IntroductionNot long ago CDR-Zone.COM got to take a look at the BenQ 16x DVD+R media. It proofed to be a media that produced very good results on writers that fully supported it, whilst some writers decided that a slower speed was needed for some batches. Continuing the BenQ theme I have had the chance to test the latest 16x DVD-R media with thanks again to Troy and the gang at Dvdshoponline. Will it be of a similar quality to the DVD+R version or will better/worse be found during the testing? Thats the whole point of this review, but just for good measure a new recording device is being used with the Liteon SHM-165P6S gettting its CDR-Zone.COM baptism.
The review media came to me in a spindle of 25 and users of BenQ media will note that the plain white design and BenQ logo have now been replaced with a pearl white effect and no logo. The BenQ 16x DVD-R media uses a dye from Daxon technology in Taiwan and this is exactly as expected. BenQ have been using Daxon technology to produce their media since the early days of recordable DVD media and I am glad to see the partnership continue. For the real media quality enthusiast, the batch number code on the inner circle of the media is marked AMC16DMR47DJ1301. Further inspection of the packaging confirms that this media is made in Taiwan as well as carrying a 16x certified logo.
A question which I have been asked quite a few times since starting my reviews is 'How do you decide on what brands of writer you use?'. With this in mind I have decided to layout exactly how I choose my recording devices in this part of the review for those that really care!. In this review I have used NEC, and Pioneer based drives to reflect what are some of the most popular OEM recording devices on the market at the time of writing any given review, whilst the Plextor, Liteon and Philips drives cover the retail section of the market - its that simple!
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Available recording speedsVSO Inspector from VSO Software was used for gathering my information about the available recording speeds the BenQ 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 BenQ16x 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 as well as giving us a rough guide to the success rate of the inserted media according to VSO software's media success database. 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.
Results show that not all of the review recording devices where capable of supporting the BenQ 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 was not always the case with the this particular media.
The Liteon SHM-165P6S under firmware MV9N played it safe by offering a 12x recording strategy, whilst the Pioneer DVR 111D under firmware 1.23 and the NEC ND-4551 under firmware 1-08 both offered and achieved 16x recording speeds. The Plextor PX-760A under firmware 1.03 offered 16x but very rarely achieved it with its logic slowing down all tested recordings. The Philips DVDR1660P1 under firmware P1.5 offered 16x but only delivered a very slow 12x recording consistently, again it seems this drives logic decided to slow down the 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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Disc Quality tests
Having recorded the maximum amount possible onto the BenQ 16x DVD-R media at the maximum recording speed for each respective review drive with Nero CD-DVD Speed, the next stage of this review will concentrate on Disc Quality.
The first part of the Quality tests involved scanning all the pieces of BenQ 16x DVD-R media recorded on each review recording device with the Plextor PX-760A Premium using Plextools XL Q-Check tests to find out how many potential SUM8 (PI Errors) and Sum1 (PI Failures) a playback device would have to correct whilst playing or transferring the recorded media. This also enabled me to obtain which of the 5 recorded pieces of media most matched the average result. The average disc shown below was then subjected to a Beta and Jitter test. Although more tests are available I believe I am showing the most common factors in overall disc quality.
"As the whole purpose of reviewing media for our readers is to try and obtain a good idea of the average quality of a given media, I have come up with this new methodoligy for determing these factors. These are my own personal views and by no means as accurate as an Industry C.A.T.S scan for measuring the quality of a disc but I believe I have come as close as I possibly can do with the equipment available to the average user."
I will expect that not every piece of media is capable of producing this with such influences as excepted media/ hardware tolerance levels having an impact but I will expect the results not to consistently stray too far from set standards for a recommended media. It is also the sum of all tests that I use to determine the overall quality of the media and not one test alone.
