1. The first 32x CD-RW drive arrives!
Mitsumi
CR-480ATE IDE CDR-W - Page
1
The first 32x
CD-RW drive arrives!
- Introduction
has
been following the CD-R writing technology for quite sometime now but has never
managed to 'lead' the writing race since Sanyo has been the pioneer in this
area from the arrival of the 8x CD-R drive. However nothing should be considered
as granted nowadays... Mitsumi engineers worked hard and the result of their
efforts is a new CD-RW drive with the codename 'CR-480ATE'. The new drive not
only supports the faster writing but also the faster re-writing speeds ever
been available to users. The need for speed keeps increasing and the total time
for burning CDs keeps lowering down.
Can the 32x CD-R writing speed considered as a major step in the CD-R recording
technology? How faster can a 32x recorder really be from the 24x recorders?
What about writing quality at the highest recording speed ever available? Lets
find out! This review should be considered as a 'preview' since future firmware
updates will improve both reading/writing performances.
- Features
The
drive supports 32x writing (Z-CLV), 12x re-writing, 16MB Buffer, "ExacLink"
as the main anti-buffer underrun technology and "Mt. Rainier" format.
The maximum reading speed of the drive is 40x but this may change in the final
mass production units (up to 48x). Mitsumi continues to keep the recorder's
buffer high enough to avoid extended use of 'ExacLink'. The exact writing speeds
are 4x, 8x, 16x (CLV), 16x-24x and 16x-32x (Z-CLV) and re-writing speeds of
4x, 10x, 12x (CLV).
The supported formats are: CD-DA, CD-ROM (Mode 1 und 2), CD ROM XA (Mode 2,
Form 1 und 2), Enhanced CD, Photo CD (read only), CD Text, Video CD and it supports
the following recording methods: Disk at once, Session at once, Track at once,
Multisession and Packet Writing.
- Mitsumi's 32x writing technology
The
Mitsumi CR-480ATE supports 32x-writing speed with the use of the Z-CLV writing
technology. Despite the fact that OAK's chipset support both Z-CLV/P-CAV writing
technologies, Mitsumi chosen Z-CLV cause: "...The reason why we select
Z-CLV is technically easier and writing a better reliable data:
* CLV : Does not need control the Laser Power, always same power, but has
to be under control spindle motor. Inner fast, Outer slower
* Z-CLV : Laser power control will 3 times in model 24x, 5 times in 32x.
* P-CAV : Spindle motor does not need control but Laser Power will always slightly
change!! This technologies is quite difficult and costly!! and miss writing
happen often...".
The main reason that made Mitsumi to adopt the Z-CLV technology for the new
32x model is the cost and the extended research that must be done in order to
have a reliable recording. Just remember that last month Yamaha released their
24x P-CAV recorder, when 24x Z-CLV recorders are from June 2001 in the market...
The 32x writing speed range is divided in 4 zones: The drive starts writing
at 16x from lead-in till the 2mins, shifts up to 20x at 6mins, shifts up to
24x at 16mins and lastly shifts to 32x at 42mins and stays there until the end.
The average recording speed is 26.34X. It's not clear yet if the shift
points are fixed in all cases, or they will vary according to the quality of
media used.
- The competition
The only manufacturer that has announced 32x recorder so far is Sanyo. Many
OEM vendors to ship retail products to the market will use the Sanyo "CRD-BP1600P".
The Sanyo 32x drive has two advantages over Mitsumi's 32x proposal, according
to the drive's specs:
a) 20x CLV and
b) 20-32x Z-CLV writing speeds
We will have to wait and see if the drive's performance at both 20x CLV and
20x-32x Z-CLV would be as smooth as the beta drive from Mitsumi is. Unfortunately
by the time this article was written, Sanyo failed to provide working sample
unit for straight comparison. As soon as the compatibility of the media
is increased, with newer firmware, we will have a clearer view of Sanyo's 32x
performance and recording times. In case of the same shift points will be used,
the total difference in recording time, at 32x speed, is expected to be around
5-10secs (from the Mitsumi CR-480ATE).
