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Appeared on: Monday, June 28, 2004
Philips DVDRW885K DL


1. Installation - Retail Package

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 1

Philips was the first manufacturer to develop DL recording, in cooperation with Mitsubishi Chemicals. The brand new recorder from Philips supporting this feature is the DVDRW885K. The recording speed for this format is up to 2.4X. The drive also supports DVD+R/RW recording with speeds at 8X and 4X respectively. In the CD category, the drive offers 24X for CD-R and 16X for CD-RW media.

Below are summarized the drive's features according to Philips:

Seamless Link was initially introduced by Acer CM (now BenQ). This technology allows a CD-RW/DVD+RW drive to automatically monitor the recording status to prevent buffer under run from occurring.

Seamless Link allows the CD-RW drive to store the RecEnd address, the point in the data to which the recording mechanism has progressed, and pause the recording before a buffer under run occurs. When the buffer is again full, a Seamless Link-enabled drive locates the RecEnd address and resumes the recording process. The gap between the stop and restart point is closed, while managing the recording process precisely and transparently-eliminating under run errors while maintaining recording accuracy.

Dynamic Calibration

To ensure optimal writing quality over the entire disc at higher writing speeds, Philips has introduced the Walking OPC algorithm. WOPC directly measures and optimizes the actual writing quality during the writing process.

At certain intervals, the writing process will be briefly interrupted, the writing quality directly evaluated and the writing power adjusted accordingly, if required. The Philips DVD+R/RW writers use a more dynamic implementation based on position on the disc and temperature inside the drive. The graph below shows the writing graph of the Philips 8x DVD+R/RW on a Philips 8x DVD+R disc.

In addition, Philips Dynamic Calibration includes a tilt calibration feature. The best reading and writing quality can be obtained if the angle between the disc and the laser beam is 90 degrees. However, if the disc is warped, the laser beam will no longer be correctly positioned which will cause a distortion of the laser spot which will result in decreased writing quality if it is not corrected.

The tilt calibration will reposition the Optical Pickup Unit (OPU) to maintain a 90-degree angle between the laser beam and the disc surface at all times ensuring an optimal spot shape, even on warped discs. The frequency of the tilt calibration depends only on the position on the disc according to a non-linear function. Near the end of the disc the risk for warping is higher so the frequency of the tilt calibration will increase accordingly. As with WOPC, the writing process will be briefly interrupted, the tilt measured and the OPU repositioned if required.

Walking OPC and Tilt Calibration together form the Dynamic Calibration. Although they act independently from each other, some effort is taken to synchronize the Tilt Calibrations with the disc position dependent component of Walking OPC.

- Specifications

 
Interface
ATAPI / E-IDE
Buffer Size
2 MB
Recording format UDF and ISO 9660
Access Time
120ms on CD, 140ms on DVD
Write Speed
8x on DVD+R, 2.4x on DVD+R DL, 4x on DVD-R, 24x on CD-R
Rewrite Speed 4x on DVD+RW, 2x on DVD-RW, 10x on CD-RW
Read Speed
12x on DVD-ROM, 7x on DVD+R DL, 7x on DVD+R, 7x on DVD+RW, 7x on DVD-R, 7x on DVD-RW, 40x on CD-R, 32x on CD-RW
Supported Formats

8cm discs, CD-Audio, CD-Bridge, CD-Extra, CD-I, CD-Recordable, CD-Rewritable, CD-ROM, CD-Text, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-ROM, DVD/R, DVD/RW, Photo CD

Writing mode
Disc at once (DAO), Fixed packet, Multi Session (MS), Over-burn writing, Packet writing, Raw mode burning, Session at once (SAO), Track at once (TAO),Variable packet
Support OS
Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP
Dimensions
20x15x4 cm (LxWxH)
Weight
0.95 Kg
Support both 8 cm and 12 cm disc of CD and DVD family
 

More information about the drive in the following screenshots from Nero Info Tool and DVD Info Pro:

- Retail package

Below is given the retail packages with all the appropriate inclusions. You can see written on the box, the capacity of 8.5GB.

