BenQ DW1655 16x DVD±RW

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 4.95:

To test the DVD writing performance of BenQ's new drive I used RiDATA 16x DVD+R, Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD-R, Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and Verbatim 6x DVD-RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero. All tests have been performed with WOPC and SolidBurn enabled.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the DW1655 uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that BenQ's new drive starts writing at about 4.8x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed as it reaches the end of the disc.

The DW1655 also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. While the drive uses CLV when writing to DVD-RW media, it uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum DVD+RW writing speed.

The DW1655 wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±R media at 16x. However, by disabling WOPC, I was able to cut more than 40 seconds off the total writing time.

To check the media compatibility of the DW1655, 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 the BenQ DW1655. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1655 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 DW1655. 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 DW1655's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. When scanned with the DW1655, the discs yielded some some fairly good results. Surprisingly enough, the PI rates were actually higher with KProbe. Nevertheless, they were still within acceptable limits and there were no readability issues.

To test the DW1655's packet writing performance I used DLA 4.95. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media were used once again.

The DW1655 performed pretty well in our packet writing tests. While not as fast as some of the other drives when writing our test data to disc, it took a little more than 6 minutes to read back all 4GB of files and directories.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the DW1655, 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.

Finding DVD+R DL media that would work at 8x was not an easy task. The only media we found that would work at this speed were Verbatim's new 8x DVD+R DL discs. With the other DVD+R DL media, the writing speed was limited to 2.4x.

With Nero, it took the DW1655 about 17 minutes to write 8001MB of data. While faster than the drives from Lite-On and NEC, it was almost three minutes slower than the GSA-H10N. 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. The worst results were with Memorex's 2.4x DVD+R DL media. The PI/PIF rates were very high at the layer change which caused some readability problems.

The DW1655 also features 4x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media was used.

The DW1655 wasn't as fast when writing to DVD-R DL media. In our tests, it trailed behind the drives from LG and NEC by more than 12 minutes and was even a couple of minutes slower than the SHM-165H6S. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The DW1655's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. The PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with both KProbe and CD Speed and there were no readability problems.

Performance Revisited:

Like BenQ's previous DVD writers, the DW1655 performed pretty well in our tests. While not as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD-R DL discs, it held its own relatively well with DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD+R DL media. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the DW1655 either. In our tests, the drive was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R discs at 16x and other types of recordable media at an impressive 12x.

The DW1655 also did pretty well in our CD read tests. The drive had no problems reading all types of media at its rated speeds and had some very good seek times. When writing CD's, the DW1655 performed as expected. The drive turned in some respectable times and its writing quality was quite good. With all things considered, the BenQ DW1655 gets a solid 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.