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In this part of our AOpen DRW4410 (DVD+R) review we'll test how fast the drive can read various media, including audio CDs and DVD media. As we already mentioned before, the AOpen drive can read CD media at 40x while DVD media can be read at 8x. Let's see if this is indeed the case.

Pressed Discs:

For the transfer rate tests we used a pressed CD-ROM containing the PlexTools software (v1.05) which was exactly 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below you can see the produced Nero CD-DVD Speed graph:

From the produced graph you can see that the AOpen drive had no problems reaching the claimed read speed of 40x. When we look at the drive's seek times and compare them to some of the other drives we've reviewed we can see that the AOpen drive has the highest seek times but they're within the drive's specs (<120ms random stroke):

CD-Recordable Discs:

For the transfer rate tests with CD-Recordable Media we used a back-up (CD-R) of the PlexTools software disc. The used disc was a 'That's Write' CD-R certified up to 16x writing and manufactured by Gigastorage. Here are the results:

The graph shows us that the AOpen drive again had no problems reaching its rated read speed of 40x. Its seek times were pretty close to the ones we saw with the pressed media:

CD-ReWriteable Discs:

To test the transfer rate with CD-RW discs we once again used the "PlexTools v1.05" disc only this time we read from a CD-ReWriteable disc. The used disc was a 'Plextor High Speed CD-RW' disc. Below you can see the produced graphs with Nero CD-DVD Speed again:

When it came to reading CD-RW media the AOpen again performed well as it had no problems reaching 40x reading. In fact, the drives read performance with CD-RW media was better than the drive's performance with pressed and CD-R media. The drive's seek times were however not that impressive as you can see in the table below (remember, lower seek times are better):

Audio - Digital Audio Extraction:

To test the AOpen's digital audio extraction performance we again used Nero CD-DVD Speed to do a transfer rate test. The audio disc we used was of a slightly larger size than in our previous tests (77 minutes). In the graph below you can see the performance of the DVD-recorder:

And once again the AOpen drive showed good performance as the drive had no problems reaching 40x and going faster than that. The AOpen DRW4410's seek times were pretty similar as we've saw with the previous tests. They're within specifications but not very good when we compare them to results we achieved with other DVD recorders:

As a final test we used PlexTools to extract the audio disc to our hard disk. We also tested the drive's performance using Exact Audio Copy (EAC) in Secure Mode (for some reason we're unsure of the AOpen drive didn't work very well with EAC's Burst Mode so that's why we used the PlexTools software instead). According to EAC the DRW4410 does not cache the audio data but the drive does have an accurate stream and it can report C2 error information.

PlexTools Professional

Exact Audio Copy - Secure Mode

And once again we see a good performance from the AOpen drive. Extracting the audio tracks at 40x was no problem using the PlexTools software and when using the drive with the EAC software and its Secure Mode the AOpen also showed a very good result (compare the drive's average secure read speed of 11x to the Sanyo CRD-BPDV2's average read speed of 7.7x for instance).

Audio - Advanced DAE Quality Test:

As always, to conclude our CD media read tests we did an 'Advanced DAE Quality Test' with Nero CD-DVD Speed. You can see the produced results below:

The AOpen once again showed a very decent result. The DRW4410's average read speed of 28.75x was slower than the Plextor PX-708A drive (30.10x) but it was faster than the Plextor PX-504A (24.38x average) and the Sanyo CRD-BPDV2 (28.64x average). Last but not least the Advanced DAE Quality Test shows us that the AOpen drive can read SubChannel Data and CD-Text.

DVD - DVD-Video:

For our DVD reading tests we're going to start with a DVD-Video read test of a single-layered and double-layered DVD disc. Keep in mind that a low read speed has no effect on the drive's performance when playing a DVD. The drive's read speed is only important when you, for example, want to rip a DVD disc to your hard disk.

As you can see from the produced graphs the AOpen drive can read the DVD-Video discs at a maximum speed of 8x. From the second graph you can also see that the AOpen drive had some problems reading the double-layered DVD. When looking at the drive's seek times we feel that these should be improved because 186ms (SL) and 170ms (DL) are not within the drive's specifications of 140ms.

DVD - DVD+R(W):

To test the AOpen's read performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media we simply copied 4.4GB to an empty DVD+R and DVD+RW disc. Below you can see the results:

When it came to reading DVD+R(W) media the AOpen DRW4410 drive performed very well as it was the fastest drive we've reviewed. But, unfortunately, the drive's seek times were again a little disappointing:

DVD - DVD-R(W):

To test the AOpen's read performance with DVD-R and DVD-RW media we again copied roughly 4.4GB to an empty DVD-R and DVD-RW disc. Below you can see the results again:

Although there were some small problems when reading the DVD-R media, the AOpen once again showed a very good performance. But, as we've seen before, the drive's seek times could be a lot better. The seek times we got when reading the DVD-RW media were within the drive's specs but the DVD-R seek times were not.