1. Introduction
Toshiba entered the
16X DVD market, although with a slight delay,
releasing its latest model the SD-R5372.
The brand new drive supports 16X recording for the DVD+R and DVD-R formats, 5X DVD+R DL, 48X CD-R and 24X US-RW.
The drive's specifications are summarized below:
- Specifications
| Average Random Access Time: |
| DVD-ROM (16X) |
120ms |
| CD-ROM (40X) |
100ms |
| DVD-RAM (2X) |
200ms |
| Average Random Seek Time |
| DVD-ROM (12X) |
115ms |
| CD-ROM (40X) |
100ms |
| DVD-RAM (2X) |
160ms |
| Sustained Data Transfer Rate: |
| DVD-ROM |
21,632KByte/s |
| DVD±R |
16,224KByte/s |
| DVD+R DL |
10,816KByte/s |
| CD-ROM/-R |
7,200 KByte/s |
| DVD-RAM |
2,704 KByte/s |
| Burst: |
| Multi Word DMA Mode 2 (ATAPI) |
16.7MB/sec |
| PIO Mode 4 (ATAPI) |
16.7MB/sec |
| Ultra DMA |
33.3MB/sec |
| Physical Characteristics: |
| Dimensions |
1.63" x 5.75" x 7.46" (41.5mm x 146mm x 189.5mm) |
| Weight |
2.20 lbs. (1.0kg) |
| Supported Disc Formats: |
| Write |
DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, CD-R, CD-RW, High Speed CD-RW, Ultra Speed CD-RW |
| Read |
DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, CD-DA, CD+G, CD-MIDI, CD-TEXT, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, MIXED MODE CD, CD-I, CD-I Bridge (Photo-CD, Video-CD), Multi-session CD (Photo CD, CD-Extra, Portfolio, CD-R, CD-RW) |
| Environmental: |
| Operation Temperature |
41°F - 122°F (5°C to 50°C) |
| Other: |
| Buffer Size |
2MB |
| Power Requirements |
DC 5V/12V |
| MTBF |
100,000 POH |
The drive's main specs, as provided by NeroInfoTool and
DVDInfoPro, can be found in the following screenshots:
The SD-R5372 uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times. For our tests, we set the region code to 2 (Europe).
- The drive / Retail Package
The retail package includes an IDE 40pin cable, an audio cable, four mounting screws, a marker, a CD-ROM with manual and drivers, Pinnacle Instant CD/DVD and Studio SE, a quick start guide, a DVD+R media certified for 8X and a 52X CD-R, both from Traxdata.
The front panel is the typical one found on most Toshiba drives:
On the rear panel you will find the analogue and digital audio outputs (SPDIF), the IDE master/slave/cs selection pins, the IDE connector and the power input.
Opening the device's case will void the drive's warranty, something
we don't recommend. Press on the image below for an enlarged view.
Toshiba manufactures its own chipsets for their burners. The image below shows the main chipset for the SD-R5372 drive.
- Installation
The device was installed on our test PC and was identified as "TOSHIBA CD/DVDW SD-R5372" under
WinXP.
The following pages include our test results for the Toshiba drive as well as a comparison against the Plextor PX-716A and Pioneer DVR-108.
- Testing software
In order to perform our tests we used:
- Nero CD-DVD Speed v3.61
- CDVD Benchmark v1.21
- ExactAudioCopy v0.9 beta5
- Nero Info Tool v2.27
- PlexTools v2.18
- DVDInfoPro v3.16
- Nero Burning Rom v6.6.0.3
- DVD Decrypter 3.5.2.0
- CopyToDVD 3.0.41
2. Transfer Rate Reading Tests
In order to confirm the drive's specifications for CD reading, we used one
CD pressed media, a copy on a CD-R and one HS-RW media. The results are
illustrated in the following graphs.
- CD Format
The drive managed to confirm the manufacturer's specifications for this task. Although it was fast reading CDs, with HS-RW media it was much slower than the competition.
- DVD Format
We repeated the same tests with DVD media this time.
The reported speeds from all three drives were very close with the Toshiba being slightly faster but with negligible difference.
