TOSHIBA SD-R5112 - Page 13

Conclusion

Toshiba SD-R5112 supports maximum writing speed 4x for DVD-R and 2x for the DVD-RW format. This means that the drive needs approximately 14min to burn a 4.4GB file. The drive was fully compatible with all the media we tested and the writing process was done at the maximum speed of 4x that the drive supports. The quality of the recorded DVD discs was measured with KProbe v1.1.23 software. The results are almost the same with all discs, even with -RW, although with the PRINCO 4x DVD-R media the average PI and PO rates was increased in comparison to the others.

On the DVD reading part Toshiba supports 9.39x (average) for a single layer and 6.2x for a dual layer DVD-ROM. The transfer rate tests confirmed the specifications of the drive, although we would prefer the drive to read DVD-RW media at a higher speed than the 6x CAV. The drive was also fast on the DVD-Video ripping process.

The DVD error correction of the drive is very good and this is confirmed by the reading performance of the Abex scratched/defected DVD-ROM media that were read accurately without read errors. Although with Abex TDV-541, which includes scratches from 0.4 to 3.0 mm, the drive found it difficult to read it and slowed down the speed at the second layer of the disc. However this behavior was not confirmed with a playback of the DVD movie through Power DVD software. Playback finished without problems.

Toshiba is also a reliable 16/10/40 CD recorder, providing fast reading and low seek times. The drive supports CAV writing strategy for all the supported burning speeds offering competitive recording times, adequate writing quality, with an exception when recording at 12x, where the 3T jitter was increased.

The average speed for DAE could also be higher than the supported 15x. In addition, Key2Audio and Cactus Data Shield 200 audio protections are not supported. On the other hand, the majority of your defected discs will be probably read accurately. Although assigning the error correction limits is risky, we could say that the drive handled successfully scratches sized up to 1.125mm.

Another important issue, however, is the ability of the drive to backup protected discs. Toshiba managed to make working back-ups even of the latest SafeDisc v2.90. On the plus side is the fact that the drive supports RAW DAO 96 writing, CD Text and reading of 95min discs.

According to Toshiba, and our Nero Info Tool, the drive also supports DVD-RAM media.

Toshiba SD-R5112 is available in the market at a very attractive price of $105~160. It is a very good 4x drive but we are still expecting the answer of Toshiba against the competition of 8x DVD recorders. If the recording speeds is not your major concern, the SD-R5112 will probably cover your basic needs.