Dual-Layer DVD Burner Roundup

Media Read Performance The Basics

Throughout our testing of these five drives, we utilized Nero's CD/DVD Speed.  This is an exceptionally versatile tool that allows us to peer into the drive's behavior during various operations.  In the next section, we ran several read tests on each product using CDs, DVD+R media, and dual-layer discs.  Please note that in each test, the Green line represents Rotation Speed while the Yellow Line represents the drive's progress.  CD performance is viewed on a scale of 80 minutes, and DVD in Gigabytes.

Nero CD-DVD Speed - DVD+R DL Read Test:

In order to test the read characteristics of each drive we used dual-layer discs with 8,134MB of data. And rather than use one disc for testing all drives, we used the DL disc burned by each product to test its read performance.

ASUS DRW-1604P	BenQ DW-1620
Lite-On 1633S	Plextor PX-716A
Sony DRU-710A

Plextor scores the highest burst speed, highest average transfer speed, lowest initial seek times, and most respectable CPU usage numbers while reading dual-layer media. BenQ's offering comes in second place for read speed and random seek times.

Nero CD-DVD Speed - DVD+R Read Test:

We followed the same procedure for testing DVD+R media, only we used a 4,476MB +R disc, instead.

ASUS DRW-1604P	BenQ DW-1620
Lite-On 1633S	Plextor PX-716A
Sony DRU-710A

All five drives sport comparable burst speeds, but the similarities fundamentally end there. ASUS scores the fastest average read speed at the expense of very high seek times and processor usage. Plextor scores second place in average read speed, despite odd (and readily repeatable) behavior toward the end of the disc. Seek times are lower, as are the measured processor usage rates. Sony, BenQ, and Lite-On all follow, performing very similarly.

Nero CD-DVD Speed - CD-R Read Test:

This time around we measured the read performance of a 690MB CD in each of the drives.

ASUS DRW-1604P	BenQ DW-1620
Lite-On 1633S	Plextor PX-716A
Sony DRU-710A

Lite-On owns the performance aspect of Nero's metric, but with higher than average seek times. If it's seek time you're looking at, Plextor and BenQ are actually a bit quicker. Each drive's burst rate is pretty much the same and CPU utilization rates are also all pretty low.