detail information

Positive:

• Retail package includes good software and 10pcs. of 8x DVD+R media.
• Fast DVD recorder. Supports 8x DVD+R, 4x DVD+RW, 40x CD-R and 24x CD-RW.
• Good DVD+R write quality. Running OPC working well.
• Good read performance with DVD+R media, CD-ROM media and audio discs.
• Excellent performance with copy protected audio discs.
• Supports overburning up to 99 minutes.
• Supports DAO-RAW writing.
• Supports reading and writing of 8cm discs.
• Supports reading and writing of CD-Text information.
• Supports reading and writing of full SubChannel Data.

Negative:

• Retail package could do with some flatcables, extra jumper caps and a better manual.
• Mount Rainier not supported.
• DVD-Video read speeds limited to 4x.
• Problems with reading DVD-R media.
• Write quality with certain CD-R media questionable.
• Poor performance with data copy protections.

Conclusion:

As we already mentioned in our review the Ridata drive is based on the NU DDW-081 DVD recorder and as some of you will know, NU offers a firmware upgrade for their drive with which you can turn the DDW-081 into a dual format (DVD±RW) DVD recorder. For this review we decided not to upgrade the drive's firmware. If you want to know how the NU DDW-081 performs with the dual format firmware, please check out our NU DDW-081/082 review.

Overall we can say that we were pretty happy with the Ridata drive. When looking at the, in our opinion, most important features of a DVD recorder such as write performance and write quality, the Ridata RDA-08041 performed excellent. It was able to write all of our test DVDs at their certified speed and some 4x DVD+R media could be perfectly written at 8x. Each DVD+R disc we wrote was perfectly readable after it was written. When it came to RW performance the drive also performed well. The only thing that could be improved is the drive's CD-R write quality since we had some C2 errors during our tests. This can probably be fixed via a firmware upgrade.

When it came to read performance we had a bit of a mixed result. The Ridata drive performed excellent when reading DVD+R media, CD-R(OM) media and audio discs. However, when it came to reading DVD-Video discs the drive's read speed is limited to 4x. This is not important when watching a DVD movie but it doesn't make the drive very suitable for ripping DVDs to your hard disk. During our read tests we had some problems with DVD-R media. All of the discs we tested could be read by the drive but during the seek time tests with Nero CD/DVD Speed the drive failed. This is also something that can be improved via a firmware upgrade.

During our advanced tests we also had a mixed result. On the one hand the Ridata drive read our copy protected audio discs without a problem but on the other hand it failed to back-up both the SafeDisc and SecuRom protected data discs. Luckily, when it came to overburning and reading 8cm discs the Ridata drive performed very well again.

The price of the Ridata RDA-08041 drive is about €120,- (US$ 147,-) which is not a bad price but considering that the NU DDW-081 cost around €85,- (US$ 104,-) here in The Netherlands, we feel that the price difference is a bit too much. But, for €35 extra you do get 10 pieces of 8x DVD+R media bundled with the Ridata drive. We'll, as usual, leave it up to you to decide if you're willing to pay this increased price.