1. Specifications
Mitsumi CR-4809TE
IDE CDR-W - Page 1
- Introduction
recently
announced its latest drive addition for high-speed optical storage. The new
drive comes to complete the puzzle for the best 24x recorders and includes several
features that make the drive unique! Mitsumi's proposal comes at the same time
where Yamaha and TEAC's 24x recorders are ready to be shipped at the market.
Let's see how Mitsumi's CR-4809TE can compete with the rest of competitors...
- Features
The
drive supports 24x writing (Z-CLV), 12x re-writing, 16MB Buffer and "ExacLink"
as the main anti-buffer underrun technology. Mitsumi added two unique features
,the biggest available internal buffer (16MB) ever found in a recorder and the
fastest re-writing speed (12x)! The exact writing speeds are 4x, 8x, 16x (CLV),
16x-24x (Z-CLV) and re-writing speeds 4x, 10x, 12x (CLV).
- Product Specifications
* Supported formats: CD-DA, CD-ROM (Mode 1 und 2), CD ROM XA (Mode 2, Form
1 und 2), Enhanced CD, Photo CD (read only), CD Text, Video CD
* Recording methods: Disk at once, Session at once, Track at once, Multisession,
Packet Writing
* Supported sizes: CDs with 8 and 12 cm diameter
* Interface: IDE/EIDE
* Transfer rates read: CAV Max 40x Speed 2.400 to 6.000 Kb/sec
* Transfer rates write: CD-R, 16-24x Speed 2.400 to 3.600 Kb/sec/ CD-RW, 12x
Speed 1.800 Kb/sek
* Random Access: 98 ms typical
* Full stroke: 180 ms typical (00:02.00 - 60:00.00)
* Data buffer: 16 Megabyte
* MTBF :> 50 000 POH min
- The features
technology was developed by OAK Technologies as an anti-buffer underrun solution.
Let's now see how OAK describes ExacLink : "....The ExacLink feature
allows the drive to pause the write operation when data flow to the drive is
interrupted due to other computer activity. When the drive receives enough data
to continue, it begins writing again at the exact point where the previous write
was stopped and with the exact power level and frequency used during the previous
write. In this way, it appears to a reading device as if the writing operation
had never been interrupted. This feature is valuable for writing CD audio discs
since without the ExacLink feature, the drive would not be allowed to stop and
re-start writing at random times since the resulting disc would be unreadable
or contain errors..."
- The package
The package in which the drive arrived, contained only the bare drive -engineer
version- with final firmware/hardware. The retail European version will include:
The drive itself, a quick starting guide in 14 languages, 1 piece (24x certified)
of Ricoh 80min CD-R blank, 1 piece of Mitsumi 74min (4x only) RW Blank, data/audio
cables and mounting screws. The software supplied with the drive was Nero Burning
ROM v5.5.5.1 OEM and Ahead InCD v2.32 (for packet writing use). The retail price
of the drive is expected around 299DM and plans to hit the European market in
the 5th of November 2001.
The front of the drive is exactly the same as we witnessed at the CR-4808TE
model. The drive doesn't have the Mitsumi logo in the front of it, while it
has the "High-Speed RW" logo, which indicates its RW speed. You will
also find only one led, the eject button and the headphone input jack/volume
selector:
At the back of the drive we will find the usual connectors (IDE interface,
power), the jumpers for assigning the drive as a Master/Slave, the SPDIF output
connector and the analog/digital output connectors:
- Installation
The
Mitsumi CR-4809TE was installed as a Master in the secondary IDE BUS. The drive
worked in UDMA33 mode and after booting, identified itself as the "CR-48X9TE".
We unchecked the Auto Insert notification, checked DMA and rebooted.
The drive was an October 2001 model with firmware revision v1.0b installed.
We used the Nero (5.5.5.6), InCD (3.12), CloneCD (3.1.1.0) and Padus DJ (3.50.799)
for the recording tests.