The specific DL media is from Mitsubishi Chemicals.

- The drive

The DL logo on the upper left makes the difference.

Removing the screws and opening the drive's cover voids the drive's warranty. For reference reasons, we post the following pictures.

Click to enlarge

Nexperia

The main chipset comes from the NEXPERIA series.

- Installation

The Philips drive was connected to our test PC and was identified as "PHILIPS DVDR885P" under WinXP. All tests were done with firmware P0.6.

In the following pages we have the results of the Philips DVDRW885K in comparison with the previous Philips model, the DVDRW824P.


2. Data CD Reading Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 2

Data CD Reading Tests

In order to test the reading performance of the Philips drive, we used the latest version of NeroCDSpeed and different types of media according to the test.
- Pressed CD results (Click for CDSpeed results)

- CD-R Media results (Click for CDSpeed results)

- ReWritable Media (Click for CDSpeed results)

To check the reading performance of the Philips with HS-RW media, we used NeroCDSpeed and a HSRW disc from Mitsubishi Chemicals.

The performance of the two drives is almost identical.


3. Error Correction Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 3

Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we check the drive's behavior when reading scratched / defective audio discs. The test discs used were the ABEX series from ALMEDIO.

- ABEX TCD-721R

Errors total
Num: 1062767
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)
Num: 52449
Avg: -73.7dB(A)
Max:-11.5 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples
Num: 3106
Avg: 1.8 Samples
Max: 1140 Samples
Skips Samples
Num: 0
Avg: 0 Samples
Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result
76.2 points (out of 100.0 maximum)

Although the overall score for the Philips drive is not the best we have seen, the score of 76.2 points was quite acceptable, the 721R test disc being a difficult disc to read. During the error correction test, the software reported 1062767 total errors, which is about average. An average number of 1.8 samples were muted while no samples were skipped, meaning that the drive managed to process all errors.

- ABEX TCD-726

 

 

 

Errors total
Num: 0
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)
Num: 4
Avg: -94.0dB(A)
Max: -87.6 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples
Num: 0
Avg: 0 Samples
Max: 0 Samples
Skips Samples
Num: 1
Avg: 185.0 Samples
Max: 185 Samples
Total Test Result
83.6 points (out of 100.0 maximum)

This test disc is usually a lot easier for drives to read and as such the final score awarded is much higher than that from the previous test disc. While the score of 83.6 is good, the better drives normally manage a perfect score of 100.

- CD-Check Audio Test Disc

The CD-Check Test Disc is a very useful tool for evaluating the Sound Reproduction / Error correction capabilities of a CD player. The disc offers a signal combination with disc error patterns to rate the drive's reading music abilities and reproduce it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a progressively difficult sequence. These tracks are referred to as Check Level-1 through Check Level-5.

The tracks are reproduced (played) through a software multimedia player (i.e. Winamp, PowerDVD, Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone coming out from the speakers is clear and continuous without interruptions, skipping or looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction of the drive.

Error Level
1
2
3
4
5
Philips DVDRW885K
5/5
5/5
5/5
5/5
0/5

Inspite of the fact that the drive didn't manage to play the fifth track, it performed well. Note that the fifth track is very difficult for all but the best of drives to play, while most drives can't even read the fourth track.

- Summary

Test Disc
Reading Speed
Score
ABEX TCD-721R
Max
76.2
ABEX TCD-726
83.6
Average Score
79.9

The overall average score for the Philips DVDRW885K is 79.9 points out of 100.


4. DVD reading tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 4

DVD reading tests

- Single Layer DVD-ROM (Click for CDSpeed results)

To check the reading performance of the Philips drive with single layer DVD-ROM, we used NeroCDSpeed and the 820A test disc from Abex.

