Memorex MRX-500N 16x DVD±RW

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16 andDLA 4.95:

To test the DVD writing performance of Memorex's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the MRX-500N uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that the drive starts writing at about 6.6x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed as it reaches the end of the disc.

The MRX-500N also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In both cases the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum writing speed.

Memorex's new drive performed relatively well in our DVD writing tests. While the MRX-500N's Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage when writing to DVD-RW discs, it turned in some pretty good times with DVD+R, DVD-R and DVD+RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the MRX-500N, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SOHW-1673S (firmware JS07) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter.

The MRX-500N's writing quality was pretty good when tested with KProbe. Looking at the graphs above, you can see that aside from a few isolated PIF spikes, the error rates remained fairly low. When we scanned the discs with the BenQ DW1640, there was a large PI/PIF spike at the 2.25GB mark. We've seen this with other NEC ND-3550A/4550A based drives and we're still not sure what is causing it. This spike only shows up when testing with BenQ drives and can be eliminated by writing the disc at 8x or slower.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. As you can see, the writing quality was pretty good with most of the discs we tested. Aside from the occasional PI/PIF spike, the results stayed within acceptable limits.

Something to point out is that while the MRX-500N had no problems erasing DVD+RW discs at 8x, it erasedDVD-RW media at only 4x.

To test the MRX-500N's packet writing performance I used DLA 4.95. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media were used once again.

When writing our test data, the MRX-500N turned in some good times with both DVD+RW and DVD-RW media. The drive was also fairly quick when reading DVD-RW discs, but for whatever reason took longer than expected to read back our test data from DVD+RW media.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the MRX-500N, I used Verbatim 8x DVD+R DL, Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL, Memorex 2.4x DVD+R DL and Verbatim 4x DVD-R DL media. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

For whatever reason, the MRX-500N had some problems writing to Verbatim's DVD+R DL media at 8x. While the drive was able to write to the first layer at this speed, it quickly slowed to 4x when writing to the second layer. An example of this is pictured below.

Unfortunately, due to the drop in speed, the MRX-500N was considerably slower than the drives from the competition. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality was very good with Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL media. As you can see, the PI/PIF rates remained very low from start to finish. Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media also yielded some pretty decent results. While higher than what we saw with their 8x media, the PI/PIF remained well within acceptable limits.

Unfortunately, Memorex's own DVD+R DL media did not fair quite as well. While written at a much slower speed, the PI/PIF rates were considerably higher. When tested with the BenQ DW1640, there were also a number of PO Failures which caused some minor readability problems.

The MRX-500N also features 6x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media was used.

The MRX-500N performed fairly well when writing to DVD-R DL media. Thanks to its 6x writing speed, it took the drive only 20:48 to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The MRX-500N's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with both KProbe and CD Speed.Unfortunately, when the disc was read back by the DW1640, there were a number of dips in the transfer rate graph.

Performance Revisited:

While Memorex's new DVD writer has a few rough spots, it performed as expected throughout most of our tests. When writing DVD's, the MRX-500N turned in some good times with DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD-R DL media, but for whatever reason, it had some problems writing to DVD+R DL discs at 8x. Nevertheless, the MRX-500N was fairly quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, it was able to read single layer DVD's and DVD±R discs at speeds near 16x and DVD±RW media at a respectable 13x.

The MRX-500N also did relatively well in our CD read tests. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive was able to read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x. Writing CD's wasn't a problem for Memorex's new drive either. The MRX-500N turned in some very impressive times and its writing quality was quite good. With all things considered, the Memorex MRX-500N gets a solid 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.