Yesterday OfficeMax substituted a CenDyne 48x12x48 (it says so on the box) drive for it's Verbatim $9.95 48x12x48 deal. I was hoping the Verbatim or the CenDyne drive would turn out to be a Lite-On.

When I opened the box, the front of the burner said 48x24x48.
The model number on the burner was 4824P and the Part # on the box: CDICD00118

The CenDyne site lists only a Lite-On firmware upgrade for a 48x24x48 CDRW bearing CenDyne's name, but the Lite-On site shows the model number for its 48x24x48 drive to be LTR-48246S. Searching Google for 4824P I was taken to BenQAmerica and there I found a firmware upgrade for a 4824P CDRW.

Since I have not yet installed this drive (I have EZCD Creator 4.05 and I doubt that the software will recognize this burner - the Roxio site says NOT!!), I thought I'd come to the experts and see if anybody knows exactly what it is I bought for $9.95 after rebates.

I'd also be interested in knowing if this drive supports Mt. Rainier. I emailed CenDyne Tech about all of this and am waiting for a response, but I don't think they have a clue, and I really don't expect them to respond as they didn't manufacture the drive.
Thanks for reading -- more thanks for responding.

I bought the 4824p last week from OfficeMax - it's working ok so far. From what I've been able to read, you can do better, but you also can pay a lot more. If I could do it over again, I'd go to a store if it were local (very local!) and try to do a swap. But for casual use, it seems to be a fine component for the price.
Re the Mt. Rainier question - I don't think so.

(in reply to OakDale)

I got the CenDyne 4824P, too (not for myself though; later on, I'll pass it to a friend of mine living overseas). Did not get a chance to put it in PC yet.

As far as I can figure out, it is a BenQ make. Checking with CD Doctor (Lite-On make must be supported while the Acer/BenQ - not) will tell this for sure.

It is not clear for me yet if the drive can be overclocked to 5224P.

Let's be in touch.

(in reply to OakDale)

Now I got a chance to install the drive and give it a check.

The initial firmware was D.IC. I've upgraded it to D.LC using the link http://global.benq.com/service/cdr/drivers2.htm .

What is noticeable first of all, the drive properties listed on the package are misleading:
1. Listed speed is 48x12x48 while actually it's 48x24x48.
2. Listed buffer size is 1984Mb while the Nero reports 2048Mb.
3. Listed part number is CDICD00118 which, by the data on CenDyne WEB site, has nothing to do with this drive (part # is unknown).

Nero Drive Speed is not able to determine and set the drive read speed. This is a minus but as far as I can see even at maximum speed the drive reads CDs pretty well.

Nero CD Speed showed quite impressive results in the Advanced DAE Quality test:
1. Quality score is 100%.
2. CPU usage is quite low (7% at 8x).
3. Seek times are very good. So is the average access time.
4. Laser stream is accurate.
5. Probably the only missing feature is capability to read the Lead-Out (maybe is not that big deal).

Also, the drive reports the Damaged Sectors (unlike the Yamaha F1) and C2 errors however the accuracy is yet not known to me.

It is interesting that before the firmware was upgraded (original is D.IC) the drive could not pass the Harmonica Read test!

With the FW = D.IC, the drive did not support CD+Graphycs (by the Nero Info Tool). Not anymore with the FW = D.LC.

The only common feature missing is the Mt. Rainier support. Well, at this time it's the least of my concerns.

I've written a music CD via on-the-fly copying at 32x (normally, I write music at no higher than 24x) using a so-so media (Circuit City brand, Prodisk make). Surprisingly, the quality was very good. Not only the drive reads it without any problems but also the CD Doctor C1/C2 errors check (via Sony CRX220E1 drive) gives excellent results on C1 errors and 0 of C2 errors. Yet the CD plays well.

The drive is very quiet and leaves a solid impression about its make.

Of course, at this time I don't have enough data for some comparisons (say, against my other burners) and many more tests would be needed. However, my first feeling about this drive is good, nothing to say.

(in reply to OakDale)

Thanks!!!
That was beyond what I was looking for.
Other than the lack of Mt. Rainier support it sounds like a pretty good deal for $10.

With regards to Mt. Rainier, in looking at which burner program I will be using (drive came with Nero Express and my current version of EZCD doesn't recognize the drive -- Nero site doesn't seem to list list ANY Benq drives) my research found that EZCD won't do a full Mt. Rainier format on Mt. Rainier drives so they can be read on ANY Windows machine. It will only do a quick format.
Ergo, it will probably be good to have this drive if I use EZCD as it will do a full format and then I can burn the Mt Rainier data in the Lite-On 52x24x52 that arrived yesterday.

Thanks again for the info. Going to upgrade the firmware now.
(still waiting to hear from CenDyne -- ha ha ha)

(in reply to OakDale)

I did some comparisons against my two other burners.