- Dual Layer PTP DVD-ROM (Click for CDSpeed results)

The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially, with the drive starting the read process from the inner tracks on the disc, where lies the beginning of each layer and progressing outwards towards to the outer tracks for each layer. The tools for this test are Nero CDSpeed and the Abex 840 test disc.

- Dual Layer OTP DVD-ROM

The first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way as the first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously. The difference here is the reading strategy of the second layer on the disc. The beginning of the second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading from the outer tracks inwards towards the inner tracks of the disc.

Click for CDSpeed results

- DVD Ripping Tests

We measured the DVD-Video ripping speed for the Philips drive using the latest version of DVD Decrypter. The DVD Video title is the "Matrix" pressed DVD-Video.

You will notice that with ripping, there has been some improvment in speed since the DVDR824P.

- DVD Recordable / Rewritable reading Tests

The chart below shows the Nero CDSpeed average reading speed results for the following formats with media from Mitsubishi Chemicals:

The performance in all tests is almost identical with both drives.


5. DVD Error Correction Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 5

DVD Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we examined the DVD reading capabilities of the Philips drive with scratched / defective DVD media. For the tests we used CDVD Benchmark and Nero CDSpeed. The reference test media come from ALMEDIO.

- Single Layer media
ABEX TDR-821

This is a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with a 4.7GB capacity, and its surface has an artificial scratch of dimensions varying from 0.4 to 3.0 mm. The following transfer rate picture comes from the CDVD Benchmark v1.21 transfer rate test.

ABEX TDR-825

This is also a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with 4.7GB capacity. The data structure of the disc is exactly the same as that of the TDR-821, with the difference that there are no scratches on the surface and instead defective areas ranging in dimensions from 0.5 to 1.1 mm. There are also fingerprints with height between 65 and 75 micrometers.

 

 

- Dual Layer media
ABEX TDR-841

This is an 8.5GB dual layer, single sided DVD-ROM disc with artificial scratches of dimensions ranging from 0.4 to 3.0mm, on both layers.

 

 

 

 

ABEX TDR-845

This disc is a single sided, dual layer DVD-Rom disc with capacity of 8.5GB. The only difference between the TDR-845 and the TDR-841 is that the first includes both defective areas and fingerprints. The dimensions of the defective areas range from 0.5 to 1.1 mm and the fingerprints have height sized from 65 to 75 microns (micrometres).

 

 

ABEX TDV-541

The TDV-541 is a single sided, dual layer DVD-VIDEO disc, with a capacity of 8.5GB.The disc is based on the TDV-540 series which is designed for inspection and adjustment of DVD-VIDEO players. The disc checks the layer switch operation from layer 0 to layer 1 and also includes test pictures and test signals for DVD sound files. The current TDV-541 also checks the error correcting capabilities of the drive and includes scratches sized from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.

Click for CDSpeed results

ABEX TDV-545

The TDV-545 disc is based on the TDV-540 series. It is a single sided, dual layer Video/S-2 disc with a capacity of 8.5GB. The TDV-545 includes artificial black dots on the disc's surface, sized from 0.4 to 1.0 mm. It also has 65 - 75 micrometres high fingerprints.

 

.

Click for CDSpeed results

In all tests the Philips drive managed to read the contents successfully without reporting any read errors. Only in the case of the TDR-825 test disc, the drive slowed down for a while in order to read the disc.


6. Protected Disc Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 6

Protected Disc Tests
- Reading Tests

To create an image of the various protected titles onto a hard disk, we used Alcohol 120% and the appropriate settings, depending on the protection type of the inserted discs. Below are summarized the capabilities of the Philips drive, according to CloneCD software. The summary below shows that the drive supports writing of CD+G under RAW DAO:

The game titles we used to test the reading speed for each protection scheme are given in the table below:

Game Title
Protection Scheme
PSX "NBA Jam Extreme"
Lybcrypt
Serious Sam The Second Encounter v1.07
SafeDisc v.2.60.052
VRally II
SecuROM v.2
PSX Pressed Media

SafeDisc v.2

SecuROM v.2

 

- Writing Tests

The Philips drive drive supports the DAO-RAW writing mode. For checking the drive's EFM correction status, we used 3 different game titles with different SafeDisc versions. After making the image files of the various titles to the hard disk, we burnt them (maximum speed) with Alcohol 120%. Two different discs were created for each title; one with the "Bypass EFM error" enabled and one more with the function disabled.

