AOpen DSW1812P 18x DVD±RW/RAM

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.60 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing both CD Speed and CD DAE are used. CD Speed is used to give an overall DAE speed rating and CD DAE is used to give the track by track extraction speeds and to check the extracted tracks for errors the drive may have created.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.60 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 4GB to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

AOpen's new DVD writer performed pretty well in our CD Winbench tests. While the DSW1812P's overall score wasn't as high as the Plextor's, it had a low access time and some very good transfer rates. It started reading at almost 19.6x (2945 / 150) on the inside and reached a maximum speed of about 43.1x (6470 / 150) on the outside.

CD Speed v4.60 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

	AOpen DSW1812P	Samsung SH-S182D	LG GSA-H10N	Plextor PX-760A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.02x 21.16x 47.61x	36.54x 20.89x 48.30x	35.57x 20.42x 46.78x	36.76x 21.27x 48.63x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	95ms 108ms 167ms	105ms 114ms 178ms	114ms 130ms 175ms	96ms 113ms 172ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	2% 4% 8% 12%	0% 1% 3% 6%	1% 1% 3% 21%	0% 1% 2% 4%

When reading pressed CD's, the DSW1812P is rated at 48x. Unfortunately, like the GSA-H10N, it came up short of this mark. In our tests, the drive started reading at a respectable 21.16x but reached a maximum transfer speed of only 47.61x. On the other hand, the DSW1812P's seek times were very good.

CD Speed v4.60 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

The DSW1812P was a little faster when reading CD-R media.Thanks to this small speed boost, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48x in our tests. Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times were again quite good.

AOpen's new DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The DSW1812P read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 52.49x! This is pretty good for a drive rated at only 48x.

CD Speed v4.60 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests.

When reading CD-RW media, the DSW1812P's transfer speeds are limited to only 32x. While AOpen's new writer had no problems reaching this speed in our tests, it was still the slowest out of the four drives here.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.60 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that the AOpen DSW1812P suppots accurate stream, caches audio data and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.

CD Speed	AOpen DSW1812P	Samsung SH-S182D	LG GSA-H10N	Plextor PX-760A
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	36.42x 21.51x 48.12x 10 Yes	31.09x 17.78x 41.08x 10 Yes	30.73x 17.95x 40.68x 10 Yes	31.35x 17.97x 41.48x 10 Yes

The DSW1812P did very well in our DAE tests. With a maximum speed of 48.12, the drive had no problems taking the top spot in our tests.

To get a better look at the quality of the extracted audio we use CD DAE. CD DAE is actually designed to be an audio ripping program. It converts the CD-DA on the CD to .wav files. We use it in our testing because it can also be used as a quick and easy way to test the quality. Where CD Speed tests the DAE as one large session, CD DAE extracts each CD track individually. It actually extracts each track twice and then compares them to check for any errors. Every error a drive creates could be a hiss or pop you would hear later in the audio tracks.

While the DSW1812P started out a little faster when extracting our test CD with CD DAE, its average and maximum speeds were slower than what we saw with CD Speed.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.60 - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

The DSW1812P was a little slower when ripping audio CD-R discs. While the drive still performed well, it wasn't able to reach 48x this time around. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

AOpen's new DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 34.32x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the DSW1812P was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and even the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.

To see how well AOpen's DVD writer can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.

CD Speed - ScanDisc

The DSW1812P did surprisingly well here. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive considered only 51% of the CD to be "damaged". On top of that, none of the sectors on the disc were unreadable.

You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.

The DSW1812P gave some mixed results in this test. While it had the lowest number of errors, the scratches on the disc caused it to slow down considerably.