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1. Features - Installation

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 1

 

The DVD recording market welcomes the new Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW recorder. After Plextor PX-708A, Philips increases the burning speed at 8x for DVD+R media. The drive supports 4x writing speed for DVD+RW and it is also a CD-R/RW recorder at 24x and 10x respectively. On the reading part the new Philips drive reads DVD±R/RW disc at 8x, DVD-ROM at 12x and CD-R/RW at 40x.

- Features

Seamless Link was initially introduced by Acer CM, currently BenQ. The technology allows a CD-RW/DVD+RW drive to automatically monitor the recording status to prevent buffer under run from occurring.

Seamless Link allows the CD-RW drive to store the RecEnd address, the point in the data to which the recording mechanism has progressed, and pause the recording before a buffer under run occurs. When the buffer is again full, a Seamless Link-enabled drive locates the RecEnd address and resumes the recording process. The gap between the stop and restart point is closed, while managing the recording process precisely and transparently-eliminating under run errors while maintaining recording accuracy.

Dynamic Calibration

To ensure optimal writing quality over the entire disc at higher writing speeds, Philips has introduced the Walking OPC algorithm. WOPC directly measures and optimizes the actual writing quality during the writing process.

At certain intervals, the writing process will be briefly interrupted, the writing quality directly evaluated and the writing power adjusted accordingly, if required. The Philips DVD+R/RW writers use a more dynamic implementation based on position on the disc and temperature inside the drive. The graph below shows the writing graph of the Philips 8x DVD+R/RW on a Philips 8x DVD+R disc.

In addition, Philips Dynamic Calibration includes a tilt calibration feature. The best reading and writing quality can be obtained if the angle between the disc and the laser beam is 90 degrees. However, if the disc is warped, the laser beam will no longer be correctly positioned which will cause a distortion of the laser spot which will result in decreasing writing quality if it is not corrected.

The tilt calibration will reposition the Optical Pickup Unit (OPU) to maintain a 90-degree angle between the laser beam and the disc surface at all times ensuring an optimal spot shape, even on warped discs. The frequency of the tilt calibration depends only on the position on the disc according to a non-linear function. Near the end of the disc the risk for warping is higher so the frequency of the tilt calibration will increase accordingly. As with WOPC, the writing process will be briefly interrupted, the tilt measured and the OPU repositioned if required.

Walking OPC and Tilt Calibration together form the Dynamic Calibration. Although they act independently from each other some effort is taken to synchronize the Tilt Calibrations with the disc position dependent component of Walking OPC.

- Specifications

Interface	ATA/ATAPI (PIO mode 0/1/2/3/4 DMA mode 0/1/2 UDMA mode 0/1/2)
Writing Speed	DVD+R: 8x max (10800KBps) ZCLV, DVD+RW: 4x max (5400KBps) CLV, CD-R: 24x max (3600KBps) P-CAV, CD-RW: 10x max (1500KBps) CLV
Read Speed	DVD+R/-R/+RW/-RW: 8x CAV
	DVD-ROM: 12x (16200KBps) CAV, CD-R/RW: 40x (6000KBps) CAV
Random Seek	DVD: 160msec, CD: 120msec
Buffer Size	8MB
Supported Disc Formats	DVD: DVD single layer / Dual layer, DVD+R (Ver.1.0), DVD+RW (Ver.1.1), DVD-R (Read Only), DVD-RW (Read Only) CD: CD-DA, CD-ROM XA (m1, m2f1/m2f2), CD-R CD-RW, Bootable CD, Photo CD (single & multi-session), Video CD, Super Video CD, CD-Extra, Mixed-mode CD, CD-Text, CD-Graphics
Supported Writing Types	Disc-at-once, Track-at-once. Multi-session, Packet writing, Raw writing, Direct Over write, Test Write
OS Compatibility	Windows 98/ ME / 2000/ XP

Of course, the most awaited feature of the new Philips DVDR214P is the supported writing speeds. The new drive offers 8x DVD+R (6-8x Z-CLV) recording, and DVD+RW at 4x CLV.

The maximum CD writing speed for CD-R is 24x P-CAV and 10x CLV, when using High Speed CD-RW media. Reading of CD-ROM/-R/RW can be done at 40x CAV maximum. The drive is slower than other compatible DVD recorders in this area, but these are mostly limitation of the NEXPERIA chipset of the drive.

Single layer DVD-ROM media can be read at 12x CAV, while DVD±R/RW discs can be read at 8x CAV.