The following DVD is a PTP DVD-ROM where the two layers of the disc are read sequentially
with the drive starting reading from the inner part of the disc, which is the
beginning of each layer, progressing towards the outer range for each layer. The Pioneer drive was the fastest due to its higher supported speed. Unfortunately, the Toshiba was the slowest by a great margin.
The graph shown below shows the reading performance of the TS-H552 with OTP dual layer media. The first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way as the first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously. The difference here is the reading strategy of the second layer on the disc. The beginning of the second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading from the outer tracks towards the inner part of the disc. The performance is almost the same as the previous case with the PTP disc.
In the following graphs we compare the reading performance
with recordable and rewritable media. Toshiba proved to be the faster reader
with DVD±R media. On the other hand, it didn't manage to maintain this
supremacy with DVD±RW media. The Plextor drive, despite not being the
fastest with the DVD±R formats, was was fastest with RW and the most
stable overall, reporting similar speeds for all four formats.
We ripped the contents of a pressed Double Layer movie to the hard disk using
the Toshiba drive and DVD Decrypter. The results are summarized below:
The reported transfer rate for the Toshiba is good but Plextor is unbeatable
in this task.
One of the few drives that supports DVD-RAM reading and was the only one to do so in our comparison.
-Appendix
Nero CD-DVD Speed Graphs
3. CD Error Correction Tests
In the following tests we check the drive's behavior when reading
scratched / defective audio discs. The test discs used were the ABEX series
from ALMEDIO.
- ABEX TCD-721R
|
Errors
total |
Num:
891594 |
|
Errors
(Loudness) dB(A) |
Num:
43631 |
Avg:
-72.3 dB(A) |
Max:
-21.6 dB(A) |
|
Error
Muting Samples |
Num:
6018 |
Avg:
2.3 Samples |
Max:
612 Samples |
|
Skips
Samples |
Num:
0 |
Avg:
0.0 Samples |
Max:
0 Samples |
Total Test Result |
75.5 points (out
of 100.0 maximum) |
| C2 Accuracy |
99.5 % |
Toshiba displayed rather good performance with the specific test disc. The
total error count can be characterized as lower than average, (which is good),
while the maximum error loudness
level is also relatively low although still over the limit.
There were no skipped samples and according to our experience,
75.5 points out of 100 is a good score for this test.
- ABEX TCD-726
Errors total |
Num:
12 |
Errors (Loudness) dB(A) |
Num:
4 |
Avg:
-89.9 dB(A) |
Max:
-71.0 dB(A) |
Error Muting Samples |
Num: 0 |
Avg:
0.0 Samples |
Max:
0 Samples |
Skips Samples |
Num: 0 |
Avg: 0.0 Samples |
Max: 0 Samples |
Total Test Result |
94.1 points (out
of 100.0 maximum) |
| C2 Accuracy |
99.5 % |
The Abex TCD-726 test disc is much easier for drives in general to read. The
spike at the beginning of the test is not high, however it deprived the drive of a perfect score.
- CD-Check Audio Test Disc
The CD-Check Test Disc is a very useful tool for evaluating the Sound Reproduction
/ Error correction capabilities of a CD player. The disc offers a signal combination
with disc error patterns to rate the drive's abilities to read music and reproduce
it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a sequence of progressively
more difficult tests. These tracks are referred to as Check Level-1 through
Check Level-5.
The
tracks are reproduced through a software multimedia player (i.e.
Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone
is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or looping. The higher
the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction
of the tested drive.
|
Error Level |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Toshiba SD-R5372 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
5/5 |
0/5 |
The drive successfully passed four out of the five check levels for
this test. This is very good performance since an average drive manages to
play up to the third level while very few drives manage to read the fifth.
- Summary
CD error correction on the SD-R5372 drive is quite good.
4. DVD Error Correction Tests
In the following tests we examine the DVD reading capabilities of the drive with
scratched / defective DVD media. For the tests we used CDVD Benchmark
and Nero CDSpeed. The reference test media came from ALMEDIO.
- Single Layer media
ABEX TDR-821
This is a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with 4.7GB capacity, and its
surface has an artificial scratch of dimensions varying from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.
The following transfer rate picture comes from the CDVD Benchmark v1.21 transfer
rate test.