The table below shows the results of the attempted backups and whether they worked (game installed / played normally), or not.
Drive
SD v3.1
SD v2.9
SD v2.8
SD v2.60.052
SD v2.51.020
EFM OFF
EFM ON
EFM OFF
EFM ON
EFM OFF
EFM ON
EFM OFF
EFM ON
EFM OFF
EFM ON
Toshiba
SD-M1502
No
Yes
Creative CD5233E

Philips DVDRW885K

This recorder is designed for Double Layer recording and not for game backups. The results confirm this.


7. DAE Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 7

DAE Tests

- Pressed and CDR AudioCD results

The Philips DVDRW885K supports 40x maximum reading DAE speed with CAV reading strategy.

Nero CDSpeed shows that the drive surpassed the specifications. The test finished with a maximum DAE speed of 42.8x plus very good seek times.

Click for CDSpeed results

To test the ripping speed of the DVDRW885K, we ripped the contents of the same audio disc to our hard disk, using the CDDAE software. For CD-R media we used a clone of the pressed disc.

The ripping speed seems to be faster with the older drive.

- Support of 90/99mins AudioCDs

The Philips drive managed to rip the contents of our 90/99min test discs successfully.

- Reading/Ripping Protected AudioCDs

For this test procedure, we used two audio discs with different audio protection schemes. We tested for both recognition and ripping to the hard disk. The software used was Exact Audio Copy.

* Pressed Audio disc protected by Sony Key2Audio (Celine Dion - New Day Has Come)

* Pressed Audio disc protected by Cactus Data Shield 200 (Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island)

Key2Audio
CDS200
EAC
Philips DVDRW885K
OK
OK
Philips DVDRW824P
OK
OK with some problems

The DVDRW885K model managed to playback and rip the contents of both protected audio discs without problems, while the DVDR824P had problems with CDS200 files during playback where it produced muting and skip errors.

CDS 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a
Philips DVDRW885K
OK

8. CD Recording Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 8

CD Recording Tests

- CD-R Writing Tests

To test the writing speed and writing method of the drive we used a blank 80min CD-R disc from BenQ and NeroCDSpeed to emulate the writing process.

The writing emulation process confirmed the 24x maximum writing speed of the Philips drive. DVDRW885K used P-CAV writing strategy while the reported average speed was 23.50X. The process started at 18.24X and the speed increased until the 14min mark, after which and up until the end of the writing process the speed was constant at ~24X.

Click for CDSpeed results

- Recording Times

We created an 80min data compilation with Nero Burning Rom and recorded it on a 700MB disc.

- CD-RW Writing Tests

To test the writing speed and writing method of the drive we used a blank 74min CD-RW disc from Mitsubishi Chemicals and Nero CDSpeed to emulate the writing process.

The disc was written with an end speed of 10.14x while the average reported speed was only 9.95X . The RW media was written with CLV.

Click for CDSpeed results

Below we provide a comparison of the two drives where we used Nero Burning Rom software to burn a 651MB data compilation onto 24x US-RW media from MC.

Both drives have the same specifications for CD recording.

CD Overburning
-80min

- 99min

The Philips drive supports overburning for the CD.


9. Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 9

Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests

The Philips DVDRW885K supports a maximum writing speed of 24x and uses P-CAV writing strategy for the writing tasks. Since this supported writing speed could be considered as a safe writing speed, we expect to see quality results.

- 3T Pit results

The CD recording quality for the Philips drive, according to our measurements, is very good in all cases except with Traxdata media which revealed the highest jitter values among all media. The average levels are lower than the 35ns RedBook limit, except for Traxdata which is only a little higher. The average values are given below.