Philips chose an 8MB buffer to obtain safe recordings at 8x. The drive also supports RAW DAO 96 writing (CD). According to Philips, Mount Rainier is not included in the drive's specifications mainly because the implementation would delay the drive's appearance in the market.

Philips DVDR824P uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times. For our tests, we set the region code to 2 (Europe).

- The drive

Not a great experience is required to identify the drive by looking at its front panel. The white front bezel with the golden-iridic horizontal line refers to the previous DVD Philips writers. The Philips logo is stamped on the middle of the tray, and the "DVD+RW824 series" logo is on the left. According to the disc loaded, a LED will light up to blue or red for CD and DVD discs.

 

On the rear panel you can see the analogue and digital audio outputs (SPDIF), the IDE connector and the power input.

Removing the screws and opening the drive's cover voids the drive's warranty. For reference reasons, we post the following pictures. Philips DVDR824P is built upon the Nexperia DVD+RW reference design. You can click on the mainboard picture for a higher resolution image:

The Nexperia PNX7850 DVD+RW processor delivers maximum writing at 4x DVD+R/+RW, 32x CD-R and 12x CD-RW; reading at 16x DVD and 40x CD. However, combined with a high performance OPU (Optical Pickup Unit), the Philips DVD+RW chipset can support the 8x DVD+R writing speed.

- Installation

Philips DVDR824P was connected to our test PC and was identified as "PHILIPS DVDR824P" under WinXP. All tests were done with firmware revision vP1.2.

In the following pages we include the test results of three other DVD burners, the Ricoh MP5240 DVD+RW, the Optorite DD0203 and the Plextor PX-708A dual DVD burners.

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2. CD Reading Tests

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 2

Data CD Reading Tests

- Pressed CD results (Click for CDSpeed results)

Philips DVDR824P read the disc at 44.12x CAV. Although the speed is higher than the drive's specifications (40x), the disc was read accurately at an average speed of 33.17x. The rest drives were also fast, with Plextor PX-708A to take the second place with 32.36x, followed by the Ricoh and Optorite drives.

On the seek times test Philips DVDR824P performed very well and needed 100msec for the Random seek and 168msec for the Full seek modes. The Plextor drive was the fastest among the rest with only 155msec for the full stroke, while the Optorite drive gave similar results with Philips.

- CD-R Media results (Click for CDSpeed results)

This time we used a copied disc of the previous pressed CD-ROM and ran the transfer rate tests. The performance is not different and the Philips drive gave the highest average reading speed again.

The seek times are also low for all the drives, as you can see in the below graph.

- ReWritable Media (Click for CDSpeed results)

The Philips drive supports the 40x CAV reading speed with rewritable media. For the reading test we used 10x High Speed rewritable media by Ricoh.

The performance with CD-RW was not much different than the one we had with CD-R media. The disc was read under the CAV mode and the reported average reading speed was 33.01X.

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3. CD Error Correction Tests

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Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we check the drive's behavior when it comes to reading scratched / defected audio discs. The test discs we use are the ABEX series from ALMEDIO.

- ABEX TCD-721R

Errors total	Num: 115802595
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 546383	Avg: -25.2 dB(A)	Max: -4.9 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 22790	Avg: 3120.0 Samples	Max: 3584 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 2	Avg: 698.0 Samples	Max: 698 Samples
Total Test Result	51.0 points (out of 100.0 maximum)

The drive did not manage to correct the severe errors of the ABEX TCD-721R test disc. Both, the amount and the level of the reported errors are high, resulting to a low quality score. On the other hand, the drive starts reporting errors in the expected position and not earlier, meaning that the optics and error correction circuits are tuned adequately. According to EAC author, such level might lead to audible problems in the output signal.

The amount of the muted samples is also very high. This means that the drive will generally play your old audio discs pretty well, unless their physical condition is not as bad as this of the Abex 721R disc. These are first indications about the overall performance of the drive and the following additional tests will help us come up with safer conclusions.

- ABEX TCD-726

Errors total	Num: 0
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num:4	Avg:-94.0 dB(A)	Max: -87.6 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 0	Avg: 0.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 1	Avg: 185.0 Samples	Max: 185 Samples
Total Test Result	83.6 points (out of 100.0 maximum)

Abex TCD-726 is much easier for the drive to read. For this reason, Philips DVDR824P corrected almost all errors and the overall quality score is very high (83.6 points).

- CD-Check Audio Test Disc

The CD-Check Test Disc is a very useful tool for evaluating the Sound Reproduction / Error correction capabilities of a CD player. The disc offers a signal combination with disc error patterns to rate the drive's abilities to read music and reproduce it completely. Five tracks on the disc contain a sequence of progressively difficult tests. These tracks are referred as Check Level-1 through Check Level-5.

