detail information

Test machine:

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

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe

• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz with Hyper Threading support

• RAM: 1 GB OCZ 4000 Dual Channel Gold

• GFX: ATI RADEON X850 XT PE. (AGP)

• Sound: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS

• Hard disk: 1X 120GB Maxtor

 System set-up:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN drive was connected as Primary Slave and identified itself as Memorex 16x-DDL-IN drive. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and autorun was enabled for all devices.

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Memorex 16X DDL-IN drive has a 2 MB buffer size. The drive came shipped with firmware version 1.A4.

Firmware Update:

Drive was shipped with firmware revision 1.A4. We checked Memorex's website and found there was no firmware update available at the time of the review.

Installed 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 6.6.0.8
• Nero CD/DVD Speed V4.11
• Nero InfoTool v4.00
• Slysoft CloneCD v5.2.5.1
• Exact Audio Copy v0.95 beta 2
• K-Probe v2.5.1

Features and techniques:

Disc quality scanning: The Memorex 16x-DDL-IN supports PIE/PIF quality scanning with the use of Nero CD-DVD Speed.

Nero CD-DVD Speed Disc Quality Scan

Buffer underrun protection

The buffer underrun protection technologies offer a solution to prevent writing failures during the burning process for CD and DVD by pausing the burn if the data to the drive write buffer is slowed or stopped. The drive resumes the burn process after the drive write buffer is refilled.

Disc Writing Technology:

In the following tests, we take a look at the disc writing technology used by the Memorex 16X DDL-IN.

For these tests we simple burned a disc with Nero CD-Speed's 'create data disc" function.

CD-Recordable:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48x. This gives an average write speed of 36.40x and as we can see, it took the Memorex 16X DDL-IN 3 minutes 3 seconds to write the disc.

 For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from the table, the Memorex 16X DDL-IN is one of the fastest drives when it comes to writing CD-R's.

CD-Rewritable:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW at its maximum speed of 32x, with an average write speed of 29.56x and a total write time of 3 minutes and 24 seconds.

Below are some other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer DVR-110 uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW media at its maximum speed of 32x, with an average write speed of 24.90x and a total writing time of 4 minutes and 3 seconds

The Samsung SE-W164C uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW media at its maximum speed of 32x, with an average write speed of 28.32x and a total writing time of 3 minutes 35 seconds.

For a better overview we present the following comparison table:

As we can see from the table, the Memorex 16X DDL-IN is among the fastest drives when writing CD-RW's.

16X DVD+R writing speed:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.74x and a writing time of 6 minutes and 9 seconds.

16X DVD-R writing speed:                                           

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.76x and a writing time of 6 minutes and 09 seconds.

Below are some write graphs from some other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer DVR-110 uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.59x and a writing time of 6 minutes and 1 second.

The NEC 3540A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at 16x. This gives an average writing speed of 11.81x and a writing time of 5 minutes and 58 seconds.

The Philips DVDR16LS uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at 16x. The average speed is 11.33x and total writing time is 6 minutes and 8 seconds. The average speed is lower and the writing time is higher than it could have been due to the Walking OPC generation 2 using some time to constantly adjust the writing quality, we could see this as constant dips in the speed curve.

The LG GSA-4163B uses P-CAV, (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at 16x. The average speed is 12.90x and total writing time is 5 minutes and 20 seconds.

Below, we made a comparison table:

*1 - Actual writing speed was max 14x due to USB-Bridge limitations.
*2 - Actual writing speed was max 13x due to USB-Bridge limitations.

From the table above, we can see that the Memorex 16X DDL-IN is about average when it comes to burning DVD±R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 7.99x and total writing time is 8 minutes and 19 seconds.

Below are two drives for comparison.

The Lite-On SHW-16H5S uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 7.74x and total writing time is 7 minutes and 35 seconds.

The Pioneer DVR-110 uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 7.81x and total writing time is 8 minutes and 43 seconds.

We made the table below for easy comparison.

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN was about average when it came to writing DVD+RW at 8x.

6X DVD-RW writing speed:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 5.79x and the total writing time is 11 minutes and 09 seconds.

Below are three other drives for comparison.

The Lite-On SHW-16H5S uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 5.83x and total writing time is 10 minutes and 55 seconds.

The Pioneer DVR-110 uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 6.01x and the total writing time is 9 minutes and 53 seconds.

The NEC ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 5.80x and total writing time is 11 minutes 6 seconds.

We present the table below for easy comparison.

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN According to the table the drive is the slowest one when writing DVD-RW media

8X DVD+R DL writing speed:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN supports 8x writing speed on DVD+R DL media.

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN used Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write the Verbatim DVD+R DL disc at 8x. The average speed was 6.56x and the total writing time was 18 minutes and 42 seconds.

Below are three other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer DVR-110 uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 8x. The average speed is 7.00x and total writing time is 18:06 minutes.

The NEC ND-4550A uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL media at 8x which gives an average write speed of 6.55x and a total write time of 18 minutes and 40 seconds.

The BenQ DW1640 uses P-CAV (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at its maximum speed of 8x. This gives an average write speed of 7.32x and a total write time of 15 minutes and 36 seconds.

6X DVD-R DL writing speed:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN used CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write the Verbatim DVD-R DL disc at 6x. The average speed was 5.65x and the total writing time was 20 minutes and 48 seconds.

Below are three other drives for comparison.

The Lite-On SHW-16H5S used CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write the Verbatim DVD-R DL disc at 4x. The average speed was 4.02x and the total writing time was 27 minutes and 32 seconds.

The Pioneer DVR-110 uses Z-CLV, (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL at 8x. This gives an average writing speed of 7.06x and a total write time of 17 minutes and 55 seconds.

The NEC ND-4550A uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL media at 6x which gives an average write speed of 5.67x and a total write time of 20 minutes and 41 seconds.

We present the table below for easy comparison.