Available speed and recording tests
VSO Inspector from VSO Software was used for gathering our information about the available recording speeds this Traxdata 16x DVD-R media could be recorded at on our review recording devices. This media information utility allows us to easily see the rated speeds available for the Traxdata 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.
Not all of the review recording devices where capable of supporting the Traxdata 16x DVD-R media at its rated maximum speed of 16x. Both the NEC ND 3540 and Pioneer DVR 109 XL with latest firmwares could only support 12x recording. The BenQ DW 1620, Liteon 1673 and Plextor PX-716A support this media at its rated 16x.
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 2 exceptions.The Plextor PX-716A which had 5 pieces tested with both the Power Rec feature enabled and disabled and the NEC ND 3540 which had 5 pieces tested with an adjusted firmware from Liggy and Dee-27 with the supported speed increased to 16x. Although these results are not shown in any of our review tables we will mention the results later on in this review for comparison.
The BenQ drives recorded the Traxdata 16x DVD-R media in the fastest times of around 6 minutes. The Liteon 1673S achieved a time of 6 minutes 24 which in line with its expected time for a 16x recording. The Plextor PX-716A did actually record 2 pieces of the Traxdata 16x DVD-R media at 16x with the Power Record feature enabled but as three pieces slowed down to 12x near the end it is these results that we show for our average recording on this drive.
Both the NEC ND 3540 and Pioneer DVR 109 XL did manage to record this media at their supported speed of 12x without any issues in times of 6:49 and 7:11 respectively.
Overview of recording times
These are the recordings that come closest to being the average recording times for each writer and have been calculated by recording 5 pieces of media to each drive. The quickest and slowest times for each drive will not be used in this review.
| | Writer used: | Average recording time | | DW 1620A BenQ (firmware: B7W9) | 6:01 | | | DW 1640 [OEM] BenQ (firmware: BSLB) | 6:12 | | | 1673S Liteon (firmware: JS0C) | 6:24 | | | PX-716A Plextor (firmware: 1.08) | 6:30 | | | ND-3540 NEC (firmware: 1.01) | 6:49 | | | DVR 109 XL [OEM] Pioneer (firmware: 1.58) | 7:11 | |
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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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