You should expect more 32x recorders also from Ricoh, AOpen, LiteOn, SamSung,
LG, Plextor and Sony at the first quarter of 2002.
- The media
In order to benefit of the new writing speed, Mitsumi and the
most manufacturers state that 32x certified media should be used. Most media
manufacturers plan to ship 32x certified media in the first quarter of 2002.
Ritek/Verbatim have already announced such media and for sure Taiyo Yuden, Mitsui,
Ricoh and Mitsui will follow.
There are rumors that the 32x media supplied by some Taiwan manufactures
will have a minimized thickness of the recording layer. As the recording layer
become thinner, good sensitivity can be obtained (for such high recording speeds)
but with cost in reliability. Let's hope that this will not become a reality...
- The package
The
package, in which the drive arrived, contained a bare drive -engineering version-
among with 5 pieces of 32x certified media (based upon Maxell Chemicals) for
our recording speeds. The drive expected to hit the European market around the
middle/end of January 2002.
The front of the drive is exactly the same as we witnessed in almost all the
previous Mitsumi models. The drive doesn't have the Mitsumi logo on the front
of it, while it has the "High-Speed RW" logo, which indicates its
RW speed. You will also find only one led, the eject button and the headphone
input jack/volume selector:
On the back of the drive we will find the usual connectors (IDE interface,
power), the jumpers for assigning the drive as a Master/Slave, the SPDIF output
connector and the analog/digital output connectors:
- Installation
The
Mitsumi CR-480ATE was installed as a Master in the secondary IDE BUS. The drive
worked in UDMA33 mode and after booting, identified itself as the "CR-48XATE".
We unchecked the Auto Insert notification, checked DMA and rebooted.
The drive was a November 2001 model with firmware revision vP1.02 installed.
After a while Mitsumi provided newer firmware update (P1.05), which was used
for revising the recording/CloneCD tests. The final mass production firmware
would be 1.0A and as you understand will have fixed some few errors we mentioned.
We used the Nero (5.5.5.7), InCD (3.14), CloneCD (3.2.1.1) and Padus DJ (3.50.818)
for the recording tests.
- Test Machine
WinMe/XP OS
Soyo 7VCA
Celeron II 566 over clocked to 850 MHz
128MB SDRAM PC 133
WD 18GB UDMA 66
Quantum Fireball EX 6.4 GB UDMA 33
DAWI 2975 - PCI (ULTRA) SCSI Host Adapter
ATI AIW 128
Mitsumi CR-480ATE firmware vP1.02/vP1.05
PleXWriter PX-W2410A firmware v1.02
TEAC CD-524E firmware v1.0A
Yamaha CRW3200E firmware v1.0b
2. Data Tests
Mitsumi
CR-480ATE IDE CDR-W - Page
2
Data Tests
- Test Method
* SCSI Mechanic v3.0x: This was used to compare the
drive's I/O performance against other various CDR-W drives (see charts). We
used a pressed CD containing PlexTools v1.08 for all tests.
* Nero CD Speed v0.85 was also used to check the drive's performance
with pressed CDs. For that test, we also used the PlexTools v1.08 pressed
CD.
- SCSI Mechanic v3.0x results
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE seems improved over the previous 4809TE
model and now gets the second place behind the PX-W2410A. The drive has the
second "Average Sequential I/O" mark (4497Kb/s) and "Average
Random I/O" mark (837Kb/s). The final mass production drive will possibly
have a slightly better performance due to an improved firmware.
- Nero CD Speed v0.85 results: (Click
to see the CD Speed Graph)
The Nero CD Speed results confirmed our previous tests results. The Mitsumi
drive gets the second place behind PleXWriter drive. It starts reading at 18.42X
and also ends at 40.35X.
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE has rather high "Random Seek"
results with 112ms. The TEAC CD-W524E is simply un-beatable with 77msecs and
the Yamaha 3200E is also faster with 84ms.
