1. Features
Yamaha CRW2200E IDE CDR-W -
Page 1
- Introduction:
Yamaha
has been a leader in CD-Recording for many years. After some hard years, Yamaha
got the leadership with the shipment of the first 16x (P-CAV) recorder back
in November of 2000. After the shipment of 16x (CLV) writers, Yamaha announced
in March of 2001 a new series of recorders with the code name "2200",
which supported 20x writing, 10x re-writing and 40x reading. In the same time
period Ricoh and Sanyo had announced similar/faster recorders, which also supported
the same specs but realized them with a different approach in technology. The
battle has started for the best/faster recorder ever! Who will win? Who offers
the most solid ultra high speed recorder?...
- New features:
The
Yamaha 2200x series support 20x writing (P-CAV), 10x re-writing (CLV) and 40x
reading (CAV). The competition from Ricoh and Sanyo achieves high-speed recording
with the adoption of Zone-CLV writing. On the other hand Yamaha continues to
believe that the P-CAV writing technology, as introduced in the 2100x series,
is the future...
The
P-CAV method keeps disc rotation constant in the inner portion of the disc as
writing speed smoothly accelerates outwards until it reaches top speed. After
that, writing speed is kept constant (CLV) until the end of the writing.
In the P-CAV method, the rotation speed is kept moderate (5500 rpm) in the
inner portion of the disc, compared with CLV method (over 9000 rpm at the beginning
of the disc by 20X CLV). That helps improve the quality of write in the inner
portion of the disc, because moderate disc rotation reduces the vibration that
corrupts quality. Also since the rotation speeds are low the life of the laser
diode and the drive's pickup will be extended.
On
the other hand
Z-CLV recording method utilizes the existing CLV method combined with linking
technology developed for buffer underrun protection. The writing of a disc is
divided into several zones, and writing speed is kept constant within each zone.
When it shifts up to the next speed, writing is suspended and then restarted
using the buffer underrun protection.
As you can understand in the Yamaha's P-CAV writing technology there isn't
any link. Yamaha believes that P-CAV is: "...Ideal for Audio CDs and pre-mastering
a disc for mass duplication...".
- New Technologies:
The Yamaha CRW2200 series has mainly one new big technology with the codename:
"SafeBURN".
is
actually a series of different technologies which are combined in order to give
recording protection system that not only avoids buffer underrun, but ensures
the written disc is of the best possible quality, even at the fastest recording
speeds.
SafeBURN is the concept for error-proof CD recording, which includes (but
is not limited to) Buffer Underrun Protection, 8MB buffer and Optimum Write
Power Control. That means triple security with 8 MB Buffer, Buffer underrun
protection and Optimum Write Speed Control. SafeBURN system, employs Oak Technology's
buffer underrun protection method in the DSP and is integrated with Yamaha's
own chips to achieve the highest accuracy of highest level of data continuity
possible. The following graph shows how the technology works:
When data transfer is delayed and memory in the buffer drops to a critical
level, recording is suspended until the buffer has regained sufficient memory,
after which the recording restarts virtually seamlessly from the point at which
it was suspended. The link is done at the same speed of writing. If you are
writing at 20X, then the link is done at 20X. According to Yamaha the gap length
between the 2 links is below one micrometer, (not measurable). Sanyo has said
that the latest build of "BURN-Proof" also has no gap length (found
in BP1400P series) and as for Ricoh's "Just-Link" there isn't any
change in the 2-5 micrometers of gap length.
- 8MB of Buffer:
The Yamaha 2200x series are equipped with an 8MB buffer memory. You might
think why Yamaha has added 8MB of buffer, when other manufacturers have only
2MB of buffer with their recorders.
The answer ,according to Yamaha, is that: "...minimizes the incidence
of buffer underrun in cases where the CPU of the host PC is not fast enough
and other applications are running while writing. Frequent activation of buffer
underrun protection increases the time required for the completion of disc writing,
because the drive has to seek for the linking point every time. Too many occurrences
of buffer underrun devalues the essential nature of high speed drives. In addition,
even if buffer underrun protection can make virtually seamless links, a disc
with no links is more desirable than one that is full of links..."
What Yamaha states is true... If you try to burn a CD while getting many buffer
underrun the total recording time is higher than in case you don't have zero
buffer underrun. However in cases such as CD to CD copy (on-the-fly), the 8MB
of buffer will not save the "link" between the 2 broken parts..For
normal applications and with the proper CDR software, the 8MB of buffer work
smooth and avoids un-necessary links.