- Test Machine
WinMe/XP
OS
Soyo 7VCA
Celeron II 566 over clocked to 850 MHz
128MB SDRAM PC 133
WD 18GB UDMA 66
Quantum Fireball EX 6.4 GB UDMA 33
DAWI 2975 - PCI (ULTRA) SCSI Host Adapter
ATI AIW 128
Mitsumi CR-4809TE firmware v1.0B
PleXWriter PX-W2410A firmware v1.02
TEAC CD-524E firmware v1.0A
LiteOn LTR-24102B firmware v5S0F
2. Data Tests
Mitsumi
CR-4809TE IDE CDR-W - Page
2
Data Tests
- Test Method
* SCSI Mechanic v3.0x: This was used to compare the drive's I/O performance
against other various CDR-W drives (see charts). We used a pressed CD containing
PlexTools v1.08 for all tests.
* Nero CD Speed v0.84b was also used to check the drive's performance
with pressed CDs. For that test, we also used the PlexTools v1.08 pressed CD.
- SCSI Mechanic v3.0x results
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE gave an average level reading performance compared with
the competition. The drive has the third best "Average Sequential I/O"
mark, and the PleXWriter PX-W2410A is still the best fine tuned drive for reading
pressed CDs. It has also the second best "Average Random I/O" mark
(843Kb/s) and the third best "Same Sector I/O" mark.
- Nero CD Speed v0.84 results: (Click
to see the CD Speed Graph)
The Nero CD Speed results confirmed our previous tests results. The Mitsumi
drive gets the third place behind PleXWriter and LiteOn drives. It starts reading
at 18.25X and also ends at 39.98X. Future updates could improve reading performance...
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE has rather high "Random Seek" results with
112ms. The TEAC CD-W524E is simply un-beatable with 77secs and the LiteOn LTR-24102B
is also faster.
- PSX Pressed Media
For this test we used the PSX game 'NBA Jam Extreme' and we ripped the image
to HD with CloneCD. We measured the reading time of the Mitsumi CR-4809TE, which
is the third best with 268secs. The PleXWriter PX-W2410A does the same task
at only 54secs :-)
- CDR Media: (Click
to see the CD Speed graph)
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE got the last position when reading CDR media. The drive
may improve its reading performance but the competition is faster. The closest
performance comes from TEAC CD-W524E, which is slightly faster, while the PleXWriter
PX-W2410A holds the first place.
3. RW reading tests
Mitsumi
CR-4809TE IDE CDR-W - Page
3
RW reading tests
- Nero CD Speed v0.84 Results: (Click
to see the graph)
For the RW tests we used the Ricoh's HS-RW media written at 10x speed. The
Mitsumi CR-4809TE has one of the highest average reading performance ,with HS-RW
media, and beats the competitive drives:
CloneCD Tests
- Procedure
We used CloneCD (v3.1.1.0) and 5 original CDs - Euro 2000 (SafeDisc 1), No
One Lives For Ever (SafeDisc 2), Rally Masters (LaserLock 1), Desperados (LaserLock
2) and V-Rally 2 Expert (SecuROM 2) - in order to test the reading time of the
Mitsumi CR-4809TE. We also tested the reading performance with backups of the
original CDs, since the reading speed varies between original and backup media.
For comparison reasons we added the results of the already tested PleXWriter
PX-W2410A, LiteOn LTR-24102B and TEAC CD-W524E. The following picture shows
the drive's reading/writing capabilities as CloneCD reports - (drive supports
only hardware error correction):
- SafeDisc 1/2 Results
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE gave the highest reading times with SafeDisc 1/2 protected
CDs. The drive needs almost 55mins to make an image of the protected CD in the
HD, which is very slow compared to what the competition offers...
With SafeDisc2 protected CDs the performance is identical...
- LaserLock 1/2 Results
With LaserLock 1 protected CDs, the Mitsumi CR-4809TE performs slightly better
than with SafeDisc 1/2 CDs but again it is the slowest drive.