- PSX Pressed Media
For this test we used the PSX game 'NBA Jam Extreme' and we ripped the image
to the HD with CloneCD. We measured the reading time of the Mitsumi CR-480ATE,
which is the second best with 265secs. The PleXWriter PX-W2410A does the same
task at only 54secs:
- CDR Media: (Click
to see the CD Speed graph)
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE gets the third place when reading CDR media. The PleXWriter
keeps the first place and the TEAC drive follows.
3. HS-RW reading tests
Mitsumi
CR-480ATE IDE CDR-W - Page
3
HS-RW reading tests
- Nero CD Speed v0.85 Results: (Click
to see the graph)
For the RW tests we used the Mitsubishi Chemicals HS-RW media
written at 10x/12x speeds. The Mitsumi CR-480ATE is currently the faster drive
when HS-RW media is being used:
CloneCD Tests
- Procedure
We used CloneCD (v3.2.1.1) and 5 original CDs - Euro 2000 (SafeDisc
1), No One Lives For Ever (SafeDisc 2), Rally Masters (LaserLock 1), Desperados
(LaserLock 2) and V-Rally 2 Expert (SecuROM 2) - in order to test the reading
time of the drive. We also tested the reading performance with backups of
the original CDs, since the reading speed varies between original and backup
media. For comparison reasons we added the results of the already tested PleXWriter
PX-W2410A, Yamaha CRW3200E and TEAC CD-W524E. The following picture shows
the drive's reading/writing capabilities as CloneCD reports:
- SafeDisc 1/2 Results
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE performed very well with SafeDisc 1
CDs, outperforming Plextor PX-W2410A but stays in the second place behind
Yamaha CRW3200E.
With SafeDisc2 protected CDs the performance is
very good, but slower than with SafeDisc 1 CDs.
- LaserLock 1/2 Results
With LaserLock 1 protected CDs, the Mitsumi CR-480ATE performs
very well, especially with the backup CD.
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE performed very well with LaserLock 2 protected CDs,
with both original/backup CDs.
- SecuROM Results
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE does supports reading of SubChannel data from Data/Audio
Tracks. The reading performance is very good and only Yamaha CRW3200E is faster.
4. DAE Tests
Mitsumi
CR-480ATE IDE CDR-W - Page
4
DAE Tests
- Test Method
We used CD DAE 99 v0.21 beta and EAC v0.9 prebeta 11 software
in order to check the DAE performance of the drive with various AudioCDs (both
pressed and CDR). The posted DAE results are the average of both applications,
but the CPU usage was only taken from CD DAE 99, since EAC occupies the system
a lot more. As a last note, we used the "BURST" reading mode of
EAC. We made a full CD Rip starting from the first to the last track of the
CD. The Average DAE reported speed along with the CPU Usage is displayed in
the test graphs.
- DAE features
We
used EAC v0.9 prebeta 11 to examine the drive's features. As the program reported,
the drive doesn't "Caching" data, supports "Accurate Stream"
and doesn't include "C2" error info. All 4 tested drives supports
up to 40x (CAV) DAE speed.
