HP dvd640i LightScribe 16x DVD±RW

Nero CD Speed v4.00 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The DVD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.37GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

	HP dvd640i	BenQ DW1625	Pioneer DVR-A09XL	NEC ND-3520A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	12.06x 6.57x 16.12x	12.06x 6.58x 16.10x	11.99x 6.64x 16.06x	11.89x 6.52x 15.89x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	99ms 109ms 171ms	100ms 109ms 171ms	110ms 129ms 209ms	128ms 138ms 229ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 12% 23% 46%	6% 12% 23% 45%	5% 9% 15% n/a	8% 15% 28% 55%

HP's new drive performed very well when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In the transfer rate tests, the dvd640i started reading at 6.57x and reached a maximum transfer speed of about 16.12x. Like in our CD read tests, its seek times were also quite good.

Nero CD Speed v4.00 - DVD-R and DVD-RW:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disk using some general use 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R

	HP dvd640i	BenQ DW1625	Pioneer DVR-A09XL	NEC ND-3520A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.23x 3.43x 8.34x	6.23x 3.43x 8.34x	9.35x 5.19x 12.51x	11.91x 6.56x 15.93x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	104ms 113ms 171ms	104ms 115ms 172ms	114ms 136ms 217ms	122ms 146ms 251ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 12% 23% 45%	6% 12% 23% 45%	6% 26% n/a n/a	9% 17% 31% 63%

Verbatim DVD-RW

	HP dvd640i	BenQ DW1625	Pioneer DVR-A09XL	NEC ND-3520A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.25x 3.42x 8.35x	6.24x 3.43x 8.33x	6.25x 3.47x 8.36x	5.97x 3.28x 7.98x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	105ms 115ms 172ms	103ms 116ms 172ms	121ms 138ms 238ms	108ms 138ms 229ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 12% 23% 45%	6% 12% 23% 45%	6% 26% n/a n/a	8% 14% 26% 81%

HP's new drive wasn't nearly as fast when reading DVD-R and DVD-RW media. In both cases, the dvd640i reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8.3x.

Verbatim DVD-R DL

While not officially supported, the dvd640i had no problems reading Verbatim's new dual layer DVD-R media. In our tests, the drive started reading at 3.35x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 8.06x.

Nero CD Speed v4.00 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disk using some 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R

	HP dvd640i	BenQ DW1625	Pioneer DVR-A09XL	NEC ND-3520A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.23x 3.42x 8.34x	6.21x 3.44x 8.30x	9.36x 5.18x 12.53x	11.93x 6.55x 15.95x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	103ms 117ms 172ms	103ms 116ms 172ms	116ms 140ms 221ms	118ms 146ms 259ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 12% 23% 45%	6% 12% 23% 45%	6% 27% n/a n/a	9% 16% 31% 64%

Verbatim DVD+RW

	HP dvd640i	BenQ DW1625	Pioneer DVR-A09XL	NEC ND-3520A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	6.24x 3.42x 8.34x	6.24x 3.43x 8.34x	6.25x 3.46x 8.35x	5.97x 3.29x 7.98x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	103ms 117ms 173ms	102ms 118ms 172ms	113ms 132ms 218ms	111ms 141ms 235ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 12% 23% 45%	6% 12% 23% 45%	7% 27% n/a n/a	7% 13% 25% 81%

The dvd640i's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media. Here too the drive reached a maximum transfer speed of about 8.3x.

Verbatim DVD+R DL

HP's new DVD writer had no problems reading Verbatim's double layer DVD+R media. The dvd640i started reading at 3.35x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 8.07x.

Nero CD Speed v4.00 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

	HP dvd640i	BenQ DW1625	Pioneer DVR-A09XL	NEC ND-3520A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	11.94x 6.52x 15.96x	11.94x 6.52x 15.96x	11.87x 6.57x 15.95x	3.72x 2.05x 4.98x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	99ms 109ms 171ms	99ms 109ms 171ms	110ms 126ms 206ms	111ms 128ms 206ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 12% 23% 46%	6% 13% 23% 46%	5% 9% 15% n/a	7% 13% 23% n/a

The dvd640i didn't slow down very much when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 6.52x and reached a maximum read speed of 15.96x. HP's new drive was also fairly quick when reading dual layer discs. By looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the drive's transfer speeds peaked at about 8x.

To see how well the dvd640i worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 5. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.