- Optimum Write Speed Control:
The Optimum Write Speed Control function that automatically adjusts writing
speed to the optimum level for each kind of disc. Simply by setting the writing
speed at 20X, the CRW2200 checks the characteristics and conditions of the inserted
disc and automatically selects the maximum optimum writing speed for the disc
to ensure data reliability when the disc is read back by CD-ROM drives or CD
players.
Plextor,
Sanyo and Ricoh have similar systems with can drop down writing speed. Due to
the lack of P-CAV technology other drives can only reduce the speed from 24x
to 20x or 16X (all speeds are CLV) while Yamaha's Optimum Write Speed Control
can set the maximum writing speed more flexibly, at 20X, 19X, 18X, 17X, 16X,
12X and 8X
The Optimum Write Speed Control is enabled by default but you can be turned
off within the recording software. If the drive finds the recording quality
good it can rise
up the recording speed from 12x up to 20x (which however we must note never
witnessed). With the Nero software you can notice the speed dropdown since a
warning message appears (among with the increased writing time).
- Universal design of interface variation:
The Yamaha with the 2200x series introduced a revolutionary idea.... All
CRW2200 series models are based on the same ATAPI drive. Using interface bridge
adapters specially engineered by Yamaha, the 2200 series can be connected to
a several of different interfaces (SCSI, FireWire, USB 2.0) making all users
happy. Also the production cost is less now since the Yamaha develops only one
model (IDE) instead of multiple. The idea is very clever and we hope that other
manufacturers will follow it in order to produce a full series of interfaces
(including long requested SCSI recorders):
The CRW2200 series features five models to meet users' needs: CRW2200E (internal
ATAPI), CRW2200S (internal SCSI-3), CRW2200SX (external SCSI-3), CRW2100IX (external
IEEE1394), and CRW2200UX (external USB1.1/2.0).
2. Installation
Yamaha CRW2200E IDE CDR-W -
Page 2
Supplied Package:
The
package supplied was a special pre-release version and included: The drive itself,
an ATAPI to SCSI-3 converter (converts 2200E to 2200S), 50 CD-R (Taiyo Yuden
20x certified media) and the necessary CDR software: Nero OEM 5.5.1.8, Ahead
InCD v2.11 and NeroMIX v1.208 (works only with Yamaha 2200E series).
The retail package will include a well printed manual, among
with Yamaha's 80min 20x CDR media (again from Taiyo Yuden) and one piece of
Yamaha's 4-10x (HS-RW) media.
Let's take a look at the drive itself. The drive is the same
(more or less) with the 2100x series. Most users will notice immediately the
"20/10/40" logo that gives the drive's specifications in a short look:
The drive has only one LED (orange indicates writing; green
indicates reading) and the usual controls: eject button, headphone input jack
and volume potentiometer. On the back of the drive we find the usual connectors
(IDE interface and Power), the jumpers for setting the drive to Master/Slave
option, analogue and digital audio output connectors and a hole (to be used
with the SCSI connector):
As we said earlier we got also an ATAPI to SCSI converter. This
can be used and convert a Yamaha CRW2200 drive in the CRW2200S. The SCSI converter
has in the back the jumpers for setting the drive's SCSI ID and termination/block
size and a big screw for secure the connection between the drive and the connector.
Of course there is the SCSI plug-in interface and at the right a smaller power
connector:
I know what you are thinking: Does this converter work with other
IDE devices except Yamaha CRW2200E? As we was informed from Yamaha no. Even
if you attach any IDE device, it will be recognized as Yamaha 2200S! We haven't
tested this issue yet but we will do in our upcoming Yamaha 2200S review :-)
Installation:
ATAPI
CDR-W drives are very easy to install. Just decide what the drive should be,
master or slave, set the appropriate jumper and you are all set! After booting
up your system, the CDR-W identifies itself as the "Yamaha CRW2200E".
