X-bit labs

Two DVD±RW Dual Layer Burners Reviewed: Pioneer DVR-110D and Toshiba SD-R5472 (page 14)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 10/17/2005 | 01:15 PM ]

TDK DVD+R 16x

Both drives perform well with the high-speed media from TDK. The number of errors of both types is much lower than the maximum acceptable levels set by ECMA, but once again there are fewer errors on the disc recorded by the Toshiba SD-R5472, especially as concerns PI Failures.

Verbatim DVD+R 16x

A Verbatim medium is the last representative of the DVD+R format, and both optical drives burn it very well. There are few errors on the discs – they are both far on the safe side of the ECMA requirements. Yet if we compare the discs between each other, the Toshiba SD-R5472 drive should be considered the winner of this test – there are much less errors in total on the blank it recorded.

Digitex DVD-R 8x

Now we can switch to the DVD-R format, represented by a Digitex medium. This time the quality of the two discs is very different, unlike in the previous tests. The Toshiba SD-R5472 fails this test completely, having much more PI Errors and PI Failures than allowed by the ECMA standards. The quality is downright bad at the end of the disc. The disc recorded by the Pioneer DVR-110D is, on the contrary, fully compliant with the quality standards. The only thing you can cavil at is that the burn quality is not quite uniform throughout the disc (there’s a noticeable surge of PI Errors at the beginning of the graph).

TDK DVD-R 8x ScratchProof

Pioneer is in fact one of the developers of the “minus” format, so the company’s DVR-110D drive processes DVD-R discs just superbly. The scratchproof DVD-R disc from TDK recorded by this drive at 8x speed has an acceptable number of errors. The only thing that spoils the overall picture somewhat is the worsening of the burn quality towards the end of the medium. The disc recorded by the Toshiba SD-R5472 is a little worse, with a few surges of PI Failures above the acceptable maximum. The total number of errors of both types is bigger on the disc from Toshiba, too.