Home PI/PIF scanning - Who to believe?

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Posted by	Wendy Collins
Posted on	23/09/06 01:03

Conclusion

Introduction

Burning and Scanning hardware

Taiyo Yuden YUDEN000T02

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Verbatim MCC03RG20

Verbatim branded - MCC03RG20:

We created our test data discs using CD-Speed's 'create data disc" function.

Burning drive 'ï¿½ BenQ DW1640:

Burn speed 16x

Transfer rate test

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ BenQ DW1640:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ NEC ND-4570A:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Lite-On SHW-16H5S:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Plextor PX-760A:

Scanning Drive	PI Average	PIF Average
BenQ DW1640	4.89	0.04
NEC ND-4570A	26.82	0.04
Lite-On SHW-16H5S	7.76	0.02
Plextor PX-760A	4.07	0.01

All our scanning drives show broadly similar PIF errors, the NEC drive however shows elevated PI errors on this test disc compared to our other drives.

Burning drive 'ï¿½ LG GSA-H10N:

Burn speed 16x

Transfer rate test

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ BenQ DW1640:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ NEC ND-4570A:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Lite-On SHW-16H5S:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Plextor PX-760A:

Scanning Drive	PI Average	PIF Average
BenQ DW1640	23.91	0.05
NEC ND-4570A	64.12	0.07
Lite-On SHW-16H5S	2.84	0.02
Plextor PX-760A	1.24	0.00

The BenQ and NEC drives show higher average PI error levels compared to the Lite-On and Plextor drives. Again our two CLV scanning drives (Lite-On and Plextor) prove to give the most similar results.

Burning drive 'ï¿½ Lite-On SHW-16H5S:

Burn speed 16x

Transfer rate test

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ BenQ DW1640:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ NEC ND-4570A:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Lite-On SHW-16H5S:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Plextor PX-760A:

Scanning Drive	PI Average	PIF Average
BenQ DW1640	40.69	0.07
NEC ND-4570A	72.46	0.26
Lite-On SHW-16H5S	15.27	0.02
Plextor PX-760A	18.73	0.01

The NEC scan is very much out of step with the other drives, and once again the BenQ drive has problems at the recalibration point and shows higher average levels of PI errors. The Lite-On and Plextor drives once again appear to show us the more comparable results.

Burning drive 'ï¿½ NEC ND-4570A:

Burn speed 16x

Transfer rate test

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ BenQ DW1640:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ NEC ND-4570A:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Lite-On SHW-16H5S:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Plextor PX-760A:

Scanning Drive	PI Average	PIF Average
BenQ DW1640	7.15	0.08
NEC ND-4570A	26.56	0.11
Lite-On SHW-16H5S	3.75	0.01
Plextor PX-760A	1.27	0.00

Our NEC scanning drive shows elevated PI errors on this test disc. The BenQ scanning drive shows POF errors on the disc. We have to question this as the Plextor drive is also capable of reporting POF and does not report any. The Transfer Rate Test of the disc is also perfect. Once again it appears that the Lite-On and Plextor drives show the most consistency with their results.

Because the BenQ drive had reported POF errors on this test disc. We decided to also run a Transfer Rate Test on the BenQ drive. As we can see from the screenshot below, we can see no reason why the BenQ drive reported POF errors on this disc.

Burning drive 'ï¿½ Pioneer DVR-111:

Burn speed 8x

Transfer rate test

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ BenQ DW1640:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ NEC ND-4570A:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Lite-On SHW-16H5S:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Plextor PX-760A:

Scanning Drive	PI Average	PIF Average
BenQ DW1640	4.69	0.14
NEC ND-4570A	38.08	0.08
Lite-On SHW-16H5S	0.86	0.02
Plextor PX-760A	1.32	0.00

This time our NEC reports elevated errors on our test disc compared to our other drives.

Burning drive 'ï¿½ Plextor PX-760A:

Burn speed 16x

Transfer rate test

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ BenQ DW1640:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ NEC ND-4570A:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Lite-On SHW-16H5S:

Scanning drive 'ï¿½ Plextor PX-760A:

Scanning Drive	PI Average	PIF Average
BenQ DW1640	4.94	0.04
NEC ND-4570A	18.49	0.05
Lite-On SHW-16H5S	5.33	0.03
Plextor PX-760A	3.74	0.00

Once again our NEC scanning drive is out of step with our other scanning drives. Our other drives show broadly similar results.

Summary:
With our Verbatim branded MCC03RG20 test discs, our results once again show the Lite-On and Plextor drives to report broadly similar results. The NEC and BenQ drives have problems with some discs burned on a few of our burning drives.

On the next page we will run basic scanning consistency tests on our scanning drives.....

CMC MAG AE1

Scanning Consistency

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Reactions on this item

Posted by Mordorr on Saturday 23 September 2006 16:39

Very Nice!

Cdfreaks rulez

I will post it, in some fé³rums at my country..

Mordorr

Posted by paddywack on Thursday 26 April 2007 12:38

Woh, a very insightful review which contains very useful facts to take into account when testing my burnt discs

Thanks Cdfreaks

This message was edited at: 26-04-2007 12:39

Posted by Buck (guest) on Sunday 27 January 2008 20:41

You guys have way too much free time....

Posted by Big C (guest) on Sunday 17 February 2008 17:13

Thanks a lot for the informative explanation. There's appears to be a lot more to interpreting media scan results than simply basing it off a Nero quality score percentage. I used to think that this stuff was a waste of time but I now realize that you are teaching those what to look for when backing-up data and video. These results do indeed make a difference when considering an important decision as to what media to select or media/burner combo to use when having to back-up critical data. Not all media is equal and that is something important to remember when trying to back-up your irreplaceable memories such as weddings! A million thanks guys and keep it up!

Posted by Just Me (guest) on Tuesday 23 September 2008 18:02

This is all Greek to me, and I don't know what all these scan results mean. Last week I bought a spindle of a 100, that were on special for $19.99 at Office Max. (Verbatim DVD-R 16X branded MCC03RG20 Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.) They seem to work fine. I was thinking of getting another spindle before the sale ends. (On the 27th)

This chart seems to show that they're suppose to be first class quality. http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

So do these scans results show that they're first class DVD-R's, or do they belong more in the second class group?

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