1. Introduction - Retail Package
Taiwanese manufacturer, AOpen, has a wide and varied product line which includes motherboards, graphics cards, sound cards and other PC peripherals. For optical storage devices, AOpen has released a new IDE DVD burner, the AOpen DUW1608/ARR..
The burner supports writing speeds of 16X for DVD+R, 8X for DVD-R, 4X for DVD+RW and DVD-RW, and 2.4X recording speed for Double Layer media. When
it comes to CD writing speeds, the drive can write CDs at 48X and rewrite at 32X.
- Features
- ATCS (Automatic Tilt Calibration System): The Laser adjusts and aligns to focus on warped surfaces to achieve best writing quality.
- Perfect Compatibility with writeable media: AOpen continues testing new brands of writeable media to extend the media compatibility and shares it with all AOpen
users through firmware upgrades.
- Silent Technology: to ensure users get the most relaxed and quiet working environment, AOpen designs mechanical structures made especially for controlling noise and
vibration
- Dynamic Damping System(DDS): DDS can decrease vibration by one-third or more. With this design, operating quality and read speed are improved significantly
- Noise-control System(NCS): NCS is implemented by improving bearing, disc tray and foam damping washers design so as to reduce wind noise.
- JustLink: enables stable writing in situations where buffer under-run errors may occur on a conventional drive.
- JustSpeed decides the optimum writing power and speed.
- Specifications
| Interface |
E-IDE/ATAPI |
| Recording Capacity |
DVD+R (Double Layer) 8.5GB
DVD+R/DVD-R 4.7GB
DVD+RW/DVD-RW 4.7GB
CD-R 700/650MB
CD-RW 700/650MB
|
| Data Transfer Mode |
UDMA Mode 4 (66MB/sec)
DMA Mode 2 (16MB/sec)
PIO Mode 4 (16MB/sec) |
| Max. Recording Speeds |
DVD+R DL (Double Layer) 2.4X
DVD+R (Single Layer) 16X
DVD-R 8X
CD-R 48X |
| Max. Rewriting Speeds |
DVD+RW 4X
DVD-RW 4X
CD-RW 32X |
| Max. Reading Speeds |
DVD-ROM 16X
CD-ROM 48X |
| Buffer Memory |
2MB |
| CD Writing Mode |
Track at Once (TAO)
Disk at Once (DAO)
Session at Once (SAO)
Multi-session
Fixed Packet
Variable Packet
Raw Mode Burning
Over-Burn |
| DVD Writing Mode |
Multi-session Recording (DVD+R)
Random Recording (DVD+RW)
Disc at Once, Multi-Border (DVD-R)
Restricted overwrite, DAO, Multi-border
(DVD-RW)
|
| Weight |
900g |
| Dimensions |
149x42x189.5 mm (half height) |
| System Requirement |
Pentium III 450 or faster
64MB RAM minimum
Windows XP/2000/ME/98SE
|
Below are the burner's main specs as given by NeroInfoTool and DVDInfoPro:
The drive also uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times before the drive remains locked into to the last region selected.
- European Retail Package
The retail package includes the AOpen DUW1608/ARR, a quick installation guide, audio cable, mounting screws, and a Chameleon Bezel Kit.
This kit contains two extra faceplates in colours black and silver. That way, the front faceplate on the drive can be changed to match the color of the PC case in which it will be installed. Also included are two CDs containing Cyberlink's PowerDVD 5, and Nero 6 OEM Suite that will cover your writing/authoring and DVD playback needs.
The front panel has an activity led which lights up green when the device is active..
The rear panel has the usual analogue and digital outputs, IDE connector and power input connector.
Opening the device's case voids the warranty, so we advise against it.
Instead, use the photos in this review for a closer look under the hood. Clicking on the image below will reveal a high resolution image:
- Installation
The drive was installed as secondary master and under Windows XP SP2,
recognized as "AOpen DUW1608/ARR". For this
review, the drive was flashed with the latest firmware version A070. Below is a screenshot from Nero Burning Rom, showing supported
options such as overburn and buffer underrun protection.
During this review, we will be comparing the AOpen DUW1608/ARR burner with the LG GSA-4160, the LITEON SOHW-1633S and the Samsumg TS-H552U burners.
