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Appeared on: Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Sanyo CRD-BP3 CD-RW


1. The buffer underrun eliminator supports 10xRW writing speed!

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W - Page 1

The buffer underrun eliminator supports 10xRW writing speed!

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W DriveIntroduction:
The BP3 is the first model of Sanyo, which includes HS-RW writing capabilities. We have already tested the Plextor PX-W1210A that have the same read/writing features but came with an IDE interface. Since there is no other drive out with same features yet, we decided to compare the two drives (the IDE vs. SCSI model). Keep in mind that this comparison is far from perfect since, while both drives might based on the same IC chipset, they have a different internal design, as it is shown in the test arena. But since these two drives are the only ones who support 12x writing, 10x re-writing and support BURN-Proof, we felt that the comparing them could lead us to some interesting conclusions.

History

We can't believe that there could be a person who reads our hardware reviews and still doesn't know what is this feature called "BURN-Proof" which both our drives support. Don't forget also that both drives support the new HS RW format that offers to users 10xRW-writing speed.

Package

The pre-release OEM version included only a drive. Below there is a picture of the Sanyo CRD-BP3:

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W Drive

Notice that the drive front and back is the same with the previous BP2 and BP900P models. Also event the drive supports 10xRW-writing speed the logo "HS RW" has not been added in the front of the drive

Sanyo CRD-BP3 CDR-W Specifications

Interface

SCSI 3

Transfer Rate

12X-32x CAV read
(1800KB/s - 4800KB/s Data Transfer Rate)

Writing/Reading Speed

              Writing : CDR    1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, 12x
                            CDRW 2x,4x, 8x, 10x

               Reading : 32x (max) Full CAV
               Note     - Data : 12-32x
                           - CDDA Extraction : 13x (max)

Writing Methods

Disc At Once (DAO)
Session At Once (SAO)
Track At Once (TAO)
Packet Writing

Data Capacity supported

700MB (79min)
650MB (74min)
550MB (63min)

Functions

Multi Read, Horizontal, Analog output, Plug & Play/ SCAM Compatible, Flash ROM

Data Buffer

2 MB

Supported CD Formats

CD-DA, CD-ROM (MODE-1,MODE-2), CD-ROM XA MODE-2(FORM-1,FORM-2), Multi-Session Photo CD, CD-I, Video-CD, CD Extra, CD+G, CD-RW, CD-Text

Installation

For installing the drive, we left the default SCSI ID to 4 and removed the termination. After booting, the CDR-W identified itself as Sanyo CRD-BP3. We unchecked the Auto Insert notification, checked Sync Data Transfer and rebooted. Sanyo CRD-BP3 was a July 2000 model with firmware revision v1.03. As we was told soon a new firmware release will come out and will upgrade DAE up to 24x ;)

Notice that Nero 5.x supports the drive. However we faced several problems with the latest 5.0.1.8 version (limits RW writing to 8x but enables Overburn) so we used Nero v5.0.1.3 that worked without any problem. All CDR Software recognises the drive as having a 4MB buffer when Sanyo states that the drive has only a 2MB buffer. This <problem> also occurred with the previous Sanyo CRD-BP2 drive..

- Reading properties: (Screenshot from Feurio v1.51)

Test Machine:
ABIT BH6
Celeron 300A over clocked to 450 MHz
164 MB SDRAM PC 100
WD 18GB UDMA 66
Quantum Fireball EX 6.4 GB UDMA 33
DAWI 2975 - PCI (ULTRA) SCSI Host Adapter
ATI AIW 128
Plextor UltraPlex 40max firmware v1.04
PlexWriter PX-W1210A firmware v1.02
Sanyo CRD-BP3 firmware v1.03


2. Data Tests (Pressed CDs)

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W - Page 2

Data Tests (Pressed CDs)

Test Method

- CD WinBench 99 v1.1. This was used to compare the Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W drive with various others CDR-W drives (see charts).
- CD Speed 99 v0.70 was also used to check the drive performance with pressed CDs. For that test we used PlexTools v1.05 original CD.

