Hello everybody,

I'm looking to buy a new writer. I have had a NEC ND-2500A (with other firmware, DL-enabled) for more than a year now, and I want a 16x writer so I could write at 8x now (I always write at 4x with my NEC). Somehow, I don't like writing at the fastest speed possible, doesn't seem that safe.

Now, I have already decided it has to be a Benq. I've read several reviews on the DW-1640 and it seems to be about the best drive out there. It was decided, I was going out to buy one, but now there's all the talk about the DW-1650. So, I have the following questions:

1) Would it be worth the wait? I figure it won't be much more expensive (as is always the case with new DVD-writers) than the DW-1640, but the specs don't differ at all. I'd hate to lose out on some big new capability though...
2) Is there anyone that knows when the DW-1650 will appear in stores?

And now for a media-related question: I still have a stack of YUDEN000T02's, and 2 spindles of RICOHJPNR02. Are these good media for a Benq DW-1640? Will they burn flawlessly at 8x? (note: I'm more a quality guy than a speed guy, but I would like 8x burning)

Thanks in advance.

Buy a BenQ 1640!!!!!!!!!! You won't be disappointed.
You have exellent media for the 1640, Yuden & Ricoh will burn flawlessly at 8x.

Since you asked. I think you should wait at least 5 years before buying anything. I am psychic and can tell you that BENQ will release a burner that handles BluRay, HD-DVD and DL DVD at 16X for only US$ 19.98.
Be patient.

No need to go all sarcastic on me, steven2874. It's a bit unfair of you. I don't follow the DVD-writer world very closely, so it's a fair assumption that there are people that know more about the soon-to-be-released DW-1650 than I do. That's why I come here and ask for it.

GrrRon: thanks for your reply about the media. I'll hold on for a few other replies about the DW-1640/1650 questions before I make my conclusions.

I'm not sarcastic. I'm psychic. And about your other question, "Should I marry her?" The answer is no.

I went from a NEC 2510 to a Benq 1640, overall it was worth it. 4x burns the NEC is just as good as the Benq. 8x burns the NEC will have higher jitter and it's more media dependant imo.

The benq is a damn good burner, has the most options out of all the burners out there (qsuite: smartburn, wopc on/off, overspeeding, qcheck).

Thanks for your opinion dicer, it's highly appreciated.

I'd say get the 1640, Unless you really want Lightscribe in the 1653. The 1640 has proven rock soild performace vis-a-vis write quality. And that's the #1 feature most of us want in a writer.

There's just one reason for me not to buy a light scribe drive - and that is the fact that you're stuck with very few choices of (lightscribe) media.

@steven2874
What kind of lobotomy did you do?

@eniac

The Benq 1640 burn that media extremelly well.

Yo-

I would go with the 1640 also - it like your 2500 are very good/reliable burners - and if possible would pair them up on the same IDE channel 'cause the 1640 is a superior reader/ripper and with your stated media - you would have the ability to burn movies without doing the 'disc-swapping-dance'

Mike

Oh, c'mon, steven2874's posts were teh funnay!

As for the drive having the "most options out there", Plextor's models (made and produced by Plextor, that is) since the PX712 have all the features listed above (but called something else), and few more like GigaRec (925MB on a 700MB CDR) and SecuRec (encrypted contents). They also use the much better SUM-1 scanning for PIFs, and are far better at CD scanning. They're also really expensive. Plextor's new low-cost model, the PX740, doesn't have those fancy features, but it is an overpriced rebadged BenQ 1640 !

For price and performance, a BenQ 1640 is hard to beat.

Well honestly, I couldn't care less about Lightscribe. It's not like it will extend the life of a disc or make it read better in a standalone, so it's of no use to me. Ofcourse it's pretty and all, but my discs are tucked away anyway.

That's indeed the #1 feature. A reasoning that makes much sense.

Thanks, quite happy to hear this.

But I do like the disc-swapping-dance
I have to recode my movies anyway, since I'm not yet into DVD+/-R DL. And for safety reasons, I have never copied on the fly - even with CD's.
The 2500A is moving out anyway, can't keep it.

Thanks for your opionion also.

I guess
I've looked into Plextor, they might be great, but I don't see any mention of better burning quality (even on the expensive models), so I'll forget about them. And since their low-cost models are BenQ's, it's really of no use.

I had a Plextor CD-writer once (1640TA), died on me three times. Sold it, got a LiteOn 52246S, great drive!


Thanks everybody, I will be buying a 1640 tomorrow or the day after. I figure it's not worth it to wait on a drive that has the same specs, when the 1640 already has great burning quality.

Pre-frontal.

Great choice.

Yep, right on both counts. On a good day the PX716 might produce SL burns as good as the 1640 and maybe slightly better on DL. And as for quality and durability, the Plextor forum is full of people with complaints - at least more than there were here about the 1620, anyways. For the price of the things, though, they should blow everything else away. And don't.

Good luck with your new 1640, mine meets every expectation I had for it.

Well, I got out and bought it today. I was very excited to finally have a drive that's capable of quality scanning, so that was the very first thing I did: take a disc, written by a NEC 2500 and scan it.

I think my NEC did very well. This one was burnt at 4x:


First thing I thought: "why the hell did I buy another one?".

Then I burnt my first DVD with the BenQ, at 8x.

This is how it came out:


I think this is a great result? One thing puzzles me though: why does the first one (NEC) get a "99" and the second one (BenQ) a "98"? The BenQ burn has far lower PIE and MUCH lower PIF, also lower jitter...

Anybody that knows the answer? Also, how would you rate my BenQ burn? Thanks in advance.

From what I can gather, the quality score is mostly about the PIFs. Not necessarily the total number of PIFs, but the maximum PIFs. You had one more PIF on your max, so that lowered it from 99 to 98.

As far as your BenQ burn, it looks great to me. I personally am satisfied with anything 96 or above, and most everything I burn is 97 or 98. (WOPC on, SB Supported off, SB Unsupported on, OS off, TY +R media)

The score is determined by PIF maximum. Max 3 = 99; Max of 4= 98.
Both burns are quite good.

Okay, thanks people. I'll now compare WOPC on vs off, seeing that I have good media, I might as well turn it off.

Well, I did another burn, same settings as before (8x, WOPC ON, SB OFF/ON, OS OFF), and I got this:



Three nasty PIF areas. What to make of this? Should I be worried about it or not?

Not to worry about those PIF spikes (Nasty is PIF above 16 and in large clumps.) Do a Nero CD-DVD Speed transfer rate test, if the read curve is smooth there is nothing to worry about. Try cleaning the disc with some compressed air before burning, those spikes could be dust or scratches on the disc.

Read curve isn't entirely smooth, but still acceptable:



On another note: is this kind of CPU usage normal during this test? I'd say no...

Both my 1640's report pretty much the same as yours. Mine are both woking fine so I doubt it's a problem.

Okay, thanks for the help!