2. Transfer Rate Reading Tests
- CD FormatThe AOpen DUW1608/ARR supports up to 48X reading speed for CD-R media and 32X for
CD-RW media. Below are the transfer rate graphs, where we compare its performance
against the other three drives:
As we can see from our tests, with CDR/CD media the drive is among the fastest in the comparison. Using CDRW media, the DUW1608 was significantly faster.
- DVD Format
With Single Layer media, the AOpen DUW1608/ARR and the other drives in the comparison were very close, the speed differences were marginal.
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 of 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 toward the inner part of the disc. The average reading speed for the DUW 1608 was 6.57x and 8.67x for the End Speed, the fastest of the drives in the comparison
With DVD-R/+R media, the DUW1608 was the fastest, reaching an average speed of ~8.8X. With ReWritable media, the difference in reading times between the drives is negligible.
- Appendix
Nero CD-DVD Speed Graphs
3. CD Error Correction Tests
In the following tests, we check the drive's behavior when it comes to reading
scratched / defective discs. The test discs we use are the ABEX series from ALMEDIO.
- ABEX TCD-721R
|
Errors
total
|
Num:
897874
|
|
Errors
(Loudness) dB(A)
|
Num: 41421 |
Avg: --73.8 dB(A) |
Max:
-19.1 dB(A) |
|
Error
Muting Samples
|
Num: 2236 |
Avg:
1.1 Samples |
Max: 78 Samples |
|
Skips
Samples
|
Num: 0 |
Avg:
0 Samples |
Max:
0 Samples |
Total Test Result |
77.2 points (out of 100.0 maximum) |
|
C2 Accuracy |
97.4 % |
The total error count was low, and although the maximum error loudness is high, from the graph we can see that performance is generally good. The error and muted samples are quite low while no samples were skipped. The 77.2 points out of 100 is a good score with this test disc.
- ABEX TCD-726
|
Errors total
|
Num: 678507
|
|
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)
|
Num: 0
|
Avg: -174 dB(A)
|
Max: -174 dB(A)
|
|
Error Muting Samples
|
Num: 0
|
Avg: 0 Samples
|
Max: 0 Samples
|
|
Skips Samples
|
Num: 0
|
Avg: 0 Samples
|
Max: 0 Samples
|
|
Total Test Result
|
100.0 points (out
of 100.0 maximum)
|
The behavior of drive was much better in this case where it managed to correct all the disc's errors. The result was a perfect 100.
- 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 ability to read music and reproduce
it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a sequence of progressively
difficult tests. These tracks are referred as Check Level -1 through Check
Level -5.
The
tracks are reproduced (played) through a software multimedia player
(i.e. Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone
coming
out
from the speakers is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or
looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction
of the tested device.
|
Error Level
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
|
AOpen DUW1608/ARR
|
5/5
|
5/5
|
5/5
|
0/5
|
0/5
|
The drive passed only the first three Check Levels of the test. The performance
reveals average sound reproduction and error correction. The fourth and the
fifth levels include an error size of 1.125mm and 1.500mm respectively and
the drive produced continues audible clicks over those tracks.
4. DVD Error Correction Tests
In the following tests, we examine the DVD reading capabilities of
the AOpen DUW1608/ARR drive with scratched / defective
DVD media.
For the tests we used CDVD Benchmark and Nero CDSpeed. The reference test
media comes 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.
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR managed to read this test disc without errors, without reducing speed to overcome the disc defects.
Very good performance.
ABEX TDR-825
This is also 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.
Similar behavior as with the 821 test disc. The disc was read without errors, the DUW1608 reduced its speed and kept gradually increasing it while in the problematic areas.
- 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.
Excellent performance with this test disc. The smooth graph is indicative of the high error correction capabilities of the drive.
ABEX TDR-845
This test 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 discs is
that the first includes
defective areas and fingerprints. The dimensions of the defective areas ranges
from 0.5 to 1.1 mm and the fingerprints are sized from 65 to 75 micrometers.
One more time the transfer rate graph was good. No errors reported. However over the defeacted area the drive slow down several times.
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 on 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.
In most cases, this type of disc is a "headache" for DVD burners, but with AOpen DUW1608/ARR, there were no errors reported reading this disc, although the graph was not that smooth during reading the second 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 data surface, sized from 0.4 to 1.0 mm. It also has 65 - 75
micrometer fingerprints.
