MediumRare wrote:Nice test! I particularly like the extensive media checks (although a lot of these aren't useful for a resident of Europe). Since I'm visiting relatives right now, I don't have much time to read it thoroughly, especially the various BLER scans which I consider to be very important.
I'm glad you like the media variety. It's these sorts of comments that keep me fueled when I'm spending 8 hours burning and testing DVDRs in a row, before getting 2 hours of sleep and heading to my day job
Don't worry though, my next burner review will include an assortment of European DVDRs as well!

(yes, that means I'll have even MORE media next time... )
MediumRare wrote:I do have a couple of remarks and questions, though:
[*] design is by Porsche (intro); BIOS is Phoenix (performance)
Hrm... I could have sworn I copied "Pheonix" from the boot screen... I'll have to double check that one. I'll fix the Porsche thing when I get a chance.
MediumRare wrote:[*] did you hook it up with USB or firewire? What chipsets were used in the enclosure?
I used the Firewire interface as it was the most convenient. I had wanted to go back and rerun some of the benchmark tests with the USB 2.0 interface, but LaCie requires drives to be returned within a certain timeframe, and this became impossible (especially with Christmas).
MediumRare wrote:[*] did you use a LiteOn 832S for the CD Winbench test and a 1633S for all other comparisons ?
I don't own a LiteON 1633S, all those benchmarks are taken from Ian's testing, which is why some of the tests also have little notes about differences in testing methods for that drive. I used the LiteON 832s for Winbench since the results are highly dependent on your system specs. So all my Winbench results are from drives I own, from tests I ran myself, all on the same system.
Possibly on my next review, all of the other comparison results on the benchmarks and tests will ONLY be from my own reviews, so that all the testing methods and variables will be the same in all circumstances.
MediumRare wrote:[*] 48x is PCAV with plateau starting at ca. 74 min!! (something new to me, but NEC 3500 seems to do this too)
Yeah, I noticed that too! It's also new to me, and I had to re-run the test a couple of times before I decided it was supposed to be that way
MediumRare wrote:[*] surface scan of a scratched disc giving all yellow suggests (to me) that C2's are not reported properly. How does it behave with other discs?
It was a pretty scratched disc... Personally, I'm not a big fan of surface scan testing, since I don't think it does much for DVDRs, I only include it in my reviews for consistancy with Ian's. Unfortunately I don't have the drive anymore to compare another disc with, but I imagine the NEC 3500 would have very similar results.
MediumRare wrote:[*] CD-write test says it's with randomn files but the picture is from a CD-Speed data disc. Is it possible to generate a data disc with randomn files ???
I use Nero CD/DVD Speed's data disc creation tool usually, which creates random garbage files. Other times, when I need less then a full disc, I use random MP3 files put into scattered folders to make a specific capacity.
MediumRare wrote:[*] is it possible to flash this drive with other NEC firmware? (I know you don't want to do this for your tests).
I believe it is possible, but I didn't try, since I don't get to keep the drive. When I am able to keep the drives, I'm able to do things like that a lot easier.
MediumRare wrote:[*] I had a quick look at some BenQ scans and they seem to be mostly similar to Kprobe, which is somewhat reassuring for diagnostics.
Keep keeping an eye on that, since they also differ quite a bit on some occasions! Generally speaking, I tend to go for a best 2 out of 3 sort of thing. If the Plextor and BenQ agree, but the LiteON doesn't, I tend to go with that. Conversely, if the LiteON and BenQ agree but the Plextor doesn't, I tend to go with that. It's much more rare for the Plextor and LiteON to agree but the BenQ doesn't however. And when ALL 3 drives agree on a disc... then you've got something magic
And yes, all the Plextor testing WILL be released.... when I get a chance to make the PDF (read AFTER new Years).
MediumRare wrote:Image 7687 (BenQ Maxell 4x DVD-R) is missing
Image 7724 (BenQ Imation 8x DVD+R) is a KProbe scan of something else
(you may want to check the images)
[/list]Keep up the good work! I'm looking forward to seeing more reviews from you.
G
Hrm... I'll go look into that! All the images are uploaded, and then linked to the HTML document individually, and by hand.... so mistakes can happen, especially when it takes 2-3 days to get all the images uploaded and linked for a single review!
Thank you for your kind words! I'm really enjoying it so far

(although my g/f is less then impressed with me at time

)
Punch Cards -> Paper Tape -> Tape Drive -> 8" Floppy Diskette -> 5 1/4" Floppy Diskette -> 3 1/2" "Flippy" Diskette -> CD-R -> DVD±R -> BD-R
The Progression of Computer Media