BenQ DW1600A DL Recorder - Page 23

Conclusion

The DW1600A DL is the first recorder that introduces 16X DVD recording, taking the recording capabilities to their limits. Over-speed burning technology is something that end users will enjoy, as media can be recorded at a higher speed than the media's supported writing speed. Considering the cost of 16X DVD+R discs, and the availability of these discs, it is a clever approach by BenQ. Burning quality is a headache at these speeds, but the High-Speed Signal Algorithm shows its teeth, producing good quality burns at 16X. Overburning is not supported with DVD+R media, along with reading of DVD-RAM media.

When it comes to ripping capabilities, the DW1600A's performance is not as good as other drives on sale. However, ripping speed might be increased with future firmware releases. And end users should remember that it still is a fast drive for ripping.

CD error correction tests showed that the DW1600A is one of the best in this category. No major problems were reported with the Abex series test discs. In DVD error correction tests, again with Abex series test discs, the drive gave no errors at all when discs with artificial black dots, scratches and defective areas were used. An excellent performance from BenQ's drive.

Copy protection discs is one of the weak points of this drive. Although reading tests with these types of discs were completed successfully, reading process of SafeDisc protected discs took a long time to complete. The DW1600A DL is not a suitable drive for copying SafeDisc protected discs. Only some versions of Safedisc protection could be overcome, and only when the DW1600A was used as a reader. On the other hand, audio protected discs were no problem for the DW1600A, and perfect copies were created as if there was no protection at all.

The BenQ DW1600A DL supports up to 40X CD-R writing speed, which is not the fastest speed available, but still fast enough. Overburning is supported (up to 99min). When writing CD-RW media at 16X with various media, the drive kept on failing at 81%. We were happy to see that this problem was resolved with a simple firmware update. When the new firmware was installed, 16X CD-RW burning was no problem for this drive.

Writing quality of CD-R/RW discs was rather good, with low jitter values and low C1/C2 error rates. However, Traxdata 52X media could only be recorded at 16X, an issue that should be sorted in the next firmware release.

As a last word we list the positive/negative points of the drive.

- The Good

• Currently, fastest DVD recorder (16X)
• Supports DVD+R Double Layer media writing at 2.4X
• Supports BookType setting for DVD+R/RW media and Double Layer media
• Over-speed burning (media can be recorded in higher speed than the media's supported writing speed)
• Supports overburning with CD-R/RW media
• Very good DVD writing quality, with 16X certified media
• Fast DVD reader & very good CD/DVD error correction
• Can read/measure DVD+R DL discs (DVD-ROM Booktype)
• Supports protected Audio discs (CDS200, Key2Audio)

- The Bad

• Does not support DVD-R/RW media (will be sorted in a future firmware release)
• Only 2MB buffer size
• Does not support overburning with DVD+R/RW media
• Cannot backup copy protected games with most versions of SafeDisc protection
• Doesn't support reading of DVD-RAM media
• Doesn't support C2 error information

- Like To be fixed

• Burning quality at 16X with DVD+R media
• C2 errors with certain media at 40X