Available speed and recording tests
VSO Inspector from VSO Software was used for gathering my information about the available recording speeds the Sony 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 Sony 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, Nero CD-DVD 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-760A Premium 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. I also tested 10 pieces with the Philips DVDR1660P1, 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'.
Results show that not all of the review recording devices where capable of supporting the Sony 16x DVD-R media at its rated maximum speed of 16x. I always hope to see a brand of media fully supported by all review recording devices and this wasseemingly the case with the this particular media.
Under default settings I found that recording times seemed very consistent for each particular drive where good media quality allowed. The LG GSA-4166B produced the fastest recording times of around 5 mins and 40 seconds, whilst the Plextor PX-760A, Pioneer DVR 111D and NEC ND-4551A produced times of between 6 minutes to 6 minutes 30 seconds respectively.The Philips DVDR1660P under firmware P1.5 produced a consistent recording time of around 8 minutes which is to be considered a lot slower in respect to the other used recording devices. The drives solidburn logic seemed to be working very hard on this particular brand of media under default settings.
Overview of recording times
These are the recordings that come closest to being the average recording times for each of the review drives used in this review.
| | Writer used: | Average recording time | | 4163B LG (firmware: A104) | 5:39 | | | DVR 111D [OEM] Pioneer (firmware: 1.23) | 6:06 | | | ND-4551 A [OEM] NEC (firmware: 1-08) | 6:14 | | | PX-760A Premium [Retail] Plextor (firmware: 1.03) | 6:26 | | | DVDR1660P1 [Retail] Philips (firmware: P1.5) | 8:04 | |
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"Of course achieving the fastest recording speed does not always mean you achieve the best quality recording as I will be quick to point out to our readers. There is no point in having the fastest recording if the quality suffers! Hardware logic can sometimes slow media down in firmwares or limit the maximum 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 a more detailed examination discovered about the recorded media during the Disc Quality, Transfer and Playback tests.
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