Awaiting the arrival of my 1620 any moment now and have a question regarding testing. I know Lite-on has their proprietary KProbe, and that seems to have inspired similar testing programs.

When I see folks posting media tests, or reporting media codes, I see screen shots of both DVDInfoPro and Nero's CD Speed.

I also see an all-out war with regard to the author of DVDInfoPro being raged in the media forums, although, I am too new to all this to fully comprehend what the real issue is.

Anyway, does one of these applications offer some uniquely better features than the other with regard to the Benq 1620? Are they essentially offer the same featureset, or are there reasons to use one in conjunction with the other?

Thanks... time to go stare out the window and wait for the Fed-Ex truck again!

PS... one other thing. I picked up a 25 pack of FujiFilm DVD+R at Best Buy (USA)marked "made in japan". I cannot test the media ID until I have the burner, but with what little info I have provided, do these appear to be reliable? videohelp.com's media database suggests this to be decent media, just looking for 1620 specific input on these discs.

Thanks again.

those dvd+r should by taiyo yuden t02 which will burn nicely at 16x.
as far as dvdinfo and cd speed, its just a matter of preference. dvdinfo does have some more features but for scanning its just preference. try them both out see which one you like and you can stick with it. I just recently started using both since before all my scans were done with my 812@832 w/kprobe, now I have the option to scan with benq.

Thanks uknown1234.

I see the DVDInfoPro.zip file contains a single file, DVDInfoPro.msi. Pardon my ignorance, but what the heck is an *.MSI file?

you click on the msi file and it will install it, maybe ms installation configuration file that can be used for debugging.

Kprobe works with Liteons (only) for scanning, the others NERO and DVDINFOPro work with other drives but not all, PLextools with Plextor drives. Maybe one of these days someone will get the NEC to work with these programs

.msi=Microsoft instaler aka standard installer from Ms Visual Studio .... If u have Win98 u must install the support for msi files in order to use it

In my opinion, CD-Speed is more accurate, and its FREE

Is there a particular test I should run, there seems to be a number of them. Or do I just start the application, and select the "start" button?

I did that, and received an error right at what seemed to be the end of the scan. Error was "No additional sense information".

Did you re-boot after install? Might have to don't remember

yes, rebooted after install. no difference. BTW, thanks all for the great info. Hope to return the favor some day if I ever can!

if you hit just start in nero you dont test the quality the disc was written, you have to go to the menu and select the test (dont know the exact name)

what exactly makes you think that cd-speed is more accurate? how can you conclude this or what makes you believe that is so?

Having scanned more than 100 discs (disc quality testing) on my Liteon drive with cd-speed, dvdinfopro and k-probe. I've found dvdinfopro finds less errors in relation to the other two contenders. With the benq DW1620, although this drive has only very recently had this feature, i see the same pattern emerging, of course, k-probe won't work with Benq drives but dvdinfopro still reports less errors than cd-speed.
As i said in my previous post, this is just my personal opinion. But since this thread is dvdinfopro vs NERO CD-Speed, i think it's fair to offer my opinion.

don't take my post the wrong way, your thoughts and opinions are appreciated. I just ask questions to get answers for myself and anyone else who might have wondered the same. I mostly just used my liteon with kprobe and barely used cd-speed or dvdinfo. however now with benq able to scan properly I now use cd-speed or dvdinfo.

that's cool
The Benq drive may well turn out to be a good drive for scanning as well as burning.

all though there has been a lot of NicW bashing (dvdinfopro) lately I believe he has worked with BEnq on getting his program to work with their drives, I just got a Benq oem 1620 and am looking forware to working with it with all the programs

According to the scans done on my Benq 822A,the two programs give almost exactly the same results,so I think you can use either of them to scan your discs.And based on the constant results that I've got,I really think Benq is a good drive for scanning:-)