X-bit labs

Sony DRX-800UL External DVD Burner Review (page 10)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 09/15/2005 | 01:20 PM ]

Performance in Nero CD-DVD Speed: Disk Quality Test

We used a few different DVD discs to evaluate the DVD burning quality provided by the Sony DRX-800UL drive. All of them were created with Nero Burning Rom utility at the maximum write speed certified by the manufacturer. The burning quality was tested with our Sony drive. All DVD discs were read at a constant speed of 4x.

As usual, if it is the first optical storage review you are reading on our site, I would like to remind you of the major burning quality evaluation criteria we use.

According to the ECMA standards for DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW media, the total number of PI errors in 8 subsequent ECC blocks should not exceed 280. This is the first reference parameter that we will take into account. Besides, any ECC block should not contain more than four irrecoverable PI errors (an irrecoverable PI error is referred to as PI failure by CD-DVD Speed utility).

Thus, we consider those DVD discs as quality media from the formal standpoint that have no more than 280 PI errors per each 8 ECC blocks and no more than 4 PI failures per single ECC block. Besides the above listed quality evaluation criteria, it also makes a lot of sense to pay due attention to the surface-scan graphs showing at the distribution and type of errors discovered on the disc surface. If all other results are equal, then those cases should be regarded as the most dangerous when the maximum number of errors exceeds the limits over the entire disc surface rather than those cases when the maximum number of errors exceeds the limits in few individual spots.

Digitex DVD+R 8x

The screenshot above taken for the DVD+R disc from Digitex shows that the acceptable amount of PI Failures has been exceeded. Although, I should point out that the higher lever of PI failures can only be observed in the very beginning of the disc, while after that the burning quality is close to ideal.

RIDATA DVD+R 16x

PI Errors and PI Failures graphs do not indicate any quality issues here. The maximum number of errors of both types doesn’t go beyond the limits defined by the ECMA standards. If it hadn’t been for the slight increase in the PI Errors in the very end of the disc, I would have reported the burning quality as absolutely excellent in this case. Although, it is very good anyway.

TDK DVD+R 8x ScratchProof

The results obtained with a TDK DVD+R disc protested with the company’s brand name ScratchProof technology leaves a ton of positive emotions. There are very few errors of both types, which is strictly within the acceptable EMCA standards.