1. CPU usage is comparable with the Yamaha F1ZE but much better than the one of the Sony CRX220E1 (internally, it's the Lite-On 52246S).

2. Seek and access times are almost as good as the Sony's and much better than the Yamaha's.

3. It does not support C1/C2 error reporting via CD Doctor, like the Yamaha and unlike the Sony.

4. I was able to force the Nero Drive Speed to properly recognize and set the Read Speed and Spin Down Time for this drive.

5. I have a badly scratchy along the tracks audio CD to use for testing. The Sony and Yamaha drives have no problems of reading this CD. The Sony drive reports 10 damaged and 0 unreadable sectors on it (the Yamaha F1 does not report on damaged sectors).
The CenDyne 4824P drive, however, cannot accomplish reading of this CD in a real time regardless of read speeds I tried: 48, 40 and 8x. Not really a BenQ's achievement. If you don't have a good alternate reader (I have a nice DVD reader as well), that would be a problem.

My overal conclusion is that this drive is not the best burner on the market but, of course, is a good value for the money.
To me, it's gonna cost, after rebates, $15. (not $10.) because of taxes.

(in reply to OakDale)

Thanks again.
Reference your #4, I don't know what spin down time is, nor would I
know how to adjust it.

So, since it will be paired in the same machine with a Lite-On 54246S,
I should be OK -- at least till I start itching to work with DVD's.

And, you are right, it is $15 with the tax.

I will soon be getting a board with Dual Raid channels, so I will have plenty of IDE ports available for burners (not on raid) at that point. In the meantime, do you suggest that the two share the same EIDE Port with the Lite-On as the Master and the BenQ as the Slave (will probably do the bulk of the writing with the Lite-On and it will be nice to have the backup)?

BTW, as of this writing, Windows Device Manager reports this as:
ATAPI CD-RW 48X24
Is this what you show as well???

Thanks again.

(in reply to OakDale)

"Windows Device Manager reports this as: ATAPI CD-RW 48X24"

Yes. Here's what the BIOS says: CD-RW 4824. Now, in order to learn your FW version (D.LC), either use the Registry Editor or download the posted program from the BenQ WEB site. In Windows 98, you can learn this right in the Device Manager. Equally, any Nero's sub-program module provides you with this info.

"I will soon be getting a board with Dual Raid channels, so I will have plenty of IDE ports available for burners (not on raid) at that point. In the meantime, do you suggest that the two share the same EIDE Port with the Lite-On as the Master and the BenQ as the Slave (will probably do the bulk of the writing with the Lite-On and it will be nice to have the backup)?"

As for me, it does not make much sense to have two burners on the system (better, get a DVD drive in place of one). I'm going to present my extra CD-RW to a friend of mine.

"I don't know what spin down time is, nor would I know how to adjust it."

Here is the sequence of steps I could recommend you to take.

1. Make sure you have the latest version of the Nero package and install everything (but maybe InCD - it's up to you) from it if needed. Restart the PC and pay attention that the Windows shutdown, then bootup were without any issues.

2. Go to Start/Programs/Ahead Nero/Nero ToolKit. Three sub-program modules are listed here.

3. Firstly, invoke the Nero InfoTool. Beside the other drive's (not necessarily a burner) properties, it lists the read (and write) speeds supported by the drive as far as the Nero's database is concerned (this is why you'd like to have the latest version).

4. Either write down these values or keep the InfoTool running on the background - for the references.

5. Insert a data (not music!) CD (not a DVD!) in the drive you want to check. Close the AutoPlay dialog if it pops up.

6. Invoke the Nero Drive Speed module and point to the drive with the inserted data CD.

7. Click on OPTIONS tab, then on the DETECT tab. When the process finishes (in a few seconds), all the detected speeds are now listed.

8. Not necessarily the Drive Speed is able to properly find out all (and even any of) the supported speeds.

9. Check this list against what the InfoTool says. If the values match, it's highly likely you are all set.

10. If they do not match, add one by one the values from the InfoTool's list - this is the best you can do. Even if the drive is not actually able to honor the Drive Speed's read speed setting request, it will default to the down next possible, by its hardware and firmware, value.

11. One more possibility is to gather additional information in the matter about your drive from elsewhere, say forums or manufacturer sites. Again, this is the best you can do.

12. In general, you need to accumulate some experience with how the drive performs with these or those read (and write) speeds. It takes time but, I believe, is worth it at least because that does not cost you any special efforts.

13. As for the Spin Down time, its setting(s) for the drive is listed on the same screen of the Nero Drive Speed as the Read Speed's one. You need to read and understand the Help for this module to use the Spin Down time most effectively. Again, some experience with the drive is needed. However, let this be the least of your concerns.

Good luck!