The LaserLock 2 protected CDs are very hard for all recorders to read. The
Mitsumi drive does not make an exception. It needs 25mins to read both the original/backup
CDs and gets the second/last place respectively.
- SecuROM Results
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE does support reading of SubChannel from Data/Audio Tracks.
The reading performance is good, however the LiteOn LTR-24102B is much faster.
4. DAE Tests
Mitsumi
CR-4809TE IDE CDR-W - Page
4
DAE Tests
- Test Method
We used CD DAE 99 v0.21 beta and EAC v0.9 prebeta 11 software in order to
check the DAE performance of the drive with various AudioCDs (both pressed
and CDR). The posted DAE results are the average of both applications, but
the CPU usage was only taken from CD DAE 99, since EAC occupies the system
a lot more. As a last note, we used the "BURST" reading mode of
EAC. We made a full CD Rip starting from the first to the last track of the
CD. The Average DAE reported speed along with the CPU Usage is displayed in
the test graphs.
- DAE features
We
used EAC v0.9 prebeta 11 to examine the drive's features. As the program reported,
the drive doesn't "Caching" data, supports "Accurate Stream"
and doesn't include "C2" error info. All 4 tested drives supports
up to 40x (CAV) DAE speed.
- Pressed AudioCD results - (Click
to see the Nero CD Speed graph)
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE performed very well with pressed Audio CDs but gets
the last place since the competition is faster. The drive's average reading
DAE ripping speed is 28.4X and also reported 7errors at the end of the process:
- CDR AudioCD results - (Click
to see the Nero CD Speed graph)
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE improved its performance with CDR media and now gets
the third place with LiteOn LTR-24102B. Its average reading performance is
28.8X and again produced 2 errors while reading the test disc:
- EAC Secure Extract Ripping mode
After many requests from numerous visitors we have added the EAC's secure
extract ripping mode results, which ensures maximum produced WAV quality.
Note that for each drive we used the build-in detection function:
Tested Drives
|
Average DAE Speed (X)
|
Pressed
|
CDR
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
5.6
|
4.5
|
PleXWriter PX-W2410A
|
8.7
|
9.6
|
Mitsumi CR-4809TE
|
9.9
|
11.4
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
9.4
|
9.6
|
- Advanced DAE Quality
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE gets a 100 score (best) in the Nero CD Speed Advanced
DAE test. The drive's average reading speed was 29.15x and no errors were
produced. As the following picture shows, the drive can read CD-Text/SubChannel
Data:
- Bad CDR Media results
Despite the fact that CD Speed 99 Advanced DAE test stretches drive's mechanism
to the max, we decided to do real life tests with a scratched disc. The disc
was dirty, and with some light scratches, enough in order cause problems to
most of the tested drives. We used CD DAE 99 software to rip the whole disc
(756539616 sectors) and the results were very interesting:
|
Average Speed (X)
|
Errors
|
Errors Of Total Disc (%)
|
PleXWriter PX-W2410A
|
27.7
|
2946403
|
0.39
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
25.7
|
345
|
0.00
|
Mitsumi CR-4809TE
|
25.6
|
24
|
0.00
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
26.5
|
1
|
0.00
|
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE performed very well with our bad CDR test disc. The
drive reports only 24 errors while reading our test disc at full speed! The
only drive that beats it is the TEAC CD-W524E.
- Ripping 90 and 99mins AudioCDs
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE recognizes the 90min AudioCDs without any problems.
However it seems to have a problem with the 99min CDs:
5. CDR Tests
Mitsumi
CR-4809TE IDE CDR-W - Page
5
CDR Tests
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE uses Z-CLV for achieving 24x-writing speed. Below is
a graph that represents the main differences of Mitsumi's implementation of
Z-CLV writing technology compared to the fastest 24x Z-CLV recorder from Plextor.
The Mitsumi writing graph is almost the same with the faster 24x Z-CLV recorder
from Plextor:
The Mitsumi drive starts writing at 16x (0 mins), shifts to 20x at 6mins,
shifts again up to 24x at 186ins and writes at 24x till the end of the disc.
