- Writing Tests

We burned some DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs with data content. For this task we used "Create Data Disc" from Nero CDSpeed in order to fully burn the discs.

Mitsubishi Chemicals DVD+R DL 8X

The specific DL disc from Mitsubishi Chemicals is certified for 8X burning, one of the few if not the only one. Since it is new, most burners don't support it at 8X although the NEC drive does, which isn't unusual since the ND-4551A is also new.

According to the reported graph, the writing strategy is Z-CLV. The reported time of 19:43min is high. The drive starts the burning process at 4X and then speeds up to 6X. After 2.2Gb the NEC reached the maximum 8X which it doesn't maintain for long, no more than 1.8GB. Just before the layer change, it reduced seed back down to 6X and continue until the last 800MB which were burned at 4X.

Traxdata DVD+R DL 2.4X

The specific disc is certified for 2.4X writing and this is the speed that the NEC drive will burn it at. According to CDSpeed, the selected writing strategy was CLV.

Mitsubishi Chemicals DVD-R DL 4X

This disc, according to the manufacturer, is certified for 4X recording but the ND-4551A will burn it at 6X. The writing strategy according to CDSpeed, is Z-CLV but this time, most of the speed remains at 6X. Only for 900MB at the beginning and the end of recording, does the speed go to 4X.

We also tried the latest DVD-R DL disc from Traxdata but it seems that the drive with the current firmware, doesn't support it. The next firmware revision should add it.