- Conclusion
All the graphs above indicate that the AOpen DUW1608/ARR has good DVD error correction capabilities.
5. Protected Disc Tests
- Reading Tests
To create an image of the various protected titles to the hard disk,
we used Alcohol 120% software with the appropriate settings depending
on 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 |
2:52 min |
525 sectors/sec |
Serious Sam The Second Encounter |
SafeDisc v.2.50.051 |
13:21 min |
1985 sectors/sec |
VRally II |
SecuROM v.2 |
2:23 min |
2604 sectors/sec |
The drive was the fastest among the drives in this comparison with SecuROM and SafeDisc protected discs.
With the PSX disc though, the drive was among the slowest where only the LG FSA-4160B stood out.
- Writing Tests
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR supports the DAO-RAW writing mode. For checking the
drive's EFM correction status, we used 3 different game titles with different
SafeDisc 2 versions having the latest software patches installed. After making
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 v3.1x |
Sims Superstar
SD v2.9x |
Sims Unleashed
SD v2.8x |
Serious Sam-Second Encounter
SD v2.50.051 |
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 |
LiteON SOHW-1633S |
6. DAE Tests
- Pressed and CDR AudioCD
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR supports up to 48X CAV DAE speed. When using pressed
AudioCD and its CD-R copy with EAC, we logged the following results:
Great performance from the AOpen drive in this test. Fast ripping with no problems at all, and in fact a little bit faster than the other drives in the comparison.
- Advanced DAE Quality
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR supports reading of SubChannel data, Leadin / Leadout
data and CD Text and was, again, the fastest of all the drives in the comparison.
The DUW1608 received a score of 100 (perfect)
in the Nero CD Speed
Advanced DAE test.
- Reading 90/ 99mins AudioCDs
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR managed to read successfully the entire 90mins disc, without reporting any errors. Reading speed was reduced after the 65th minute and remained stable at 10x.
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR managed to read successfully the entire 99mins disc, without reporting any errors. Reading speed was reduced after the 94th minute. Very good performance indeed, since not many drives manage to read successfully, both the 90 and 99 minute test discs. Usually they choke on one or both.
7. Protected AudioCDs
For this test procedure we used three audio discs with different
audio copy protection schemes. The ripping process for all protected
Audio discs was carried out with Exact Audio Copy v0.9beta5.
The tested 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 contains artificial errors that are not
easy to bypass with a reader, while the Key2Audio contains a second session,
causing
problems for readers when they attempt 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 clicks/skips.
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR DVD Burner recognized up to the 12th Audio track of the CDS200 disc,
and with the "Retrieve Native TOC" option removed, it then recognized
the 13th Data track.
The test results are shown in the following table:
|
Key2Audio |
CDS200 |
AOpen DUW1608/ARR |
Disc was playable, EAC reports average ripping speed of 88x!!, ripped audio is silence |
Ripping process completed, EAC reports timing problems, Read&Test CRC comparison not the same for all tracks |
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR DVD Burner could recognize and playback Key2Audio protected discs. Ripping with EAC was not possible though. CDS200 protection was not a problem.
- 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 associated with specific
chipset weaknesses.
We ripped the disc contents with EAC and burned the produced wav with the
latest Nero version as AudioCD+CD-Text. The burned media was checked for
C1/C2 errors with PlexTools using the Plextor PX-712A (firmware
v1.05).
|
CDS 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a |
AOpen DUW1608/ARR |
Ripping performed without errors, writing produces C2/CU spikes |
- C1C2 Error rate from PleXWriter PX-712A (8X CLV reading speed)
- BETA/Jitter Error rate with the PleXWriter PX-712A
The C1/C2 error graphs show that the drive did not manage to produce a 100% error free disc. There were a couple of C2 spikes in the graph and a CU spike, meaning there were uncorrectable errors on the disc.
Nevertheless, we then tried to extract all the wav files with the Plextor PX-712A and PlexTools DAE with Error Correction 5th Level enabled:
No errors were reported after extracting all files, but as was previously mentioned, the copy was not 100% successful. The produced disc contains C2 and CU errors, as these were reported by Plextools software!
8. CD Recording Tests
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR supports 48X CD-R and 32X US-RW recording speeds.
