the BenQ DW1640 review will be released soon, and i thought of making some "first impression" posts about this burner.

The reading performance and DVD error correction capabilities are better than any other BenQ drive.

Some users mentioned some problems with Optodisc and TY DVD+R media (Dolphinius_Rex was one of them). We had no problem burning Optodisc 16X DVD+R media, Optodisc +R 8x media, and all kinds of TY media. We did not have any speed drops during burning and burning times were better than other BenQ burners. We will look into media quality soon, and i'll keep you posted. We also intend to use AudioDEV's CATS system to scan the media (not sure yet)...

As i said, i'll keep u posted

(*firmware: BSHB)

So, it seems to be the new recommented drive.

(in reply to kogos)

Some users reports DVD+R DL burning problems with MKM001 and latest firmware BSHB only.

(in reply to Iggy)

Keep up the good work Kogos! Thanks for answering my questions

(in reply to ItalianJob)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ItalianJob

Some users reports DVD+R DL burning problems with MKM001 and latest firmware BSHB only.

i had no problem with verbatim -R DL, CMC +R DL, Ritek +R DL... i will check on MKM +R DL first thing in the morning, and i'll let u know

(in reply to ItalianJob)

Latest firmware seems to give big PIF (600+) at later break, even if burn ends ok.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=138150

(in reply to kogos)

i just made some tests on Verbatim +R DL media with DW1640 (latest firmware). I used CopytoDVD and it took only 14:14mins to burn (8x). This is the plextools scan i got:

By the look of it, it seems pretty good. We've seen better quality, of course, but remember that burning speed is 8x, and the disc is 2.4x certified. This is why i always say that a test cannot be reliable if a reference (error free) system is not used.

(in reply to ItalianJob)

quote:

ORIGINAL: kogos
By the look of it, it seems pretty good. We've seen better quality, of course, but remember that burning speed is 8x, and the disc is 2.4x certified.

Well, kogos, I don't agree : max PIF = max POE  in your case, is to high  (291 !).
I think this disc will not be read by many older and new stand alones, they will not cope so many PIF at a time...

It seems that BSGB is better for that...

(in reply to kogos)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ItalianJob

quote:

ORIGINAL: kogos
By the look of it, it seems pretty good. We've seen better quality, of course, but remember that burning speed is 8x, and the disc is 2.4x certified.

Well, kogos, I don't agree : max PIF = max POE  in your case, is to high  (291 !).
I think this disc will not be read by many older and new stand alones, they will not cope so many PIF at a time...

It seems that BSGB is better for that...

yes i know, but the disc is much better than the 600+ error rates you mentioned...

I also tried to playback the media with 3 philips dvd players, liteon 5005 recorder, pioneer 720 recorder and lg dv 6800, and all of them could read the disc with no problem... However, you are right that disc quality is not one of the best that we had ever seen, but again, it should be noted that we are burning at 8x, on a disc that is only 2.4x certified... So, according to this, media quality is more than acceptable... It's like burning a 4x certified SL media, at 16x...

in any case, i will post anything suspecious that might come up during testins...

(in reply to ItalianJob)

quote:

ORIGINAL: ItalianJob

quote:

ORIGINAL: kogos
By the look of it, it seems pretty good. We've seen better quality, of course, but remember that burning speed is 8x, and the disc is 2.4x certified.

Well, kogos, I don't agree : max PIF = max POE in your case, is to high (291 !).
I think this disc will not be read by many older and new stand alones, they will not cope so many PIF at a time...

It seems that BSGB is better for that...

Max. POE != Max. PIF in Plextools Q-Check Burst Test.

Since PIF is column error correction, there cannot be more that 176 PIF in a single ECC block due to DVD specs.

A single (!) PIF can lead to POE values between 1 and xxx

(in reply to ItalianJob)

I am posting here two pictures. One of them is the Plextor PX-740A and the other one is the BenQ DW1640 burner. ANYONE CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE???

(in reply to JeanLuc)

It seems that Plextor will no longer have Sanyo's chipset in its drives.

The myth about Plextor seems that will fade out.

(in reply to kogos)

Hi Kogos!

Can you put the two pictures of plextor PX-740A and benq DW1640 again but with higher resolution? And label each picture with the brand name?
Seems there are some diferences on de PC-layout.

I thank you in advance

(in reply to kogos)

unfortunately, there is a a maximum size limit for the image files, so i cannot post a bigger picture... However, i will post the BenQ image, first thing on Monday (i'll upload it on our server)...

I do not have a better Plextor PX-740A image, but i got the picture from plextor... (in fact, i don't have the 740 drive at all, cause it seems that Plextor has some problems distributing drives). But i can assure you that they are 100% identical... you can even use the BenQ bitsetting management tool with the Plextor PX-740A...

(in reply to samuraijack)

Thank you Kogos

I think I'll by the less expensive (BENQ???), but who offers better components quality i.e. what brand has more rigorous quality control and quality tests... and user support/warranty?

I'm from live in Portugal and I can't find any of these drives and BENQ is very dificult to find, even the 1620.

Someone knows how much these drive cost?

It is true that BENQ's drives have peculiar behaviors (burns quality) within the same model?

(in reply to kogos)

I'm more addicted to CD-DVD Speed 3.80 quality test @8X on my BenQ 1620.
Plextools are not my cup of tea.

By the way, Plextor 740 = BenQ 1640 with limited firmware (no CD-DVD Speed support, limited QSuite support, etc.).
A new Plextor 740 as been flashed to BenQ 1640 by "YSS" :

koba wrote :
 
YSS got his first review of the PX-740 up.
Just to summarize:
1) No bitsetting, Spead Read or Autostrategy etc setting. Only setting is DMA
and BurnProof setting with Plextools.
2) No Quality Check with Plextools
3) No Quality Checking with DVDINFOPro 4.15
4) No quality Checking in Nero CD-DVD Speed 3.80
5) Only Booktype setting in QSuite 1.0
6) Booktype and speed setting in SetSpeed (Plextor tool delivered with drive)
7) No Booktype setting in nero 6.6.0.13
8) Flashable to BENQ DW1640 with WinDWFlash.exe and BSHB.CVT
By Flashing to Benq CDDVDSPEED DVDINFOPRO and QSuite fully functional
9) No way of flashing back to PX-740 at the moment (Original Firmware of
drive cant be saved with BENQCVT.EXE)

http://homepage2.nifty.com/yss/px740a/px740a.htm

(in reply to kogos)