- Pressed AudioCD results
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE performance with pressed Audio CDs wasn't
enough for the drive to get one of the highest places in this roundup. The
drive's average reading DAE ripping speed is 28.0X:
- CDR AudioCD results
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE has the same performance with CDR media,
as with the pressed CDs. Again it gets the last place with 28.1X:
- EAC Secure Extract Ripping mode
After many requests from numerous visitors we have added the
EAC's secure extract ripping mode results, which ensures maximum produced
WAV quality. Note that for each drive we used the build-in detection function:
|
Tested Drives
|
Average DAE Speed (X)
|
|
Pressed
|
CDR
|
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
5.6
|
4.5
|
|
PleXWriter PX-W2410A
|
8.7
|
9.6
|
|
Mitsumi CR-480ATE
|
11.0
|
11.1
|
|
Yamaha CRW3200E
|
5.5
|
-
|
- Advanced DAE Quality
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE gets a 100 score (best) in the Nero CD
Speed Advanced DAE test. The drive's average reading speed was 28.69x and
no errors were produced. As the following picture shows, the drive can read
CD-Text/SubChannel Data:
- Bad CDR Media results
Despite the fact that Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test stretches
drive's mechanism to the max, we decided to do real life tests with a scratched
disc. The disc was dirty, and with some light scratches, enough in order cause
problems to most of the tested drives. We used CD DAE 99 software to rip the
whole disc (756539616 sectors) and the results were very interesting:
|
|
Average Speed (X)
|
Errors
|
Errors Of Total Disc (%)
|
|
PleXWriter PX-W2410A
|
27.7
|
2946403
|
0.39
|
|
Yamaha CRW3200E
|
5.2
|
8840120
|
1.17
|
|
Mitsumi CR-480ATE
|
17.1
|
202102
|
0.03
|
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
26.5
|
1
|
0.00
|
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE didn't performed well with our bad CDR test disc. The
drive reported 202102 errors while TEAC CD-W524E manages to have only one.
- Ripping 90 and 99mins AudioCDs
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE recognizes both 90/99min AudioCDs without
any problems.
5. CDR Tests
Mitsumi
CR-480ATE IDE CDR-W - Page
5
CDR Tests
- Procedure
We
tested the Mitsumi CR-480ATE with Nero v5.5.5.7, Ahead InCD v3.14, CloneCD v3.2.1.1
and, Padus DJ v3.50.818 software. We used various of media for performing our
tests: Mitsubishi Chemicals 74/80min 24x certified, Mitsui 74min 24x certified,
Taiyo Yuden 74/80min 24x certified, Ricoh 74min 24x certified and Ricoh's 74min
HS-RW.
The Mitsumi drive includes a build-in mechanism, which automatically
reduces the writing speed during the burn process. The drive doesn't limit the
recording speed in the beginning of writing (inside the CDR software) but the
final recording time unveils it. For the 32x recording tests, we used media
based upon Maxell chemicals provided by Mitsumi and of course our 24x certified
media.
- 74min CD-R Tests
We created a "DataCD" job with data slightly more than
74mins (74:03:65). We burned the same job with all 4 CDR-W drives:
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE has the higher burning time at 16x (CLV)
writing speed. It needs 314secs to end the task.
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE is not the faster 24x Z-CLV recorder, as the above
graph shows. The drive needs 3:59mins to end the task, while both TEAC and PleXWriter
drives are faster. The Yamaha CRW3200E is currently the faster 24x recorder.
- 80min CD-R Tests
In our normal burning tests the 80min CD contains slightly more than 80min
data (80:01:47):
With 80min CDs, the Mitsumi CR-480ATE needs exactly the same
time as the PleXWriter PX-W2410A. Both TEAC and Yamaha drives are faster.
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE drive needs 253secs to end the task, which is the higher
recording time for a 24x Z-CLV writer. The Yamaha CRW3200E continues to lead
the 24x-writing race.
- 32x writing speed
The above graph shows the main differences between 24x Z-CLV, 24x P-CAV and
32x Z-CLV recording speeds. The Mitsumi drive needs 218secs (3:39mins) to write
a full 74min CD, which is:
- 18secs faster than TEAC CD-W524E
- 12secs faster than PleXWriter PX-W2410A
- 7 secs faster than Yamaha CRW3200E
Note that the simulation
time for the same project is 3:26mins
With 80min CDs, the time differences with rest of the recorders
are now higher:
- 20secs from PleXWriter PX-W2410A
- 18secs from TEAC CD-W524E
- 11secs from Yamaha CRW3200E
- Overburning Tests
Using Nero, we saw that the drive can overburn up to 99:00minutes!
- CD-Text Results
We created several AudioCDs with CD-Text enabled. The Mitsumi
CR-480ATE cans read/write CD-Text AudioCDs without any problems.