- CD WinBench 99 v1.1 results

CD-Rom WInMark 99

CD Rom Access Time

CPU Utilization

CDRom Tranfer Rate

- CD Speed 99 v0.70 results

Verdict of data (pressedCDs) tests

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 CDR-W drive was a little weaker than the PleXWriter PX-W1210A in most tests. Its average reading speed using PlexTools v1.05 was 23.33x when the PX-W1210A had 24.98x. The Sanyo CRD-BP3 however showed much better seek times than most of the other CDR-W drives we have ever tested..In the WinBench 99 test, the Sanyo CRD-BP3 got the second best overall WinMark value behind the PX-W1210A. It reached a transfer rate of 4.34mb/s and 2.12mb/s on the outside and inside of the disc, which are a bit lower than the PX-W1210A ones. Again in that test it had the lower seek time (137ms). The CPU usage was also average (6.55%). Overall the Sanyo CRD-BP3 model seems to have been improved over the previous BP2 model, but seems to need a little fine-tuning to reach the current king of reading performance PX-W1210A.


3. Data Tests (74min CDs)

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W - Page 3

Data Tests (74min CDs)

Test Method: CD Media 74min tests

We created a DataCD with Nero 5.0 using the Sanyo CRD-BP2 CDR-W drive. Several copies were created on different media types at 12x speed. This test was performed in order to test the compatibility with various CD media, that have been written at 12x, how the Sanyo CRD-BP3 drive performs. CD Speed 99 v0.70 was used to measure the performance of the drive with the different media.

Notice when you read the graphs, to check both the three tests results (start, end, average) since they give the most complete view of each media performance. Most users however, will prefer just to read only the average speed results. ;)

DataCD comparison (12x write speed)

As the test results shows, the Sanyo CRD-BP3 does not have any problems reading various media, written at 12x.

- 80min tests:

The PX-W1210A takes again the lead from the BP3, but the gap between them is very small. However BP3 takes the lead in random seek times as the following graph states:

- RW reading tests:
The Sanyo CRD-BP3 has an improved RW reading speed (24x average) to the PX-W1210A (18x average). That's a major improvement over the previous models (BP2, BP900P):

Verdict of CDR Media Tests

The tests results show that the Sanyo CRD-BP3 has good, solid performance using both pressed and normal CD media. Again, as we saw in the pressed CDs tests, it has a lower reading performance over the PX-W1210A but better seek times. Furthermore, it's RW reading speed is very good and that's something that Plextor could consider improving?


4. CloneCD Tests

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W - Page 4

CloneCD Tests

Procedure:
We used CloneCD (v2.7.2.4) and 3 original CDs (Rally Masters, Euro2000 and Incoming) in order to test the reading time for Sanyo CRD-BP3. We also tested the reading performance with the backups of the original CDs since the reading speed varies from original to backup media.

Results

a) SafeDisc Results:Euro 2000 (Total: 257982 sectors - 10141 bad sectors) - Reading Speed: Max

Drive

Firmware

CD

Fast Skip Error - O retries - Software Correction

Fast Skip Error - O retries - Hardware Correction

Intelligent Bad Sector Scanner

"Intelligent Bad Sector Scanner" + Best "Fast Skip Error" result

Sanyo CRD-BP3

v1.03

Original

not supported

5:05 min

13:10 min

5:15 min

Backup

5:08 min

11:43 min

5:17 min

b) LaserLock Results: Rally Masters (Total: 321528 sectors - 6317 bad sectors) - Reading Speed: Max

Drive

Firmware

CD

Fast Skip Error - O retries - Software Correction

Fast Skip Error - O retries - Hardware Correction

Intelligent Bad Sector Scanner

"Intelligent Bad Sector Scanner" + Best "Fast Skip Error" result

Sanyo CRD-BP3

v1.03

Original

not supported

36:50 min

13:00 min

6:52 min

Backup

 8:43 min

5:03 min

4:44 min

c) SecuROM Results:
As happened with previous Sanyo models, BP3 cannot read accurate subchannel data so it cannot be used for reading SecuROM protected CDs.