- 3T Land results

As with the Jitter Pit levels, we come to the same conclusions with the Jitter Land values, with Traxdata media displaying the highest readings.

Recording Speed
Average 3T Pit Jitter (ns)
Average 3T Land Jitter (ns)
> 35ns
Max 3T jitter values (ns)
Traxdata 52X
35.71
37.80
Yes
38 Pit, 42 Land
MMore 52X
30.12
31.10
Yes
33 Pit, 36 Land
BenQ 48X
28.59
30.41
No
30 Pit, 34 Land
Mam 52X
29.41
29.54
No
31 Pit, 31 Land
Maxell 48X
31.34
30.61
No
34 Pit, 33 Land

The CD recording quality is very good for the drive as we expected. A future firmware upgrade will probably include Traxdata media as well.


10. C1 / C2 Error Measurements

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 10

Writing Quality Tests - C1 / C2 Error Measurements

The C1 / C2 error rate was measured for the recorded discs, burned during the previous writing tests (jitter). The software used was Plextools v2.12 and the reader is the Plextor Premium drive.

MEDIA
C1
C2
CU
Traxdata
Avg/Sec
2.2
0
0
Max/Sec
37.0
28.0
0
Total
10770.0
105.0
0
BenQ
Avg/Sec
2.3
0
0
Max/Sec
24.0
0
0
Total
11214.0
0
0
Maxell
Avg/Sec
2.4
0
0
Max/Sec
114.0
42
0
Total
11681.0
65
0
MMore
Avg/Sec
2.3
0
0
Max/Sec
37.0
2.0
0
Total
11222.0
2.0
0
Mam
Avg/Sec
0.6
0
0
Max/Sec
29.0
0
0
Total
3033.0
0
0

Disc
ID Code
Traxdata 52X
Ritek 97n15s17f
Benq 48X
Acer 97m22s67f
Maxell XL-S 48x
Ritek 97m15s17f
MMore 52X
unknown 97m17s06f
Mam Golden Dye52X
Mitsui Chemicals 97m27s58f

Once again, according to Plextools, the recording quality is rather good. The C1 levels are low and there was only one case of C2 error, this with Traxdata media.


11. DVD Recording Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 11

DVD Recording Tests

- Writing Performance

The new Philips DVDRW885K supports, as we had expected, only DVD+R/RW writing. The new feature here is the DL recording ability.

2.4X DVD+R DL

8X DVD+R

Nero CDSpeed confirmed the 8x maximum writing speed. The process started at 4.90x and finished at 8.02x resulting in an average speed of 7.43x. The writing strategy of the drive for the plus writable format was Z-CLV and NeroCDSpeed confirmed the smart writing control as shown on the screenshot below.

Click for CDSpeed results

The spikes on the transfer graph are as a result of the Walking Optimal Power Calibration (WOPC) feature. Burning power is dynamically adjusted to ensure the writing quality throughout the whole burning process.

4X DVD+RW

For +RW media, the supported writing speed is 4x. That speed was confirmed by Nero CDSpeed after the end of the writing emulation. The test started at 4.04x and finished with an end speed of 4.04x while the reported average speed was 3.96x (due to the negative spikes caused by the smart writing control).

Click for CDSpeed results

- Burning Tests

The following graphs show the maximum writing speed of the three devices with all available DVD writable and rewritable media.

With the plus writable and rewritable formats, the three devices support the same maximum writing speeds, 8x and 4x respectively. The graph shows that the Philips DVDRW885K was the fastest on +R writing at 8:11min. With the minus format, the supported speed of the Philips drive is only 4x and therefore the drive finished the writing task in just under double the time compared to the other two drives.

