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The specifications of the HP dvd640e DVD Writer state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 40x and CD-RW at 24x. Let us find out how the drive really performs in speed and quality.

Writing Data CD-R discs:

For our data writing tests, we simply set up a new compilation of 700Mb using Nero Burning ROM software. Writing method used is DAO (Disc At Once), and the disc is set up as a non-multisession disc with 'finalize disc" enabled. The screenshot below shows how long it takes to write a disc at the highest speed. (40x):

The drive used 3 minutes and 29 seconds to write the disc at 40x. (Actual write speed 40x).  Let us see how this compares to other drives:

• Samsung TS-E552U used 2 minutes and 52 seconds at 40x
• LG GSA-4163B used 3 minutes and 15 seconds at 40x
• Philips DVDR1640P used 3 minutes and 17 seconds at 40x
• NU DDW-082 used 3 minutes and 2 seconds at 40x
• Samsung TS-H552B used exactly 3 minutes at 40x         
• Plextor PX-708A used 2 minutes and 58 seconds at 40x

Write Quality:

We will be testing discs from 6 different CD-R manufacturers. To measure the write speed we used the 'Create Data Disc" function in Nero CD-DVD Speed. The discs were written at the maximum speed that the drive supports. For the quality test, we used K-Probe 2 which is a tool developed by a Lite-On employee. It runs under Windows and works with drives made by Lite-On. Also note that different drives and different reading speeds may affect the results obtained when scanning the discs. We used a Lite-On LTR-52246S drive with firmware 6S0F and scanned the discs at 48X speed.

A written CD-R disc will always have some C1 errors. C1 errors are easily corrected by the drive's error correction capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be corrected by most drive's error correction capabilities; they are not wanted on a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the best discs, or at least below 10.0 averages for good quality discs. After C2 errors, there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

Below are the obtained results:

Sony media - Very nice, low C1 average.

RiDATA media - Very nice, extremely low C1 count. No problem recommending these discs.

FujiFilm media - manufactured by Taiyo Yuden Company Limited. Again a very low C1 count however we seem to have come up with a C2 spike on this scan.

FujiFilm media - manufactured by Prodisc Technology Inc. The C1 counts are great. Nice burn.

Memorex media - manufactured by CMC Magnetics Corporation. Seemingly a good burn but the appearance of C2 errors makes this a failure.

OfficeMax media - manufactured by Moser Baer India Limited. Again very nice!

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

Due to requests from our readers, we will add a few write quality tests with re-writable media. Settings and testing procedures are the same as used earlier in this review, so you may want to go back and read them if you are unsure. All discs used for these tests are new and have not been written to before.

CD-ReWritable media:

The Memorex branded Infodisc CD-RW does not fare well. The appearance of C2 errors is not a good sign.

This is a very nice result for High Speed CD-RW.

Very high C1 errors but no C2 errors. This is not what we call a 'good" burn.

Summary:
Overall the HP dvd640e DVD Writer's CD-R writing quality should be considered as 'OK". The appearance of C2 errors on some disc types keeps this drive from receiving a 'very good" rating. The writing quality on CD-RW could use some improvements. We would like to see the CD writing speed come up to the 48x mark to be level with what other manufactures are providing.

So let us head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing performance…