Asus DRW-1814BLT detail information

Test machines

For this review we are testing the ASUS DRW-1814BLT mounted inside of our Intel based system with the following components:

• Motherboard: ASUSTek, Basswood
• Processor:  Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, 1.86GHz
• Memory:  2GB, DDR2-533
• Video: Integrated NVIDIA, GeForce 7500LE
• Sound:  Realtek High Definition Audio, onboard
• Hard Disks: 320GB Western Digital Caviar SATA-II
• Optical Drives: Lite-On SHW-165P6S, Pioneer DVR-212D, Memorex DVD+RAM v1, BenQ DW1650 and the ASUS DRW-1814BLT

We will also be doing some comparison burns and scans on our second system; AMD based:

• Motherboard: Abit, KN8
• Processor: AMD 64X2 4400+
• Memory: 2GB, 4X512MB
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6800XT
• Sound: Realtek AC97 (onboard)
• Hard Disks: 250GB Seagate X2
• Optical Drives: Lite-On SHM-165H6S, Lite-On SOHR-5239V, Plextor PX-760A, ASUS DRW-1814BL, Sony DRU830A, BenQ DW1655.

System set-up:

The drive identifies itself as: ASUS DRW-1814BLT and is installed SATA, with firmware 1.10 with a 2MB buffer.

Software

Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit installed on the Intel system and Vista Business 32-bit is installed on the AMD system; we will also be using the following software for this review:

• Nero Burning Rom 7 Ultra Enhanced
• Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.7.5.0
• Nero InfoTool 4.4.0.0
• Slysoft CloneCD 5.3.0.1
• K-Probe 2.5.2

Since we received the OEM version of this drive it did not come with any software.  Most consumers will purchase the Retail Version which will have this software disc included; we have included a scan of the disc and outlined its contents for you below:

The ASUS DVD Software CD will install the powerful ASUS Nero 7 Essentials; ASUS version number 7.5.13.1.  This suite of software will allow you to create and copy digital audio, data, photo, and video programs on both CD’s and DVD’s.  The package includes:

• Nero StartSmart 3 Essentials:  This is the command center of the Nero 7 product family and makes it easier to find, identify, and use the comprehensive software programs.  Once you have launched Nero StartSmart all you have to do is select the desired task and the corresponding software starts automatically.
• Nero Express 7 Essentials:  Nero Express 7 provides a simple, uncluttered interface to powerful recording programs on both CD and DVD discs.
• Nero Vision Express 4 Essentials:  With Nero Vision Express you can record video and edit or burn existing video files.  You can also use Nero Vision Express to create convenient slide shows and even use your own music as a soundtrack for them.
• InCD 5 Essentials:  InCD 5 is a packet-writing program that formats rewritable discs allowing you to copy files onto the disc by simply Dragging and then Dropping the files you have chosen on to your new DVD Recorder drive in Microsoft Windows Explorer or save them to a disc quickly and easily using Nero Express 7 Essentials.
• Nero BackItUp 2 Essentials:  Nero backItUp 2 is a convenient, easy-to-operate program for backing up and restoring data.  It allows you to archive your back-ups on either CD or DVD discs and even USB TravelDrives.
• Nero ShowTime 3:  ShowTime allows you to play back nearly all digital recordings with excellent picture and sound quality.  ShowTime also enables you to play back audio tracks.  It supports most current formats; including MP3, WAV, and AAC just to name a few.
• Nero Cover-Designer 2 Essentials:  Cover-Designer Essentials is a user-friendly program for creating individual covers and labels.
• Nero Recode 2 Essentials:  Recode 2 Essentials allows you to make a DVD video from many short DVD videos or from a larger DVD video that you need to fit on a 4.7GB disc. This also works great for converting your videos to iPod, PSP, and other portable video players.
• Nero MediaHome Essentials:  MediaHome allows you to stream video, music and images to all your UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) enabled devices and to Nero ShowTime 3.
• Nero PhotoShow Express 4:  PhotoShow Express allows for storing and editing digital photos and images with professional quality tools and ease.
• Nero ToolKit:  Includes the following tools; Nero CD-DVD speed, Nero Drive-Speed, and Nero InfoTool.
• InCD Reader:  This a program that allows you to read discs written in MRW (Mount Rainier ReWritable) format on systems that do not support MRW.
• DVD-Video Plug-in:  In conjunction with the Nero Vision Essentials, the DVD-Video Plug-in allows the encoding of video files in DVD/SVCD format.  You can then play back the video on nearly any DVD player.
• HE-AAC Plug-in:  This plug-in allows you to encode audio files in MP4 format and also to decode them into other formats.

Writing technique

Let’s take a closer look at the write technology used by the ASUS DRW-1814BLT:

These tests were done using CD-Speed and we wrote a full disc at the drive’s maximum speed.

CD Recordable

Specification on the ASUS DRW-1814BLT state it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 48X; let’ take a look and see how it did.

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48X. This gives an average speed of 35.77X and a total writing time of 2 minutes and 46 seconds.

For comparison we provided the following table:

As we can see, the ASUS DRW-1814BLT was the fasted compared to our other drives when writing CD-R media.

CD Re-writable

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-1814BLT it should be able to write CD-RW media at a maximum speed of 32X.

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. This gives an average speed of 23.94X and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 42 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

As we can see, the ASUS DRW-1814BLT performed on about average with our other drives when writing CD-RW media.

18x DVD+R/-R writing speed

According to the specification of the ASUS DRW-1814BLT, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 18X.

DVD+R

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 18X. This gives an average speed of 12.96X and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 29 seconds.

DVD-R

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 18X. This gives an average speed of 11.30X and a total writing time of 6 minutes and 16 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from our table, the ASUS DRW-1814BLT wrote our DVD+R disc on about average with our other drives, however, the DRW-1814BLT was the slowest at writing to our DVD-R media, not able to write at the specified write speed with this media. 

8X DVD+RW writing speed

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-1814BLT, it should be able to write DVD+RW at a maximum speed of 8X.

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 7.49X and a total writing time of 8 minutes and 26 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table:

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT was about average at writing our test DVD+RW media. 

6x DVD-RW writing speed

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-1814BLT, it should be able to write DVD-RW at a maximum speed of 6X.

The ASUS reports using CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity), however, looking at the graph above it appears to really use Z-CLV to write at its maximum speed of 6X.  This gives an average speed of 5.94X and a total writing time of 10 minutes and 18 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT performed on average at writing this media at 6X.

8x DVD+R DL writing speed

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-1814BLT, it should be able to write DVD+R DL at a maximum speed of 8X.

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 6.66X and a total writing time of 18 minutes and 25 seconds.

8x DVD-R DL writing speed

According to the specifications of the ASUS DRW-1814BLT, it should be able to write DVD-R DL at a maximum speed of 8X.

We found that the ASUS DRW-1814BLT used P-Cav (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) to write at a maximum of 4X, which gives an average speed of 3.89X with a total writing time of 28 minutes and 12 seconds.  We think that the DRW-1814BLT could have judged this media not capable of burning any faster and that the media was really burned in CLV with CD-Speed reporting P-CAV possibly due to a recalibration point at or near the end of the disc.

For comparison we have made the following table:

The ASUS DRW-1814BLT was the slowest when writing both DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media.

Let’s head on to the next page where we will check reading performance……

Introduction

Reading Performances