In House Review - BenQ DW1620 Double Layer 16x DVD±RW

[Graham35]

Thanks hjs for your help...

Questions - I need a good (cheap) DVD+R/-R supplier for europe - well Spain actually, can you recommend a cheap source and make of disc, probably looking for 50 or 100 if they are cheap enough,

Also what is the best to buy DVD+R or DVD-R, we all have newish DVD players that state will play most things

Make - make - make what do you all recommend - its a mine field out there for the likes of me

Thanks again for your help

[hjs]

check cdfraks for some threads about media on the benq
for example:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=113166
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=123453

[dolphinius_rex]

Sadly, I know nothing of the brands and media supplies in Spain. I can tell you that Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD+Rs will give you awesome results though.

Also, I can tell you that the drive usually works quite well with Optodisc media of any sort. It's given me problems with Prodisc DVD-Rs though... but Prodisc DVD+Rs are ok. Ritek media also works alright.

[vio_man]

I'm using Prodisc S03 media and I've no problems at all.

[dolphinius_rex]

I'm using Prodisc S03 media and I've no problems at all.

Maybe the ones I had were low quality? Or maybe the quality just varies a lot?

[vio_man]

I've been burning lots of Prodisc S03 media (eProformance brand). When I say "lots" I mean 100 DVDs, and no problems what so ever.

[Graham35]

Thanks guys, very useful info, I may have to get mine from the UK and brought over via a visitor as it seems hard to get them direct into Spain without paying a hefty delivery charge - for which I could buy another 50 or so dvd's.
Cheers..

[vio_man]

@dolphinius_rex:

Look at this scan

[dolphinius_rex]

well, the media I was using was Kodak brand... so it may have been crappy to begin with. Also, it was an older firmware, and may have been fixed. I don't have a lot of time for re-testing media, and I have even less time for dealing with companies that decide to release 4 different versions of a single type of media, and make their product line a grab bag.

However, I'll try to squeeze in an extra test, on this one, as soon as I'm done testing the current media I'm working with.

[hjs]

But we are all waiting for more info about the new U firmware wich is beta now with some testers.

Hrm... I think that's how BenQ also feels right now

Man, they do take there time

[dolphinius_rex]

@dolphinius_rex:

Look at this scan

Now compare to my scan...

Bulkpaq branded 4x DVD-R (PRODISCS03), burned at 4x using B7T9:

[RJW]

In prodisc case it are the variations. Most media is ok however the fluctuations in quality for the DVD-R's are a bit higher then they should normally expect it to be.
And you know people if it's bad they complain if it's good then you might be lucky if you here something.

And when we're talking about numbers that info about variations was supplied to me by a source who deals with this media on a day to day base.

Oh and I won't judge on todays Kodak media. Whatever they sell nothing is really good if it's ussable then you allready should be happy.

[dolphinius_rex]

In prodisc case it are the variations. Most media is ok however the fluctuations in quality for the DVD-R's are a bit higher then they should normally expect it to be.
And you know people if it's bad they complain if it's good then you might be lucky if you here something.

And when we're talking about humbers that info about variations was supplied to me by a source who deals with this media on a day to day base.

Oh and I won't judge on todays Kodak media. Whatever they sell nothing is really good if it's ussable then you allready should be happy.

I don't think I've ever experienced a good Prodisc DVD-R burn... I thought I had finally gotten one with my LG 4163B... but then it turned out to be completely unplayable on my PX-712a ...although my BenQ scan looked even better then the one posted by vio_man!

edit:

This is my scan of the BulkPaq 4x DVD-R (PRODISCS03) disc I burned at 4x in my LG 4163B. As you can see, it looks pretty, but it fails to be read completely in my PX-712a:



Tested in PX-712a:

[RJW]

Is that again Kodak branded media ?

[dolphinius_rex]

Is that again Kodak branded media ?

Nope, it's BulkPaq 4x DVD-Rs (as listed in the post ), both of them.

I have *1* Kodak 4x DVD-R (PRODISCS03) disc left, so I'm saving it for my next review

I might have some unbranded PRODISCS03 sitting around as well... If I have some time I'll run some of these through as well.

[cfitz]

Dolphinius_rex, I read in your review that the 1620 does not report C2 error information. And even with the latest B7T9 firmware, Nero InfoTool reports the same status - no support for C2 error reporting. However, I am presuming that this limitation only applies to the standard MMC command set, because the drive does measure and report C1/C2 errors with the custom scanning routines implemented in CD/DVD Speed and similar tools. For example, see the following comparison of measurements made on a 1620 and an old Lite-On LTR-48246S:





Both scans show a similar distribution of C1 and C2 errors, and that distribution is what I expect to see for this particular test disc.

My question to you is, do you have any feel for how useful and accurate the 1620's C1/C2 testing capability is?

cfitz

[hjs]

must be any day now !!

eleewhm says soon at cdfreaks, he can't say tomorrow (that was yesterday), so the day after ??? (tomorrow !!)

[dodecahedron]

must be any day now !!

eleewhm says soon at cdfreaks, he can't say tomorrow (that was yesterday), so the day after ??? (tomorrow !!)

i take it that's B7U9 you're talking about, right ?

[hjs]

i take it that's B7U9 you're talking about, right ?

[dolphinius_rex]

CFitz,

I was trying the scan disc utility, so it didn't work for me like that at all... but I'll go back and do some comparisons against my Plextor Premium (which just HAPPENS to ACTUALLY be installed on PC right now... which is VERY unusual!!). I'll be in touch!

[cfitz]

I was trying the scan disc utility, so it didn't work for me like that at all...

As far as I can tell, the 1620 remains limited by its inability to report C2 error information via standard MMC commands. Thus, tests like Scan Disc will continue to report nothing but green, and programs like Exact Audio Copy won't have C2 error information to use to help check for extraction errors.

However, the 1620 does seem to report "low-level" C1/C2 scanning results when used with specialized testing software, as evidenced by the scans I posted above. Thus, what I am wondering about is the quality of those low-level C1/C2 scans and whether anyone has any experience with them that would allow us to draw some conclusions about their validity.

By the way, the disconnect between C2 errors as reported by MMC commands and the low-level C1/C2 errors isn't a new thing. Even back in the day before K-Probe (remember CD Doctor and the DOS-based tool?), a C2 "error" reported on Scan Disc wouldn't necessarily show up as a C2 "error" in the low-level scan, and visa-versa. They appear to be two completely distinct measuring and reporting systems.

but I'll go back and do some comparisons against my Plextor Premium (which just HAPPENS to ACTUALLY be installed on PC right now... which is VERY unusual!!). I'll be in touch!

Thanks!

cfitz

[hjs]

http://support.benq.com/files/storage/F ... 0/B7U9.zip

[Xelas]

Come on - hasn't anyone tried it yet? Any results, guys?
Or do I have to sacrifice one of my DVD+Rs?

[dolphinius_rex]

CFitz:

I've done some of that testing I promised finally!

So far, it looks very similar to my Plextor PX-712a for scan results on good media, but on very bad media it tends to have differing opinions... but that could be because of differences in error tolerances.

[Dartman]

So far u is a bust, it slowed down some of my good 8x TY media to 8x when it was capable of 16x with good results with T firmware. Also for the most part the quality isn't as good as before and sometimes even if it still does the speeds it could previously it is a bit slower and still worse quality. Some seem to do OK but might be individual drive and media dependent, mine didn't and many I chatted with get the same results. I'd say lets wait and see what happens as this would be the first firmware that outright works worse then earlier version, they might release a oops fix or have something else going on that'll help.
For now I'm back to T and burning fast and happy again.