Hello all,

I need a new burner that reliably works with CMC MAG AE1 & E01 media.

These media are used extensively in inexpensive 8x rebranded offerings (HP, Staples, Teon, etc.) and I go through quite a lot of them in archiving short-term data sets. I'm currently using NEC ND 2510A, but would like to upgrade to something faster (the NEC takes 10 minutes, using ZCLV).

I've already tried the NEC 3540 with very unreliable/inconsistent results using these media. I'm short-term archiving research data, so media longevity isn't a real concern, but ability to burn these low cost media without erroring out, is!

I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts on this; is the 1640 right for me?

Thanks in advance for your input/advice!

You would be better off buying quality media in bulk from an online retailer like Rima.com.

My reasearch budget won't allow it. Rima offers bulk Taio Yuden at 40 cents per disc; my rebranded CMC's can be had on sale for as little as 16 cents per disc.

I'd love to purchase premium media. - 16x media, for that matter - But as matters stand, the CMC's are my only real option.

This is pretty typical of what I get from CMC Mag E01 on the 1640 - this was burned with BSJB. Using BSIB I don't get the higher 5-6 PIF spikes at 3-3.5gb. I have not had a coaster yet at 8x.

Thanks! This seems very promising. If I may, how fast did they burn at 8x & was there a significant difference between +R / -R in speed / quality? Thanks again.

I only burn +R, so I don't know about -R. Average write speed 7.58x, max at 7.93x.

I also make very good burns with the E01 on my new dw1640, look at my scans in my previous posts

I did a burn of cmc E01 on my BenQ 1620 and it looked very much like scan above on 1640, I also find my pioneer a08xl does pretty nice job at 16x. with E01 media, but as pio a08 was Z-clv it only did it in 6:49.

Thanks, all, for your replies. I'm persuaded to give the 1640 a try (from Newegg) & hope post my results after some heavy use. Once again, thanks, and happy burning.

It is not matter of life and dead to give a try, just buy it and if you are not satisfied send it back for replacement with other drives, it is only$40.99.

cmc mag ae1 is has recently been excelent for me in my pioneer 111d I get really fantastic results as good or even better than my verbatim 8 and 16 speeds

off topic

Yeah mark_244, but now you are playing at the wrong side of the fence here.
I think member Wolfhour already made up his mind and bought a BenQ.

/off topic

BTW, anybody had success with AE1 media on DW164* drives?

Sure, my 1640 (and 1620 and 1655) burns AE1 well. Some batches of AE1 has higher PIEs than others, although they still generally have very good PIFs. My most recent AE1 discs, Nexxtech, burns with about 20k total PIE and 200-400 total PIF in my Benq and other modern burners (Pioneer 111L, Liteon 165P6S, NEC 2510, Benq 822, 1620, 1655).

Thanks scoobiedoobie.

I have a friend that likes to pass ower a spindle of that media...
When testing CMC MAG AE1 1½ or so year back I got terrible results on DW1640 with this media at any speed above 4x.
Maybe I should try again but this time with my DW1650 (aka DVDR1660P1).