Spring 2004 DVD Performance Roundup: More DVD Dual 8X
by Kristopher Kubicki on April 28, 2004 7:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Burn Tests CDR Media
We used the following configuration to test our burners:Albatron 865PE Pro II
Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz 800FSB
2 x 512 DDR OCZ PC3200 EL
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM 8MB IDE
Windows XP SP1
Below are the corresponding firmwares to each drive that we used:
| Drive | Firmware |
| ASUS DRW-0802P | 1.13 |
| AOpen DDW8800 | 1.4A |
| Gigabyte GO-W0808A | USY1 |
| Nu Tech DDW-082 | B372 |
| Sony DRU-530A | 2.0A |
| Toshiba SD-R5272 | 1030 |
Notice the Gigabyte firmware is designated as USY1. The retail drive (when it ships) may use a slightly more advanced firmware. The NuTech B372 firmware is not officially supported yet. You may download it here, though. Please use this firmware at your own risk.
You may download our entire burn time spreadsheet here. Higher burn speed averages are more desirable.
| Ritek 97m31s01f - 52X CDR | |||
| Drive | Average Burn | Length | Mode |
| AOpen DDW8800 | 27.13X | 79:57.71 | Z-CLV |
| ASUS DRW-0802P | 22.39X | 79:57.71 | Z-CLV |
| Gigabyte GO-W0808A | 31.65X | 79:57.71 | CAV |
| Nu Tech DDW-082 | 23.51X | 79:57.71 | P-CAV |
| Sony DRU-530A | 29.39X | 79:57.71 | P-CAV |
| Toshiba SD-R5272 | 22.89X | 79:57.71 | Z-CLV |
| Mitsubishi 97m23s24f - 24X CDRW | |||
| Drive | Average Burn | Length | Mode |
| AOpen DDW8800 | 16.00X | 74:43.00 | CLV |
| ASUS DRW-0802P | 22.26X | 74:43.00 | Z-CLV |
| Gigabyte GO-W0808A | - | 74:43.00 | - |
| Nu Tech DDW-082 | 21.22X | 74:43.00 | Z-CLV |
| Sony DRU-530A | 22.40X | 74:43.00 | P-CAV |
| Toshiba SD-R5272 | 15.78X | 74:43.00 | Z-CLV |
You will notice that the Gigabyte GO-W0808A could not recognize the Mitsubishi CDRW for burning or erasing. Reading the disc was no problem, but it looks like future firmware will have to solve this issue. This will most likely be solved before the Gigabyte drive begins retail shipments. The Gigabyte GO-W0808A smoked everyone else's burn speeds for CDR.
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mkruer - Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - link
Stupid question but i must ask, is there a firmware update to the Plextor 708A that allows us to burn dual layer DVD's? I remember there was quite alot of talk about the new drives supporting the feature, but that it was not enabled.deadseasquirrel - Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - link
"Why wasn't the Plextor 8x drive included in this comparison?"didja *read* the article??
Page 5: "Alas, our award winning Plextor 708A, which is also based on the LC897490, is not capable of 8X DVD-R, so we could not include it in this roundup."
moktaw - Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - link
Bought the NuTech 081 several months ago. Firmware upgraded to a 082(at least that's what Nero and DVDInfoPro say with B370 Firmware). This is my first DVD burner. Outstanding product, especially at $80. Burned about 25 discs so far without any coasters. I would love to find the B372 firmware upgrade talked about in the article, Checked NuTech's website this morning and couldn't find it. A typo or do I need to look elsewhere? Thanks for the great discussion. Looking forward to the 16x dual layer burners this summer.Booty - Wednesday, April 28, 2004 - link
Why wasn't the Plextor 8x drive included in this comparison?