detail information

 

The BenQ DW822A supports writing CD-RW discs at 10x speed only. It supports writing DVD+RW discs at 4x and DVD-RW discs at 2x speed (actually 2.4x).

Re-Writing data:

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For this test we set up a new compilation containing 650Mb of data in Nero Burning We used the DAO (Disc At Once) writing method. In the screenshot below you can see that the burn process completed successfully.

 

The BenQ DW822A used 8 minutes and 5 seconds for writing the disc at 10X, let us compare this to some other writers; The Plextor PX-708A used 3 minutes and 39 seconds to write the disc at 24x and the NU DDW-082 used 3 minutes and 37 seconds to write the disc at 24x. The low writing speed of only 10x of course makes the BenQ DW822A a lot slower than the other drives capable of 24x writing speed.

And here is the writing time for writing 4.4Gb of data to a 2X Memorex DVD-RW disc:

 

The drive used 24 minutes and 10 seconds to write the disc at 2.4X. Yes you did read that right, this drive do not support 2x speed so all 2x discs (DVD-R and DVD-RW) will be written at 2.4x. If this is positive or not you'll soon see. Compared to the NEC ND-2500A (used 28 minutes and 31 seconds to write the disc) and the NU DDW-082 (used 28 minutes and 46 seconds to write the disc). The 2.4x speed do of course make the BenQ DW822A faster than the other two drives.

And finally here is the writing time for writing 4.4Gb of data to a Ricoh 4X DVD+RW disc:

 

The BenQ DW822A used 14 minutes and 32 seconds to write the disc, as a comparison the NU DDW-082 used 14 minutes and 34 seconds and the NEC ND-2500A used 13 minutes and 52 seconds. This put the BenQ DW822A between the two other drives.

CD-RW Packet writing:

Now it's time to take a look at the packet writing performance of the BenQ DW822A. We used Ahead InCD to write 401 MB (421 003 264 bytes) data to the disc.

Packet Writing	DLA Formatting 700MB	DLA Copying 400MB	Average Write Speed
Plextor PX-708A	9m:1s	2m:28s	18.96x
Mediagear / BTC DRW1004	10m:28s	2m:29s	18.84x
NEC ND-2500A	8m:55s	3m:27s	13.56x
Lite-On LDW-811S	8m:4s	2m:29s	18.84x
Packet Writing	InCD Formatting 700MB	InCD Copying 400MB	Average Write Speed
Pioneer DVR-107D	4m:33s	2m:38s	17.76x
NU DDW-082	4m:1s	2m:29s	18.84x
Lite-ON SOHW-812S	6m:30s	2m:34s	18.23x
BenQ DW822A	9m:4s	5m:40s	8.25x

The drive did well enough and the average speed is right where we expected, but it is of course a lot slower than the other drives due to the low writing speed of only 10x.

DVD-RW/DVD+RW packet writing tests:

We used Ahead InCD to format and write 2Gb (2 217 820 160 bytes) data to the disc.

DVD-RW	Quick Formatting DVD-RW	Writing 2.0Gb	Average write speed
Plextor PX-708A	0m:21s	13m:15s	2.01x
Mediagear / BTC DRW1004IM	0m:26s	13m:14s	2.02x
NEC ND-2500A	0m:20s	13m:25s	1.99x
Pioneer DVR-107D	0m:17s	13m:20s	2.00x
NU DDW-082	0m:21s	14m:00s	1.91x
Lite-On SOHW-812S	2m:14s	13m:30s	1.98x
BenQ DW822A	1m:08s	11m:16s	2.37x
DVD+RW	Quick Formatting DVD+RW	Writing  2.0Gb	Average write speed
Plextor PX-708A	0m:8s	6m:43s	3.97x
Mediagear / BTC DRW1004IM	0m:4s	6m:43s	3.97x
NEC ND-2500A	0m:6s	6m:36s	4.04x
Pioneer DVR-107D	0m:19s	6m:43s	3.97x
NU DDW-082	0m:7s	6m:44s	3.97x
Lite-On SOHW-812S	3m:9s	7m:11s	3.72x
BenQ DW822A	0m:16s	6m:43s	3.97x

The packet writing performance is right where we expected it to be.

