CDR Tests

TEAC CD-W516EB drive supports 16X writing (CLV) speed among with "Write-Proof" buffer-underrun technology (which actually is BURN-Proof). We confirmed the 16x writing speed of the drive using the CD Speed99 built-in writing speed test

- Procedure: We tested TEAC CD-W516EB with Nero v5.5.1.1, CloneCD v3.0.0.9, Padus DJ v3.00.780 software and with the following media: Verbatim 74min (16x) & 80min (16x), Mitsui 74min (16x), Prodisc 80min (16x) and with TDK/Plextor/Verbatim 74min HS RW. We didn't saw any particular problems with the various tested CD-R.

- CD-R Tests:
We created "DataCD" job with data slight higher than 74mins (74:03:65). We burned the same job with all 4 CDR-W drives:

As you can see it took 427secs for TEAC CD-W516EB to write a 74min CD at 12X speed. Its writing time is 23secs extended compared to the rest of the drives. The delay might find an explanation considering TEAC's O.P.C (Optimum Power Control) function. The drive applies the O.P.C procedure three times before starting any reading/writing process (most of the drives support a single time O.P.C). As a result the drive calibrates the power of the laser beam more sufficiently in order to optimize the drive's performance, with an unavoidable cost in writing time. The question is whether this cost in time is balanced by the quality gain of the recording results, which is what the company officially claims.

In the 16X writing process TEAC CD-W516EB behaved the same way as at 12X process, giving a 330sec writing result. The 74min writing compilation we used for this test is the same we used for the 12X test.

- 80min CDs:
As with the previous test, we created a DataCD (80:02:16) and used the same media for all burns:

The time difference between Teac 516E and the rest drives is stable at 30secs. At the 16x writing speed, the time gap drops at 25secs from the faster drives. Some people might be troubled from that behavior but this is what Teac decided to follow - sacrifice quality for burning speed.

- Overburning Tests:
We used 90 and 99min CDs (from Medea International and Copy4All) and using Nero we were able to write up to 89minutes. Using CD-Speed 99 overburning test we managed to push the drive up to 89minutes. The drive denies to go higher and that means you can forget 99mins CDs. The 90min media could be written entirely.

- AudioCD Tests:
We created several Audio CDs (including CD-Text). All of the CDs we created were tested with the Plextor PX-40TS and Plextor's CD-Text compatible CD player. From what we saw, everything worked just fine.

- CloneCD Tests:
According to CloneCD v3.0.0.9 TEAC CD-W516EB supports both DAO and SAO-RAW writing modes. As happen with many CDR-W drives, it also supports "Simulation". Our real life tests showed that the drive works with DAO-RAW and that means you can backup all your favorite protected CDs.

SD2 Support:
For the SD2 test we used the "No One Lives For Ever" CD title and the Teac as reader/writer. The backup CD worked perfectly in the drive itself but refused with many other CD-ROMS/CDR-W drives. That leads us to assume that the Teac 516E produces partial working SD2 backups.

- Buffer Underrun tests:
TEAC CD-W516EB supports BURN-Proof technology (with a gap length of 2micro meters), which eliminates buffer under-runs. As well known, the technology suspends recording until the buffer is refined. Also allows users to burn safely while running multiple applications. The drive will work fine, even under heavy pressure from the user. Our simple tests confirmed that BURN-Proof is working perfectly with the drive.

Verdict of CDR Results:
The TEAC CD-516EB is a real 16x (CLV) writer ,at least in the specs, since the real life tests showed that the drive needs around 30secs more to finish the various tasks than other 16x CLV writers. The answer to this behavior is the fact that the TEAC CD-516EB does triple O.P.C check before start writing, which according to TEAC ensures the best possible writing quality!

We didn't found any serious problems in the other tests since the drive worked very good. There are however 2 more issues that might interested you: 1) Limited overburning (Plextor goes up to 95min, Sanyo at 93), and as most of the other competitor drives cannot produce working SD2 backups.