GSA-H73 DVD drives question

[slyphnier]

hello guys,

anyway just straight to my problem,
i have HitachiLG drives (GSA-H73) and PhilipsBenq (DH-48C2S) that came with my XPS system

until now i haven't got any burn fail yet... since i always burn at 4x speed on UDF format.... and never find anyproblem reading the writted disc

just now i try checking the disc with Nero DiscSpeed4 and DVDInfoPro on (DH-48C2S) and the result quite shocking for DVD quality Rating, since often the dvd i write got below 50% quality rate!
i also use scan disc tool and no error found

the blank media i use is TDK Durabis DVD-R ... if i don't wrong the disc maker is taiyoyuden
and yeah i did update the firmware for both drives from dell site before i burn the discs

so my question are:
1. how accurate Nero&DVDinfopro dvd quality settings are? should i believe them ?

2. is that possible caused i am using UDF format than ISO format ? though i dont believe it have relation to DVD quality rating

3. is HitachiLG writter that bad? from what i read the drive have good review or PhilipsBenq drive that the one not reliable ?

4. do you recommend me getting new drive ? as i am thinking getting Pioneer DVR-S16J

since the data i back-up is important (webserver data + workstation data)
i need to make sure the data i burn can be used for quite sometimes until wearing

thanks before !!

[Ian]

The DH-48C2S is a combo drive, correct? Combo drives really aren't known for their accuracy when it comes to write quality testing. Before you write off the DH-48C2S, you may want to burn a disc at a slower speed or try another brand of disc to see what kind of results you get.

How you run any transfer rate tests? Are the graphs smooth when you read the discs back?

[slyphnier]

Ian thank for the reply
for burning i can't get lower than 4x on nero, i still have to try with other media though....

anyway here the graph for transfer rate... is this good enuf ?

transfer rate on GSA-H73


transfer rate on DH-48C2


quality check on transfer rate on DH-48C2

and from reading http://www.dvd-r.jpn.org/ about pioner new D216 review... it said the drive have around 30% rates for faulty drives (drives that didnt produce good quality writting)... well i don't find for other drives though
but are drives have that high faulty rates?... somehow kinda curious regarding this writters reliability ^^
really hoping can get more info from here ^^

thanks alot

[Ian]

Aside from the spike at the 3.6GB mark, the results aren't that bad. The transfer rates are smooth too so there doesn't appear to be any obvious issues.

I hadn't heard that about the 216. It wouldn't be the first time Pioneer's drives have had issues. They had a big recall a number of years ago when their drives failed to (I think) write CD's.

[slyphnier]

just want to make sure, so this drive just fine ? i mean nothing i should worry about also i don't have to get another drive, right ?

regarding 216... i read the review on this page http://www.dvd-r.jpn.org/DVR-216/index12.html
from the graph on that page, we can see drive 3,4 and 6 have good result while other drive have either really bad or no good result
i also suprised with the review result... he said he bought the drive at same time, maybe because its OEM product? (like DVR-S16J should have better quality)
well he test drive at high speed writting though... seems no big issue on 8x writing

anyway thanks alot!

[Ian]

From my experience, results vary from drive to drive and disc to disc. All companies make the occasional lemon too.. even Pioneer.