Verdict of CloneCD Tests

- In the SafeDisc test the BP3 model had lower reading times that the BP2 model (with fast skip error - hardware correction). The mode "Fast Skip Error-Software correction" is not supported anymore but the hardware correction seems faster than the software ;) Of course it cannot reach the PX-W1210A since that drive reads SafeDisc protected CDs very fast!

- In the LaserLock test, the BP3 model had much better performance in the "Intelligent Bad Scanner+Fast Skip Error" mode (6:52min vs. 10:28min for BP2). Comparing that performance to the PX-W1210A we see that in LaserLock protected CD there cannot be any comparison since the reading times for PX-W1210A are much higher (46:11 vs. 6:52min for BP3).

Overall in the CloneCD tests, the BP3 model had better performance than BP2 and in some cases better than PX-W1210A.


5. DAE Tests (Audio pressed CDs)

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W - Page 5

DAE Tests (Audio pressed CDs)

Test Method

We used CD DAE 99 v0.2with AudioCDs in order to check DAE performance of the Sanyo drive and we compared it with the PX-W1210A.

- CD DAE 99 v0.2 results:
The Sanyo CRD-BP3 DAE performance ,with pressed CDs, was the same with the previous models (13x max) and outperformed by the PX-W1210A:

DAE Tests (CD media)

Test Method:
We made several copies with Feurio v1.51written at 12x (used the Sanyo CRD-BP2 CDR-W drive) in order to check the DAE performance of the drive. We measured ripping speeds with CD DAE 99 v0.2and compared it with PX-W1210A.

CD DAE 99 v0.2 results:

- Princo 74min AudioCD

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 model performance with CDR AudioCDs is exactly the same as with the pressed CDs:

Maxell media-DAE results

Verdict of DAE Results

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 drive, as the previous model, has a DAE ripping speed limited to 13x max. For some people this might sound good, but we think the same as most people would: "We want more!" Let's hope that Sanyo will listen to us when building its next model ;) As the test shows there isn't any direct comparison to the two drives. The PX-W1210A keeps it's thrown as a DAE king and delivers 16.9x average DAE speed when the BP3 model is limited at 12.6x. All produced WAVs were free of clicks and pops so the drive will not let you down in DAE quality.


6. CDR Tests

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W - Page 6

CDR Tests

- Recorder properties: (Screenshot from Feurio v1.51)

Feurio Device Info

As we can see the Sanyo CRD-BP3 supports most current CDR/W writing modes except DAO RAW. We hope that soon Sanyo will add this long requested feature with a firmware upgrade. Of course the BP3, as all the latest Sanyo models, supports the BURN-Proof technology, which eliminates coasters and makes our burning life much easier.

Let's head over to the CDR tests now:

Procedure:
We tested the PX-W1210A with the latest software which supports it and with several media:

- Software used: Nero v5.0.1.3 /  Padus DJ v3.00.449 / CloneCD v2.7.2.4 / Feurio v1.51
- Media: Princo 74 & 80min / Ricoh Platinum 74 & 80min / Mitsui Gold& SG / TDK 74min / Verbatim74min / Plextor HS RW / DataBank 4x-8x RW

CDR-R Tests

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 arrived without any CDR software included so we used the latest Nero version in order to test it. As we said earlier the v5.0.1.3 supports the drive but not the overburning part. We got the latest version (5.0.1.8), which supports the drive also and adds Overburn support, but has a bug and limits RW writing speed to 8x only, so all tests were done with v5.0.1.3. Below you can see the results from a DataCD (72:40:46-639mb):

Nero v5.0.1.3 - DataCD (72:40:46-639mb)

Burning Speed

Total time (including lead-in and lead-out)

Average CPU usage

12x

6:38min

9.70%

8x

9:49min

6.80%

4x

19:23min

3.70%

If we compare the average CPU usage of the PleXWriter PX-W1210A and BP3 we will notice that BP3 model has much lower CPU usage (especially in 12x writing speed). This of course we expected since all SCSI devices use less resources than the IDE based drives.

Next we installed Nero v5.0.1.8 in order to test the Overburn capabilities of Sanyo BP3. For that propose we used Feurio 1.51 in order to determine how much Overburn space we could have from Ricoh 74 & 80min media. The tests results showed that we could Overburn with up to 75:31:51 and 81:09:23.