We unchecked the Auto Insert notification, checked DMA and rebooted. The drive
was a April 2001 model with firmware revision v1.0B. After some problems we
found with a specific media, Prodisc 80min, Yamaha send us a newer firmware
revision (B.0C) which corrected the problem. Actually last week Yamaha posted
officially the final v1.0c
firmware revision and in case your 2200E drive doesn't have it by default, we
advise to go for it
For most of our tests we used: Nero 5.5.1.8, Ahead InCD v2.13, Padus DJ v3.00.780
and CloneCD v3.0.0.17. Note that CloneCD doesn't recognize yet that Yamaha CRW2200E
series supports DAO-RAW. However we managed to force CloneCD writing at DAO-RAW
mode with Yamaha 2200E and our test results were very good - DAO-RAW does work
:-)
Here are the full specifications for the Yamaha CRW2200x series:
Model
Name
|
CRW2200E-VK
INTERNAL IDE ATAPI
|
CRW2200S-VK
INTERNAL SCSI
|
Interface
|
Enhanced IDE (E-IDE) ATAPI
|
SCSI-3 (Ultra SCSI)
with SCSI Converter Kit
|
Data
Capacity
|
650MB (74min) 700MB (79min)
|
Writing
Speed CD - R
|
1x,
2x, 4x, 8x, 12x (CLV), 16x, 20x (12x-20x Partial CAV)
|
Writing
Speed CD - RW
|
2x, 4x, 8x, 10x (CLV) 10x(4x-10x
Full CAV)
|
Reading
Speed
|
40x (max.) Full CAV
|
Data
Buffer Size
|
8MB (3,224sectors)
|
Average
Random Access Time
|
150msec. (reading)
|
Disc
Loading Type
|
Front auto-loading tray loading
|
Writing
Methods
|
Disc-at-Once,
Session-at-Once, Track-at-Once, Packet Writing
|
Writing
Formats
|
CD-DA,
CD-G, CD TEXT, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, Photo CD, Video CD,
CD-I, CD EXTRA
|
Weight
|
0,9kg
|
0,97kg
|
Accessories
|
Blank CD-R
Blank CD-RW
ATAPI Flat Cable
Fastening Screws
Owners Manual
Software Guide
Software
|
Blank CD-R
Blank CD-RW
SCSI Convertor Kit
SCSI Flat Cable
Fastening Screws
Owners Manual
Software GuideSoftware
|
Software
|
Ahead: Nero 5.5, NeroMIX, InCD, Nero Toolkit
|
External Future packages:
Interface
|
Front
|
Back
|
SCSI External
|
|
|
USB 1.1/2.0
|
|
FireWire External
|
|
Test Machine:
WinMe 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
PleXWriter PX-W1610A firmware v1.02
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P firmware v6f.34
Ricoh MP7200A firmware v1.10
Yamaha 2200E firmware v1.0B/ B.0C / v1.0C
3. Data Tests
Yamaha CRW2200E
IDE CDR-W- Page 3
Data Tests
Test Method:
- SCSI Mechanic v3.0 & CD Speed 99 v0.80 Tests: With these tests
we attempt to compare the I/O performance of Yamaha's CRW2200E to other various
CDR-W drives (see charts) and we also checked the drive performance. In all
of the following tests we used a pressed CD containing PlexTools v1.08 original
CD.
- SCSI Mechanic v3.0 results:
The Yamaha CRW2200E didn't perform very well in the SCSI Mechanic tests. The
drive had the lower score in "Average Sequential I/O" tests results
and came 3rd in the "Average Random I/O" test. In the "Average
Same Sector I/O" tests, the drive showed a superb performance and gave
the best result ever tested in a CDR-W drive (25400 KB/s).
- CD Speed 99 results: (click here
to see the CD Speed 99 graph)
The CD Speed 99 results confirmed our previous tests results. The Yamaha drive
seems to be the slower among the 4 tested drives. The problem is that the drive
starts reading at only 17.7X and ends the test at 38.7X test. The PleXWriter
PX-W1610A seems performing best and Ricoh MP7200A follows very close, while
the Sanyo CRD-BP1500P comes third.
The Yamaha 2200E is slower than the rest of the drives since the 40x max reading
speed is reached at 80min CDs. Why does this happen? The drive is designed with
that concept. Other manufacturers reach 40x reading speed at 74min CDs.
The seek times for Yamaha CRW2200E are very good compared to Plextor and Sanyo
drive. The drive has an average 128ms Random Seek time and the Ricoh MP7200A
is the champion in this test with only (!) 93ms.
- CD Speed 99 Results (CD-R Media): (click here
to see the CD Speed 99 graph)
Things are better with CD-R media for the Yamaha CRW2200E. The drive's average
reading speed is now 30.07X but also the rest drives are faster than with the
pressed disc. Ricoh MP7200A takes the revenge from the pressed CD test and is
the leader with 31.79X (Plextor is second with 31.56X). The speed gap is less,
but still exists.