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The less Sum1 and Sum8 that are found on a media then in theory the better the chances are of good long term playback for this media without data loss becoming a significant problem. Thats not to say that recordings with high Sum1 and Sum8 levels will be bad - the error correction logic of DVD playback and transfer devices are capable of correcting many potential errors. There is just more chance they might be affected by such influences as dirt or fingerprints. Different scanning devices scan slightly differently but basic guidelines using a Plextor drive are that Sum8 should not exceed 280 for sustained periods and Sum1 should not exceed 4 for sustained periods. You don't want to see any reported POF's (Parity Outer Failures) as these normally should result in uncorrectable errors!
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Jitter and beta must remain within set specifications for a Plextor scan (Beta should not exceed +15 or -5 for sustained periods with the more level the result the better). Jitter should stay within the lower half of the graph for best results. Reading devices with good jitter correction ability should be able to read higher reported levels better than those that don't.
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Overview of Disc Quality results:
Although the recordings made by the devices used in this review offered quite different results, they did offer very similar amounts of potential Sum1 errors. Maybe this is the PicPerfect technology at work delivering levels of Sum1 that should not be of any issue for playback or transfer in themselves. However Sum8 and Jitter Betea results showed that the used recording devices all achieved their recordings with varying amounts of quality. That said, all results achieved where within set parameters for a good recording.
"Please note that you will need a compatible drive for doing these scans such as the Plextor PX-760A Premium I have used in this review for making my decisions on the potential quality of this media. Other drives you could try include BenQ, Liteon, NU TECH and ASUS branded writers, but only the Plextor drives with Q check functions offer the full range of tests."
Transfer and playback tests
So far in this review I have reported on how well/bad the BenQ 16x DVD-R media has performed on our 5 used review recording devices and given you a good idea as to how many potential errors may be seen on playback and transfer devices. One thing this hasn't proven is just how well the recorded media may be transfered at high speeds, although a reader of this review can with experience draw an educated opinion on whether the discs will transfer ok from the Disc Quality results shown earlier in this review.
But there are other factors besides basic Disc Quality that can have an effect on transfer tests. At 16x introduced levels of excess noise created at any given speed on certain devices can have a big impact. Its a common reason why many drives usually only offer a 12x max transfer speed on recordable DVD media. Another common factor is that certain devices just don't like the way other devices record to certain media ( too high laser power at certain points of the disc can affect certain reading devices ). The NEC ND 4551A device used in this part of the review seems to cope as well as any device at transfer speeds of 16x. More times than not, if this device slowdowns during transfer, then it can usually be attributed to higher amounts of potential errors such as Sum1, Sum8, Beta and Jitter than would be preferred for best quality.
Small slowdowns are accepted during a transfer but what we don't want to see is any places where data refuses to transfer on the NEC ND-4551A or any of the recordings refusing to playback properly on our review playback devices.
Nero CD-DVD Speed high speed transfer tests
Below you will find the transfer tests carried out on the NEC ND-4551A at its fastest reading speed of 16x for single layer media. Please click on a drive thumbnail for the results of the transfer tests on that device.
NEC ND-4551A [OEM] with firmware version 1-08
Philips DVDR1660P1 [Retail] with firmware version P1.5
Plextor PX-760A Premium [Retail] with firmware version 1.03
Pioneer DVR 111D [OEM] with firmware version 1.23
Liteon SHM-165P6S[Retail] with firmware version MV9N
Results show that the NEC ND-4551A encountered no fatal errors during the CD Speed transfer tests, reaching its maximum single layer reading speed of 16x for all tested recording devices.
One final but no less important final test is the playback test of a DVD Video. For this review I have chosen to record a DVD Video compilation with CopyToDVD from VSO Software. I have also chosen the Liteon SHM-165P6S with firmware revision MV9N as it was the newest drive here in the basement and I was very interested in the reslusts of this drive.
