Verbatim 16x DVD-R media review

Transfer and Playback tests

So far in this review we have reported on how well/bad the Verbatim 16x DVD-R media has performed on our 5 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.

Transfer Test results at rated speed 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 Verbatim 16x DVD-R media for it's scan results Pioneer DVR 108 with firmware version 1.18 Philips DVDR1640 with firmware version 3.4 NEC ND-3520 with firmware version 1.04 NEC 3500 AG with firmware version LDv2.TA LiteOn 1653S with firmware version CS0G

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 all tested media. The recording on the Pioneer 108 caused a slight slowdown right at the very end of the disc, but the recordings done in both NEC drives, the Liteon-IT 1653S and the Philips DVD1640 transfered perfectly with no slowdowns noticed at all.

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 Philips DVDR1640 highly recomended for 16x recording to the media. The Liteon-It, although only a 12x max DVD-R recorder is also recomended

Our final test is the playback test of a DVD Video. Given that the fastest recording time was achieved by the NEC 3500 AG 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 Verbatim 16x DVD-R media, again at 16x. The theory behind choosing the NEC 3500 AG for this test is quite simple. Given that it gave the fastest recording, if this DVD was to playback without stutter or pixelation of any kind, then surely the slightly slower recordings on the other drives should be good.

Another point worth mentioning is is that DVD-R media has been around a long time now so there really should be no compatibility issues at all at a read speed of 1x.

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 did show one error where the fast forward stopped, but besides that we had a very good result. PRISM DVD players are amongst the cheapest around and we would not rule out the eror being down to the PRISM player itself. Below you will find the full table of all tested playback devices used in our playback tests.