1640 OEM vs 1650 Retail

by **islander** on Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:40 pm

I will buy one of these so i need advice from your experience. Which one is better. According to c't mag, 1640 writing quality is only a bit better but 1650 is much louder (big minus in my opinion).
Does front panels of 1640 OEM and 1650 RETAIL look the same at european market.
EW164B is also an option. Is it the same drive as DW1640.
Thanks

by **Bhairav** on Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:44 pm

islander wrote:I will buy one of these so i need advice from your experience. Which one is better. According to c't mag, 1640 writing quality is only a bit better but 1650 is much louder (big minus in my opinion).
Does front panels of 1640 OEM and 1650 RETAIL look the same at european market.
EW164B is also an option. Is it the same drive as DW1640.
Thanks

EW164B is an external version of the 1640. Get the 1650, a more mature drive, and more FW updates will come out for it now..

by **thegdog** on Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:27 pm

By default, the 1640 and EW164B firmwares support writing Verbatim DVD+R DL media with MKM-001 media code at 8x. The 1650/1655 firmwares only support it at 2.4x.

You can use MediaCodeSpeedEdit to hack the firmware to allow writing MKM-001 at 8x on 1650/1655 drives, but if you're not the type to do that, then the 1640 might be a better drive.

It's true that new firmwares for the 1640/EW164B have probably ended, but I'm still quite happy with my 1640 and see no pressing need to upgrade to a 1650/1655.

by **islander** on Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:55 pm

Thanks. I don't use + media. What about 1650 noise. Is it really that loud.

by **AxBattler** on Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:39 pm

Do the 1650/55 write TYG02 better than the 1640? I seem to remember reading that the 1640 is very capable for those.

by **islander** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 8:45 am

Can i use nero or some other software to make 1650/1655 quite.

by **dodecahedron** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:10 pm

islander wrote:Can i use nero or some other software to make 1650/1655 quite.

if you have Nero installed, then you also have the Nero Toolkit (it's in the Start -> Programs). one of the utilities there is Nero DriveSpeed which can be used to limit the speed of reading hence lowering the noise.
to lower the noise (read: speed) when burning, just burn slower.

by **islander** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:30 pm

Thanks dodecahedron, but are you sure it can be done with benq drives.

by **Ian** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:44 pm

islander wrote:Thanks dodecahedron, but are you sure it can be done with benq drives.

It should be. It simply sets the read speed to something other than max.

by **dodecahedron** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:50 pm

patience.
i'm testing it on my BenQ DW1620 as we speak...

by **dodecahedron** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:58 pm

surprise

BenQ DW1620, a DVD Video disc.
Nero DriveSpeed 3.06, set my BenQ to 6x max read speed.

by **Ian** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:19 pm

Does the drive have a 6x speed though? Try 4x or 2x.

by **dodecahedron** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:48 pm

my thoughts exactly, which is why i'm testing 4x as we speak...

by **dodecahedron** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:57 pm

bummer!

by **islander** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:21 pm

If i understood it, reading speed of you drive can be set to 6x but not to 4x?
Is it quiet enough at 6x.
TFYT

by **Ian** on Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:28 pm

Dodeca, what do you have the read speed set to in CD Speed? Max, current or selected? You'll probably want current.

by **dodecahedron** on Tue Mar 21, 2006 3:57 pm

Ian wrote:Dodeca, what do you have the read speed set to in CD Speed? Max, current or selected? You'll probably want current.

nope, that didn't work either.

1640 OEM vs 1650 Retail

1640 OEM vs 1650 Retail

Re: 1640 OEM vs 1650 Retail

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