Media
Code
Speed
Philips DVD+R DL
MKM 001
2.4X
CMC 8x DVD+R
CMC MAG E01
8X
Philips 8x DVD+R
PHILIPS C08
8X
Traxdata 8 x DVD+R
RITEKR03
8X
Traxdata 4x DVD+R
RICOHJPNR01
8X
BenQ 4x DVD+-R
DAXONAZ1
8X
MCC 4x DVD+R
MCC 002
8X
MMore 4x DVD+R
MBIPG101
4X
MKM 4x DVD+RW
MKM A02
4X
Traxdata 4x DVD+RW
RICOHJPNW11
4X
DVD Overburning

The Philips drive failed Nero's overburning test.


12. KProbe PI/PIF quality results

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 12

KProbe PI/PIF quality results

The following screenshots show the PI/PIF scans for various DVD-/+R and DVD-/+RW media, recorded with the Philips drive at the maximum permitted speed.

The software used for the measurements was KProbe v2.1.0, the ECC was set to 8 and the reading at 8x, with the LiteOn LDW-811s as the reader. The specific methodology is very dependent on the drive used as a reader, while the reliability of the PI/PIF provided output is also not technically confirmed. Hence, we cannot safely come up with conclusive results, although we do make a comparison of the drive behavior when using various DVD recordable/rewritable media.

The recordable discs we used came from Traxdata, CMC, Philips, Mitsubishi Chemicals , BenQ and MMore. Further details about each disc type are presented at the bottom of this page.

Servo error reported.

Servro error reported.

Servo error reported.

Servo error reported.

In this case, Kprobe reported servo error at the end of the disc. We tried twice to burn the media but both times the same message was produced. Both recorded media were brand new.

Media
Code
Time
CMC 8x DVD+R
CMC MAG E01
8:11
Philips 8x DVD+R
PHILIPS C08
7:58
Traxdata 8 x DVD+R
RITEKR03
7:59
Traxdata 4x DVD+R
RICOHJPNR01
8:09
BenQ 4x DVD+-R
DAXONAZ1
8:07
Plextor 8x DVD+R
YUDEN000T02
7:59
MCC 4x DVD+R
MCC 002
9:58
MMore 4x DVD+R
MBIPG101
14:41
3A 4x DVD+R
Plasmon1C01
7:52
Maxell 4x DVD+RW
PHILIPS041
14:27
MKM 4x DVD+RW
MKM A02
14:31
Traxdata 4x DVD+RW
RICOHJPNW11
14:29
CMC 4x DVD+RW
CMC MAG W02
14:31

Kprobe reported quite acceptable PI/PIF mesurements for almost all written media with the Philips writer. However there were a few cases with increased PI/PIF values and one with error. As for the servo errors with DVD+RW media, it is not a problem of the Philips drive but probably a bug from Kprobe.


13. KProbe PI/PIF quality results for DL

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 13

KProbe PI/PIF quality results for DL

In order to examine the Double Layer recording quality of the Philips DVDRW885K drive, we first measured the original pressed movie, using as a reader this time the LiteOn SOHD-167T.

DVD Pressed movie

Philips 2.4X DVD+R DL (Booktype DVD-ROM)

As was expected, the difference between our pressed movie and the copied is the quality of the second Layer. For the first Layer, the writng quality is the same as with the pressed disc. In the second Layer, the PI/PIF levels are slightly increased. The recording quality is very good.


14. Booktype Feature

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 14

Booktype Feature

The BenQ Book Type Management program allows you to freely choose between DVD+RW or DVD+R media to be written as DVD-Rom book type, the most recongnizable format for DVD players.

The drive is set by default to DVD-ROM for highest compatibility. It is not recommented to set it at DVD+R.


15. 885K vs. SA300 - Page 1

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 15

885K vs. SA300 - Page 1

For checking exactly what the DVDRW885K reports with CDSpeed Quality Test, we used three different media, burned on other recorders. Each media was then measured with the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system at 1X.

The Philips drive supports only PI and Jitter. We will compare our CDSpeed Quality Test results at the following reading speeds against the CATS system measurements :

Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested DVDRW885K drive. Notice that using other 885K drives can produce totally different results.