No reading errors were reported while the speed at the end of the reached
16X. Some sporadic speed changes occurred over the defective areas without
however affecting the reading process.
ABEX TDR-825
This also is a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM of 4.7GB
capacity. The data structure of the disc is exactly the same as that of the
TDR-821, with the difference that there are no scratches on it but instead
defective areas of dimensions ranging from 0.5 to 1.1 mm.
There are also fingerprints sized between 65 and 75 micrometers.
Very good performance, without any errors reported.
- Dual Layer media
ABEX TDR-841
This is an 8.5GB dual layer, single sided DVD-ROM disc with artificial scratches
of dimensions ranging from 0.4 to 3.0mm, on both layers.
. 
The drive managed to read over the defective areas on the disc although it had more difficulty than with the previous discs and was forced to drop speed in the first layer.
ABEX TDR-845
The disc is a single sided, dual layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of 8.5GB. The only difference between the TDR-845 and the TDR-841 is that the first includes defective areas and fingerprints. The dimensions of the defective areas range from 0.5 to 1.1 mm and the fingerprints are sized from 65 to 75 micrometers.
This disc is not a problem for the Toshiba drive.
ABEX TDV-541
The TDV-541 is a single sided, dual layer DVD-VIDEO disc, with a capacity
of 8.5GB.The disc is based upon the TDV-540 series which is designed for inspection
and adjustment of DVD-VIDEO players. The disc checks the layer switch operation
from layer 0 to layer 1 and also includes test pictures and test signals for
DVD sound files.
The current TDV-541 also checks the error correcting capabilities of the
drive and includes scratches from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.
Although the reading process finished successfully, the drive slowed down while reading at the end of the first layer.
ABEX TDV-545
The TDV-545 disc is based on the TDV-540 series. It is a single sided, dual layer DVD-VIDEO disc with a capacity of 8.5GB.
The TDV-545 includes artificial black dots on the disc's surface, sized
from 0.4 to 1.0 mm. It also has 65 - 75 micrometer thickness, fingerprints.
Black dots and fingerprints on the disc's surface did not pose any problems.
- Summary
The DVD error correction on the SD-R5372 drive is quite good. However some
minor issues with a couple of the test discs, is what separates the excellent
from the good readers.
5. Protected Disc Tests
- Reading Tests
To create the image of the various protected titles to the hard disk, we used Alcohol 120% software and the appropriate settings, according to the protection type of the inserted discs. Below you can see the duration of each process as well as the transfer rate in each case.
Game Title |
Protection Scheme |
Duration |
Reading speed |
PSX "NBA Jam Extreme" |
Lybcrypt |
00:53 min |
1705 sectors/sec |
Serious Sam The Second Encounter v1.07 |
SafeDisc v.2.60.052 |
02:35 min |
2164 sectors/sec |
VRally II |
SecuROM v.2 |
02:19 min |
2473 sectors/sec |
Excellent performance. The drive was fast in all tasks. It managed to rip
the PSX and the SecuROM protected titles faster than the Plextor. With SafeDisc
protection, it was also very fast with Plextor leading the race there.
- Writing Tests
The drive supports the DAO-RAW writing mode. For checking the drive's
EFM correction status, we used 5 different game titles with different SafeDisc
2 versions having the latest software patches installed. After copying
the images of the various titles onto the hard disk, we burned them (maximum
speed)
with
Alcohol 120% v1.9.2.1705. Two different discs were created for each title;
one with the "Bypass EFM error" enabled and one more with the function
disabled.
- Fifa 2004 - Safe Disc v3.1x
- The Sims Superstar - Safe Disc v2.9x
- The Sims Unleashed - Safe Disc v2.8x
- Serious Sam Second Encounter - Safe Disc v2.51.021
- Max Payne - Safe Disc v2.51.020
The table below shows the results of the attempted backups and whether they worked (game installed / played normally), or not.
