BenQ DW1655 16x DVD±RW

Last spring, I reviewed BenQ's first LightScribe enabled DVD writer, the DW1625. While the ability to burn images and text onto the tops of discs was impressive, the DW1625's performance left me wanting more. Fortunately, that wasn't the case with the DW1655. While affordably priced, the drive delivers the performance and features that BenQ has become known for.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the DW1655 took about 6 and a half minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. While this isn't exactly speedy, disabling WOPC cut a good 40 seconds off the total burn time. BenQ's new DVD writer did pretty well in our rewriting tests, turning in some very good times with both DVD-RW and DVD+RW media. Even more impressive was the DW1655's DVD+R DL writing performance. Thanks to its 8x writing speed, the drive took a little more than 17 minutes to burn an entire 8.5GB DVD. Unfortunately, its 4x DVD-R DL writing speed also put it at a slight disadvantage in some of our tests.

Finding compatible media really wasn't an issue with the DW1655. The drive wrote to most of our test media at its rated speed and with OverSpeed enabled, it was able to write to 8x DVD±R discs at 16x. Just keep in mind that if you want to write to DVD+R DL media at 8x, you will need to buy media rated at this speed. The DW1655's writing quality was also pretty good for the most part. However, there's still room for improvement, especially with Ritek manufactured DVD+R DL media. Hopefully BenQ can tweak this in a future firmware update.

The DW1655 also did very well in our DVD read tests. The drive was able to read single layer data and video DVD-ROM's at speeds as high as 16x and had some pretty good seek times. The DW1655 also reached some pretty impressive transfer speeds with other types of DVD media. In our tests, it read DVD±R discs at 16x and both DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at an impressive 12x.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the DW1655 either. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at 48x and CD-RW discs at 40x. This level of performance carried over to our DAE tests, where the drive ripped audio CD's at 48x. As a writer, the DW1655 performed reasonably well. The drive turned in some respectable times thanks to its 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds and its writing quality was quite good.

Like BenQ's previous DVD writers, the DW1655 isn't short on features. Along with Seamless Link buffer underrun protection, it supports things like BenQ's Write Right, OverSpeed and SolidBurn technologies. The drive also has a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media. Most notable though, is the DW1655's LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling system. An alternative to markers and stick on labels, LightScribe lets you burn graphics and text onto the tops of specially coated discs.

In the end, it usually comes down to price. For what it offers, BenQ's new drive is surprisingly affordable. Current prices vary depending on the seller, but the retail version of the DW1655 can be picked up for less than $50 on Pricegrabber.

Highs:

• Writes to DVD±R media at 16x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-R DL media at 4x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R media at 16x
• Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 12x
• Features 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds
• Very good transfer speeds with all types of CD media
• Excellent DAE speeds
• Low seek times
• Supports SolidBurn, Write Right and OverSpeed technologies
• Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
• Includes software from Nero
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media
• Supports FE/TE, PI/PIF/POF and Jitter testing
• Supports 99 minute media
• Affordably priced

Lows:

• Not as fast as other drives when WOPC is enabled
• Questionable writing quality with some DVD+R DL media
• Cannot write to 2.4x DVD+R DL media at 8x
• Has a 2048KB buffer
• Documentation could be better