AOpen DSW1812P 18x DVD±RW/RAM

While the DSW1812P has a few rough spots that need to be worked out, its a marked improvement over AOpen's previous DVD writers. Affordably priced, the drive offers a good number of features and some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds available.

The DSW1812P is the first drive from AOpen with the ability to write to both DVD-R and DVD+R media at 18x. At this speed, it took the drive about five and a half minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD. The DSW1812P also turned in some very good times with DVD-RAM and DVD±R DL media. However, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW discs.

When it came to media compatibility, the DSW1812P gave us some mixed results. While the drive wrote tomost of our test media at its rated speeds, only two types were supported at 18x. On the other hand, the DSW1812P's writing quality was fairly good, at least with most single layer DVD±R discs. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for DVD±R DL media. As you saw in our tests, there were a number of cases where the PI/PIF rates were very high.

AOpen's new drive also did very well in our DVD read tests. It was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at 16x and had some very good seek times. The DSW1812P also reached some pretty impressive transfer speeds with other types of DVD media. In our tests, it read DVD±R discs at 16x and DVD±RW, DVD±R DL and DVD-RAM media at an impressive 12x.

The DSW1812P was also fairly quick when reading CD's. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x and CD-RW discs at 33x. On top of that, it was able to rip audio CD's at an impressive 48x. The DSW1812P also performed very well when writing to CD-R media. The drive not only turned in some impressive times, its writing quality was quite good. Unfortunately, the DSW1812P's Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests.

AOpen's new DVD writer also has its share of features. Along with support for all major CD and DVD formats, it has a 2MB buffer that is backed up by Super Link buffer underrun protection. While this buffer is a little smaller than what we'd like to see on a 18x DVD writer, this system worked flawlessly in our tests. Unfortunately, the DSW1812P lacks support for bitsetting. Hopefully this is something that AOpen can add later with a firmware update. Last but not least, the drive comes with a great software bundle from Nero and a black replacement bezel.

According to AOpen, the DSW1812P should be shipping shortly after you read this review. Here in the US, the retail version of the drive is expected to run about $49.99.

Highs:

• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 18x
• 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 and writes DVD-RAM media at 12x
• 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
• Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
• Low seek times
• Supports 99 minute CD-R media
• Features Super Link buffer underrun protection
• Includes software from Nero
• Includes extra bezel
• Affordably priced

Lows:

• High media requirements when writing at 18x
• Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R DL media
• Problems writing to Ritek manufactured DVD+R DL media
• Slower than other drives when writing to DVD-RW, DVD+RW and CD-RW media
• Cannot write to 8x DVD±R media at 16x
• Cannot set the book type
• Has a 2048KB buffer