Drive |
Fifa 2004
SD v3.1 |
Sims Superstar SD v2.9 |
Sims Unleashed SD v2.8 |
Serious Sam-Second Encounter
SD v2.51.051 |
Max Payne
SD v2.51.020 |
EFM OFF |
EFM ON |
EFM OFF |
EFM ON |
EFM OFF |
EFM ON |
EFM OFF |
EFM ON |
EFM OFF |
EFM ON |
Toshiba
SD-M1502 |
No |
Yes |
Creative CD5233E |
Toshiba SD-R5372 |
Unfortunately, the drive cannot create working backups for most of the SafeDisc protection schemes. It seems that Toshiba chose to ignores this aspect and who can blame them.
6. DAE Tests
- Pressed and CDR AudioCD results
The drive supports up to 40X CAV DAE speed. The following results were reported when using Exact Audio Copy.
The Toshiba drive reported a 37X ending speed which is close to 40X.
- Advanced DAE Quality
All tested drives received a perfect quality score of 100. The average speed for the Toshiba drive was the slowest while the Plextor's was the fastest. The drive also failed in the Leadin and Leadout reading.
- Ripping 90mins AudioCDs
- Ripping 99mins AudioCDs
Both test discs reported errors and the process stopped.
7. Protected AudioCDs
For this test procedure we used three audio discs with different audio copy
protections. The ripping process on all protected Audio discs was carried out
with Exact Audio Copy v0.9beta5.
The sample protected Audio discs were:
- Sony's Key2Audio from "Celine Dion - New Day Has Come"
- Cactus Data Shield 200 from "Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island"
The Cactus Data Shield 200 disc contains artificial errors that are not easily
bypassed by the reader, while the Key2Audio contains a second session, causing
problems for readers when trying to read the Table Of Contents (TOC).
The tested tasks are:
- Recognition of the inserted disc (Yes/No).
- Ripping all wavs (with EAC's Burst Mode) to the hard disk with copy&compare function.
- Listening to the produced wavs for any click/skips.
The LG drive recognized up to the 12th Audio track of CDS200 disc,
and with the "Retrieve Native TOC" option removed, the 13th Data
track was also recognized.
The test results are shown in the following table:
| Toshiba SD-R5372 |
Key2Audio |
CDS200 |
Cannot rip or read contents of the disc |
Ripping process too slow, while EAC reported timing problems on first track |
The drive failed to rip the contents of the Key2Audio protected disc, which
it couldn't even recognize. The CDS200 protection scheme was easier for the
drive but the ripping process was very slow and when reading the first track, there
were many timing errors reported.
- Cactus Data Shield 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a (Aiko Katsukino - The Love Letter)
This is a "special" CDS200 build, since it doesn't contain any artificial errors during the ripping process. Most problems occur when trying to write the ripped wav files, since the produced CD-R disc contains C2 and CU errors! This "problem" is rumored to be connected with specific chipset weaknesses.
We ripped the disc contents with EAC and burned the wav file produced from the Cactus Data Shield 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a disc with the latest Nero version as AudioCD+CD-Text. The burned media was checked for C1/C2 errors and for BETA/Jitter errors with PlexTools software using the Plextor PX-712A.
| Toshiba SD-R5372 |
CDS 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a |
Ripping process too slow, while EAC reported timing problems on first track |
- C1C2 Error rate from PleXWriter PX-712A (8X CLV reading speed)
- BETA/Jitter Error rate from PleXWriter PX-712A
The C1 error levels are low while no C2 errors were reported.
We then tried to extract all wav files with the Plextor PX-712A and PlexTool DAE Error Correction 5th Level enabled:
No reading errors were reported after extracting all files.
8. CD Recording Tests
-
CD-R Format
The supported writing speeds for the Toshiba burner are given in the screenshot
below:
The simulation test under Nero CD Speed confirmed the manufacturer's specifications and the drive finished the task reporting a maximum speed of 48.32X
after 2:43 mins. The test started at 21.40X and had an average
speed of 35.21X.
- CD-R Recording Times
We created an 80min data compilation with Nero Burning Rom
and recorded it on a 700MB disc. The SD-R5372 was faster than the Plextor which supports the same speed. Pioneer lagged behind due to its 32X supported speed.
All tested media reported almost the same time with SKC media producing the lowest time.
- Other features
The Toshiba drive managed to overburn up to 95min.
- CD-RW Format
The drive supports 24X with the US-RW media.