#1st Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 8X Reading speed

The PI error rate trend line follows closely the SA300's, however with totally different value levels. Notice that although the speed was set at 8X, the reading was done at 2X. The Jitter levels similarly, also follow closely the SA300 output.

#1st Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 6X Reading speed

Here too, while the speed was set at 6X, the reading process was carried out at 2X. The trend is again the same only the values are at a different level.

#1st Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 4X Reading speed

Reading was set at 4X, however it was carried out at 1X. Once again we notice the same pattern as previously.

The results for the Philips drive are all similar. The trend in each case, follows the SA300 for both Jitter and PI, but the values are at completely different levels, especially for the PI measurments.


16. 885K vs. SA300 - Page 2

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 16

885K vs. SA300 - Page 2

For checking exactly what the DVDRW885K reports with CDSpeed Quality Test, we used three different media, burned on other recorders. Each media was then measured with the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system at 1X.

The Philips drive supports only PI and Jitter. We will compare our CDSpeed Quality Test results at the following reading speeds against the CATS system measurements :

Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested DVDRW885K drive. Notice that using other 885K drives can produce totally different results.

#2nd Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 8X Reading speed

The actual reading speed was 2X.

#2nd Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 6X Reading speed

The real speed was 2X here too.

#2nd Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 4X Reading speed

And once again the real speed was at 2X.

In all cases, neither the results, nor the trends are similar to those of the CATS.


17. 885K vs. SA300 - Page 3

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 17

885K vs. SA300 - Page 3

For checking exactly what the DVDRW885K reports with CDSpeed Quality Test, we used three different media, burned on other recorders. Each media was then measured with the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system at 1X.

The Philips drive supports only PI and Jitter. We will compare our CDSpeed Quality Test results at the following reading speeds against the CATS system measurements :

Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested DVDRW885K drive. Notice that using other 885K drives can produce totally different results.

#3rd Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 8X Reading speed

At the 8X reading speed, the drive reported a rather close PI/PIF error trend line to what the SA300 system measured. Of course, the values are not the same but nonetheless we can say it was a good performance.

#3rd Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 6X Reading speed

#3rd Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 4X Reading speed

This time the Jitter levels are increased in comparison with the previous two reading speeds. The true reading speed proved to be aproximately 1~2X.

The results from Plextools approaches the trend seen in the CATS graph, but once again the values are different. As for the Jitter, only in the last case does it seem to have similar values with the CATS results. Apart from this, the trend is the same for all speeds.


18. 885K vs. SA300 - Page 4

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 18

885K vs. SA300 - Page 4

For checking exactly what the DVDRW885K reports with CDSpeed Quality Test, we used three different media, burned on other recorders. Each media was then measured with the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system at 1X.

Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested DVDRW885K drive. Notice that using other 885K drives can produce totally different results.

#4th Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 8X Reading speed

The difference beetween CDSpeed's results and those of CATS are again different. The trend is almost the same but the values are over two times up for the Philips drive. Things are slightly better with Jitter comparison. The differences beetween the values are small, while the trend is very similar. Even when we set the reading speed for the Philips drive to 8X, the test was carried out at aproximately 2X.

#4th Test Disc - PISum8Comparison - 6X Reading speed

Once again the true reading speed with the Philips drive was 2X, instead of 6X. The same is happening here as with 8X, with both the Jitter and PI graphs.

#4th Test Disc - PISum8 Comparison - 4X Reading speed

Instead of the 4X reading speed that we set, the test was done at 1X.


19. DL Compatibility Tests

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 19

DL Compatibility Tests

For our compatibility tests, we used the two burned DVD+R DL discs with DVD-Video content ("Gladiator Movie - Special Edition" Disc1), PowerDVD v5.0 and Windows Media Classic.