4. RW reading tests
Yamaha CRW2200E IDE
CDR-W - Page 4
RW reading tests
- CD Speed 99 HS-RW tests: (click here
for the CD Speed 99 graph)
For the RW tests we used the TDK HS-RW media written at 10x speed. The Yamaha
2200E performed very well and could possibly had the first place if the drive
didn't lower its reading speed after 65minutes (check the graph). Anyway the
winner in this test is Ricoh MP7200A with the blazing speed of 31.69x. The Plextor
and Sanyo drive have only 32x reading speed with HS-RW media and lagged behind
with 25x:
CloneCD Tests
- Procedure:
We used CloneCD (v3.0.0.17) 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 Yamaha CRW2200E. 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-W1610A, Sanyo CRD-BP1500P and Ricoh MP7200A. The following picture shows
the Yamaha's CRW2200E reading/writing capabilities (after our little tweak -
since CloneCD's default report is that the drive doesn't support DAO-RAW):
- SafeDisc 1/2 Results:
The Yamaha CRW2200E performs quite well and follows the leader PleXWriter
PX-W1610A. The problem is that with CDR media the drive reports more read errors
than the real existing ones. That slows down the reading process and of course
gives much higher reading time.
The Yamaha CRW2200E gave back a rather slow reading speed , compared
to the strong competition from the PleXWriter. The drive again in the CDR backup
media reports more errors...
LaserLock 1/2 Results:
In the LaserLock protected CDs test, the Yamaha drive had an average performance
with the original CD and the second best performance behind the PleXWriter PX-W1610A.
Here is a test where the Yamaha CRW2200E performed quite good. The drive reads
the original CD quite faster than the Sanyo/Plextor drives, which need almost
2hours to complete the image (!), but takes the second time again behind Ricoh's
drive. With the backup CDR media, the drive reached high reading speeds, but
again reported more bad sectors than the existing real ones...
SecuROM Results:
The Yamaha CRW2200E does support reading SubChannel from Data/Audio Tracks
and reads them quite fast! The Ricoh 7200A seems that is faster and takes the
first place
5. DAE Tests
Yamaha
CRW2200E IDE CDR-W - Page
5
DAE Tests
- Test Method:
We used CD DAE 99 v0.21 beta and EAC v0.9 prebeta 9 software in order to
check the DAE performance of the Yamaha CRW2200E 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 9 to examine the drive's features. As the program reported,
the drive does "Caching" data, supports "Accurate Stream"
and can't utilise "C2" error info. All 4 tested drives supports up
to 40x DAE speed.
- Pressed AudioCD results: (click here
to see the CD Speed 99 graph)
The Yamaha CRW2200E has shown an un-pleasant behavior with pressed CDs,
which drops it from the first place. The drive kept slowing down after 65minutes
so the final average ripping speed is the slowest among the 4 tested drives.
Note that although the CD Speed 99 graph seems perfect, real DAE tests with
CD DAE 99 and EAC showed the opposite view. Also you can see how the drive behaves
with a second pressed disc over here...
If Yamaha fix that problem the drive's DAE will be boosted up possibly to
30x (average). The Plextor drive still holds the first place with 30.3x and
Ricoh MP7200A continues closely with 29.6x. The Sanyo drive comes third with
28.5x and Yamaha 2200E last with 26.4x:
- CDR AudioCD results: (click here
to see the CD Speed 99 graph)
The same behavior continued with CDR media. Here the CD Speed 99 graph shows
clearly the drive's drop down speed and the real life tests confirm it. The
drive's average ripping speed with our test disc was around 25.8x and in this
test Ricoh MP7200A got the first place with 30.0X! Plextor stayed in second
place and Sanyo BP1500P in last (also showed strange behavior with CDR media):
- Advanced DAE Quality:
The Yamaha 2200E got 100 score (best) in the CD Speed 99 Advanced DAE test.
The drive's average reading speed was 28.22x. However the drive has some problems
recognizing the test disc (sometimes work sometimes don't)..
Yamaha said that "...in case the CD has invalid CD-Text data, the
CRW2200 may or may not detect the CD depends on which position in the lead-in
area it starts to detect TOC information. So we assume that the result (sometime
the drive can detect the disc and sometime it cannot) may depend on the initial
position of the optical head at power on..."
As for the Sanyo the drive aborts the test after a while it starts so we left
it outside. Both Plextor and Ricoh drives got an 100 score (perfect) but....real
life tests showed something oposite.
