DVD Write Tests

What makes it very difficult for reviewers to thoroughly and properly test these drives is simply due to the lack of supported media.  What's always been the case with optical storage devices is the fact that the drives get released before the media hits the market.  This makes testing very difficult.  That is why I personally like to focus more on which drives are able to burn at higher speeds to media that really aren't rated at these speeds.  That is what we will focus on mostly in this section...media compatibility.  Let's begin with DVD+R discs.

The fastest writer is the one from Lite-On.  With genuine 16x media, it can write a full disc in under 7 minutes.  The NEC ND-3500A gets a high rating for media compatibility because of its ability to write to quality 8x media at 16x.  All other drives simply could not do this and is why they were given and average rating.  Also, most of them could not write to every single brand of 8x discs at their supported speed. 

The NEC and Pioneer drives are the only offering 16x writing capabilities to both DVD+R and DVD-R discs.  However, as we mentioned previously, media capable of 16x writing in this particular format is practically impossible to acquire.  However, the Pioneer and NEC drives are capable of writing to certain quality 8x discs at 12x, bringing their compatibility ratings above the other two competitors.  The only disappointment was the LG 4160B, which did not even write at 8x to some discs rated at this speed.

All drives are capable of writing to DVD+RW media at 4x and all of them actually handled this format very well.  There were three different brands of 4x DVD+RW media used in testing, all of which each drive did support.

4x media in this format is practically impossible to find.  However, I was able to obtain a few 4x discs branded under Ridata for testing.  Only one drive, the Lite-On SOHW-1633s was able to write to this media at 4x.  This is why it earn the high rating in terms of media compatibility.  It is unlikely that most users would use this particular format so I personally find these results to not be a determining factor in your decision as to which drive would be suitable.  Regardless, I like to provide the best possibly results considering the lack of supported media.

Final thoughts on DVD writing

What I particularly liked about the Pioneer DVR-108 is its ability to write to most 8x media at 12x.  This included both the DVD+R and DVD-R formats.  That is why I think its the best drive in terms of media compatibility and is the drive I think does best in our DVD writing comparison.  However, you should not rule out the Lite-On drive as with the proper media, it offers a high level of compatibility and highly stable during the burning process when compared to some of the other drives.

Next: DVD+R9 DL Tests