We prepared 2 data jobs (75:01:38 and 80:54:18) and we burned them. Sanyo CRD-BP3 finished both jobs with success. We also tested if the BP3 had any problem reading the oveburn CDs with CD Check utility. No problems here.We also tested Sanyo CRD-BP3 with 99min CDs..Using CD Speed 0.7 overburning test we saw that the drive can only overburn up to 81:19min using them. So forget using Sanyo CRD-BP3 with 99min CDs..

After that we made several AudioCDs (including CD-Text). All produced CDs tested with Plextor PX-40TS and Plextor's CD-Text compatible CD player and from what we saw, everything worked just fine. Padus DJ v3.00.705 supports the Sanyo CRD-BP3 with a generic driver but didn't recognized that the drive had CD-Text capabilities.

After contacting Padus we were able to enable CD-Text with a little tweak when we added the following lines:

[MMC Sanyo CRD-BP3]
FlagsMMC = 0000001Fh

in the Pfc.ini file. Note that Padus DJ v3.00.449 doesn't support SAO RAW (yet..) so you cannot use the BP3 in order to make your backups with it. Finally, the Sanyo BP3 worked fine with CloneCD v2.7.2.4 with the compatible SAO RAW mode.

BURN-Proof Tests

We tested if the BURN-Proof really works. How? Try doing the following tasks at the same time we you burn CDs:

1) Load tons of programs while burning. That should increase CPU utilization up to 100%
2) Stop the burn (just press Ctrl+Alt+Del for 10sec) and then unfreeze the PC. If the burning continues we are in a good way.
3) Test the quality of the produced CD. (Make an AudioCD and do step 2 from the 20%-30% total time. Then check the cd with CD Speed's CD quality mode).

As all previous Sanyo models the BP3 completed the above tasks without any problem. Let's hope that something will be done for coasters caused buy power failures as well ;)

Verdict of CDR Results

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 performed very good in all our tests. From making normal CDs, to overburning and writing AudioCDs (with CD-Text) with various media, we didn't encounter nor a problem with it. You can also forget 99min media since the drive simply cannot write above 81:19mins. BURN-Proof worked fine but... What would we love to see being added? What else than DAO RAW! All burns were done with over 38 degrees room temperature. Even the drive temperature was noticeable high, but writing many CDs in a raw didn't cause any problem (notice that the drive has no internal fan for cooling itself).


7. CDR-W Tests

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W - Page 7

CDR-W Tests

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 is the first Sanyo drive that supports 10xRW-writing speed. As most of you remember, the PX-W1210A also supports 10xRW writing speed, so we decided to de exactly the same tests as we did in the PX-W1210A review and compare both drives. Let's begin with:

- RW tests:

We used Nero 5.0.1.3 for writing CDs in 10x RW writing speed. Below are some results from various RW writing speeds:

Nero v5.0.1.3 - DataCD (73:40:71 - 648mbs)

Burning Speed

Total time (including lead-in and lead-out)

 Average CPU usage

10x

8:06 min

9%

8x

10:01 min

6.5%

4x

18:07 min

4.35%

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 worked fine with the only HS RW media we possessed (Plextor HS RW media) with various writing speeds. It also doesn't face any problems writing at normal 4x RW media (only at 4x of course).

- Erase Time

We used Padus DJ v3.00.449 for measuring the erase times for the Sanyo CRD-BP3 using HS RW media:

 

Writing speeds

10x

8x

4x

Quick Erase

0:41 min

0:39 min

0:42 min

Full Erase

5:31 min

8.39 min

19:25 min

The results we got also showed several differences in the erase time as in the case of Plextor PX-W1210A? Notice that sometimes drive halted after doing a full erase. We are not sure if that happened due to the media or due to a drive bug. When we receive more HS RW media we will retest the drive and post some updated results.

- Packet Writing

We installed PacketCD v3.00.209 and downloaded the latest driver pack (mmc2  v2.49). The updated driver worked and recognized Sanyo CRD-BP3. A new tab was added in the drive's properties, from which you can select reading and writing speeds for PacketCD formatted CDs.