- Bad CDR Media results: (click here
to see the CD Speed 99 graph)
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-W1610A
|
29.3
|
5069
|
almost 0
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
*
|
drive reports read error after 5secs
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200
|
8.3
|
505040044
|
66,76
|
Yamaha CRW2200E
|
5.7
|
1041038
|
0,14
|
The best results came from the PleXWriter PX-W1610A. The drive didn't drop
its reading speed, despite the fact that thumbs and dust were evident on the
disc, and managed to give the lower reading errors (almost 0%). The Sanyo drive
stopped reading after 5 secs so you cannot see any numbers.
If you remember previously, Ricoh MP7200A got the perfect score in CD Speed's
99 Advanced DAE test. However in real life results the drive managed to read
incorrectly about 67% of the output data! Lastly, the Yamaha CRW2200E gave a
high number of errors but the final % of total errors in disc is satisfactory
(0.14%).
- Ripping 90 and 99mins AudioCDs
The Yamaha CRW2200E recognized the 90min AudioCD without any problems. With
99min CDs sometimes it recognize it sometimes doesn't. As you can see the drive
stops reading about 94mins:
6. CDR Tests
Yamaha
CRW2200E IDE CD-RW - Page
6
CDR Tests
The Yamaha CRW2200E is the first recorder that support 12-20x (P-CAV) writing
speeds. Yamaha has added in the new drive anti-coaster technology called "SafeBURN"
which eliminates buffer underrun.
Let's see a comparison chart between different various recording technologies:
The Yamaha drive starts writing at 12x (0 minutes) and continues increasing
writing speed up to 20x (around 32mins) and writes at 20x till the end of the
disc. The competitor drives use Zone-CLV and as you can see are faster. In the
following table we can see the average writing speed of the Yamaha 2200E, Ricoh
7200 and Sanyo's BP1500P, according to the CD Speed 99:
CDR-W drives
|
Average Writing Speed (X)
|
Yamaha CRW2200
|
18.44
|
Ricoh 7200
|
19.50
|
Sanyo BP1500P
|
22.58
|
As you might have expected, the Sanyo BP1500P is the fastest drive with almost
22.58X average writing speed, Ricoh MP7200A comes second with 19.50X and Yamaha
2200E third with 18.44X. The question now is do these writing speeds apply in
real life tests? Don't rush in conclusions. The test results vary from the tested
media and there were some cases in which Sanyo 24x was the slowest among the
3 tested drives... More on this later.
Yamaha claims that their drive stays below 6000rpm and the CD Speed 99 writing
test confirmed it. The 2200E starts at 6060 and ends at 4260rpm. This gives
Yamaha an advantage over the competition since lower RPM mean less noise for
the drive and less vibrations. The Ricoh 7200 starts at 7950 and ends at 4235rpm.
The drive makes one big jump, when it passes from 16x CLV to 20x CLV (at 6-10minutes),
from 6830 to 7820 rpm. Last the Sanyo BP1500P has the biggest rpm ,as expected
due to it's 24x writing speed. It starts at 7932rpm, makes the first jump from
16x to 20x CLV at 2-6minutes, makes the second jump from 20x to 24x at 12-16minutes
and continues to write at 24x speed till the end. The problem is that in both
jumps the drive reaches almost 9000rpm that causes noise. In short words: More
RPM means higher writing speed and higher noise from the drive.
-
Procedure: We tested the Yamaha CRW2200E with Nero v5.5.1.8, Ahead InCD
v2.13, CloneCD v3.0.0.20 and, Padus DJ v3.00.780 softwares. We used various
of media for performing our tests: Verbatim 74min (16x and 16x+) & 80min
(16x), Mitsui 74min (16x), Prodisc 80min (16x), Ricoh 74min (8X) and with TDK/Plextor/Verbatim
74min HS-RW. We did notice some problems with Prodisc 80min 16x media, which
were corrected with a newer beta firmware revision (B.0C)...
Yamaha said that "...Current firmware 1.0B (and 1.0C) lowers the speed
to 8X when the inserted disc has no ID code in ATIP information and CRW2200
recognizes it as "unknown" even when Optimum Write Speed Control is
OFF. Next version of firmware will allow users to write at the speed manually
set by user at his own risk, as long as OPC is successful. If the OPC fails
before writing, the drive simply refuses to write and let the disc unwritten..."