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

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Due to request from our readers we will add a few write quality tests with Re-Writable media. Settings and testing procedures is the same as used earlier in this review so you may want to go back and read them if unsure. All discs used for these tests have been written to before, but none have been written to more than 25 times.

CD-ReWritable media:

 

Brand:	Verbatim Data Life Plus
Manufacturer:	CMC Magnetics, but with Mitsubishi dye and ATIP
Code:	97m34s24f
Disc Type:	US CD-RW
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 4: Long Strategy (Phase Change)
Capacity:	79:59.74 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	24x
Write Speed:	10x
Write Time:	8m:48s
C1 Average/Sec:	6.90
C2 Average/Sec:	0.00

A very good result, but remember that the writing speed is only 10x.

Brand:	That's Write
Manufacturer:	Plasmon data systems
Code:	97m27s12f
Disc Type:	US CD-RW
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 2: Long Strategy (Phase Change)
Capacity:	74:41.00 (656MB)
Certified Speed:	24x
Write Speed:	10x
Write Time:	8m:21s
C1 Average/Sec:	423.80
C2 Average/Sec:	0.00

Low quality discs, and as we could see there is even a few C2 errors at the end. Stay away from these discs.

DVD+ReWritable media:

Not the best result we have seen with these discs, but there is probably no need to worry as RW discs is harder to read than other discs.

 

Brand:	SKS Elise
Manufacturer:	Ricoh (by Ritek)
Code:	RICOHJPNW11
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:37s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	2.65
PI-8 uncorrectable errors( PO) Avg/Sec:	0.01

The best result we got with this drive, no surprise as it's BenQ media and thus should work optimally with a BenQ drive. Highly recommended media.

 

Brand:	BenQ
Manufacturer:	Philips
Code:	PHILIPS 041
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:32s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.92
PI-8 uncorrectable errors( PO) Avg/Sec:	0.00

Still not perfect reading curve, but acceptable. We have seen better results with this media earlier so there is room for improvements.

 

Brand:	Fortis
Manufacturer:	Nanya
Code:	NANYA.DRW
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:34s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	12.60
PI-8 uncorrectable errors( PO) Avg/Sec:	0.60

Not as good as expected, there are a few reading problems.

DVD-ReWritable media:

 

Brand:	Verbatim DataLifePlus
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Kagaku Media
Code:	MKM A02
Disc Type:	DVD+RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	4x
Write Time:	14m:27s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.90
PI-8 uncorrectable errors( PO) Avg/Sec:	0.09

Far from the best result we have seen as the reading curve shows a lot of reading problems. We think this could partially be blamed on the 2.4x writing speed.

 

Brand:	Memorex
Manufacturer:	TDK
Code:	TDK502sakuM3
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4489MB
Certified Speed:	2x
Write Speed:	2.4x
Write Time:	24m:11s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	5.29
PI-8 uncorrectable errors( PO) Avg/Sec:	0.01

Now, this is really crap. Again we blame the 2.4x writing speed for the problems. Let us hope that BenQ fixes this problem in the next firmware update.

Brand:	Verbatim Data Life Plus
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi (Real '? Made in )
Code:	MCC01RW11n9
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4489MB
Certified Speed:	2x
Write Speed:	2.4x
Write Time:	24m:6s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1051.00
PI-8 uncorrectable errors( PO) Avg/Sec:	27.22

The drive wrote the disc but no drives were able to recognize the disc afterwards.

To sum it up: Overall we are not too happy with the Rewriting quality of the BenQ DW822A, the 2.4x DVD-RW writing speed doesn't seem to be a good option as the created discs is unreadable or at least almost unreadable. It do also get a minus in our book for low CD-Rewriting speed of only 10x speed.

Before we round off this review, let us run the drive through some advanced tests at next page…

Brand:	Princo
Manufacturer:	Princo
Code:	PRINCO
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4489MB
Certified Speed:	2x
Write Speed:	2.4x
Write Time:	24m:12s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	-
PI-8 uncorrectable errors( PO) Avg/Sec:	-