detail information
| Posted by | Jan S. |
| Posted on | 09/07/05 21:37 |
The specifications of the NEC ND-3540 state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 48x and CD-RW at 32x. 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. (48x):
The drive used 3 minutes and 4 seconds to write the disc at 48x. Let us see how this compares to other drives:
- NU DHW-164 used 3 minutes and 12 seconds at 40x
- Philips DVDR16LS used 3 minutes and 26 seconds at 40x
- 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 test CD-R discs from several CD-R manufacturers. To really measure the write speed, we used the 'create data CD" function in Nero CD-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 SOHR-5238S drive with firmware 4S07 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.
Why wait any longer? Below are the obtained results:
| Brand: | EMGETON Qauarelle - Thanks to Bell Technology (CZ) |
| Manufacturer: | Fornet International Pte. Ltd. |
| Code: | 97m26s07f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.71 (703 MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 56x |
| Write Speed: | 32x (P-CAV) |
| Write Time: | 3m:35s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 0.95 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
The KProbe result shows a small concentration of C1 error at the end of the disc, but the result is very good. The media was written at 32x.
| Brand: | EMTEC - Thanks to MPOTEC (D) for sending us this media. |
| Manufacturer: | Plasmon Data Systems Ltd. |
| Code: | 97m27s18f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 8: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.74 (703 MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 52x |
| Write Speed: | 32x (P-CAV) |
| Write Time: | 3m:34s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 0.57 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
EMTEC CD-R High Performance - very good result, one drawback is that this media was only burned at 32x.
| Brand: | Infiniti Professional White Top - Thanks to |
| Manufacturer: | CMC Magnetics |
| Code: | 97m26s66f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.71 (703 MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 52x |
| Write Speed: | 48x |
| Write Time: | 3m:00s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 1.59 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
Good result.
| Brand: | Infiniti Samurai Lava Red - Thanks to Medea |
| Manufacturer: | SKC |
| Code: | 97m26s26f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.09 (703 MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 52x |
| Write Speed: | 32x (P-CAV) |
| Write Time: | 3m:34s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 3.67 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
Another good result, but the media was only burned at 32x
| Brand: | MMORE - Thanks to MMORE (NL) for sending us this media. |
| Manufacturer: | Moser Baer India Limited |
| Code: | 97m17s06f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.74 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 1x-52x |
| Write Speed: | 48x |
| Write Time: | 3m:01s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 5.71 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
MMORE media - manufactured by Moser Baer India Limited and with its average of 5.71 it goes in the 'good discs" category.
| Brand: | NewStar Digital - Thanks to NewStar Digital |
| Manufacturer: | NewStar Digital Korea Ltd. |
| Code: | 97m25s35f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 5: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.74 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | Multispeed |
| Write Speed: | 16x |
| Write Time: | 5m:45s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 0.38 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
Very nice result, this disc goes into the category 'Best quality discs", but the media was only written at 16x
| Brand: | Plextor |
| Manufacturer: | Taiyo Yuden |
| Code: | 97m24s01f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.72 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 48x |
| Write Speed: | 32x (P-CAV) |
| Write Time: | 3m:35s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 0.20 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
Media made by Taiyo Yuden have always had a good reputation and with the average 0.20 it goes into the group 'best discs". The only drawback is that the media was burned at 32x. Highly recommended!
| Brand: | Sky Ultra - Thanks to Sky Media (CH) |
| Manufacturer: | Plasmon Data Systems Ltd. |
| Code: | 97m27s18f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 8: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.74 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 52x |
| Write Speed: | 32x (P-CAV) |
| Write Time: | 3m:36s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 1.85 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
Sky CD-R with Plasmon media code got an average of 1.85 and goes into the category 'Best quality discs". Also this media was burned at 32x.
| Brand: | That's Write! - Thanks to That's Write! (NL) |
| Manufacturer: | Sony Corporation |
| Code: | 97m24s16f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.74 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 52x |
| Write Speed: | 32x (P-CAV) |
| Write Time: | 3m:34s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 3.12 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
Good result, but the media was only burned at 32x
| Brand: | Traxdata - Thanks to Conrexx (NL) |
| Manufacturer: | Ritek |
| Code: | 97m15s17f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.70 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 52x |
| Write Speed: | 48x |
| Write Time: | 3m:02s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 0.75 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
This media goes into the category 'best quality discs" for its C1 average with 0.75.
| Brand: | Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (D) |
| Manufacturer: | Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation |
| Code: | 97m34s23f |
| Disc Type: | CD-R |
| Recording Layer: | Dye Type 3: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO) |
| Capacity: | 79:59.73 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 52x |
| Write Speed: | 48x |
| Write Time: | 3m:00s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 0.33 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
Verbatim - a well-known brand showed us an C1 average of 0.33 - it goes in the category 'Best Discs". RECOMMENDED!
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 is 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 have been written to before, but none have been written to more than 5 times.
CD-ReWritable media:
| Brand: | Emgeton Premium - Thanks to Bell Technology (CZ) |
| Manufacturer: | Infodisc Technology Co., Ltd. |
| Code: | 97m25s31f |
| Disc Type: | Ultra Speed CD-RW 24x |
| Recording Layer: | Phase Change |
| Capacity: | 79:59.73 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 24x |
| Write Speed: | 24x |
| Write Time: | 4m:11s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 1.84 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
Excellent result.
| Brand: | Traxdata - Thanks to Conrexx (NL) |
| Manufacturer: | Plasmon Data Systems Ltd. |
| Code: | 97m27s12f |
| Disc Type: | High Speed CD-RW 8-24x |
| Recording Layer: | Phase Change |
| Capacity: | 74:41.00 |
| Certified Speed: | 8x-24x |
| Write Speed: | 24x |
| Write Time: | 3m:35s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 115.00 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
The KProbe result reported high C1 errors, but at least there where no C2 errors.
| Brand: | Verbatim - Thanks to Verbatim (D) |
| Manufacturer: | Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation |
| Code: | 97m34s25f |
| Disc Type: | Ultra Speed CD-RW 24x |
| Recording Layer: | Phase Change |
| Capacity: | 79:59.74 (703MB) |
| Certified Speed: | 32x |
| Write Speed: | 32x |
| Write Time: | 3m:32s |
| C1 Average/Sec: | 7.35 |
| C2 Average/Sec: | 0.0 |
The result is good.
Summary:
The CD-R writing quality is excellent, and the CD-RW quality is good.
So let us head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing performance…
Reading performance
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