- 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:
As you can see, the Yamaha CRW2200E has the biggest burning time since it's
16x writing speed is not CLV but P-CAV. The drive needs 324secs finish the burn
when Plextor PX-W1610A needs 312secs. That's 12secs time gap. The difference
from the rest drives seems to be much lower (7-8secs).
- 80min CDs:
In our normal burning tests the 80min CD contains slightly more than 80min
data (80:01:47):
The Yamaha CRW2200E is the slower drive since it gives the higher recording
time (348secs). The PleXWriter again gives the lowest recording time and both
Ricoh and Sanyo drives follows....
Comparing the different recording technologies we see that the Yamaha 2200E
is about 32secs faster than a 16x CLV recorder, 15secs slower than MP7200A and
40secs slower than Sanyo BP1500P. Those time differences seem dropping down
slight in the 80minute CDs:
Here the Yamaha 2200E is faster 28secs than a 16x CLV recorder, 22secs slower
than MP7200A and 34secs slower than Sanyo BP1500P. The above results are the
best you can get (from the tested media). As you will read later you must use
20x or 24x certified media else you will have possibly longer burning time than
the expected one...
- Overburning Tests:
The Yamaha supports overburning as Nero states... or not? The drive can
overburn but when we tried to burn 90 and 99minutes CDs we had problems. When
the drive reached the end it locked, and after a while the PC also locked. Note
that it failed to read 99minute CDRs. Yamaha said officially that they don't
support both 90 and 99minute CDs. Maybe a coming firmware revision fixes this
problem also.
- CD-Text Results:
We created several AudioCDs with CD-Text enabled. The Yamaha CRW2200E managed
to write/read them (and CD-Text) without any problems.
- CloneCD Tests:
The
CloneCD v3.0.0.20 reports that the drive doesn't support the DAO-RAW feature.
In first, we were disappointed but after Yamaha insisted that the drive DOES
support DAO-RAW we tried a little tweak and managed to force CloneCD see the
drive's DAO-RAW capabilities.
Since
CloneCD allowed us to test the DAO-RAW feature we performed our usual backup
tests and we confirmed that the drive supports fully DAO-RAW writing mode (made
backups of Safedisc 1.0, LaserLock 1/2 and SecuROM 2). We suspect that in a
newer version, the CloneCD author will fully support the drive's features. Note
also that CloneCD recognized that drive has anti-coaster technology (SafeBURN)
- even the Burn Proo/JustLink box was ticked.
- SD2 Support:
For the SD2 test we used the "No One Lives For Ever" CD title.
We used the Yamaha CRW2200E both as reader/writer. The produced backup didn't
play using the same driver or any drive we tested. Therefore also the new Yamaha
model cannot produce SD2 working backups.
- 8cm mini CDs:
The Yamaha supports 8cm CDs both in reading/writing. As Yamaha said the
drive will not support business cards or weird shape CDs.
- Buffer Underrun tests:
Yamaha
has added "SafeBURN" anti-coaster technology. This system will protect
users from buffer underrun and from what our test results showed worked very
good. We made several on-the-fly copies with CloneCD v3.0x series without any
problems and we also stopped PC (with ctrl+shift+del) several times. In all
cases the drive continued writing!
7. Media Tests - Page 1
Yamaha
CRW2200E IDE CD-RW - Page
7
Media Tests - Page 1
You might have thought by now that the Sanyo CRD-BP1500P is the fastest CD-RW
drive ever made
And you are partially correct. Why partially? Cause the
media quality is a very important aspect in such high speed writing speeds.
For
our tests we used both 74 & 80min various brands CDs. We just got in our
hands 24x certified media from Taiyo Yuden and Mitsui and Ricoh. We supposed
to had Verbatim's 24x certified media also but till the time that article was
written nothing came over.
Our goal was to test both how the 3 drives perform under good/medium and bad
quality media at the maximum speed they can write. We made 3 burn attempts for
each drive and each brand.