- CloneCD Writing Tests
The
CloneCD v3.2.1.1 reports that the drive supports the DAO-RAW feature. We performed
our usual tests and we confirmed that the drive supports fully the DAO-RAW writing
mode (Safedisc 1.0, LaserLock 1/2 and SecuROM 2).
- SD2 Support
For the SD2 test we used the "No One Lives For Ever", "Max
Payne" and "Emperor Battle of Dune" game titles. We used the
Mitsumi CR-480ATE both as reader/writer. The produced backup didn't work using
the same or any drive we tested with. Therefore, the Mitsumi CR-480ATE cannot
produce SD2 working backups.
- 8cm mini CDs
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE supports reading/writing of 8cm CDs.
6. Writing Quality Tests
Mitsumi
CR-480ATE IDE CD-RW - Page
6
Writing Quality Tests
We used many medias ,mostly 24x certified, and burned them at
the maximum 32x (Z-CLV) writing speed with the Mitsumi CR-480ATE drive. We used
Nero 5.5.5.7 and all CDs were Audio CDs with 74:51:27 in size. The produced
CDs, were measured from DigitalDrives
and results are illustrated in the following tables:
|
Mitsui 74min 24x media
|
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
|
Max
|
Average
|
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC on)
|
20
|
0.7
|
227
|
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC off)
|
17
|
0.7
|
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
64
|
0.9
|
242
|
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed on)
|
18
|
1.2
|
246
|
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed off)
|
26
|
1.7
|
245
|
|
Plextor PX-W2410A
|
17
|
1.5
|
230
|
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
17
|
0.8
|
237
|
|
Mitsumi CR-480ATE (32x->16x)
|
17
|
0.8
|
315
|
The Mitsumi CR-480AE didn't perform so well with Mitsui's 24x
CD-R media. The drive needs 5:15mins to end the task. The drive lowered the
recording speed down to 16x for writing Mitsui's 74min 24x media. The average
0.8 C1 error rate is very good:
|
Taiyo Yuden 74min 24x
media
|
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
|
Max
|
Average
|
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC on)
|
28
|
0.6
|
228
|
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC off)
|
53
|
3.0
|
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
7
|
0.2
|
246
|
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed on)
|
10
|
0.5
|
253
|
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed off)
|
11
|
0.5
|
249
|
|
Plextor PX-W2410A
|
9
|
0.6
|
232
|
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
9
|
0.4
|
238
|
|
Mitsumi CR-480ATE (32x)
|
10
|
0.1
|
221
|
With Taiyo Yuden 74min 24x certified media, the Mitsumi CR-480ATE
performed very well and not only has the lower recording time but also very
low C1 error rate (0.1).
|
Mitsubishi Chemicals
74min 24x media
|
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
|
Max
|
Average
|
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC on)
|
12
|
2.1
|
259
|
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC off)
|
12
|
2
|
225
|
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
10
|
1.8
|
244
|
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed on)
|
13
|
1.6
|
247
|
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed off)
|
16
|
1.6
|
243
|
|
Plextor PX-W2410A
|
17
|
1.9
|
234
|
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
15
|
1.8
|
236
|
|
Mitsumi CR-480ATE (32x)
|
12
|
1.3
|
219
|
None of the tested drives seem to give a very good writing quality
when Mitsubishi Chemicals (Verbatim) 74min 24x certified media used. The Mitsumi
CR-480ATE however managed not only to have the lower C1 error rate, but also
the lower recording time (due to 32x writing speed).
|
Various media at 32x
writing speed
|
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
|
Max
|
Average
|
|
Ritek 80min 24x (32x->16x)
|
17
|
0.6
|
338
|
|
Taiyo Yuden 80min 24x
|
13
|
0.2
|
232
|
|
MitsuBishi Chemicals 80min 24x
|
24
|
3.0
|
231
|
|
Ricoh 80min 24x
|
14
|
1.0
|
230
|
|
Maxell 80min 32x
|
52
|
25.6
|
229
|
|
Mitsui 74min 16x (32x->16x)
|
20
|
0.3
|
315
|
Using various other media we noticed that in the cases of Ritek and Mitsui
the drive lowered the recording speed down to 16x (32x was selected in the first
place). Using Maxell based CDR media, the error rate is very high (25.6 average
C1 errors),which can be explained since the media was probably prototype. However
the Taiyo Yuden/Ricoh 80min 24x certified media seems working just fine.
