detail information

Test machine:

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

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ECS Elitegroup N2U400-A with Nvidia nForce 2 Ultra-400 and nForce MCP chipset.
•  Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (Barton) 333 MHz FSB.
• RAM: 1 GB Infineon PC2700 DDR
•  GFX: ATI Radeon 9600 XT
•  Sound: SoundBlaster Audigy
• Hard disk: Samsung SP1614N 160 GB.

System set-up:

The drive was connected to the USB 2.0 interface, identified itself as Philips ED16DVDR. 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:

⋅         Ahead Nero Burning ROM version 6.6.0.1

⋅         Ahead Nero CD/DVD Speed v3.55

⋅         Ahead Nero Info Tool v2.27

⋅         Slysoft CloneCD v5.0.4.2

⋅         DVD-Identifier 3.5

⋅         Exact Audio Copy v0.95 pre-beta 5

⋅         K-Probe v2.4.2

Now it's time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the Philips ED16DVDR:

CD-Recordable:

The Philips ED16DVDR uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write at its rated speed of 48x. (The drive used in our review would not write any of our CD-R's faster than 43x. We believe the reason for this is: the running Optimum Power Calibration (OPC), which automatically decrease burning speed when Laser power over margin due to 'poor" media quality or high temperature). This gives an average speed of 32.47x. Two drives for comparison are found below.

The Samsung TS-H552B uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) to write at its rated speed of 40x. This gives an average speed of 34.27x.

The NEC ND-2500A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. The drive wrote the last zone at 32X and this gives an average speed of 27.16x. 

For comparison we have made the following table:

As we can read from the table, the Philips could be among the fastest drives, if it actually had written the discs at 48x instead of 43x.

CD-Rewritable:

The Philips ED16DVDR uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its rated speed of 24x, this gives an average speed of 22.63x. Below are some other drives for comparison:

The Samsung TS-H552B uses P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) writing technology to write at 32X for CD-RW discs, the average speed is 30.21x.

The LaCie d2 DVD±RW Double Layer uses CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) writing technology to write at 16X for CD-RW discs, the average speed is 16x. For a better overview we present the following comparison table: