Memorex MRX-525G 18x DVD±RW/RAM

Model: Memorex MRX-525G 18x DVD±RW/RAM
Manufacturer: Memorex
Provided By: Memorex

As one of the biggest names in the storage industry, Memorex doesn't need much of an introduction. Founded in 1961 by a group of engineers, Memorex got its start by producing data backup tapes for the emerging computer industry. By the 1970's, the company entered the consumer market with its own line of recordable audio and video tapes. Today, Memorex has made the shift from analog to digital and has established itself as one of the world's leading providers of recordable CD and DVD media.

While best known for its recordable media, Memorex offers an assortment of computer peripherals, including its own line of CD and DVD drives. With their good looks and impressive specs, these drives have been a hit with consumers right from the start. This winter, Memorex introduced its first 18x DVD writer, the MRX-525G. Based on the LG GSA-H22N, the MRX-525G is capable of 18x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±R DL and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Memorex's new drive also includes features like 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 32x rewriting speeds and an impressive software bundle from Nero.

With store shelves already full of DVD writers with similar specs and features, Memorex's new drive is up against some stiff competition. To give you an idea of what to expect from the MRX-525G, we'll take a look at some of its features and then see how it compares to some of the 18x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does Memorex's new drive have what it takes? Keep reading as we find out.

What's in the box?:

• Memorex MRX-525G 18x DVD±RW/RAM Drive
• Software Installation CD
• Hardware Guide
• Software Guide
• 1 Memorex 16x DVD+R Disc
• Mounting Screws
• IDE Cable

Physical Features:

The drive that Memorex sent us for this review was manufactured in December of 2006 and had firmware version G.01. At the time of this review, this is the only official firmware available for the MRX-525G.

The MRX-525G is based on LG's new 18x "Super-Multi" drive, the GSA-H22N. While both drives are almost physically identical, Memorex has tried to set theirs apart by giving it a black and silver bezel. As you can see, the MRX-525G also has its share of logos. Along with the large "Memorex" logo, you can see a few for Ultra Speed CD-RW media and theDVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications.

Below the tray you can see the MRX-525G's single LED. Instead of lighting up blue like on Memorex's previous DVD writers, it is the standard green color.

The rear of the MRX-525G looks very similar to some of the other LG based DVD writers we've reviewed. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's IDE interface, power connector and analog audio output connector.

Starting from the left of the IDE connection you'll see the jumper switch for master, slave and cable select. By default the drive's jumper position is set to master. Next to the jumper block is the analog audio connector. The connector on the far left is the digital audio output.

Technical Specs:

Most of the specs below have been taken from Memorex's website and the guide that came with the drive.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that Memorex's new DVD writer is identified as a "Memorex DVD+-RAM 525G V1".

The Nero screenshot also shows that the MRX-525G has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection as well. According to Nero, the drive can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the drive was able to overburn up to 93:58with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the MRX-525G is a "two sheep" burner. This means that Memorex's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.

Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the MRX-525G's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the MRX-525G is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore.While a patched RPC-1 firmware is available for the LG GSA-H22N, there isn't one for the MRX-525G yet.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the MRX-525G's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that while Memorex's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.

The MRX-525G also supports a feature called "bitsetting." Contrary to what CD Speed indicates, the drive automatically sets the book type of both DVD+R and DVD+R DL media to "DVD-ROM". Unfortunately, the drive does not automatically set the book type of DVD+RW discs, nor can you change it manually.

Memorex has once again turned to Nero for their software bundle. The CD that comes with the MRX-525G contains the PhotoShow Express and the Nero 7 Essentials suite which includes Nero Express, Nero Vision, Nero Recode, Nero BackItUp, Nero ShowTimeand InCD.

Nero Express 7 - With Nero Express, Nero has taken the features and performance people have come to expect from Nero Burning Rom and combined them with a user friendly interface. Redesigned to maximize ease-of-use, Nero Express gives users the ability to quickly and easily burn audio, data and video to CD or DVD.

The version of Nero Express that Memorex included with their new DVD±RW drive is 7.2.7.7. You can download the latest version of the software from Nero's website.

Nero Vision 4 - Nero Vision 4 is the latest version of Nero's video authoring application. Thanks to a user friendly interface, Nero Vision makes it easy for users to capture, edit and then burn their favorite videos to VCD, SVCD or DVD or export it to Nero Digital format.

Nero Vision also lets users add things like transitions, custom backgrounds, animated menus and text effects. You can even use it to turn your photos into custom slide shows.

Nero Recode 2 - This program from Nero can copy unprotected DVD videos onto recordable DVD media. If the source disc is larger than 4.7GB, Nero Recode 2 has the ability to remove unwanted material and compress the contents so that it will fit onto a single blank DVD disc.

Nero Recode 2 will also let you convert your DVD movies to Nero Digital. Using Nero's own MPEG-4 audio and video encoder, an entire DVD movie can be compressed so that it will fit onto a CD. Better yet, Nero Recode 2 does this with little loss of quality.

Nero BackItUp 2 - If you're looking for a way to quickly and easily backup your data, Nero BackItUp is the answer. This program from Nero lets you backup your data to CD/DVD, hard drive, image recorderor another computer on your LAN.

Nero ShowTime 2 - Nero ShowTime is Nero's software DVD player. Along with support for DVD's, ShowTime can be used to play back VCD's, SVCD's and miniDVD's as well as any MPEG, AVI or Nero Digital files you might have on your hard drive.

InCD 5 - InCD is Nero's packet writing software. Like Roxio's Drag-to-Disc or Sonic's DLA, it allows a person to use their CD-RW or DVD±RW drive as a big floppy disk. The person can then drag and drop files onto a CD-RW or DVD±RW disc. Many people consider InCD to be one of the best packet writing tools because of its simplicity and performance.

PhotoShow Express - Memorex's new drive also comes with Nero's all in one photo suite, PhotoShow Express. This software can do a number of things such as edit and touch up your photos, as well as organize them into various albums. PhotoShow can even be used to create musical slideshows. These slideshows can then be burned to disc or published to the web.

With the MRX-525G, Memorex has delivered yet another feature packed DVD writer. Like the LG drive it's based on, it supports all major DVD formats and sports some pretty impressive specs. The MRX-525G is capable of 18x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R DL, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Memorex's new drive also includes features like buffer underrun protection, support for bitsetting and a great software bundle from Nero. With all this, it's easy to see why the MRX-525G scores a 9 out of 10 for its features.

Installing the MRX-525G in our test computer took only a couple of minutes. I took the drive out of the box, left the jumper set to master and installed it on the secondary IDE chain by connecting the IDE cable and power connector. When I turned on the computer the BIOS detected it as a drive supporting UDMA 66. After making sure that DMA was enabled in the Device Manager, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the MRX-525G comes with a CD full of software from Nero. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu you see below will automatically come up when you insert the disc. From here, you can choose to install Nero 7 Essentials, PhotoShow Express or the entire Memorex Software Suite.

Installing Nero 7 Essentials and PhotoShow Express is fairly straightforward. Just keep in mind that by default the setup program for Nero 7 Essentials will install everything, but InCD, onto your computer. If you don't want to install the entire suite, select the custom installation. From here you can choose the components you want. Once you reboot, you'll be ready to start burning your own discs.

In case you run into trouble and need some help, Memorex has included a small "Software Guide." This guide includes some brief instructions on how to install and use the various applications included in the Nero 7 Essentials suite.Because the guide is fairly small, these instructions only go over the basic features of each application. If you need to go beyond the basics, additional documentation can be accessed through Nero's SmartStart launcher.

Documentation:

Most of the MRX-525G's documentation is located in the "Hardware Guide." Similar to the one included with the MRX-500N, this fold out guide is well laid out and contains a fair amount of information. It starts out by getting the user familiarized with their new DVD writer. The first section goes over the MRX-525G'sfeatures, system requirements, package contents and specifications.

From here, the guide jumps right into the physical installation of the drive. The instructions take the user step by step through the entire installation process and cover all the basics including how to set the jumpers, install the drive into an empty drive bay and hook up the cables. If you're not sure whether the drive should be set up as a master or slave, the guide also has a few example configurations along with their corresponding jumper settings. Last but not least, the guide finishes up with a few short sections on how to operate the MRX-525G and troubleshoot some of the common problems that people might experience.

Like the other Memorex drives I've reviewed, the MRX-525G was very easy to install. I had no problems getting the drive or the software installed and working. If you do need a little help for some reason, the documentation contains a lot of useful information about the drive and software. With this in mind, the MRX-525G scores a 9 out of 10 for the installation portion of this review.

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.70 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing both CD Speed and CD DAE are used. CD Speed is used to give an overall DAE speed rating and CD DAE is used to give the track by track extraction speeds and to check the extracted tracks for errors the drive may have created.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.70 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 4GB to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

Memorex's new DVD writer gave us some mixed performance in our CD Winbench tests. While the MRX-525G's overall score wasn't as high as some of the other drives, its transfer rates were fairly good.It started reading at 20.5x (3070 / 150) and reached a maximum speed of about 42.7x (6400 / 150) on the outside.

CD Speed v4.70 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

	Memorex MRX-525G	LG GSA-H22N	Samsung SH-S182D	Plextor PX-760A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	35.72x 20.55x 47.23x	35.78x 20.57x 47.32x	36.54x 20.89x 48.30x	36.76x 21.27x 48.63x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	103ms 107ms 174ms	107ms 110ms 178ms	105ms 114ms 178ms	96ms 113ms 172ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 2% 4%	1% 1% 3% 7%	0% 1% 3% 6%	0% 1% 2% 4%

The MRX-525G didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 48x, Memorex's new drive came up a little short of this number in our tests. Nevertheless, the drive's seek times were pretty good.

CD Speed v4.70 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

The MRX-525G was a little faster when reading CD-R media.While this wasn't enough to top the drives from LG and Plextor, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48x in our tests. Looking at the other scores, you can see that the MRX-525G's seek times were again quite good.

Memorex's new DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The MRX-525G read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 52.21x.

CD Speed v4.70 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests.

Like the other drives, the MRX-525G's CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 40x. As you can see, the drive had no problems reaching this speed in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.70 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that the Memorex MRX-525G supports accurate stream, it does not cache audio data nor does it have the ability to retrieve C2 error information from the CD.

CD Speed	Memorex MRX-525G	LG GSA-H22N	Samsung SH-S182D	Plextor PX-760A
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	31.56x 18.25x 41.70x 10 Yes	31.61x 18.25x 41.75x 10 Yes	31.09x 17.78x 41.08x 10 Yes	31.35x 17.97x 41.48x 10 Yes

The MRX-525G did fairly well in our DAE tests. While not nearly as fast as some of the other DVD writers we've tested, it hadno problems ripping pressed audio CD's at 41x.

To get a better look at the quality of the extracted audio we use CD DAE. CD DAE is actually designed to be an audio ripping program. It converts the CD-DA on the CD to .wav files. We use it in our testing because it can also be used as a quick and easy way to test the quality. Where CD Speed tests the DAE as one large session, CD DAE extracts each CD track individually. It actually extracts each track twice and then compares them to check for any errors. Every error a drive creates could be a hiss or pop you would hear later in the audio tracks.

While the MRX-525G started out a little faster when extracting our test CD with CD DAE, its average and maximum speeds were slower than what we saw with CD Speed.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.70 - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

While the MRX-525G was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media, this didn't keep it from reaching amaximum DAE speed of 41x. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

Memorex's new DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 29.73x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the MRX-525G was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in but failed to read the lead out section of the CD.

To see how well Memorex's DVD writer can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.

CD Speed - ScanDisc

The MRX-525G handled scratched discs relatively well. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive considered only 52.3% of the CD to be "damaged". More importantly, none of the sectors on the disc were unreadable.

You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.

The MRX-525G gave some mixed results in this test. While it had the lowest number of errors, the scratches on the disc caused it to slow down considerably.

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 5.20:

For this test I randomly generated 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

The MRX-525G has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Fuji's 48x media, the drive started writing at about 21.49x and reached a maximum speed of 48.50x at the end of the session. This gave Memorex's new DVD±RW an average writing speed of about 36.79x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fuji media rated at 48x. The results are below.

Memorex's new drive did very well in our CD writing tests. Thanks to its 48x CD writing speed, the MRX-525G was able to write an entire 701MB CD in 2:39, beating the GSA-H22N by about 10 seconds.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x.

Fuji 48x (Taiyo Yuden)

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Verbatim 52x

The MRX-525G's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and there were no C2 errors at all.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

The MRX-525G uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses a total of three "zones" to reach its maximum speed. The drive starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 7 minute mark.The MRX-525G writes at this speed until about the 27 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 32x and stays there until the end of the session.

Memorex's new DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the MRX-525G took 2:37 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:34 to do the same with DLA.

While the MRX-525G's Z-CLV writing method didn't have much of an effect on its quick erase times, it took more than 5 minutes to do a full erase.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The CD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

The MRX-525G performed very well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.49x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.02x.Unfortunately, its seek times were not as low as some of the other drives.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disc using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R DL

The MRX-525G had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 16x, and both DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media at a respectable 12x.

Maxell 12x DVD-RAM

Memorex's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 12x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 5.94x and accelerates, reaching 12x at the 2.7GB mark.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disc using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

The MRX-525G's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media.The drive read DVD+R discs at 16x and DVD+RW media at 12x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL

Reading Verbatim'sdouble layer DVD+R media wasn't a problem for the MRX-525G either. While not as fast as the GSA-H22N, it reached an impressive 12.14x in CD Speed's transfer rate tests.

Nero CD Speed v4.70 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

The MRX-525G didn't do as well as some of the other drives when reading DVD videos. In our tests, it reached a maximum speed of only 8x when reading both single and dual layer discs.

To see how well the MRX-525G worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 5. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of Memorex's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 20x, the MRX-525G uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that Memorex's new drive starts writing at about 8.2x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

I should also point out that the MRX-525G is quite loud when writing at 20x. This shouldn't be too surprising though, considering the drive spins at more than 11,000 RPM. Even with Memorex's Auto-Balancing System (ABS), there was a fair amount of vibration and spindle noise.

The MRX-525G also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In both cases the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum writing speed.

Memorex's new drive performed pretty well in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as the PX-760A when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs, the MRX-525G turned in some very impressive times with DVD+R and DVD-R media.

To check the media compatibility of the MRX-525G, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SHM-165H6S (firmware HS0E) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640 (firmware BSLB). When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter.

The MRX-525G's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were pretty good for the most part.

To test the MRX-525G's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, Verbatim 6x DVD-RW and Maxell 12x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

The MRX-525G turned in some impressive times when reading and writing to DVD-RAM media. Unfortunately, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast asthe PX-760A when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the MRX-525G, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim, RiDATA and Memorex. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

As usual, finding DVD+R DL media that would work at 8x was not an easy task. The only media we found that would work at this speed were Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL discs. With Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media, the writing speed was limited to 6x and Memorex's Ritek manufactured discs would not work at anything faster than 4x.

The MRX-525G wasn't as fast as I had expected when writing to DVD+R DL media at 8x. With Nero, it took the drive 19:16 to write 8001MB of data. If you do the math, this is a good four minutes slower than the PX-760A. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality was very good with Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL media. As you can see, the PI/PIF rates remained very low from start to finish. Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media also yielded some fairly decent results. While higher than what we saw with their 8x media, the PI/PIF remained well within acceptable limits. The worst results were with Memorex's own 2.4x DVD+R DL media. The PI/PIF rates were very high at the layer change and there were a small number of PO Failures.

