Available speed and recording tests
VSO Inspector from VSO Software was used for gathering our information about the available recording speeds the TDK 16x DVD+R media on our review recording devices. This media information utility allows us to easily see the rated speeds available for the TDK 16x DVD+R media according to the hardware used during this review as well as tell us the full Media ID code for the 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.
All of the review recording devices where capable of supporting the TDK 16x DVD+R media at its rated maximum speed of 16x. It is always good to see a brand of media fully supported by all review recording devices.
The DVD's created here in our 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 1 exception. The Plextor PX-716A which had 5 pieces tested with both the Power Rec feature enabled and disabled.
The BenQ DW 1640 recorded the TDK 16x DVD+R media in the fastest time of 5 minutes 49 seconds with the Pioneer DVR 109, BenQ DW 1620, and Liteon 1673 all achieving very similar recording times consistently. The NEC ND 3540 took a little over 6 minutes to achieve a 16x recording and the Plextor gave its usual varying results with the Power Rec option enabled. The average time we achieved with the Power Rec option was 6 minutes 14 seconds and is shown here. Turning the Power rec option off did allow us to record at 16x in under 6 minutes but we wouldnt recommend this ( more about this later on in the review ).
Overview of recording times
These are the recordings that come closest to being the average recording times in each of our review drives.
| | Writer used: | Average recording time | | DW 1640 [OEM] BenQ (firmware: BSLB) | 5:49 | | | DVR 109 XL [OEM] Pioneer (firmware: 1.58) | 5:53 | | | DW 1620A BenQ (firmware: B7V9) | 5:56 | | | 1673S Liteon (firmware: JS0C) | 5:56 | | | ND-3540 NEC (firmware: 1.01) | 6:06 | | | PX-716A Plextor (firmware: 1.08) | 6:14 | |
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"Of course achieving the fastest recording speed does not always mean you achive 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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