What's in the box?:
- AOpen DSW1812P 18x DVD±RW/RAM Drive
- Nero Software CD
- Easy Installation Guide
- Accessory Checklist
- Bezel Replacement Guide
- Black Replacement Bezel
- Audio Cable
- Mounting Screws
- Emergency Eject Tool
Physical Features:
The drive we received from AOpen came with firmware version ZA31. For this review we used firmware versions ZA31 and ZA32.
The DSW1812P looks very similar to AOpen's previous 16x DVD±RW, the DSW1685L. Both drives share the same basic design and have many of the same logos. Along the front of the tray you can see a few showing support for the DVD Multi, DVD+R DL, DVD+ReWritable specifications, as well as Ultra Speed CD-RW media.
Below the tray you can see the DSW1812P's single LED. Off by default, this LED lights up green whenever the drive is reading or writing.
AOpen also includes a black replacement bezel with the DSW1812P. As you can see, it lacks the logos found on the beige one. However, it makes up for it with a large "AOpen" logo.
The rear of the DSW1812P is fairly straight forward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's IDE interface, power connector and audio output connectors.
Starting from the left of the IDE connection you'll see the jumper switch for master, slave and cable select. Next to the jumper block is the analog audio connector. The connector on the far left is the digital audio output.
Technical Specs:
The specs below have been taken from AOpen's website and the documentation that came along with the drive.
| AOpen DSW1812P 18x DVD±RW/RAM | |
| CD Write Speeds | 48x (CAV) 40x, 32x, 24x (P-CAV) 16x, 8x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 32x, 24x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 18x, 16x (CAV) 12x, 8x (P-CAV) 6x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 18x, 16x (CAV) 12x, 8x, (P-CAV) 6x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 12x, 5x (P-CAV) 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD Read Speeds | 12x Max (DVD-ROM) 16x Max (DVD±R) 12x Max (DVD±RW) 12x Max (DVD±R DL) 12x Max (DVD-RAM) |
| CD Read Speeds | 48x Max (CD-ROM/CD-R) 40x Max (CD-RW) |
| DAE Speed | 48x Max |
| Buffer Size | 2 MB |
| Random Access Times |
160 ms (CD) 160 ms (DVD) |
| CD Formats | CD-DA CD-ROM CD-ROM XA CD-Extra Video CD Photo CD Multi-session CD-Text CD-I CD-R CD-RW |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-R/RW DVD+R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL DVD-RAM |
| CD Recording Modes | Track At Once Session At Once Disc At Once Fixed And Variable Packet Writing Multi-Session Raw Mode Burning |
| DVD+R Recording Modes | Incremental Write Multi-Session Recording |
| DVD+RW Recording Mode | Random Write |
| DVD-R Recording Modes | Incremental Recording Multi-Border |
| DVD-RW Recording Modes | Restricted Overwrite Rigid Restricted Overwrite |
| DVD-RAM Recording Mode | Random Access Write |
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that AOpen's new DVD writer is identified as a "DVDRW 18X18X12X."
Nero also shows that the DSW1812P has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by Super-Link buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the DSW1812P can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity, it had no problems overburning up to 99 minutes with our CompUSA media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the DSW1812P is a "two sheep" burner and is capable of backing titles protected by SafeDisc 2.90. Like most drives, it did not pass the "three sheep" test.
Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the DSW1812P's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the DSW1812P is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. While there isn't an RPC-1 firmware available for the drive, there is a utility available that can make the drive region free.
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the DSW1812P's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that while AOpen's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.
Unfortunately, AOpen's new DVD writer does not seem to support bitsetting. I tried a number of programs, including Nero and CD Speed, and none of them let me change the book type of DVD+R, DVD+RW or DVD+R DL media. After running a few tests, I found that the DSW1812P does not automatically set the book type either. This really is too bad as setting the book type to "DVD-ROM" can greatly reduce compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.
