As expected at a read speed of 1x the recording showed no problems with playback in any of tested playback devices, wether they be PC based, standalone or console driven. Fast forwarding the DVDVideo compilation at 16x on our PRISM standalone DVD player and SONY playstaion 2 games console did show one error at the same point in the DVD Video compilation where the fast forward stopped which was pretty much consistent with other High speed media we have transferred on this device, but besides that we had a very good result. PRISM DVD players are amongst the cheapest around and we would not rule out the error being down to the PRISM player itself.