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In House Review - ASUS DRW-1814BLT SATA 18x DVD±RW/RAM

DVD-R/W, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM
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In House Review - ASUS DRW-1814BLT SATA 18x DVD±RW/RAM

Postby Ian on Fri May 11, 2007 1:36 pm

Today, CDRLabs brings you an in depth look at ASUS's new Serial ATA equipped "Super-Multi" drive, the DRW-1814BLT. Sporting some pretty impressive specs, the DRW-1814BLT is capable of 18x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD±R DL and 14x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. Along with support for LightScribe, the drive also includes features like ASUS's FlextraLink, FlextraSpeed and QuieTrack technologies.

In this review we'll take a look at some of the features found on the DRW-1814BLT and see how it compares to some of the 18x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does the DRW-1814BLT have what it takes? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=301]Image
ASUS DRW-1814BLT SATA 18x DVD±RW/RAM[/url]

If you have any comments or questions about this review or the ASUS DRW-1814BLT, please post them in the forum.
Last edited by Ian on Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Scour on Fri May 11, 2007 3:10 pm

Hope I choosed the correct topic ;)

Nice review, Ian :)

I think the 1814 looks not bad overall. DL-quality seems still a prob, when scanned with a Benq. The scans with a Liteon-drive looks much better. And the reading speed is a bit disappointing.
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Postby Ian on Fri May 11, 2007 3:21 pm

I was really looking forward to this drive. In fact, I actually went out and bought the thing after ASUS gave me the run around. As you can see, I was a bit disappointed.. not only by the performance but that ASUS didn't fix the issues I had with the 1612.
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Postby Scour on Fri May 11, 2007 6:09 pm

I know that 1 new FW came for the 1612, hope for 1814 will come a new FW that fix some issues
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Postby Ian on Fri May 11, 2007 10:24 pm

Scour wrote:I know that 1 new FW came for the 1612, hope for 1814 will come a new FW that fix some issues


1.10 was the new firmware for both. :(
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Postby Wesociety on Fri May 11, 2007 11:31 pm

Nice Review!

So the 1814 is basically just an SATA version of the 1612...

I'm glad that ASUS decided to design their own drives again, as I enjoy seeing competition and additional players in the market. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like their drives have anything extraordinary to make them stand out from the pack. Perhaps their next ASUS designed models will be better? I hope so. :)
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Postby Scour on Sat May 12, 2007 5:49 am

Ian wrote:
1.10 was the new firmware for both. :(


Crossflash possible?
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Postby Ian on Sat May 12, 2007 8:22 am

Scour wrote:Crossflash possible?


Maybe. They both use the same chipset (MediaTek MT1898LE).
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Postby Scour on Sat May 12, 2007 5:51 pm

Thanks for answer.

But I think there a modified flasher is needed
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firmware flasher?

Postby wolf550e on Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:29 am

I have the drive, and it came with the 1.04 firmware. I'm running linux and I don't feel like installing Windows just to flash the thing. Can I flash it in any other way? Is it even worth the hassle?

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Postby Ian on Sun Sep 09, 2007 12:05 am

1.13 firmware:

http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/ODD/DV ... 3_0522.zip

Add 12X write for DVD-RAM in CD-Speed testing
Improve DVD-RAM write and read capability.
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