BenQ also includes a CD full of software with the DW1625. Along with BenQ's own QVideo and QScan utilities, this disc contains a number of applications from Nero including Nero Express 6, NeroVision Express 3, Nero Recode 2, Nero BackItUp, Nero ShowTime 2 and InCD.

Nero Express 6 - 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. While the interface has been simplified, Nero Express still supports more advanced features like VCD and DVD creation, CD/DVD duplication, overburning, CD-Text and realtime audio filters

The version of Nero Express that BenQ included with their new DVD±RW drive is 6.6.0.6. You can download the latest version of the software from Nero's website.

NeroVision Express 3 - NeroVision Express 3 is the latest version of Nero's video authoring application. Using a user friendly interface very similar to that of Nero Express, NeroVision Express 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.

NeroVision Express 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 new 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 without any loss of quality.

Nero BackItUp - If you're looking for a way to quickly and easily backup your data, Nero BackItUp is the answer. This new program from Ahead Software lets you backup your data to CD/DVD, hard disc, 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 or AVI files you might have on your hard drive.

InCD 4 - 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 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.

BenQ QVideo 2.0 - With QVideo, BenQ has made the process of transferring video to DVD as painless as possible. This small, easy to use program takes the video feed from a variety of TV, DV and AV sources and will burn it directly to disc in real time. No capturing, rendering or authoring of the video footage is needed.

BenQ QSuite 1.0 - The DW1625 also comes with BenQ's new QSuite utility. This group of tools displays information about the drive and lets you adjust many of its functions. Along with the ability to set the booktype, you can enable/disable features like WOPC and Test Write. While not normally part of the DVD+R/RW spec, Test Write will let you run burn simulations on this type of media.

Using the QScan tool, you can also test blank DVD media for Tracking and Focus Errors, or TE/FE. By measuring a disc's TE/FE signal, QScan is able to determine its quality and whether or not it will successfully burn at the desired speed. For the best results, the lines on the graph should remain low and relatively flat.

The DW1625 also has the ability to measure a disc's PIE/PIF/POF and Jitter rates. Unfortunately, these tests are not supported by QScan. However, they are fully supported by programs like CD Speed and DVDINFOpro.

With the DW1625, BenQ has delivered one of their most feature packed drives to date. Their new DVD±RW supports most CD and DVD formats and has specs like 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD±RW and 2.4x DVD+R DL writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. While the DW1625's most notable feature is its LightScribe disc labeling system, it also supports many of the ones we've come to expect from BenQ including Write Right, QScan and bitsetting. Last but not least, BenQ tops all of this off with an impressive software bundle from Nero. With all this it's easy to see why the DW1625 gets the full 10 points for its features.