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In this part of our Sanyo CRD-BPDV2 review we'll test how fast the drive can read various media, including audio CDs and DVD media. As we already mentioned on the introduction page the Sanyo drive can read CD media at 40x while DVD media can be read at 12x. Let's see if this is really the case:

Pressed Discs:

For the transfer rate tests we used a pressed CD-ROM containing PlexTools v1.05 which was exactly 74 minutes (333.000 sectors) long. Below you can see the produced Nero CD/DVD Speed graphs:

From the graph you can see that the Sanyo drive didn't reach 40x reading and achieved a top read speed of 38.71x. In the table below we've compared the Sanyo's read speeds to the Plextor PX-504A DVD+RW recorder. As you can see the Sanyo was a little slower when reading the pressed media but it did have lower (and thus better) seek times:

CD-Recordable Discs:

For the transfer rate tests with CD-Recordable Media we used a back-up (CD-R) of a PlexTools v1.05 disc. The used disc was a 'That's Write' CD-R certified up to 16x writing and manufactured by Gigastorage.

The graph shows us that the Sanyo drive performed a little better with the CD-R media when it came to read speed. It almost reached 40x reading but its seek times were a little higher this time:

CD-ReWriteable Discs:

To test the transfer rate with CD-RW discs we again used the "PlexTools v1.05" disc only this time we read from a CD-ReWriteable disc. The used disc was a 'Plextor High Speed CD-RW' disc. Below you can see the produced graphs with Nero CD/DVD Speed again:

The Sanyo's performance with CD-RW media was again better than we saw with the pressed and CD-R media. This time the drive had no problems reaching 40x and considering that most DVD-recorders are not that fast with CD-RW media this is an excellent result:

Audio - Digital Audio Extraction:

To test the Sanyo's digital audio extraction performance we again used Nero CD Speed to do a transfer rate test. The audio disc we used was of a slightly larger size than in our previous tests (77 minutes). In the graphs below you can see the performance of the DVD-recorder:

The Sanyo drive again showed a good performance as it had no problems reaching 40x when reading the audio disc. In the table below we've compared our results with the Plextor PX-504A DVD+RW recorder again:

As a final test we used Exact Audio Copy (EAC) to extract the audio disc to our hard disk. According to EAC the Sanyo drive does not support Caching and C2 Error Info. The drive does support Accurate Stream in EAC's secure ripping mode:

EAC - Burst Mode

EAC - Secure Mode

We had some problems using the Sanyo drive with EAC's Secure Mode as it gave us sync errors in two tracks. Because of this we have a low average rip speed of 3.9x. We tried ripping another audio disc but this gave us the exact same problems. Luckily the Sanyo CRD-BPDV2 performed a lot better in Burst Mode as it had no problems reaching 40x in this mode.

Audio - Advanced DAE Quality Test:

To conclude our CD media read tests we did an 'Advanced DAE Quality Test' with Nero CD/DVD Speed. You can see the produced results below:

When we did the advanced DAE tests the Sanyo drive performed pretty well although it did produce a small amount of data errors. The drive can be used for on-the-fly copying up to 12x but it's too slow for higher speeds. The Sanyo CRD-BPDV2 could not read any data from the lead-in and lead-out area of the disc but it could read CD-Text and SubChannel Data. As a small test we of course tested if the Sanyo drive could indeed read CD-Text, using the Nero Media Player. In the screenshot below you can see this is indeed the case:

DVD - DVD-Video:

For our DVD reading tests we're going to start with a DVD-Video read test of a single-layered and double-layered DVD disc. Keep in mind that a low read speed has no effect on the drive's performance when playing a DVD and it's only important when you, for example, want to rip the DVD to your hard disk.

From the results you can see that the Sanyo drive had no problems reading the single layered DVD at full speed. When reading the dual-layered disc the drive had an average speed of 4.28x, not bad at all as you can also see from the table below:

DVD - DVD+R(W):

To test the Sanyo's read performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media we simply copied 4.4GB to an empty DVD+R and DVD+RW disc. Below you can see the results:

There isn't much to tell about the Sanyo's performance with DVD+R(W) media. The drive read both discs at an average speed of 4x. When we compare the achieved results to the Plextor PX-504A DVD-recorder in the table below, we see that the Sanyo has a higher average speed but the Plextor has a higher top read speed when reading DVD+R media. When it came to reading DVD+RW media the Sanyo performed a lot better. The Plextor drive was struggling with the media as you can see in the screenshot below while the Sanyo read the entire disc without problems at 4x:

Plextor PX-504A reading DVD+RW

DVD - DVD-R(W):

To test the Sanyo's read performance with DVD-R and DVD-RW media we again copied roughly 4.4GB to an empty DVD-R and DVD-RW disc. Below you can see the results again:

The Sanyo CRD-BPDV2's performance with DVD-R(W) media was exactly the same as with the DVD+R(W) media. Both discs were read at an average speed of 4x. The Plextor PX-504A performed pretty well with the DVD-R media but it failed to read the DVD-RW media (read error).