(in reply to OakDale)

Thanks from me too! The education about cd-rw drives you provided (and from other posts in the forum) is worth the few bucks I paid (plus tax) for the 4824, so I guess I really did get it for free!

(in reply to OakDale)

No problems, it's my pleasure.

(in reply to OakDale)

After burning a couple of CD's, the drive refused to recognize and disks I inserted.

Took it back to Offixe Max and they exchanged it for a second drive of the same make and model (4824P).

Interestingly, when I opened the shrinkwrap I found that the seal on the box was broken.

The first thing I noticed that was different about this package was that it contained a Users Guide for Nero Express that was not in the previous package.

When I installed the drive I noticed that the green "drive light" remained on, and stayed on. So I tried to open the "drawer", but it would not open until, finally, I used the old "paper clip" trick and discovered that there was a disc in the drive (white top - dark blue burn side). That was definitely not in the previous package.

Burning (disc copy) from the 4824P to my Lite-On 52246S can be done at 52x, but burning from the Lite-On to the 4824P is done only at 24x. 5:32 for the Lite-On vs 8:11 for the 4824P. Used the Nero Express v 5.5.9.15D that was included with the 4824P. I'm wondering why, since the buffer size is the same and the 52x should read fast enough, the 48x would only record at 48x. In both cases I went from drive to drive without writing to the HDD. Setup has the 52x as the master and the 24x as the slave, both on Secondary IDE Bus.

Today's (Sunday) ad has the same drive at Office Max for $19.95 (after rebate, and before taxes), but is limited to stock items (they had 2 Saturday, but my trade left them with 1).

I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't just a batch of bad drives just being dumped through Office Max.
[?]

(in reply to OakDale)

Let me try this part again. It's getting late.

I'm wondering why, since the buffer size is the same and the 52x should read fast enough, the 48x would only record at 24x. In both cases I went from drive to drive without writing to the HDD. Setup has the 52x as the master and the 48x as the slave, both on Secondary IDE Bus.

I should note that the media is rated at 32x. Maybe that is a little more clear.

(in reply to OakDale)

Forgot to mention that, on the drive I returned, I made an attempt to flash the firmware upgrade with the file DLC.exe. The flash got as far as the "Transfer Data to Device" screen and then hung for about 2 hours. At that point, I closed the flash utility. It was subsequent to that that I had problems with the drive reading disks.

So, at this point the new(er) drive shows firmware D.lC, or D.IC and I am real nervous about flashing it. Actually the firmware shows as D.IC so I can't tell if that is supposed to be a capital I in a sanserif font or a lowercase l in a sanserif font, so I don't really know which version I am starting with. The drive was manufactured in January 2003.

Now for the question. Since it does seem to be working at this point, should I flash the firmware on this drive? Should the flash take, even if the firmware is already the D.LC version, or will it screw up the eprom if I try to flash it with what may well be the same firmware version?
[?]

(in reply to OakDale)

To OakDale:

1. When writing with the 4824P, is the Auto-Pilot (this is a speed control depending on the media used) enabled? If yes, there is nothing especial about 24x versus 52x by the Lite-On drive: it depends on how the BenQ's firmware treats the media. Indeed, why necessarily should it be the same with the Lite-On FW settings?!
Try disabling the Auto-Pilot - at your own risk.

1a. I've checked my SmartBuy CDR certified at 32x with the Auto-Pilot disabled and have written it at 48x. Well, the amount of data was only about 75 Mb. This warranties that because of the constant angular velocity, the actual writing speed is far from 48x. The result is a perfect CDR.

1b. If, however, the Auto-Pilot is enabled, the Nero does not allow me to choose anything speedier than 32x. So, you don't have this reason for complaints.

2. You do want to upgrade the FW to D.LC as it essentially improves the drive abilitites, as far as I could notice.

3. When flashing the drive, do you care about the environment? Is your system quite stable and free from potential software/hardware conflicts? Are there no any unnecessary programs running alongside the flash utility? Was the last Windows shutdown, then reboot, completely without any flaws?

3a. I wouldn't be surprized that you could kill, or at least damage, the drive with a flash in not that stable environment.

3b. It's funny, they substituted the drive with a used one. However, if it works well, I wouldn't mind.

(in reply to OakDale)

Hi all,

Just picked up two of the 4824P. I am hoping to figure out how to make them 5224P's in the near future. These units where at OfficeMax for 9.99 after rebates and before taxes. I found a D.RC firmware on the BenQ website and it seems to improve CD-R compatibility a little more than the D.LC I used first. If anyone has info on how to flash the 5224P firmware to the 4824P I would be willing to give it a try.
Thanks

(in reply to OakDale)

Just a quick feedback. Flashing the K.RC firmware to the 4824P was successful and now it is a 5224P and seems to work just fine. I have the K.RC binary if anyone needs it...

(in reply to OakDale)