X-bit labs

Ten DVD-Burners Roundup

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 07/24/2003 | 11:12 PM ]

The top of the optical drives evolution is the DVD-burner combo, which combines the functions of all sorts of optical drives. These units cost quite a bit but will definitely be a very good addition to your system. Need some help on choosing the best solution? Then read our roundup of 10 most popular models!

Table of contents:

• DVD-Burners Specifications
  
• Mitsumi DW-7801TE
  
• NEC ND-1100A
  
• Pioneer DVR-104WB
  
• Pioneer DVR-A05
  
• Pioneer DVR-105
  
• Pioneer DVR-105BK
  
• Sony DW-U10A
  
• Sony DW-U12A
  
• Ricoh RW5125A
  
• Teac DV-W50E
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Informational Utilities
  
• Mitsumi DW-7801TE
  
• NEC ND-1100A
  
• Pioneer DVR-104WB
  
• Pioneer DVR-105
  
• Pioneer DVR-A05
  
• Pioneer DVR-105BK
  
• RICOH RW5125A
  
• Sony DW-U10A
  
• Sony DW-U12A
  
• TEAC DV-W50E
  
• Performance in CD WinBench 99
  
• Performance in Nero CD Speed
  
• Basic Tests
  
• Advanced DAE Quality Test
  
• Quality Check
  
• Performance in Nero CD DAE
  
• Performance in CDVD Benchmark
  
• Performance in Nero DVD Speed
  
• Performance in Sandra Standard 2003
  
• Performance in Nero Burning Rom
  
• Conclusion
  
• Mitsumi DW-7801TE
  
• NEC ND-1100A
  
• Pioneer DVR-104WB
  
• Pioneer DVR-105
  
• Pioneer DVR-A05
  
• Pioneer DVR-105BK
  
• Ricoh RW5125A
  
• Sony DW-U10A
  
• Sony DW-U12A
  
• Teac DV-W50E
  

If there is anything “high-end” in the world of optical drives, it is the DVD-burner species. These devices are universal in the full meaning of this word. They are the last link of the optical drives evolution chain: from CD-ROM and CD-RW to DVD-ROM and DVD/CD-RW combos. It’s quite natural that we have to pay a price for this widest functionality. In our case, we had to sacrifice the fastness of certain functions, which are secondary for any DVD-burner: it is slower reading or burning ordinary CDs and mediocre DVDs reading. Anyway, these slight drawbacks should not obscure the main advantage of any DVD-burner: its ability to write up to 4.7GB of information onto one medium. This data amount corresponds to the total capacity of 6.5 standard compact discs. That’s quite a lot. Thus, you can use a DVD-burner for information backup, storage of MPEG-4 movies or your collection of audio files. You can even copy your favorite DVD-movies to your own discs.

However, there is another side to the picture. As usual, you have to pay for all good things in this world. In our situation the devices we have just mentioned are still pretty expensive. A typical DVD-burner will cost you about $200 or even more. And certainly, not every PC user is ready to spend so much money without weighing all cons and pros in advance. So, this review is intended to help those of you who have the money and are willing to exchange it for the ability to write DVD discs. Today, we will review ten models from several manufacturers. Before we start our roundup, we have to apologize for different level of detail in the models descriptions, because not all DVD-burner makers provide full technical info on their corporate websites.

DVD-Burners Specifications

First of all, take a look at a comparative chart including all the models we are going to review today. It will give you an idea of what the manufacturers actually promise us:

Now let’s check if the claimed specifications correspond to the real state of things.