All CDs burned under the same capacity (74:03:65) with Nero 5.5.1.8. Especially
for the Yamaha 2200E and Ricoh MP7200A we done 4 burns each round. For the Ricoh
7200 setting JustSpeed on/off and for the Yamaha 2200E OWC on/off ("OWC"
means "Optimum Writing Control"). So for just testing only one brand
we used 15CDs for all 3 drives. The amount of CDs for 74mins reached 180CDs
and for 80min at 105. That makes around 285CDs! Not bad :-)
74min
CDs Test Results:
- No Name (Prodisc) X? - silver top
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
422
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
272
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
267
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
|
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
262
|
-
|
- Creation 12x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
607
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
601
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Sees the media only as 12x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
267
|
In one case ccoaster - "Write Error"
after 1:19
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
*
|
"Focus or Tracking Error"
after 3:21mins - coasters
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
*
|
"Focus or Tracking Error"
after 3:40mins - coasters
|
- Ricoh 8x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
322
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
281
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
410
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
265
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
245
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
239
|
-
|
- MMore ?x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
611
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
*
|
Power Calibration Error in all cases
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Recognizes the media as 12x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
266
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
279
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
248
|
-
|
- Princo Silver top ?x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
419
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
283
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Recognizes the media as 12x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
267
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
290
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
262
|
-
|
- Verbatim 16x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
325
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
280
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Recognizes the media as 16x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
268
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
240
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
|
|
- Mitsui SG Ultra 16x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
285
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
280
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
271
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
266
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
256
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
240
|
-
|
- TDK D-View 12x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
618
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Recognizes the media as 12x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
265
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
323
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
*
|
All times "Power Calibration Error"
- no coaster
|
- Maxell ?x (printable top)
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
414
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Recognizes the media as 12x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
267
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
247
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
246
|
-
|
- Verbatim 16x+ (Generic)
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
280
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
280
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
417
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
265
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
247
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
|
|
- Taiyo Yuden 24x (silver top)
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
290
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
286
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Recognizes the media as 12x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
270
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
279
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
244
|
-
|
- Mitsui SG Ultra II 24x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
285
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
270
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
266
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
239
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
241
|
-
|
- Ricoh 20x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
420
|
Drive sees the media as 12x. Yamaha said
will fix problem in next firmware revision
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
282
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
268
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
265
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
244
|
-
|
TDK Cyclone 241040
|
240
|
-
|
Conclusion:
As the tests results showed, all drives seem to have various problems with
each media. For example even with Taiyo's Yuden 24x certified media, all 3 drives
gave back the not the best results as you may expected. This is that we will
occupy the engineers for the next couple of months. How improve media compatibility
in such high speeds...
Now if you wondered which media worked better for each drive we can say that:
- Yamaha 2200E: Verbatim 16x+ (Generic). The drive gave back the exact
same time results with both "OWC" enabled/disabled. The media supposed
to be 24x certified ,hence the 16x+ mark, and performed very good also with
the rest drives.
- Ricoh 7200A: Ricoh 20x. As you might expected the Ricoh performed
best with Ricoh 20x certified media in both cases, when "JustSpeed"
was enabled/disabled.
- Sanyo BP1500P: Mitsui SG Ultra II (24x)/Verbatim 16x. With both media,
the Sanyo drive gave back the best results. The best time result was 3:59mins
and it's the faster among the 3 tested drives..
8. Media Tests - Page 2
Yamaha
CRW2200E IDE CD-RW - Page
8
Media Tests - Page 2
All CDs burned under the same capacity (80:01:47) with Nero 5.5.1.8. We burned
the same amount of CDs for all tested drives. Especially for the Yamaha 2200E
and Ricoh MP7200A there are 2 results. One with burning monitor quality system
-JustSpeed- "ON" and one with "Off". For the 2200E the "OWC"
means "Optimum Writing Control". Those settings can be turned of/off
whithin Nero.
80min
CDs Test Results:
- No Name (Prodisc) X? - silver top
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
319
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
305
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
338
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
301
|
-
|
TDK CyClone 241040
|
|
|
- Creation 12x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
653
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
643
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Sees the media only as 12x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
289
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
263
|
-
|
TDK CyClone 241040
|
*
|
Always "Focus of Tracking Error"
message - no coasters
|
- Verbatim 16x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
351
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
303
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Recognizes the media as 16x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
270
|
-
|
TDK CyClone 241040
|
256
|
-
|
- Prodisc 16x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
319
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
305
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
340
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
284
|
-
|
TDK CyClone 241040
|
|
|
- No Name 16x (white top)
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
649
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
644
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
*
|
Recognizes the media as 12x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
286
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
348
|
-
|
TDK CyClone 241040
|
281
|
-
|
- Yamaha 20x
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
307
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
307
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
390
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
283
|
-
|
TDK CyClone 241040
|
256
|
-
|
- Taiyo Yuden 24x (silver top)
Drive
|
Average Burning Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC enabled)
|
306
|
-
|
Yamaha 2200E (OWC disabled)
|
306
|
-
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed enabled)
|
437
|
Recognizes the media as 20x
|
Ricoh MP7200A (JustSpeed disabled)
|
284
|
-
|
Sanyo CRD-BP1500P
|
260
|
-
|
TDK CyClone 241040
|
256
|
-
|
Test Results Conclusion:
Again the tests results showed that all drives need specific media in order
to get their maximum performance. Again the Verbatim's 16x certified
media seem to perform better with our 3 contesters.