The drive supports the following speeds for CD media recording,
illustrated in the screenshot below:
According to Nero CDSpeed, the drive confirmed the maximum 48X speed. The
test started at 22.01X and finished at 49.51X, having an average speed of 37.60X.
Click on the image below for an enlarged view.
For the burning tests, we created an 80min data compilation through Nero
Burning Rom, recording the data on several 700MB discs.
The
writing performance varies according to the inserted media, as our tests
showed. Below is a chart demonstrating
all recording times with various manufacturers media.
- Other features
|
Overburning writing
|
not supported
|
|
CD text reading/writing
|
Yes
|
CD-RW Format
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR supports 32X Z-CLV rewriting speed with Ultra Speed Rewritable Media (US-RW).
Below you can see the Nero CD-DVD Speed writing simulation test with blank 24X US-RW media from Mitsubishi Chemicals.
The drive starts the writing task at 16.02X and reaches a maximum of 32.08X at the 34:00 min address mark on the disc which is maintained until the end of writing.
Average speed was 26.80X.
9. 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.
E21 means 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.
- Summary
Clover Systems CDX Test Results |
Disc ID |
SKC |
Maxell |
BenQ |
Traxdata |
TY |
GRADE |
A |
F |
F |
D |
D |
PASS/FAIL |
FAIL |
FAIL |
FAIL |
FAIL |
FAIL |
AVE BLER |
1.0 |
7.1 |
5.4 |
2.7 |
17.5 |
AVE E11 |
0.7 |
6.4 |
1.9 |
2.2 |
15.4 |
AVE E21 |
0.1 |
0.2 |
0.4 |
0.1 |
1.4 |
AVE E31 |
0.3 |
0.4 |
3.0 |
0.4 |
0.6 |
AVE E12 |
1.8 |
1.1 |
11.4 |
4.9 |
3.4 |
AVE E22 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
6.4 |
0.5 |
0.5 |
AVE E32 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
2.0 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
TOT E22 |
0 |
296 |
30796 |
2473 |
2436 |
PK BLER |
27 |
365 |
165 |
85 |
209 |
PK E11 |
11 |
46 |
26 |
18 |
183 |
PK E21 |
7 |
22 |
11 |
8 |
30 |
PK E31 |
21 |
308 |
140 |
84 |
85 |
PK E12 |
302 |
267 |
289 |
479 |
268 |
PK E22 |
0 |
61 |
332 |
154 |
113 |
PK E32 |
0 |
68 |
127 |
24 |
39 |
TOT E32 |
0 |
249 |
9477 |
34 |
330 |
10PK BLER |
12 |
57 |
87 |
34 |
147 |
10PK E11 |
3 |
21 |
14 |
4 |
123 |
10PK E21 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
1 |
18 |
10PK E31 |
10 |
31 |
69 |
30 |
20 |
10PK E12 |
108 |
43 |
169 |
398 |
198 |
10PK E22 |
0 |
5 |
178 |
63 |
45 |
10PK E32 |
0 |
4 |
60 |
0 |
1 |
While no disc passed the test, SKC, Taiyo Yuden and Traxdata media reported good writing quality with no or minimum E32 errors being reported. We would like the performance with the remaining media brands to be fixed in a future firmware revision. The CD recording quality of the AOpen DUW1608/ARR can be characterized as average.
- Appendix
Media Label |
ID Code |
Manufacturer Name |
Lead Out TIme |
SKC 52x |
97m26s26f |
|
79m59s73f |
Maxell 48X |
97m15s17f |
Ritek Co. |
79m59s70f |
TY 80min 48X |
97m24s 1f |
Taiyo Yuden |
79m59s72f |
TraxData 52X |
97m15s17f |
Ritek |
79m59s70f |
|
|
|
|
10. DVD Recording Tests
- Writing Performance
The maximum supported speed is 16X for DVD+R media while
with DVD-R it is 8X, and for rewritable media 4X.
Nero Burning Rom reported speeds are shown below.
The drive burns using
Z-CLV strategy at
8X/12X and
P-CAV at 16X.
By using Nero CD-DVD Speed with DVD-R and DVD+R media, we are able to see the 8X, 12X and 16X recording technologies in action for +R media, and the 8X recording technology for -R media.
.