The drive has the same shift points with Plextor's PX-W2410A, however due to
lower speed in the shift points is slighter slower than the Plextor recorder.
In the following table we can see the average writing speed of the TEAC CD-W524E,
PleXWriter PX-W2410A, LiteOn LTR-24102B and Mitsumi CR-4809TE, according to
the Nero CD Speed:
CDR-W drives
|
Average Writing Speed with 80min CD
(X)
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
22.55
|
PleXWriter PX-W2410A
|
22.77
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
22.78
|
Mitsumi CR-4809TE
|
22.72
|
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE has an average writing speed of 22.72X, which is the
third best among the four tested drives.
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE has the same rotation speeds as the PleXWriter PX-W2410A,
at least in the shift points.
- Procedure
We tested the Mitsumi CR-4809TE with Nero v5.5.5.6, Ahead InCD v3.12b, CloneCD
v3.1.1.0 and, Padus DJ v3.50.799 software. We used various of media for performing
our tests: Mitsubishi Chemicals 74/80min 24x certified, Mitsui 74min 24x certified,
Taiyo Yuden 74/80min 24x certified, Ricoh 74min 24x certified and Ricoh's 74min
HS-RW. The Mitsumi drive includes a build-in mechanism, which automatically
reduces the writing speeding during the burn process. The drive doesn't limit
the recording speed inside the recording software or show any sign at the beginning
of writing but the final recording time unveils it.
- 74min CD-R Tests
We created a "DataCD" job with data slightly more than 74mins (74:03:65).
We burned the same job with all 4 CDR-W drives:
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE has the higher burning time at 16x (CLV) writing speed.
It needs 320secs to end the task. The CPU usage seems be increased and reaches
the 18%!
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE is not the fastest 24x Z-CLV recorder you can buy nowadays.
The drive after writing many media at 24x, had as the best recording time 242secs.
The disappointing issue is the higher recording time with almost 28%. The PleXWriter
PX-W2410A is 11secs faster. Future updates can improve writing performance...
- 80min CD-R Tests
In our normal burning tests the 80min CD contains slightly more than 80min
data (80:01:47):
Again the Mitsumi CR-4809TE is the slowest drive at the 16x writing speed.
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE with 80min CDs is the slowest drive and its best recording
performance was 257secs. The TEAC CD-W524E is 10secs faster.
- Overburning Tests
Using Nero CD Speed, we saw that the drive can overburn up to 99:00minutes:
- CD-Text Results
We created several AudioCDs with CD-Text enabled. The Mitsumi CR-4809TE can
read/write CD-Text AudioCDs without any problems.
- CloneCD Writing Tests
The
CloneCD v3.1.1.0 reports that the drive supports the DAO-RAW feature. We performed
our usual tests and we confirmed that the drive supports fully the DAO-RAW writing
mode (Safedisc 1.0, LaserLock 1/2 and SecuROM 2).
- SD2 Support
For the SD2 test we used the "No One Lives For Ever", "Max
Payne" and "Emperor Battle of Dune" game titles. We used the
Mitsumi CR-4809TE both as reader/writer. The produced backup didn't work using
the same or any drive we tested with. Therefore, the Mitsumi CR-4809TE cannot
produce SD2 working backups.
- 8cm mini CDs
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE supports reading/writing of 8cm CDs.