9. RW Writing Tests
Yamaha
CRW2200E IDE CDR-W - Page
9
RW Writing Tests
We used Nero 5.5.1.8 for writing CDs at the maximum RW speed for all the tested
drives. It's nice that Yamaha in the new 2200x series adopted the 10x re-writing
speed:
The Yamaha has an impressive re-write time of 476secs managing to outperform
the rest drives... The time gap is from 9 to 16secs! A very nice surprise from
Yamaha, considering that the previous 2100x series featured only 8x rewrite...
Also the erase time stays below 60secs but the Ricoh 20x seems slightly faster.
Packet Writing
Tests
The Yamaha CRW2200E supports both 10x CLV and 4-10x CAV packet writing peformance
which according to Yamaha:
"...CLV
mode is definitely faster when you write large numbers of files or large data
sequentially. But when it comes to random write/read
access to a High Speed CD-RW disc (such as when opening, editing and overwriting
a Word document stored on the disc), CAV mode can perform better. This is because
CAV keeps disc rotation speed constant and does not require continuous adjustment
by spinning up and down according to the location of where the data is read
or written..."
We used InCD v2.13 for most of our packet writing tests. The 2 packet-writing
modes can be selected within drive's InCD properties tab:
We used a TDK HS-RW media and we formatted it. The formatting of the media
takes around 18 minutes. 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 Yamaha 2200E gave the fastest packet writing among the four tested drives.
It managed to surpass all other drives. The drive also performed very well in
the reading packet-writing formatted discs and looses the first place with only
0.5x gap. In case you wondered, the drive's performance with 4-10x CAV selection
was much slower (as expected) and reached 4.96x.
10. Conclusion
Yamaha
CRW2200E IDE CD-RW - Page
10
Conclusion
Positive
(+):
|
Negative
(-):
|
- Supports 20x writing speed
- Uses link-less writing technology
- "SafeBURN" anti-coaster system
- Intelligent design... It can be transformed to SCSI with a adapter!
- 8MB Buffer
- Good CloneCD reading performance
- Supports HS-RW standard
- Supports DAO-RAW
- Supports CD-Text (read/write)
- Supports reading of SubChannel data
- Best packet writing performance
- Best Re-writing performance
- Low noise compared to the 2100x series
- Supports UDMA-33
- Price (233$??)
|
- Due to P-CAV, it is not the fastest 20x
recorder you can buy
- Drive slows down after 65mins
- Average reading performance
- Overburning does not work!
- Has problems with specific Audio CDR media
- Doesn't backup SD2 protected CDs
- Reports more bad sectors than the really existing ones
|
The Yamaha 2200E is the first drive that supports 20x writing speed with a
different technological approach than the other competitors. The P-CAV technology
is not the fastest writing technology but seems to produce the best quality
because of its link-less design. The drive also arrives with impressive 8MB
of buffer and of course "SafeBURN" anti-coaster system. Yamaha has
now also a anti-coaster technology, thanks to OAK Technology's help, and from
what we saw it works very well -just as good as BURN-Proof/JustLink/SimlessLink
does. Another big and welcome improvement over the past is the 10x re-writing
speed adoption, which in our tests was the best among the competitor drives.
The 2200E series support DAO-RAW and reading of SubChannel data but fail to
backup SD2 protected CDs.
So, are we talking about a perfect drive? Nope... The drive has specific weaknesses.
We could list them but for us the most annoying are the strange slowdown after
65mins and the luck of overburning, which is there but not working. Of course
those problems can be improved with firmware updates and this is also what Yamaha
claimed.
The competition from Ricon is very strong, since the MP7200 is faster (in
absolute writing times) and it's already in the market for almost one month.
There are also 24x recorders coming in less than a month so the decision is
difficult for the possible buyer. Each drive has its own pros (+) and cons (-)
which must be examined carefully from potential users. We feel that Yamaha 2200E
is a safe buy but as usual you will have to make your own conclusions.