- 16X DVD+R Single Layer writing
- 8X DVD-R Single Layer writing
- Burning Tests
We burned 4315MB of data on various DVD±R, DVD±RW media. We used the maximum allowed writing speed for each disc.
- DVD Overburning Test
Unfortunately, the drive does not support DVD overburning for both the -R and +R media formats, giving the above error messages.
- DVD+MRW Tests
The drive does not support the Mount Rainier feature.
11. 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 overspeed 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
- Verbatim(MKM) 8X DVD-R @ 8X
- Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD-R @ 8X
- Summary
According to Plextools, all 8x media with the exception of 3A and Traxdata media, exhibit low PIE/POE rates, without POF errors appearing during reading. According to CDSpeed, all media could be read successfully. Judging from the PI/PIF scans, we
can say
that the AOpen DUW1608/ARR offers very good quality at the 8x recording speed.
12. 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 overspeed 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
- Summary
According to Plextools, all 4x media exhibited low PIE/POE rates, without POF errors appearing during reading. According to CDSpeed, all media could be read successfully. Judging from the PI/PIF scans we
can say
that the DUW1608 offers very good quality at 4x recording speed.
13. 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 overspeed 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
As we can see the results are quite mixed. TDK media exhibits a large number of POE errors and the CDspeed graph is far from smooth, indicating the drive needs to slow down in order to read the data. On the other hand, we see an excellent burn with Verbatim media.
14. 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 overspeed 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
- CMC Magnetics 16X DVD+R @ 12X
- Summary
From what we can see above, the quality of the discs burned at 12x was not that good, even though the discs were certified up to 16x. Verbatim media exhibited high PIE/POE errors, while Philips media was unreadable at some point close to the end of the disc. This is an issue that needs to be addressed by AOpen, probably with a new firmware update.
15. 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 overspeed 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
- Verbatim(MKM) 8X DVD+R @ 8X
- Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD+R @ 8X
- Summary
Thewriting quality is good but could be better. Although Plextools reported low PIE error levels CDSpeed has a different opinion.
16. 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 overspeed 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.
DVD+RW and DVD-RW Media
- Mitsubishi Chemicals 4X DVD-RW @ 4X
- Verbatim(MKM) 4X DVD+RW @ 4X
- Summary
All PIE error levels were low, especially in the case of Mitsubishi Chemicals and Optodisc
DVD+RW burned at 4X..
17. Writing Quality Tests - Almedio AEC-1000
The AEC-1000 consists of a DVD Drive and the "ALChecker" error measurement application which can check the written data quality.
The application is capable of 1X CLV measurement as well as 4X CLV on DVD-Video/ROM and finalized DVD+R/-R media.
There are three measurement modes, Fine Mode, Rough Mode and Quick Mode. The first checks a series of eight consecutive ECC blocks,
the second checks eight consecutive ECC blocks every 100h ECC blocks and the last, the fastest, checks three specified areas.
The checking status is shown graphically in real time while you can save the error graph at the end of the test.
The reported errors are the PI and the UncPO. In the case of PI, it counts the number of rows corrected by the PI error correction in each group of
eight consecutive ECC blocks. In the case of UncPO, it counts the number of ECC blocks in which more than one byte is uncorrectable in eight
consecutive ECC blocks. For our quality scans, we set for 1X CLV and Fine Mode which is the slowest and with the safest results.
Also, we chose to measure media burned at the maximum available writing speed which is 16X and 8x for DVD+R and DVD-R respectively.
- Mitsubishi Chemicals DVD+R 16X @ 16X
- Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 8X @ 8X
- Mitsubishi Chemicals DVD-R 8X @ 8X
In the first three cases the writing quality is good, while with the last, due to a single unrecoverable PO error. the software reported bad quality.
18. DVD+R DL - Page 1
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR supports Double Layer media. It can
record this type of media at 2.4X. We burned two different DL media from Verbatim
and Traxdata 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 Nero Burning ROM to burn the image file to all media. We chose the "GLADIATOR.ISO" image and we selected the AOpen burner to start burning. Booktype was set automatically by Nero Burning ROM to DVD-ROM. For this test, we chose to use Nero Burning Rom instead of VSO CopyToDVD software, because Nero was the only program we could get to change the DVD+R DL disc's booktype setting to DVD-ROM.
