HP dvd640i LightScribe 16x DVD±RW

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.12 and DLA 4.90:

To test the DVD writing performance of HP's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD-RW and 4x DVD+RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

Verbatim 16x DVD+R

Verbatim 8x DVD-R

The dvd640i has a maximum DVD+R writing speed of 16x. To reach this speed, the drive uses CAV. Using Verbatim's 16x DVD+R media, it starts writing at 5.60x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc. When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 8x, HP's new drive uses P-CAV. This time around, the drive starts writing at about 6.69x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at about the 0.4GB mark.

The dips in the graphs are due to the dvd640i's WOPC II (Walking Optimal Power Control) and BLER OPC (Block Error Rate Optimal Power Control) technologies and are not an indication of poor performance and/or writing quality. These technologies constantly monitor and evaluate the writing quality, adjusting the laser power in order to ensure the best writing quality possible over the entire disc.

The dvd640i performed relatively well when writing to DVD+R discs at 16x.Unfortunately, due to its slower writing speeds, it had a hard time holding its own with other types of recordable media.

To check the media compatibility of the dvd640i, 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-1633S (firmware BS0S) 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 a BenQ DW1620. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1620 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 with a Lite-On XJ-HD166S. By default, this DVD-ROM drive reads recordable media at only 8x. However, thanks to a firmware patched by The Dangerous Brothers, I was able to boost the drive's read speed to 12x. 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.

With the original ES04 firmware, I was less than impressed with the dvd640i's writing quality. The PI/PIF rates were higher than we'd like to see, even with Verbatim's 16x DVD+R media. While better with the JS04 firmware, there's still room for improvement, especially with the Optodisc and RiDATA media. As it is, RiDATA discs failed to complete CD Speed's write quality test, returning an error about half of the way through.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. As you can see, the writing quality was pretty good with most of the discs we tested. Aside from a few small PI/PIF spikes, the results stayed within acceptable limits.

To test the HP's packet writing performance I used DLA 4.90. Verbatim 4x DVD+RW and 4x DVD-RW media were used once again.

The dvd640i didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our packet writing tests. It's 4x writing speed not only put it at a disadvantage, it took longer than expected to read back our test data from DVD+RW media.

DVD+R DL Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.12:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the dvd640i, I used DVD+R DL media from both Memorex and Verbatim. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

According to HP, the dvd640i writes to DVD+R DL media at 2.4x. Using CD Speed we can see that aside from the small dips caused by the drive's WOPC II and BLER OPC technologies, it writes at this speed from start to finish.

The dvd640i's 2.4x writing speed put it at a huge disadvantage in this test. As you can see, it was considerably slower than the drives from Pioneer and NEC, taking more than 45 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

Like with most drives, the writing quality was quite good with Verbatim's DVD+R DL media. Aside from the small spike at the layer change, the PI/PIF rates were very low from start to finish. The results with Memorex's DVD+R DL media were better than I expected. While higher than what we saw with the Verbatim discs, the PI/PIF remained for the most part within acceptable limits.

Performance Revisited:

While not one of the faster DVD writers we've tested, the dvd640i performed as expected throughout most of our tests. When it came to writing DVD's, HP's new drive turned in some pretty good times with DVD+R media. However, it's 8x DVD-R and 2.4x DVD+R DL writing speeds did put it at a disadvantage. Nevertheless, the dvd640i was fairly quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, it was able to read single layer data and video DVD's at speeds as high as 16x and most recordable media at 8x.

HP's new DVD writer also did pretty well in our CD read tests. It was able to read all types of media at its rated speeds and had some fairly good seek times. Writing CD's wasn't a problem for the dvd640i either. With its 40x CD-R writing speed, it wasn't as fast as some of the other drives we've tested. However, its writing quality was very good. With all things considered, the HP dvd640i gets an 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.