Measuring the quality of a recorded disc is a delicate and complicated procedure. Physical characteristics of a disc and the HF signals which are the output of the photo diode sensor in the play-back head, are specified by the industry in the form of standards. These standards among other things, also set down maximum and minimum levels to ensure correct operation, and it is from these limits that we can then ascertain the condition of a disc.

In order to evaluate the quality of a recorded disc, you need to examine all these parameters. Any respectable measuring procedure should be consistent, and the measuring equipment should be accurate enough to maintain measuring consistency as well as reliability. Furthermore, a measurement should be repeatable over any number of samples and should be confirmed over an adequate amount of samples.

CDRInfo presents the results of a test that started a couple of months ago. We chose some of the most popular PC burners on the market, and used them to record a number of blank discs with different Media Identification (MID) codes.

The discs were examined for recording quality with DVD Analyzers provided by DaTARIUS. The DaTARIUS DaTABANK analyzer, an industry standard, assures consistent and reliable results.

In the following pages, you will find details regarding the testing procedure, equipment, and of course, the results themselves. The results have been presented in two formats. First, we show the behavior of each disc (MID) for each of the five burners. Then, the same results are presented, but this time the behavior of each recorder for each of the discs. Although the results are essentially the same, this dual presentation is provided so as to easily gauge the performance of a particular disc with all drives, or a particular drive with all discs.