When I reviewed the DRW-1608P a few months ago, I was impressed by the features and performance the drive offered. Needless to say, I went into this review expecting much of the same from its successor, the DRW-1608P2. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. While ASUS's new drive brings things like 8x DVD±R DL writing speeds to the table, its high media requirements and questionable writing quality kept it from getting our stamp of approval.
Like the Pioneer drive it's based on, the DRW-1608P2 can write to both DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x. At this speed, it took the drive a little more than 6 minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD. ASUS's new drive also also turned in some very good times with DVD-RW media, but would not write to any of our 8x DVD+RW media at its rated speed, even with the latest firmware. The DRW-1608P2's DVD±R DL writing performance did make up for this somewhat. Thanks to its 8x writing speed, it took the drive a little more than 18 minutes to burn an entire 8.5GB DVD.
When it came to media compatibility and writing quality, the DRW-1608P2 gave us some mixed results. While the drive wrote to most DVD-R media at its rated speed or better, finding DVD+R discs that would work at 16x was not an easy task, even with the latest firmware. On the other hand, the DRW-1608P2's writing quality was pretty good, at least with single layer DVD±R discs. The same can't be said for DVD±R DL media though. As you saw in our tests, the PI/PIF rates were very high, especially when writing at 8x.
Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for ASUS's new drive either. In our tests it was able to read both single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at speeds as high as 16x and had some relatively good seek times. The DRW-1608P2 was also fairly quick with other types of media. The drive read dual layer DVD-Videos and DVD±R discs at 12x and DVD±RW media at a respectable 8x.
The DRW-1608P2 also did reasonably well in our CD read tests. While the drive's seek times were a little higher than we would have liked, it had no problems reading pressed and CD-R media at 41x and CD-RW discs at 33x. ASUS's new drive also ripped audio CD's at speeds as high as 41x, but for whatever reason, had a tendency to slow when reading some pressed discs. As a writer, the DRW-1608P2 performed as expected. The drive's 40x CD-R writing speed did put it at a disadvantage in some of our tests. However, its writing quality was very good.
When it comes to features, the DRW-1608P2 is very similar to ASUS's previous DVD writers. To prevent buffer underruns, the drivehas a 2000KB buffer that is backed up by some sort of buffer underrun technology. While this buffer is a little smaller than what we'd like to see on a 16x DVD writer, this system worked well to prevent coasters. The DRW-1608P2 also offers a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and supports bitsetting for DVD+R DL discs. Unfortunately, it won't let you set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media. Last but not least, ASUS has included a great software software bundle from Nero and Ulead.
While the DRW-1608P2 has its rough spots, it has a lot of potential. If ASUS, and in turn Pioneer, can improve the media support and DVD±R DL writing quality, it could be one of the better 16x DVD writers out there, especially when you consider how affordable the drive is. Current prices vary depending on the seller, but the DRW-1608P2 can be picked up for less than $50 on Pricegrabber.
| ASUS DRW-1608P2 16x DVD±RW |
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| Features: Installation: Performance: |
8 7 5 |
| Overall: | 7 |
Highs:
- Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 16x
- Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
- Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
- Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 8x
- Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
- Reads DVD+R and DVD-R media at 12x
- Reads DVD+RW and DVD-RW media at 8x
- Reads DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 8x
- Features 40x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds
- Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
- Includes buffer underrun prevention technology
- Can read DVD-RAM media
- Good CD writing quality
- Automatically sets book type to DVD-ROM for DVD+R DL media
- Includes software from Nero, Ulead and ASUS
- Affordably priced
Lows:
- Questionable writing quality with most DVD±R DL media
- Does not support 8x DVD+RW media from Verbatim or Ritek
- Cannot set the book type of DVD+R or DVD+RW media
- Tendency to slow when reading pressed audio CD's
- Documentation could be better
- Only a 2000KB buffer
- No digital audio output
- Overburns to only 94:27
- Cannot read CD-R's larger than 94:00