- Buffer Underrun tests
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE supports "ExacLink" anti-buffer underrun technology,
which was developed by OAK Technologies. The drive worked without any problems
when buffer underrun caused from our side. When you press ctrl+alt+del the drive
will start blinking and when you un-freeze the PC will continue writing :-)
6. Writing Quality Tests
Mitsumi
CR-4809TE IDE CD-RW - Page
6
Writing Quality Tests
We used Ricoh's 74min 24x CD-R media. All CDs were burned at 24x writing speed
for each drive with Nero 5.5.5.6 and were Audio CDs with 74:51:27 in size. The
produced CDs, were measured from DigitalDrives
and results are illustrated in the following tables:
Ricoh 74min 24x media
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Max
|
Average
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC on)
|
17
|
0.9
|
227
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC off)
|
20
|
0.8
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
28
|
3.8
|
252
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed on)
|
22
|
1.3
|
247
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed off)
|
40
|
1.5
|
246
|
Plextor PX-W2410A
|
14
|
0.5
|
234
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
41
|
1.0
|
237
|
Mitsumi CR-4809TE
|
14
|
0.5
|
242
|
The Mitsumi CR-4809E gave better writing quality from the PleXWriter PX-W2410A,
when Ricoh's 74min 24x certified media are used. The average C1 error rate is
0.5 and the average burning time is 242secs. The PleXWriter is 8 secs faster.
Very good performance from Mitsumi CR-4809TE. The following graph comes from
the Ricoh 74min (24x) media:
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE general writing quality was the best we have witnessed
with Ricoh's 74min 24x certified media. The drive not only keeps C1 errors below
10 but also has very low C1 average error rate.
- More Writing Quality Results
Mitsui 74min 24x media
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Max
|
Average
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC on)
|
20
|
0.7
|
227
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC off)
|
17
|
0.7
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
64
|
0.9
|
242
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed on)
|
18
|
1.2
|
246
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed off)
|
26
|
1.7
|
245
|
Plextor PX-W2410A
|
17
|
1.5
|
230
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
17
|
0.8
|
237
|
Mitsumi CR-4809TE
|
21
|
1.3
|
242
|
With Mitsui 74min 24x certified media, the Mitsumi CR-4809TE has average writing
quality with only 1.3 C1 average error rate. The burning time continues to stay
at 242secs.
Taiyo Yuden 74min 24x
media
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Max
|
Average
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC on)
|
28
|
0.6
|
228
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC off)
|
53
|
3.0
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
7
|
0.2
|
246
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed on)
|
10
|
0.5
|
253
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed off)
|
11
|
0.5
|
249
|
Plextor PX-W2410A
|
9
|
0.6
|
232
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
9
|
0.4
|
238
|
Mitsumi CR-4809TE
|
11
|
0.3
|
245
|
With Taiyo Yuden 74min 24x certified media, the Mitsumi CR-4809TE has very
good performance with only 0.3 C1 error rate. The burning time is increased
by 3 secs.
Mitsubishi Chemicals
74min 24x media
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Max
|
Average
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC on)
|
12
|
2.1
|
259
|
Yamaha CRW3200E (OWC off)
|
12
|
2
|
225
|
LiteOn LTR-24102B
|
10
|
1.8
|
244
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed on)
|
13
|
1.6
|
247
|
AOpen CRW2440 (JustSpeed off)
|
16
|
1.6
|
243
|
Plextor PX-W2410A
|
17
|
1.9
|
234
|
TEAC CD-W524E
|
15
|
1.8
|
236
|
Mitsumi CR-4809TE
|
21
|
2.0
|
242
|
None of the tested drives seem to give a very good writing quality when Mitsubishi
Chemicals (Verbatim) 74min 24x certified media used. The Mitsumi CR-4809TE has
the highest C1 error rate from the 24x Z-CLV recorders, while the average burning
time stays at the same level as with the other media.