Below you can see the Nero
CD-DVD Speed writing simulation test with blank 24x US-RW media from Mitsubishi
Chemicals.
According to Nero CDSpeed, the drive reached a maximum of 24.02X writing speed. The test started at 12X, while the average speed was 20.21X.
- CD-RW Mount Rainier
The drive doesn't support the Mount Rainier feature.
9. Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests
On this page, we present the 3T Pit & Land Jitter graphs when
using various media burned at 48X P-CAV writing speed. According to Red Book
the jitter levels should be below 35ns.
- 3T Pit results
- 3T Land results
If we consider that this is about 48X recording, then the jitter levels are not far from the norm. The levels increase as writing nears the end of the disc. So, up until the half way mark, the jitter levels are within specs but then increase and in some cases, reach unacceptable levels.
- Appendix
Media Label |
ID Code |
Manufacturer Name |
Lead Out TIme |
MMore 52X |
97m22s67f |
|
79m59s74f |
Maxell 48X |
97m15s17f |
Ritek Co. |
79m59s70f |
TY 80min 48X |
97m24s 1f |
Taiyo Yuden |
79m59s72f |
Verbatim 80min 52X |
97m15s17f |
Ritek |
79m59s70f |
SKC |
|
|
|
10. Writing Quality Tests - Clover System Tests
The Clover Systems CDX Compact Disc Analyzer is a high-speed tool to quantitatively measure the quality of a CD. It will analyze CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, CD-I, CD-R, Photo-CD, Enhanced CD and CD-RW discs at 4X, 8X, 24X, 32X or 40X speed. It effectively measures disc quality by examining the quantity and severity of CIRC errors generated during playback. It also provides the capability to measure signal parameters related to pit geometry, such as asymmetry and reflectivity. Together, all these bits of information provide a thorough analysis of disc quality. The Clover Systems Analyzers can also perform various format-checking tests on data discs, and do bit-for-bit data comparison on all types of CDs. All tests are carried out at the maximum speed of 40X.
CIRC error correction uses two principles to detect and correct errors. The first is redundancy (extra information is added, which gives an extra chance to read the disc), and the second is interleaving (data is distributed over a relatively large physical area). The CIRC error correction used in CD players uses two stages of error correction, the well known C1 and C2, with de-interleaving of the data between the stages.
The error type E11 means one bad symbol was corrected in the C1 stage. E21means two bad symbols were corrected in the C1 stage. E31 means that there were three or more bad symbols at the C1 stage. This block is uncorrectable at the C1 stage, and is passed to the C2 stage. Respectively, E12 means one bad symbol was corrected in the C2 stage and E22 means two bad symbols were corrected in the C2 stage. E32 means that there were three or more bad symbols in one block at the C2 stage, and therefore this error is not correctable.
BLER (Block Error Rate) is defined as the number of data blocks per second that contain detectable errors, at the input of the C1 decoder. Since this is the most general measurement of the quality of a disc, you will find BLER graphs for all media tested below. If you click on the images you can see a more detailed table, indicating error levels. The Red Book specification (IEC 908) calls for a maximum BLER of 220 per second averaged over ten seconds. Discs with higher BLER are likely to produce uncorrectable errors. Al low BLER shows that the system as a whole is performing well, and the pit geometry is good. However, BLER only tells us how many errors were generated per second, and it does not tell us anything about the severity of those errors.
MMore 80min 52X @ 48X
Taiyo Yuden 80min 48X @ 48X
Verbatim 80min 52X @ 48X
Maxell 80min 48X @ 48X
SKC 80min 48X @ 48X
- Summary
None of the media managed to pass the specific test. In all cases there were E32 errors.
11. DVD Recording Tests
- Writing Performance
The drive supports 16X recording for both DVD-R and DVD+R formats.
Nero Burning Rom reported speeds are shown below, after inserting a Mitsubishi Chemicals DVD+R
16X certified disc.
We used CD-DVD Speed with DVD-R and DVD+R media in order to check the writing strategy for each media. Click on the screenshots below for a complete CDSpeed graph.
- Burning Tests
We burned 4315MB of data on various DVD±R, DVD±RW media. We used the maximum allowed writing speed for each disc.