7. RW Writing Tests
Mitsumi
CR-480ATE IDE CDR-W - Page
7
RW Writing Tests
We used Nero 5.5.5.7 for writing CDs at the maximum RW speed
for all the tested drives. The Mitsumi CR-480ATE supports not only 10x but also
12x re-writing speed, making it the faster re-writer at this category:
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE needs only 408secs to end the task. With
10x RW speed the drive needs 487sec. The CPU Usage is low and the erase time
is under 60secs.
- Packet Writing Tests
We used Ahead InCD v3.14 for all Packet Writing tests with a
Mitsubishi Chemicals HS-RW media. The formatted disc had 534mbs of free space.
We copied a 403 MB file (403.147 kbs) from a Hard Disk (on the same PC as the
writers) to the formatted RW media using Windows Explorer (we dragged and dropped)
and we completed the test twice to eliminate any possible time measurement faults
and user errors:
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE has an 8.81X max packet-writing performance.
The average reading speed (11.87X) should be considered low, compared to what
Yamaha CRW3200E offers...
8. Conclusion
Mitsumi
CR-480ATE IDE CDR-W - Page
8
Conclusion
|
Positive (+)
|
Negative (-)
|
|
- Supports 32x writing (Z-CLV) speed
- Supports 12x re-writing (CLV) speed
- Includes 16MB Buffer (!!)
- "ExacLink" anti-coaster technology
- Supports 'Mt. Rainier' format
- Has build-in media quality detection system
- Low C1 errors when 24x/32x CDR media used
- No coasters at all recording speeds
- Good data reading performance with both CDR/pressed media
- Highest re-writing/packet writing performance
- Good DAE speeds
- Very good DAE ripping quality
- Supports HS-RW standard
- Supports DAO-RAW
- Very good CloneCD reading performance
- Supports reading/writing of SubChannel Data
- Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)
- Supports Overburning (up to 99mins)
- Supports Ultra-DMA 33 connection interface
|
- Drive seems slower than 24x Z-CLV recorders
at both 16x/24x recording speed.
- Sanyo's 32x writing speed would be faster
- Higher seek times than competition
- Many DAE errors when scrached media used
- Failed to backup SD2 protected CDs
- Low PSX ripping speed
|
The Mitsumi CR-480ATE is the first drive that reached our labs
and supports 32x CD-R recording speed. The drive supports 32x (Z-CLV), 12x re-writing,
and 40x reading speed among with 16Mb of buffer, ExacLink and 'Mt. Rainier'
support.
The drive performance at 32x should not be considered as a major
speed, compared to what 24x (especially 24x P-CAV) recorders can do. The time
difference between Mitsumi and the faster 24x recorder, from Yamaha, is only
11secs (max), which is low. The writing strategy (16x-32x Z-CLV), which Mitsumi
has chosen has the advantage that keeps the rotation speed under 8500rpm but
also is slower than what the Sanyo 32x recorders can do.
The drive's re-writing speed is superb (12x) and the writing
quality stays very good even at the maximum 32x writing speed. The built-in
media quality system detection will prevent low quality media to be written
at high speeds (24x/32x). The DAE ripping speed/quality performance must be
improved to reach the competition. CloneCD users will be disappointed from the
lack of SD2 support, but of course the Sanyo based 32x recorders doesn't support
it either.
For making a safe conclusion about the 32x recording speed,
we have to see how the competition would also perform. Stay tuned...