Various Brands at 24x
media
|
Model
|
C1
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Max
|
Average
|
Ritek 80min 24x
|
16
|
0.8
|
258
|
Taiyo Yuden 80min 24x
|
11
|
0.2
|
256
|
MitsuBishi Chemicals 80min 24x
|
23
|
3.7
|
257
|
Verbatim 80min 16x
|
14
|
0.7
|
258
|
Creation 80min 12x
|
74
|
15.8
|
334
|
|
|
|
|
TDK D-View 74min 12x
|
22
|
2.3
|
318
|
Mitsui 74min 16x
|
31
|
2.1
|
241
|
Ricoh 74min 8x
|
70
|
1.3
|
244
|
Verbatim 74min 16x
|
14
|
0.6
|
241
|
Creation 74min 12x
|
39
|
9.5
|
320
|
7. RW Writing Tests
Mitsumi
CR-4809TE IDE CDR-W - Page
7
RW Writing Tests
We used Nero 5.5.5.6 for writing CDs at the maximum RW speed for all the tested
drives. The Mitsumi CR-4809TE supports not only 10x but also 12x re-writing
speed, making it the faster re-writer at this category:
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE ,with 12x RW, is currently the faster re-writer. It
needs only 408secs to end the task. With 10x RW speed the drive needs 487sec.
The CPU Usage is low and the erase time is under 60secs.
- Packet Writing
Tests
We used Ahead InCD v3.12b for all Packet Writing tests with a TDK HS-RW media.
The formatted disc had 534mbs of free space. We copied a 403 MB file (403.147
kbs) from a Hard Disk (on the same PC as the writers) to the formatted RW media
using Windows Explorer (we dragged and dropped) and we completed the test twice
to eliminate any possible time measurement faults and user errors:
The Mitsumi CR-4809TE has a 8.88X max packet writing performance. The average
reading speed (12.05X) is good and only the PleXWriter PX-W2410A is faster.
8. Conclusion
Mitsumi
CR-4809TE IDE CDR-W - Page
8
Conclusion
Positive (+)
|
Negative (-)
|
- Supports 24x writing (Z-CLV) speed
- Supports 12x re-writing (CLV) speed
- Includes 16MB Buffer (!!)
- "ExacLink" anti-coaster technology
- Has build-in media quality detection system
- Low C1 errors when 24x CDR media used
- Good data reading performance with both CDR/pressed media
- Highest re-writing/packet writing performance
- Good DAE speeds
- Very good DAE ripping quality
- Supports HS-RW standard
- Supports DAO-RAW
- Supports reading/writing of SubChannel Data
- Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)
- Supports Overburning (up to 99mins)
- Supports Ultra-DMA 33 connection interface
- Retail package includes Nero 5.5
- Low price ($137<=)
|
- Drive arrives late at the market..
- Competition is faster at both reading/writing speeds
- Higher seek times than competition
- Failed to backup SD2 protected CDs
- Low PSX ripping speed
- Very bad CloneCD reading performance
- Can read only up to 89mins
- Competition offers 2 years of warranty (applies only for Europe)
|
Mitsumi's proposal for the 24x recording speed is very interesting. Although
the drive arrives quite late at the market, it has all the potentials to compete
and win ,at least at some points. The drive supports 24x writing, 12x re-writing,
40x reading and a huge 16Mb of buffer making it unique in its category. The
ExacLink anti-buffer underrun technology is also present but the internal 16MB
buffer makes things easier.
The drive performed very well in most of our tests and managed to get the
first place in some of them -mostly in the re-writing test due to increased
12x RW speed. Its 24x writing Z-CLV implementation is not the fastest you can
find at the market but the writing quality is very good, when 24x certified
media are used. The built-in media quality system detection will prevent low
quality media to be written at maximum speed (24x), something that in normal
cases might cause un-readable CDs. As our tests showed, with further tweaking
it can compete the fastest 24x recorders from TEAC & Plextor. The 12x re-writing
speed will make users happy since no problems will occur and the current 4-10x
HS-RW media can handle it. Lastly, the drive's DAE ripping speed/quality performance
was very good. On the other side, the bad CloneCD reading performance among
with the lack of SD2 support will not please users since the (LiteOn/Plextor/TEAC)
competition offers such highly wanted features.
The drive's estimated price is expected around $137 (retail package), which
makes it directly comparable with the TEAC CD-W524E. The LiteOn LTR-24102B costs
much less ($90) and the PleXWriter PX-W2410A much more ($170). If the drive
included SD2 support it could easily get our "Editor's Choice Award"
but since it doesn't....