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In House Review - ASUS DRW-1608P 16x DVD±RW

PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2005 3:59 pm
by Ian
Today we bring you a review of ASUS's second generation 16x DVD±RW, the DRW-1608P. Based loosely on the Pioneer DVR-109, the DW-1608P is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds and has a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. More importantly, it's one of the first drives with the ability to write to both DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 6x. The DRW-1608P also includes features like 40x CD reading and writing speeds, 24x rewriting speeds, and support for technologies like FlextraLink and FlextraSpeed.

In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the DRW-1608P and see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does ASUS's new drive have what it takes? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=263]Image
ASUS DRW-1608P 16x DVD±RW[/url]

And yes, this review also includes some tests with Verbatim's new 4x DVD-R DL media. If you have any comments or questions about this review or the DRW-1608P, please post them in the forum using the link provided below.

PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2005 4:03 pm
by Ian
According to ASUS, support for 8x DVD+RW is coming very soon. They're currently testing it and if all goes well, they should have a firmware to the public in a few weeks. I'm guessing that this means Pioneer will as well.

PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2005 4:32 pm
by eric93se
Nice review Ian! :)

I'm impressed with the +R and -R writing quality, DL was also very good .

Re: In House Review - ASUS DRW-1608P 16x DVD±RW

PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2005 9:12 pm
by Wesociety
Ian wrote:Today we bring you a review of ASUS's NEC's second generation 16x DVD±RW, the DRW-1608P.

Asus or NEC? :lol: :-^

It's too bad on the missing 8x +RW support... :(

PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2005 9:23 pm
by Ian
Yeah, I need to lay off the sauce. :P

PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2005 9:34 pm
by Ian
To give you an idea of what to expect, here's a Pioneer based drive writing to DVD+RW media at 8x. Sorry can't say which.. total hush hush and all that jazz.

PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 4:14 am
by Bhairav
1)Ian, a 2000KB buffer as a negative point? I don't think the buffer size matters anymore anyway, as the speeds at which the drive burns preclude the buffer usage.. what good is 8MB as well?

2)The drive seems to be writing to +R media much better than -R.. weird for a Pioneer based drive, no?

PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 7:58 am
by Ian
Bhairav wrote:1)Ian, a 2000KB buffer as a negative point? I don't think the buffer size matters anymore anyway, as the speeds at which the drive burns preclude the buffer usage.. what good is 8MB as well?


Just wishful thinking. :wink:

PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 5:19 pm
by OC-Freak
Bhairav wrote:2)The drive seems to be writing to +R media much better than -R.. weird for a Pioneer based drive, no?


Maybe this shows that the +R format is designed better and easier to implement correctly and thus giving slightly better results? :p

Most drives I test nowadays gives better results on +R...

PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 5:32 pm
by Wesociety
Ian wrote:To give you an idea of what to expect, here's a Pioneer based drive writing to DVD+RW media at 8x. Sorry can't say which.. total hush hush and all that jazz.

Riiiight, so Pioneer has 8x +RW writing working but they won't include it in their currently released firmwares.
DVD Forum politics at work again? #-o

PostPosted: Wed May 11, 2005 6:00 pm
by Scour
Hello!

Again great review, Ian

Another high-quality-drive with Pioneer-technics.

But I wonder why it produces with many media a max. PIF from 6? My LG 4082 produces with good media max. 3

PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 11:15 am
by catas49
Hello!
I have an Asus DRW-1608P for 2 weeks now. I've burnt DVD-R and DVD+R from verbatim, traxdata, princo... but when i test the DVDs with nero cdspeed2000, things doesn't look good at the end of the DVD. I've tryed burning at 4x, 6x, 8x, but the same problem occur. All the graphs look like the one atached (after 2,5 gb the speed drops...:( )... I've noticed that the type of reading is P-CAV... could this be the problem?
With the DVD-RWs on the other hand.. I have a smooth graph all the way till the end.

What's the problem? my drive? some settings?...
When I copy the DVDs to my HDD there is no problem, no corrupt files.

Besides the graphs in cdspeed2000 I don't have any problems with the drive, but I'd like to know if over .. let's say one year i'll be able to read my DVDs in good conditions...
Thank you

PostPosted: Wed May 25, 2005 1:02 pm
by Ian
What media is it? Do you have the manufacturer ID codes handy?

Usually a graph like that indicates readability problems, ususally due to writing and/or media quality.

PostPosted: Thu May 26, 2005 2:16 am
by catas49
This is the info about the media I used:

Manufacturer: Verbatim
Code: MCC 003
(Verbatim DVD+R 8x)

Manufacturer: RITEKG05
Code: -
(Traxdata DVD-R 8x)