detail information

Positive:

• Solid retail package and bundled items.
• Small form-factor makes it easier to install in smaller cases.
• Unique blue LED.
• Bitsetting support.
• Disc Quality Testing support.
• Fast reading & ripping speeds with DVD-ROM Video discs.
• Supports reading and writing of full SubChannel data and all advanced DAE features.
• Ok CD-R writing quality.
• Good writing quality with Memorex brand DVD±R/RW media.
• P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) 8x DVD+R writing leads to faster 8x burning.
• Good DVD-RW writing quality.
• Good performance with Verbatim DVD+R9 DL discs.
• Supports DAO-RAW writing.
• Qualifies as a '2 sheep" writer, making it a good choice for backing up copy-protected discs.
• Supports overburning CD-R up to 99 minutes.

Negative:

• Only 8x DVD-R write speed compared to the competition.
• Uses Z-CLV to write DVD-R's, which is slower compared with P-CAV & CAV.
• Only 2.4x DVD+R9 DL write speed compared to the competition.
• Only 32x maximum CD-RW read speed.
• High seek times.
• Only 8x reading speed on DVD+R/RW/DL & DVD-R/RW media.
• CD-RW compatibility; does not support Verbatim 32x CD-RW discs at full speed.
• Questionable CD-RW writing quality.
• Questionable DVD+R and DVD-R writing quality.
• Media compatibility: does not support 16X writing on some 16X DVD+R discs.
• Only 8x maximum reading speed on DVD+R/RW & DVD-R/RW media.
• Only 6x maximum reading speed on DVD+R9 DL media.
• Noisier than other drives during reading and writing operations.

The main negative points: The Memorex drive has writing quality issues with some very popular media types such as Optodisc, Lead Data, Ritek and Prodisc. The 8x DVD-R and 2.4x DVD+R9 DL writing speeds are slower than the competition. The seek times are high on all types of media. We were also disappointed to see that Ritek 16x DVD+R and Philips 16x DVD+R discs are only supported at 8x. Even though the drive boasts a specification of 24x CD-RW writing, it was only able to write our Verbatim 32x CD-RW disc at a maximum of 16x. The CD-RW writing quality is questionable. And finally, we would also like to see higher reading speeds on recordable DVD media.

The drive is priced at $ 113.54 USD (Price from http://cdfreaks.pricegrabber.com per 12.20.2004).

To sum it all up, this is the best we could say: 'Good when used with Memorex brand recordable DVD media, but questionable writing quality with other media types". If Memorex would have added support for all of the available 16X media on the market and fixed the writing quality problems on other media types, we would have definitely brought out an award for this drive.

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 reviewing.

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 quality Ritek manufactured discs when buying RiData media.

 For providing 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. Fujifilm makes high-performance media for video and storage applications.