The MRX-525G also features 8x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, DVD-R DL media from Verbatim and RiDATA was used.

The MRX-525G wasn't as fast as the other drives when writing to DVD-R DL media either. In our tests, it took more than 19 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The MRX-525G's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL. The PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits and there were no readability problems. Unfortunately, the results weren't as good with Verbatim's 8x DVD-R DL media. The error rates were considerably higher, especially when scanned with the DW1640. The worst results were with RiDATA's 4x DVD-R DL media. When scanned with the DW1640, the PI rates were not only very high, there was a small number of PO Failures at the layer change.

Performance Revisited:

Memorex's new "Super-Multi" drive performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The MRX-525G turned in some impressive times when writing to DVD±R and DVD-RAM media, but wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW and DVD±R DL discs. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the MRX-525G either. In our tests, the drive was able to read single layer data DVD's and DVD±R media at 16x, but slowed to only 8x when reading DVD videos.

The MRX-525G also did relatively well in our CD read tests. The drive read pressed and CD-R discs at speeds as high as 48x and had some fairly good seek times. When it came to writing CD's, the MRX-525G gave us some mixed results. While the drive turned in some impressive times when writing to CD-R media, its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. With all things considered, the Memorex MRX-525G gets a 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

Over the years, we've had a number of Memorex's DVD writers in the 'Labs. Traditionally, these drives have gotten top marks for their features, performance and consumer friendliness and the MRX-525G is no exception. Based on the LG GSA-H22N, Memorex's new "Super-Multi" drive offers a healthy dose of features and some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available.

The MRX-525G is the first drive from Memorex with the ability to write to both DVD-R and DVD+R media at 18x. One of the faster drives we've tested, it took a little more than 5 minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD. The MRX-525G also turned in some impressive times when writing to DVD-RAM discs at 12x. However, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media.

When it came to media compatibility, the MRX-525G gave us some mixed results. While the drive wrote tomost of our test media at its rated speeds, only four types worked at 18x. On the other hand, the MRX-525G's writing quality was fairly good for the most part. However, there is still room for improvement, especially with Ritek manufactured DVD±R DL media. Hopefully, Memorex can address this in a future firmware update.

The MRX-525G also performed relatively well in our DVD read tests. While the drive's seek times were higher than I would have liked, it was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R media at 16x. The MRX-525G also read DVD±RW, DVD±R DL and DVD-RAM media at an impressive 12x, but slowed to only 8x when reading DVD-Videos.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the MRX-525G either. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x and CD-RW discs at 40x. Memorex's new drive wasn't as fast in our DAE tests. However, it still ripped audio CD's at a respectable 40x. When it came to writing CD's, the MRX-525G performed as expected. The drive had no problems holding its own when writing to CD-R media. However, itsZ-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests.

Like Memorex's previous DVD writers, the MRX-525G also has its share of features. Along with support for all major CD and DVD formats, it has a 2MB buffer that is backed up by some sort of buffer underrun technology. While this buffer is a little smaller than what we'd like to see on an 18x DVD writer, this system worked flawlessly in our tests. The MRX-525G also has a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R and DVD+R DL media. To top it all off, Memorex has included a great software bundle from Nero.

Memorex's new DVD writer is shipping now and is available through retail chains like Staples and CompUSA for about $70.

Highs:

• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 18x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 8x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R media at 16x
• Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 12x
• Reads and writes DVD-RAM media at 12x
• Features 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds
• Includes buffer underrun prevention technology
• Good CD writing quality
• Includes software from Nero
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R and DVD+R DL media

Lows:

• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R DL media
• Slower than other drives when writing to DVD±RW, DVD±R DL and CD-RW media
• Had a hard time reaching its rated speeds when reading pressed CD's
• Reads DVD-Videos at only 8x
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+RW media
• Cannot do write quality testing
• Has a 2048KB buffer
• Overburns to only 93:58