TDK DVD-R 16x

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Now we’ve come to one of the two discs that made us write this review. This is the TDK DVD-R 16x blank that you can see above. One of results is missing in the table because the sample recorded by the LG GSA-4163B at 8x speed could not be read by our reference drive. As for the other samples, they are of satisfactory quality, especially as concerns PI errors. The maximum of PI failures is higher than the norm on the disc written at 16x by the NEC ND-3520A. But again, if you take a look at the corresponding graph, you can see that the allowable maximum of 4 PI failures is exceeded in just a few separate spots. This is not a regular thing, so don’t bother. The same is true for the disc recorded by the Plextor PX-712A: the maximum of 5 PI failures spotted by KProbe is just a single spike on the graph, so this is just an accident. It’s exactly the same with the disc written at 16x by the Pioneer DVR-109 where there’s a single overshoot of PI failures above the acceptable limit.

By the way, when we were burning discs in the Pioneer DVR-109, Nero Burning ROM would hang up just as the progress bar hit the 100% mark. Although the discs were subsequently read in Windows Explorer, the quality check results may be incorrect. The reason for this problem must be hidden somewhere in the drive’s firmware.

There are no definite leaders at processing TDK DVD-R 16x blanks among the participating optical drives.