Standalone DVD Players Media readable Cyberhome 512 Yes Bush 2520 Yes Technics SL-DV250 Yes Yukai DVD Player Yes Sony RDR GX3 Yes Aiwa XPD-15 Yes Toshiba SD 125E Yes LG DV1000 Yes PRISM 30162 Yes Daewoo DV5000 Yes PC DVD Readers Media readable Pioneer DVD ROM 115 (firmware: 1.33) Yes LiteOn LTD-83D (firmware: GHR8) Yes PC DVD Writers Media readable NEC ND-4551A [OEM] (firmware: 1-08) Yes Philips DVDR1660P1 [Retail] (firmware: P1.5) Yes Plextor PX-760A Premium [Retail] (firmware: 1.03) Yes Pioneer DVR 111D [OEM] (firmware: 1.23) Yes Liteon SHM-165P6S[Retail] (firmware: MV9N) Yes DVD Consoles Media readable Sony Playstation 2 (SCPH 50003) Yes XBox v1.4 Yes Xbox V1.0 Yes At a read speed of 1x the recording showed no problems with playback in almost all of the tested playback devices, whether they be PC based, standalone or console driven. Fast forwarding the DVD Video compilation at 16x on our PRISM standalone DVD player did not show areas near the end fast forwarding was not interrupted. I would also like to reconfirm that a high speed transfer on this disc did not produce any slowdowns either that may have an impact on the quality of the disc.
Conclusion
It is clear whilst looking through this review that the BenQ media behaved very well with all used recording devices during this review, but not two recording devices seemed to agree on which was the best way to record the BenQ 16x DVD-R media. From the Liteon SHM-165P6S offering only 12x through to the Philips DVDR1660P1 offering 16x but only achieving a very slow 12x recording speed, recordings where variable in their results. That said, all used recording devices achieved very decent results with none of them showing any real cause for concern in this reviewers opinion.
Disabling Auto Strategy on the Plextor PX-760A Premium under firmware 1.03 produced much faster recording times but the amount of potential errors rose as the recording neared 16x and quite often Power record would still kick in and slow down the recording at around the 14x stage of the recording. I recommend keeping Auto strategy and Power record enabled for this software after learning as I feel it is the best method at the moment for this media/hardware combination.
Likelwise, as with the Plextor unit, disabling the advanced logic of the Philips DVDR 1660P1 offered a faster recording but still 16x was not attainable on this batch of media, with jitter levels rising towards the end. Philips offer no way to disable Solidburn officially and also recomend having it enabled for best results as do I. The logic of the Philips drive does seem to work overtime with this media to achieve the best quality results.
The Pioneer DVR 111D with firmware 1.23 achieved a very good level of recording quality in a very respectable time at 16x and is to be considered a very reliable recording device for the BenQ 16x DVD-R media on a consistent basis. All that I may complain about is that Jitter is higher than preferred near the beginning of the recording. It is normal to see BenQ media having good support from Pioneer and the trend continues here. The NEC ND-4551A also achieved a very decent level of quality with all tested areas of Disc quality well within set specifications for a good result.
The newest member of the CDR-Zone.COM recording family, The Liteon SHM-165P6S under firmware MV9N offered two new fuctions compared to older Liteon drives and I want to mention these options here as they really seemed to help the quality of its recording to the BenQ 16x DVD-R media. Using Hyper tuning technology, this new Liteon drive learnt this media within 3 recordings and offered very good levels of quality even if only 12x was attainable by design in the firmware. A few models earlier, this would of probarly recorded at 16x with questionable results but I am happy to announce that the recordings achieved with the Hyper tuning technology enabled where of a high quality compared to any of the other used recording devices.
To sum up, the BenQ 16x DVD-R media delivered some very pleasing results where hardware support was good/optimised. Also, the claims of the PicPerfect tchnology seemed to be proven right, with almost all recording devices offering low levels of potential Sum1 on a consistent basis. No obvious flaws in the dye side where noted and the recorded media didn't detoriate upon high speed transfer tests. Of course the tests carried out in this review are really only a gauge of quality and it is the long term reliability that I am keen to test at a later date.
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