The files 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
Philips DVDR824P	5/5	5/5	5/5	5/5	5/5

The drive passed all 5 Check Levels of the test. The performance reveals very good sound reproduction and error correction. The fifth level includes an error size of 1.500mm, and the drive managed to play the file without audible clicks.

The results with the Abex TCD-721R (max scratch size 3,00mm) and CD-Check test show that Philips DVDR824P is tuned to correct errors coming from scratches sized up to 1,500mm approximately.

- Summary

Test Disc	Reading Speed	Score
ABEX TCD-721R	Max	51.0
ABEX TCD-726		83.6
Average Score		67.3

Combining the two scores from the ABEX tests we estimate an average total score of 67.3 points out of 100. This is not the highest score we have ever experienced from a drive, but it does not fully give the image of the drive's performance. Philips DVDR824P managed to read severely scratched discs with a high accuracy, as long as the scratches did not exceed a critical size.

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4. DVD Reading Tests

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 4

DVD reading tests

- Single Layer PTP DVD-ROM (Click for CDSpeed results)

Philips DVDR824P supports 12x CAV reading speed with single layer DVD-ROM media. The drive was even faster in our test and gave the highest average reading speed (9.36x) among the rest drives. The Plextor drive follows closely with 9.09x, and Ricoh / Optorite drives are slower. Note that the Optorite DD0203 supports 8x CAV DVD-ROM reading.

The official specifications give the Philips drive an average Random seek time of 160msec for DVD. The drive was fast in the random and 1/3 reading tests, attaining times around to 105 msec, while it was slower in the full mode with 173 msec. The Plextor drive gave almost the same results but was slightly slower in the full stroke.

- Dual Layer PTP DVD-ROM (Click for CDSpeed results)

The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially with the drive starting reading from the inner part of the disc, which is the beginning of each layer, towards the outer range, for each layer.

Philips DVDR824P limits the reading speed to 8x with dual layer DVD-ROM discs. The reading speed in the beginning of the disc was 3.16x and the ending speed was lower than 8x (7.6x). The drive used the CAV reading strategy, as you can see in the CDSpeed test link.

In the same task, both Ricoh and Plextor drives were faster with a 6.8x average reading speed. The Optorite drive is the slowest reader since it supports only 4.5x CAV reading.

In addition, the seek test gave the Philips drive the lowest seek times among the rest drives:

- Dual Layer OTP DVD-ROM

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 transfer rate graph is smooth and each layer was read at 3.45x~8x CAV.

 

- DVD Ripping Tests

We measured the DVD-Video ripping speed of Philips DVDR834P using the latest version of the DVD Decrypter software. The DVD Video title is the "Matrix" pressed DVD (single layer, 4.38GB).

Philips DVDR824P 12x CAV DVD Video reading/ripping. The drive ripped the DVD movie files to the hard disk at 8.441 KB/s (6.1x) average. The Ricoh drive performed slightly better, while Optorite DD0203 is slower with 5,846 KB/sec.

Plextor PX-708A supports 2x DVD Video ripping by default, but pressing the eject button for 3 seconds (no disc inserted) will enable DVD ripping at higher speeds. In this case, the average ripping speed for the same movie reached the 8,957KB/sec (6.5X).

- DVD Recordable / Rewritable reading Tests

The chart below shows the Nero CDSpeed results with the following media:

• 8x DVD+R
• 4x DVD+RW
• 4x DVD-R
• 2x DVD-RW

Philips DVDR824P supports 8x CAV reading for the DVD±R/RW formats. The CDSpeed tests confirmed it and each disc was read flawlessly at 6.2x average. Ricoh and Plextor drives gave similar results, and Optorite follows with 4x average for all the discs.

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5. DVD Error Correction Tests

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DVD Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we examined the DVD reading capabilities of Philips DVDR824P drive with scratched / defected DVD media. For the tests we used CDVD Benchmark and Nero CDSpeed . The reference test media come from ALMEDIO.

- Single Layer media

ABEX TDR-821

This is a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with a 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.

Philips DVDR824P read the 821 test disc without reporting any read errors. The yellow dots indicate that the drive gave back different reading speeds for each reading retry, due to the scratched areas.. The disc was read accurately at 12x CAV.

ABEX TDR-825

This is also a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM of a 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 defected areas of dimensions ranging from 0.5 to 1.1 mm. There are also fingerprints sized between 65 and 75 micrometers.