The burning times for the Verbatim and Traxdada DL media were 38:23 and 38:18 respectively. Bear in mind that the DUW1608 supports only 2.4x writing speed for DVR+R DL media.
19. DVD+R DL - Page 2
- Writing Quality
In order to test the AOpen DUW1608 DVD+R DL writing quality, we used the LiteOn SOHD-167T and the Plextor PX-712A drives.
- Verbatim Double Layer media @ 2.4X
- Traxdata Double Layer media @ 2.4X
The writing quality is good while all media were playable in our standalone test players from Pioneer, Philips and NeuNeo.
20. AOpen vs SA300
For checking exactly what the AOpen DUW1608 reports, we used four different media, burned with other writers. The three media have been measured with the well known AudioDev SA300 DVD CATS system at 1X. We used the latest version of CDSpeed, with a special switch to turn this function on. DVDinfoPro can be used to work with the drive, but there are some consern about what it reports exactly. Please note that the posted results are only valid for the specific tested AOpen drive. Using other drives, even another DUW1608, can produce totally different results. Be aware!
This test did not finish. In the case of PI sum, the trend lines are similar but the values are very different. On the other hand, in the case of PIF, the burner does not seem to report these values so there is no base for comparison.
Once again the PI sum trend lines are similar.
Neither the trend lines nor the values for PI sum are similar.
21. Booktype Setting
We used several software applications to investigate booktype setting support
for this burner. The drive supports this feature but for DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R
DL. Bear in mind that it is a DVD burner based on Ricoh's chipset.
With the latest version of DVD Decrypter (3.5.2.0) we can check the current setting and alter the default booktype setting for DVD+R and DVD+RW discs.
The default booktype setting in the burner's firmware for DVD+R/DVD+RW is DVD-ROM.
Same situation with Nero CDSpeed 3.61 We can only change booktype settings for DVD+R/DVD+RW discs. The setting for DVD+R DL is grayed out.
During our tests, the only way we discovered to change the booktype setting for DVD+R DL discs is by using Nero Burning Rom. We tried with version 6.6.0.6, and
as you will see in the screenshot below, we could select the booktype setting for the disc that is about to be burned.
22. Conclusion
The
AOpen DUW1608/ARR is a fast CD/DVD reader, reporting high reading speeds. Video
ripping
was also fast and with no problems or delays. Great DVD error correction capabilities
were observed but only average CD error correction. Nero CD/DVD Speed reported
average Audio Extraction speed but gave the drive a perfect score of 100.
Regarding protected Audio CDs, the burner faced problems reading Key2Audio and CDS200 protected discs. Moreover, protected games were not a strong point of this
AOpen drive, since it managed to make working backups of SafeDisk protected
games
up to v.2.8.
The drive offers up to 48X CD writing speed, the highest current speed offered by
burners on the market currently.
The AOpen DUW1608/ARR features 16X P-CAV writing speed for DVD+R media. It took 7:11mins to burn a full Single Layer disc, which is a time that needs improvement. Quality at such a high
speed is a real headache for burners and the AOpen gave mixed results, but more on the good quality burns side. There is definitely some room for further improvements here, especially at the 12X writing speed for DVD+R media. We hope to see future firmware releases resolve problems
that occurred with certain media written at different speeds. For DVD-R media, burning quality was good, but bear in mind that many burners out there at the moment support up to 16X writing speeds.
A big advantage of this drive is the Booktype setting support with the original firmware. With Double
Layer media, we observed good writing performance with the one and only speed the AOpen burner offers (2.4X).
- The Good
- Good DVD error correction
- High CD reading speed
- High DVD reading speed
- Supports booktype setting changes for DVD+R/DVD+RW/DVD+R DL.
- Very good DVD burning quality
- The Bad
- Average CD error correction
- Doesn't accurately backup SafeDisc2 v2.9x+ protected discs
- Doesn't support CD/DVD overburning
- Does not accurately backup certain protected audio discs (Key2audio, CDS200 special disc "Aiko Katsukino")
- Like to be fixed
- DVD writing quality needs improvement with DVD+R media at 12X
- High C1/C2 errors with specific media at 48X
- No Region free utilities
| Retail Package |
 |
| Reading |
|
| Error Correction |
|
| Protected Discs |
 |
| Writing |
|
| Features |
|