We played our DL media at all supported reading speeds on the following drives.The results are shown below:

Drive
Firmware
DVD-ROM Booktype
LiteOn SOHW-812S
vUSOJ
Playback is perfect
LiteOn LDW-811S
vHS0Q
Playback is perfect
LiteOn SOHC-5232K
vNK07
Playback is perfect
Panasonic LDF-511
vA112
Playback is perfect
Philips DVDR824P
vP1.2
Not recognized
Pioneer DCR-111
v1.26
Playback is perfect
Pioneer A06
v1.07
Playback is perfect
BenQ DW822A
vB3HC
Not recognized
Samsung SH-W08A
v1S30
Not recognized
Plextor PX-712A
v1.01
Playback is perfect
Pioneer A07
v1.12
Not recognized
Optorite DD405
v1.50E
Playback is perfect
Optorite DD203
v2.25
Playback is perfect
Ricoh MP5125A
v1.27
Playback is perfect
Ricoh 5308D
v1.B2
Playback is perfect
NEC 2500A
v1.07 official
Playback is perfect
LiteOn LTD-163D
vGH5S
Playback is perfect
LiteOn LTD-165H
vCH11
Playback is perfect
Pioneer DVD-500M
v1.02
Not recognized, drive makes noises
Pioneer DVD-106S/2
v1.22
Playback is perfect
Pioneer DVD-116/S2
v1.22
Playback is perfect
Toshiba SD-1502
v1012
Playback is perfect
Toshiba SD-1612
v1004
Playback is perfect
Toshiba SD-1712
v1004
Playback is perfect
Toshiba SD-1802
v1034
Playback is perfect
TEAC DV-516E
v2.01
Not recognized
BTC BDV-316B
v0.47
Playback is perfect
Ricoh MP5308D
v.1.B2
Playback is perfect

From 28 drives that are capable of reading DVD media, we had the following results:

DVD+R DL
(DVD-ROM BookType)
Perfect Playback
22
Medium/Low/No Playback
-
Not recognized at all
6

In addition, we tested with some standalone DVD players:

Player
(DVD-ROM BookType
PS2
SCPH-5004 series
Playback is perfect
Waitec DVD-X4
Disc recognized, playback is jerky
Waitec Vision-HR
Disc recognized, playback is jerky
LiteON LVW-5001
Playback is perfect
LiteON LVW-5005
Playback is perfect
Kiss DP-1504
Disc isn't recognized
Philips DVD-720SA
Playback is perfect
Philips DVD-763SA
Philips DVD-963SA
Pioneer DV-464
Pioneer DV-370
Pioneer DV-454
Pioneer DVR-7000
Pioneer DV-656A

The compatibility of DL media, burned with the Philips drive, is good. In almost all cases the media was playable.


20. Conclusion

Philips DVDRW885K Double Layer - Page 20

Conclusion

After finishing our review, we concluded that the drive's performance was rather good. As a CD reader, the DVDRW885K had high speeds and very good seek times in all modes. As for the CD error correction, it was acceptable but we would like it to be better.

In the DVD tests, once again the drive showed good reading speed and low seek times. With scratced DVD media, the drive's ability to read over the defective areas was very good, where in our tests, no errors were reported. There was only one case where the speed dropped in order to read a scratch sized up to 1.1mm. The ripping speed was also fast.

Game protections are still a problem for the Philips drive. SafeDisk protected games newer than v2.51 cannot be backed up with the drive. The ripping speed for all game types we tried was good although it could be better. However, we consider that this recorder is designed for Double Layer recording and not for games backups.

Both the Key2Audio and the CDS200 protection schemes were not a problem for the DVDRW885K drive. In addition, it managed to rip the contents of our 90/99min test discs successfully.

The CD recording quality is very good with all the media we tried. This was expected since the maximum supported 24X speed is not too high. But we would like better behavior with Traxdata media. So perhaps, in a future firmware release, this should be addressed.

As for the writing quality with the DVD media, it was good. However, there were some cases with specific media where the PI/PIF levels were increased. This is also something that we would like to see improved.

The drive is priced at about 129 euro.

- The Good

- The Bad

- Like to be fixed



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