detail information

Test machine:

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

Hardware:

• Motherboard: Asus A8V Deluxe
• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Venice) 1000 MHz Hyper Transport
• RAM: 1 GB Corsair Kit PC3200 DDR
• GFX: MSI GeForce 6600 GT
• Sound: Onboard Realtek AC'97
• Hard disk: Seagate Barracuda ST3250823A 250 GB

System set-up:

The Philips DVDR1660 was connected as Secondary Master and identified itself as PHILIPS DVDR1660P1. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and autorun was enabled for all devices.

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 v.6.6.0.17f / v.6.6.1.4
• Nero CD/DVD Speed V4.11
• Nero Info Tool v3.07
• Slysoft CloneCD v5.2.7.1
• Exact Audio Copy v0.95 beta 4
• K-Probe v2.5.1 / v2.5.2

Features and techniques:

SolidBurn:

What is SolidBurn?

Philips introduces SolidBurn, a new self-learning feature that will ensure optimal writing conditions for any recordable DVD+R or DVD-R media.

This advanced writer feature executes a series of tests on an 'unknown' DVD media to determine the optimal writing strategy. Without SolidBurn, new DVD media and media that are not in the media list of the drive, are written using a less optimal standard write strategy. This could result in lower recording speeds than specified or lower quality recordings jeopardizing disc playability or lifetime.

How does it work?

Before the disc is burned, the drive writes two very short tracks, one in the LeadIn and one in the LeadOut area of the disc. Then the drive measures the jitter on both areas and decides if this jitter value is OK or not. If not, the drive will choose another writing strategy and redo the test until the Jitter is acceptable.

After this, the drive writes your data on the disc, with the best possible writing strategy, which was found by SolidBurn.

Why SolidBurn?

Every disc sold has unique parameters. Mostly, these parameters are almost identical, but sometimes, there are better and less good or even bad discs.

Normal drives will always use the same writing strategy, no matter if the disc inserted is a good or a less good one. SolidBurn will adapt its writing strategy for each disc.

Normal drives who encounter a disc they do not know, will use a default writing strategy, which is mostly not the best one. To guarantee better performance on unknown discs, regular firmware upgrades are required. SolidBurn makes no difference between known and unknown discs and will always choose the best writing strategy for each disc.

Some graphs

SolidBurn shows the lowest jitter measured (lower is better):

Using SolidBurn also gives the highest possible writing speeds, resulting in the lowest average recording times:

EDITORS NOTE:  When using the SolidBurn feature the operation LED on the bezel will flash rapidly to indicate SolidBurn writing mode. (For none SolidBurn mode or other writing the LED will flash slowly)

SolidBurn (and OverSpeed burning) feature can be manually controlled in Nero CD-DVD Speed and BenQ's Qsuite:

BookType (bitsetting):

The Philips DVDR1660 supports bit-setting, and will as default write DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media with DVD-ROM book type.

This feature can be controlled or changed with the Bitsetting option in Nero CD-DVD:

Here is how you could check if your discs are really written with DVD-ROM book type:

Start Nero CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info button and you should get something like this:

DVD+R DL with book type DVD-ROM

DVD+RW with book type DVD-ROM

DVD+R with book type DVD-ROM

Another quick test is to start Nero CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

This should say DVD-ROM.

Now it's time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the Philips DVDR1660:

CD-Recordable:

The Philips DVDR1660 uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48X. This gives an average speed of 35.53x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 4 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from the table, the Philips DVDR1660 performed above average when it comes to writing CD-R's.

CD-Rewritable:

The Philips DVDR1660 uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) writing technology to write at 32X for CD-RW discs, the average speed is 29.77x and the total time 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

For a better overview we present the following comparison table:

As we can see from the table, the Philips DVDR1660 performed above average on writing CD-RWs.

16X DVD+R/-R Writing speed:

The Philips DVDR1660 uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.43x and a writing time of 5 minutes and 59 seconds.

The Philips DVDR1660 uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at its maximum speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.50x and a writing time of 6 minutes and 20 second.

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

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-5160D uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R at 16x. The average speed is 11.60x and total writing time is 6 minutes and 12 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.

8X DVD+R DL writing speed:

The Philips DVDR1660 supports 8x writing speed on DVD+R DL media.

The Philips DVDR1660 should use P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 8x. However out test drive did not accomplice to write both layers at 8x.

4X DVD-R DL writing speed:

The Philips DVDR1660 supports 4x writing speed on DVD-R DL media.

The Philips DVDR1660 uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL at 4x. The average speed is 3.55x and total writing time is 32:15 minutes.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

The Philips DVDR1660 uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 7.72x and total writing time is 7:50 minutes.

6X DVD-RW writing speed:

The Philips DVDR1660 uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 5.90x and total writing time is 10:31 minutes.

Included software:

Now it's time to look at the included software and to comment if needed. Notice that we may not use the included software in our performance testing part of the review.

Nero OEM suite:

Now that we have finished examining the drive and its writing strategies, it's time to head on to next page, which is reading performance test…