Memorex MRX-525G 18x DVD±RW/RAM

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of Memorex's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 20x, the MRX-525G uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that Memorex's new drive starts writing at about 8.2x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

I should also point out that the MRX-525G is quite loud when writing at 20x. This shouldn't be too surprising though, considering the drive spins at more than 11,000 RPM. Even with Memorex's Auto-Balancing System (ABS), there was a fair amount of vibration and spindle noise.

The MRX-525G also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In both cases the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum writing speed.

Memorex's new drive performed pretty well in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as the PX-760A when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs, the MRX-525G turned in some very impressive times with DVD+R and DVD-R media.

To check the media compatibility of the MRX-525G, 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 SHM-165H6S (firmware HS0E) 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 DW1640 (firmware BSLB). When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 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 DW1640. 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 MRX-525G'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. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were pretty good for the most part.

To test the MRX-525G's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, Verbatim 6x DVD-RW and Maxell 12x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

The MRX-525G turned in some impressive times when reading and writing to DVD-RAM media. Unfortunately, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast asthe PX-760A when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the MRX-525G, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim, RiDATA and Memorex. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

As usual, 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 8x DVD+R DL discs. With Verbatim's 2.4x DVD+R DL media, the writing speed was limited to 6x and Memorex's Ritek manufactured discs would not work at anything faster than 4x.

The MRX-525G wasn't as fast as I had expected when writing to DVD+R DL media at 8x. With Nero, it took the drive 19:16 to write 8001MB of data. If you do the math, this is a good four minutes slower than the PX-760A. 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 fairly 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 own 2.4x DVD+R DL media. The PI/PIF rates were very high at the layer change and there were a small number of PO Failures.

The MRX-525G also features 8x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, DVD-R DL media from Verbatim and RiDATA was used.

The MRX-525G wasn't as fast as the other drives when writing to DVD-R DL media either. In our tests, it took more than 19 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The MRX-525G's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL. The PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits and there were no readability problems. Unfortunately, the results weren't as good with Verbatim's 8x DVD-R DL media. The error rates were considerably higher, especially when scanned with the DW1640. The worst results were with RiDATA's 4x DVD-R DL media. When scanned with the DW1640, the PI rates were not only very high, there was a small number of PO Failures at the layer change.

Performance Revisited:

Memorex's new "Super-Multi" drive performed as expected throughout most of our tests. The MRX-525G turned in some impressive times when writing to DVD±R and DVD-RAM media, but wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW and DVD±R DL discs. Reading DVD's wasn't a problem for the MRX-525G either. In our tests, the drive was able to read single layer data DVD's and DVD±R media at 16x, but slowed to only 8x when reading DVD videos.

The MRX-525G also did relatively well in our CD read tests. The drive read pressed and CD-R discs at speeds as high as 48x and had some fairly good seek times. When it came to writing CD's, the MRX-525G gave us some mixed results. While the drive turned in some impressive times when writing to CD-R media, its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. With all things considered, the Memorex MRX-525G gets a 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.