The 10x writing selection was not selectable so we assumed that the default setting is for this writing speed. We left the defaults settings and we did for both HS RW and 4x RW media the following tests:

1) We tried to format the HS RW media. The test took 20:36min to complete (same time as with the PX-W1210A).
2) We tried a normal 4x RW media to format it. The format completed in 32:39mins (same time as with the PX-W120A).

The Sanyo CRD-BP3 was recognized from PacketCD formatter as "Generic SCSI3/ATAPI driver" however worked fine:

 

After the PacketCD format we had a CD with 530mbs free space (due to PacketCD format). We copied a file-sized 403mbs (403.1476kbs) from HD to the PacketCD formatted RW media using explorer drag and drop move. We used 2 RW media. One was the HS RW and the other one a standard 4x RW media in order to see the differences in the reading/writing speed:

File Size: 403147 kbs

Time

Average CPU Usage

Average Writing Speed

HS (4x-10x) media

348 secs

9%

6.80x

4x media

826 secs

2.56%

2.77x

The results are very close to the ones we got from the same test with the PX-W1210A. Again the 10xRW writing speed in Packet Writing seems to be a dream since the real average writing speed reaches 6.80x. However it is much faster than the previous packet writing speeds we had (2.77x).

Next, we tried to copy the same file to the HD using the Explorer drag and drop method. This was completed in 344sec (average reading speed 6.66x) for the HS RW media and in 820secs for the 4x RW media (average reading speed 2.79x). Here we have a difference from the PX-W1210A since it showed the same reading speeds for both HS and normal RW PacketCD formatted CDs. Erasing files from PacketCD formatted media took only a couple of seconds to complete.

Verdict of CDR-W Results

As we expected the drive worked great in most of the tests however we faced some problems. The drive locked up after every full erase task in both HS and normal RW media. We are not sure what caused it (maybe it was the media, maybe a drive bug...). Again the erase time for different writing speeds seems different (we noticed the same thing with the PX-W1210A). The drive's performance with PacketCD is the same, as with the PX-W1210A, it seems to be reading HS RW media faster and normal 4x RW media slower. Overall, the drive's performance with the new HS RW format was great!


8. Conclusion

Sanyo CRD-BP3 SCSI CDR-W - Page 8

Conclusion

Positive (+)

Negative (-)

- Burn Proof (anti-coaster) Technology!
- Supports HS RW (10xRW)
- Supports CD-Text
- Supports overburn
- Support most burn speeds (1x,2x,4x,8x,12x)
- Very good RW reading speed
- Solid 12x DAE speed
- Improved reading performance over previous Sanyo models
- All know burning method  (TAO,DAO,SAO,Packet Writing) support
- No problems with uncertified 12x Media

- No MMC DAO Raw writing
- DAE speed could be faster...
- Drive halted after every full erase
- Not enough overburn for using 99mins CDs

Sanyo this time added the new HS RW recording standard and improved some specific features over the previous models. Having a drive, which is capable of 10xRW writing, is a strong weapons for the people who use it RW for backuping their important files. We guess that when 10xRW media also starts coming out (Ricoh will start selling 10x RW media from this coming September) things will be easier for users. As you saw, even though the PX-W1210A and BP3 share some basic components, the final products are quite distinct.

The Sanyo BP3 performed better than the previous BP2 and BP900P models. It has much lower seek times and much higher RW reading speed (24x average). The DAE performance is again locked to 13x max and this is be a point, which Sanyo should consider improving at their next models. Also the CloneCD reading performance seems improved and manages to beat PX-W1210A when reading LaserLock protected CDs. Overall we could say that this drive is the best Sanyo drive ever tested, with important improvements over the previous models?  (BP2 and BP900P).

You should know that Sanyo doesn't sell their drives on retail, so you will probably meet the drive with another brand name (Iomega, IODATA, Logitec, Lacie). Finally, be prepared for a full roundup of the coming Ricoh and Teac 12/10/32, the BP3 and PX-W1210A in the near future ;)



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