detail information

Positive:

• 2 Year Warranty
• Nero 6 software bundle included in retail package.
• Supports 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds.
• 4X DVD+R9 DL writing speed.
• Supports bitsetting on DVD+R, double layer DVD+R and DVD+RW discs.
• 16X reading speed on DVD±R discs.
• Excellent CD-R writing quality.
• Good write quality on all types of rewriteable media (CD-RW, DVD-RW and DVD+RW).
• Uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) for writing 16X DVD±R discs.
• Good write quality on most DVD±R media.
• Supports 16X writing on some 8X certified discs and 8X writing on some 4X certified discs.
• Excellent DVD+R9 DL write quality and speed.
• Supports DAO-RAW writing.
• Supports reading and writing of full SubChannel Data.
• Quieter during write operations compared to similar DVD writers.

Negative:

• Retail package does not include any cables or media.
• Reads DVD-Video discs at 5x speed only.
• Slightly slower than the competition at reading all types of rewritable media (CD-RW, DVD-RW and DVD+RW).
• Bitsetting on previously burned DVD+RW media does not always work.
• Uses Z-CLV for 6X/8X/12X DVD writing, which is slower.
• Media compatibility: does not support 16X writing on some 16X DVD+R discs.
• Only a '1 sheep" writer.
• Does not support PI/PIF reporting/scanning.
• Does not support Mt. Rainier.
• Cannot read from the Lead-in or Lead-out during CD ripping.

Conclusion:

The Mad Dog MD-16XDVD9 has some very strong positive points, as well as a few negative ones. Let us detail and discuss the positive and negative points of this drive.

The main positive points: The Mad Dog 2 year warranty is an excellent guarantee, which is double the timeframe that most competitors offer. The bitsetting support is a very positive feature and will help to produce discs that are compatible with a wide range of playback devices. We also really liked the ability to read DVD±R discs and data DVD-ROM discs at 16X speed. CD-R writing quality and speed is excellent. The writing quality on most DVD±R/RW discs is also very good. We also appreciate the support for burning some 8X DVD±R discs at 16X, as well as some 4X DVD±R discs at 8X speeds; all with very good quality. The DVD+R9 DL support and writing speeds are excellent. In addition to this, the drive made very good quality DL discs that played back perfectly on all of our standalone players.

The main negative points : We are disappointed that THREE out of our four types of 16X DVD+R discs were not supported at 16X; all of which are now available for purchase in the United States. The write quality for Verbatim 16X DVD+R and 8X DVD-R could use some improvement. The drive does not support 8X writing on some 8X certified discs (such as RITEK R03 revision 01). Due to being a 'one sheep" only writer, this drive will also not be good for backing up copy-protected discs. We are also annoyed at the 5X maximum read speed for DVD-Video discs. The drive has very good reading capabilities and there is no reason that it could not support DVD-Video discs at 16X.

The drive is priced at $ 97.80 USD (Price from Pricegrabber per 11.24.2004, searching for keywords 'Mad Dog 16X"), which makes it very competitive to similarly featured drives.

To sum it all up, this is the best we could say: 'Excellent CD & DVD-Write quality with most media, including reliable DVD+R9 DL writing abilities" . We would like Mad Dog to add support for all of the available 16X media on the market, but the ability to burn some 8X DVD±R discs at 16X makes up for this problem. Mad Dog does listen to our suggestions, which is very positive. Mad Dog plans to release a new firmware soon to address the support for additional 16X discs and write quality on a few problem media types. Thumbs up to Mad Dog for their responsiveness!

Due to the features and quality this drive offers, we decided to give the drive the CDFreaks' "SAFE BUY award".

You may discuss/comment this review in this forum thread. This forum thread may also be used to ask questions about this drive or request additional tests.

Thanks to:

 For providing the Verbatim media used in this review. Verbatim provides high quality media all over the world and strives to be the standard for DVD hardware reviews.

Advanced Media/Ritek-USA for providing some of the RiData media used in this review. RiData is an official Ritek brand and thus you are guaranteed to get Ritek manufactured discs when buying RiData media.

 For providing some of the Memorex media used in this review. Memorex is one of the largest providers of all types of media for larger parts of the world.

For providing some of the Fujifilm media used in this review. High-performance media for video and storage applications.