detail information

Positive:

⋅         Comprehensive retail bundle

⋅         Feature-rich software package suite from Nero and Ulead

⋅         Very good DVD+R/-R writing and rewriting quality

⋅         Very good DVD+/-R DL writing quality

⋅         Very good CD-R writing quality

⋅         Reads pressed DVD-Video/DVD-ROM DL media at 12x

⋅         Small form factor for small footprint desktop cases

⋅         'Two Sheep" writer

Negative:

⋅         Does not support Mt. Rainier

⋅         Reads DVD+R/-R discs at only 12x and DVD+R/-R DL discs at 8x

⋅         No bitsetting support (Book Type DVD-ROM) on DVD+R/RW media

⋅         Many DVD±R burn at lower than certified speed

⋅         Poor CD-RW writing quality

⋅         Does not support disc quality (PI/PIF) checking

⋅         Cannot overburn 99 minutes CD-R media or 4600MB DVD+R media

Conclusion:

Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main positive points: The ASUS DRW-1608P2, which is based on Pioneer DVR-110D, is one of the world's first burners to support 8x write speed on DVD-R DL media. The drive also supports 8x write speed on DVD+R DL media with very good results. The write time to complete the Dual/Double Layer burn is also pretty fast.

Following our tests, the drive also writes most DVD+R and DVD-R media with very good quality. The DRW-1608P2 can write CD-R with very good to excellent quality. This can be observed from the test results shown in previous pages.

The ASUS DRW-1608P2 can burn a few selected DVD±R media at higher than the media's rated speed, while still attaining good burn quality. The ASUS DRW-1608P2 can also rip pressed DVD-Video SL at 16x and DL at 12x. Pressed SL DVD-ROM's are ripped at 16x. With this kind of speed, it makes the drive valuable for DVD-Video ripping.

In our DAE quality test it shows that the extracting quality is excellent. The Advanced Tests specify that the Asus drive can be categorized as a 'Two Sheep" writer, which implies that it should be sufficient for backing up many copy protected discs.

The main negative points: There are few minor issues that we would like to mention in this section. In the area of media compatibility, we would like to suggest some improvements. The drive writes some DVD±R media at lower than its rated speed. It is especially evident with some 16x rated media, when the drive can only manage to write at 8x or 12x.

The read speed on DVD±R is locked at 12x. It would be very nice to get read speed increased to 16x with a future firmware update. CD/CD-R read speed is also rated at 40x, once again we would like to see the read speed increased to 48x for CD/CD-R media.

The drive does not support bitsetting. Changing bitsetting on DVD+R and DVD+RW media to set Book Type to DVD-ROM would be nice, as this would increase compatibility with set top DVD players, especially older models.

During our Advanced Test, the ASUS DRW-1608P2 can only overburn up to 90 minutes on our 99 minute CD-R, which means this drive would not be suitable for fully burning 99 minute CD-R media. The drive also failed to overburn 4600MB data on DVD+R media.

Finally, during our CD-RW test we acquired a few issues. Regrettably, as in many other DVD drives, CD-RW writing quality is really poor. Quality tests reported the presence of C2 errors, which are not wanted.

Final Thoughts: The ASUS DRW-1608P2 is a fine drive, however it certainly needs some improvements in certain areas to follow today's standard.

By using our CD Freaks price grabber feature we found the ASUS DRW-1608P2 is listed at $52.00 (December 2005). 

You may discuss/comment this review below or in this forum thread.

Thanks to:

For providing the Verbatim media used in this review. Verbatim provides high quality media all over the world and strives to be the standard for DVD hardware reviewing.

Advanced Media/Ritek-USA for providing some of the RiDATA media used in this review. RiDATA is an official Ritek brand and thus you are guaranteed to get quality Ritek manufactured discs when buying RiData media.

 For providing the Memorex media used in this review. Memorex is one of the largest providers of all types of media for larger parts of the world.

 For providing the Optodisc media used in this review. Optodisc Technology Corporation excels at the manufacturing and selling of High-Density Optical Storage Media DVDs.