detail information

Test machine:

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: Abit IC-7 MAX3 i875P
• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3,2GHz 800MHz FSB Prescott with Hyper Threading support.
• RAM: 1Gb PC4300 DDR
• GFX: Asus GeForce 6800
• Sound: SB Audigy 2
• Hard disks: 400Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 S-ATA connected to the Intel i875P S-ATA controller.

System set-up:

The BenQ DW1640 was connected as Primary Slave and identified itself as BENQ DVD DD DW1640. DMA (Direct Memory Access) was enabled for all devices where it was possible.

Software:

Windows XP Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

• Nero Burning ROM version 6.6.0.13
• Nero CD/DVD Speed v4.01
• Nero InfoTool v3.10
• DVD-Identifier 4.0.1
• K-Probe v2.4.3

Installation and supported features:

We quickly installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

Our drive came shipped with firmware BSGB, we updated the firmware to version BSJB for this review and later to BSKB, BSKC and BSLB. The drawbacks we could see are the inability to read and write DVD-RAM discs as well as missing Mt. Rainier support along with a slightly small buffer. A larger buffer would at least smooth up the data transfer to the drive a bit on stressed systems. It also looks like this drive doesn't support reporting C2 errors.

Qsuite:

BenQ DW1640 ships with the QSuite application; let us take a look at the different features of Q-Suite:

The first tab tells you information about the drive and about the media in the drive.

The second tab is for booktype changing, the BenQ DW1640 sets all DVD+R/RW/DL discs to DVD-ROM booktype as default, and we can't see why anyone would want to change this, but you have the opportunity to do it at least.

Let us see if the discs are correctly identified with DVD-ROM booktype:

No problems, the discs are identified as having DVD-ROM booktype.

The third tab is the QScan feature which checks if the media you have in the drive is suitable for the selected speed. According to QScan our Optodisc R16 DVD+R disc is NOT suitable for 16x writing at all. This could vary from disc to disc though.

The fourth tab is for disabling the OPC function of the drive. We disabled the OPC function and tried three different 16x DVDR discs. Take a look later in this review for results with WOPC enabled.

Verbatim 16x DVD+R, MCC004 works fine with WOPC off, the quality is about the same and you save around 20 seconds on the total recording time.

ePro 16x DVD+R, Prodisc.R04: Again same quality and 20 seconds saved.

Verbatim 16X DVD-R, MCC03RG20: While looking at the write transfer graph it looks like WOPC is not fully disabled. But again - the quality is about the same and you save 20 seconds.

Overall: Disabling WOPC doesn't make the writing quality worse on high quality media, and it shaves off about 20 seconds on the total writing time at 16x speed.

The fifth and last tab is to enable/disable test writing on DVD+R/RW/DL. By enabling it, the drive will first try to simulate a write and if that succeeds write the actual data to the disc.

Problems encountered: BenQ QSuite doesn't work on all computers. Computer containing certain PCI add-on IDE controllers with optical drives connected will cause the program to crash. The same with BenQ firmware upgrades, they will also crash. BenQ programming team should look into these issues.

Error scanning of written discs:

The BenQ DW1640 supports error scanning of written discs by using Nero CD/DVD speed.

Nero CD-Speed gives you an indication of the quality by giving a score. Higher score is better; a good result should at least be over 80 in quality score.

Other features:

Here are the other features that BenQ promotes with this drive:

Write Right Technology-- Best Quality in DVD BenQ's exclusive Write Right Technology utilizes two powerful features: Tilt Control and WOPC II (Walking Optimal Power Control II). By using these features, the DW1640 is able to maintain perfect control over the laser beam angle and the power rate being projected onto the disc, ensuring your data is written at the best possible quality.

Dual Cooling System

BenQ's exclusive Dual Cooling System (DCS) features an Anti-Dust Cooling System (ADCS) and Air Flow Cooling System (AFCS) to effectively reduce the risk of over-heating during high-speed reading and writing.

Air Flow Cooling System (AFCS)
AFCS accelerates the circulation inside the drive and speeds up the heat elimination through the drive's steel housing.

Anti-Dust Cooling System (ADCS)
With an integrated heat chimney design, ADCS redirects the heat flow out of the drive, while still providing protection from dust.

All-In-One Digital Media Solution Digitally preserve your precious photographs and home movies on DVD or CD, ready for playback on most DVD players and computer CD/DVD drives. With the addition of Double Layer technology and DVD+R DL media, you can take advantage of the increased storage capacity of 8.5GB per disc or up to 4 hours for DVD quality video.

Included recording software:

Now it's time to look at the included software, and comment it if needed. Notice that we may not use the included software in our performance testing part of the review.

Nero 6 OEM Suite:

The well-known Nero suite is also included and covers all tasks from creating the movie to writing it to the disc. This is one of our favourite programs.

BenQ QVideo 2.0:

This is how BenQ presents their QVideo 2.0 program:

Instant DV to DVD - QVideo 2.0 
With BenQ's exclusive QVideo 2.0 you can instantly transfer your digital video footage into a DVD disc without spending hours completing capturing, rendering, authoring and burning processes.

As you see QVideo is used to transfer data from capturing devices directly to DVD-Discs with almost no delays, this of course saves some time.

Now that we have finished examining the drive and bundled programs - let us head on to the next page, which is reading performance test…