The Toshibe burner can write the certified 8X DVD+RW from Mitsubishi Chemicals
at 2.4X, even with the newest TU55 firmware revision.
*Updated. With the new TU55 firmware we managed to burn at 6X DVD-RW, media
from Traxdata and Mitsubishi Chemicals.
- Comparison with other drives
Below are summarized the maximum speeds for each media format for our three drives.
- DVD Overburning Tests
Using Nero CD-DVD Speed, we tested to see if the drive is capable of overburning on
DVD+R and DVD-R media. Unfortunately, the drive cannot overburn with DVD media.
- DVD+MRW Tests
The drive doesn't support the Mount Rainier feature.
12. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 1
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we
used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
16X DVD+R Writing Speed
- Mitsubishi Chemicals/Verbatim 16X DVD+R @ 16X
- Summary
Although the
PIE levels are below the 280 limit, the writing quality worsens towards the end of the disc.
13. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 2
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we
used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
12X DVD+R Writing Speed
- Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD+R @ 12X
- Summary
TDK produced better quality than Taiyo Yuden media, but this is most probably due to the certified speed of each brand, 16X for TDK and 8X for TY. However, while the quality is good, it could be much better.
14. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 3
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we
used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
8X DVD+R Writing Speed
- Mitsubishi Chemicals 8X DVD+R @ 8X
- Summary
The PIE levels were rather low. However CDSpeed revealed that the media could not be read smoothly. The disc form TDK produced the best quality.
15. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 4
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we
used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read
DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we
used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
4X DVD+R Writing Speed
- Taiyo Yuden 4X DVD+R @ 4X
- Summary
Once again the writing quality is decent but it still needs a lot of improvement.
16. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 5
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we
used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read
DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we
used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
16X DVD-R Writing Speed
- Summary
The writing quality is a bit of a problem here. We also expected a larger media list for 16X DVD-R, with 8X media to be burned at 16X.
17. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 6
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we
used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
12X DVD-R Writing Speed
- Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD-R @ 12X
- Summary
12X seems to be better than 16X. Once again though, as with the +R format,
the certified media for 16X reported better quality than that certified for
8X.
18. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 7
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we
used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
8X DVD-R Writing Speed
- Mitsubishi Chemicals 8X DVD-R @ 8X
- Summary
The writing quality was good but we would like to see smoother CDSpeed graphs.
19. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 8
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we
used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read
DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we
used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
4X DVD-R Writing Speed
- Taiyo Yuden 4X DVD-R @ 4X
- Mitsubishi Chemicals 4X DVD-R @ 4X
- Summary
Although the PIE levels were once again low, the reading graphs produced by CDSpeed reported a different opinion about the writing quality of the drive.
20. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 9
In order to test the writing quality and readability of the burned media we used two readers with two software applications:
- The LiteON SOHD-167T with patched firmware being able to read DVD5 up to 16X CAV and DVD9 up to 10X CAV. For the transfer rate tests we used the latest Nero CDSpeed version.
- The Plextor PX-712A with the latest available firmware. For scanning the disc, we used the latest PlexTools version at 2X CLV reading speed, BURST mode, with middle accuracy.
In general, a "perfect" disc should have a smooth reading curve, very low PIE/POE and zero (0) POF error rates. Most times however, even though a disc has very low PIE/POE error rates, the reading curve may not be smooth containing dropoffs. Due to the fact that we oversped the reading capabilities of the LiteON SOHD-167T, such drops are expected, especially near the outer area of the disc.
The measurements below should be taken not as the absolute criteria of the burning quality, but as an indication level.
4X DVD±RW Writing Speed
- Mitsubishi Chemicals 4X DVD-RW @ 4X
- Datawrite 4X DVD+RW @ 2.4X
- Mitsubishi Chemicals 4X DVD+RW @ 4X
*13/04/2005 Updated
- Mitsubishi Chemicals 6X DVD-RW @ 6X
- Summary
The writing quality is much better with RW media. Excellent writing quality
with the new 6X RW from Traxdata.
21. DVD+R DL - Page 1
- Writing Tests
For these tests, we flashed the drive with firmware version TU55, since there were some issues with the previous revisions with DL media.
The SD-R5372 supports Double Layer media recording and writing
speed up to 5X. We burned Verbatim DVD+R DL and Traxdata
DVD+R DL discs with DVD-Video content. The
source disc was "Gladiator Movie - Special Edition" Disc1 with a
total size of 6.86GB.
First, we transferred the movie to the hard disc with DVD Decrypter in
ISO format (single file). We used the latest version of CopyToDVD software
to burn
the image file to Mitsubishi DL media . Then we repeated the
same process on Traxdata DL media.
For comparison reasons, we post some burning results from other DL writers,
which all burned the same content ("Gladiator Movie - Special Edition" disc1),
using the CopyToDVD software:
| Drive |
Time ( min) |
| Toshiba SD-R5372 |
36:10 |
| NEC ND-3520A |
22:35 |
| Freecom FX-50 |
22.40 |
Sony DRU-710A |
23:04 |
Pioneer DVR-108 |
23:10 |
| Plextor PX-716A |
23:33 |
22. DVD+R DL - Page 2
In order to test Toshiba's writing quality, we used the LiteOn SOHD-167T and the Plextor PX-712A drives with our usual testing software:
Mitsubishi Chemicals 2.4X @ 5X
Plextor has a better error correction ability than the LiteOn and this is
the reason that it managed to complete the test and read the disc.
CMC Magnetics 2.4X @ 2.4X
It seems probably due to its error correction capabilities
- Summary
Although Plextor reported good writing quality for Mitsubishi Chemicals media,
the LiteOn drive failed to read the disc. CMC Magnetics didn't produce any
problems.
23. BookType Setting
Booktype for the Toshiba is set to DVD-ROM but only for DVD+R and DVD+R
DL media. Although there is no utility that can be used to change the booktype,
the drive automatically sets the booktype to DVD-ROM. Notice that the drive
cannot change the DVD+RW ID.
Media |
Booktype |
DVD+R DL |
DVD-ROM |
DVD+R |
DVD-ROM |
DVD+RW |
DVD+RW |
24. Supported Media list
25. Conclusion
The 5372 drive is a good CD/DVD reader, however a higher CD-RW and DVD-ROM DL reading speed would be welcomed. The reading speed for recordable media is more than adequate and support for reading DVD-RAM is certainly an advantage. Error correction with both CD and DVD media is good and especially with CD media where the drive is one of the best from the latest line of drives that have hit the market recently.
Ripping speeds with all the protected games we tried was rather good. On the other hand, when it comes to creating backups of SafeDisc protected games, only versions up to 2.51 will work.
According to our DAE tests, the drive cannot read Leadin or Leadout data while it also failed to read our 90/99min test discs and Key2Audio protection was also a problem for the Toshiba drive. It managed a score of 100 in the Advanced DAE quality test.
The supported 48X CD writing speed was confirmed with a time of 2:47min for an 80min data compilation but the writing quality at such a high speed is not the best you can have. Our Clover Systems Tests reported E32 errors with all tested CD media. The SD-5372 can also overburn up to 95min.
The reported DVD recording times were good but the supported media list could be larger for 12X and 16X media. The writng quality was good, but further improvements would be welcome, especially with specific media. With the latest firmware revision, we managed to successfully burn DL media, although at 5X there are still some questions.
The price is quite low at around US$60.
- The Good
- Good DVD error correction
- Rather good CD error correction
- Can read DVD-RAM media
- Fast ripping for protected games
- Can overburn up to 95mins
- Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)
- Can backup Audio protected discs
- Low price compared with competition
- Supports DVD-ROM booktype for DVD+R and DVD+R DL formats
- The Bad
- Doesn't support overburning for DVD±R formats
- CD writing quality at 48X
- Cannot read 90/99min AudioCDs
- Cannot handle Key2Audio protection
- Doesn't support Mount Rainier
- Cannot be used to measure CD/DVD media
- Like To be fixed
- Booktype support
- DVD writing with specific media
- CD writing quality
| Retail Package |
 |
| Reading |
|
| Error Correction |
|
| Protected Discs |
 |
| Writing |
 |
| Features |
|