As in the previous test, no read errors occurred with this disc. The drive read the disc under CAV mode but did not manage to reach maximum reading speed of 12x. The hardest areas on the specific disc seems to be the artificial fingerprints, where the drive slowed down to finish the task at 11x CAV.

- Dual Layer media

ABEX TDR-841

This is a 8.5GB dual layer, single sided DVD-ROM disc with artificial scratches of dimensions ranging from 0.4 to 3.0mm, in both layers.

The dual layer DVD-ROM disc was read just like the single layer effected DVD-ROM (821 Abex test disc). Regardless the fact that the transfer rate graph is not solid, the Philips drive managed to read each layer at 7x CAV and finished the test without posting any read errors.

ABEX TDR-845

The disc is a single sided, dual layer DVD-ROM disc of a capacity of 8.5GB. The only difference between the TDR-845 and the TDR-841 is that the first includes defected areas and fingerprints. The dimensions of the defected areas range from 0.5 to 1.1 mm and the fingerprints are sized from 65 to 75 micro meters.

The defected areas did not allow the drive to reach the maximum expected speed (8x), but what really matters is the reading accuracy.

ABEX TDV-541

The TDV-541 is a single sided, dual layer DVD-VIDEO disc, with a capacity of 8.5GB.The disc is based upon the TDV-540 series which is designed for inspection and adjustment of DVD-VIDEO players. The discs check the layer switch operation from layer 0 to layer 1 and also include test pictures and test signals for DVD sound files. The current TDV-541 checks also the error correcting capabilities of the drive and includes scratches sized from 0.4 to 3.0 mm.

 

 

The 541 test disc was not a problem for the Philips drive. Besides the momentarily slow down of the speed at the beginning of the first layer the disc was read accurately at 7.61x CAV.

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 has also 65 - 75 micro meters fingerprints.

 

Black dots and fingerprints on the disc surface did not create any reading problems, and the drive finished the task successfully.

 

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6. Protected Disc Tests

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 6

- Reading Tests

To create the image of the various protected titles to the hard disk, we used CloneCD v4.3.1.7 software and the appropriate settings, according to the protection type of the inserted discs. Below are summarized the capabilities of the Philips drive, according to CloneCD software. Notice that the drive does not support writing of CD+G under RAW DAO:

The game titles we used for each protection scheme are illustrated in the table below:

Game Title	Protection Scheme
PSX "NBA Jam Extreme"	Lybcrypt
Serious Sam The Second Encounter v1.07	SafeDisc v.2.60.052
VRally II	SecuROM v.2

PSX Pressed Media

Although this is not a top performance, the Philips drive finished the task in 2:20min. Ricoh MP5240A was 5 seconds faster, while Plextor drive gave the best performance with only 69 seconds.

SafeDisc v.2

Philips is very slow when skipping the "bad" sectors of the Safedisc v2 protected disc. The drive needed 19min to create the image to the hard disk. Plextor PX-708A is the fastest drive in the test with 2251.08 sectors/sec, followed by Ricoh MP5240A.

SecuROM v2

Philips DVDR824P supports reading of subchannel data information from data/audio tracks, but is not compatible with CloneCD CD+G DAO writing. This means that although the SecuROM v.2 image was created fast, it cannot be successfully recorded to a CD-R with the same drive.

- Writing Tests

Philips supports the DAO-RAW writing mode. For checking the drive's EFM correction status, we used 2 different game titles with different SafeDisc 2 versions with the latest software patches installed. After making the images of the various titles to the hard disk, we burned them (maximum speed) with CloneCD v4.3.1.7. Two different discs were created for each title; one with the "Amplify Weak Sectors" feature enabled and one more with the function disabled.

In case of SecuROM v.2 title, CloneCD prompt us that the drive is not compatible with writing on the whole 96 bytes of the Subchannel area. As a result, the drive cannot create backups of this protection.

In the table below you can see whether the produced backups were working (game installed / played normally), or not.

Drive	Game Title	SD2 Build	Settings
			Amplify Weak Sectors On	Amplify Weak Sectors Off
Philips DVDR824P	Max Payne	v2.51.020	NO	NO
	Serious Sam - The Second Encounter v1.07	v.2.60.052	NO	NO

Regarding the SafeDisc v.2 protection, the backups were not working despite the contribution of the CloneCD.

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7. DAE Tests

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW- Page 7

DAE Tests

- Pressed and CDR AudioCD results

Philips DVDR824P uses the 40x CAV strategy for CD-DA. Below you can see a CDSpeed transfer rate test with a pressed audio CD:

According to CDSpeed, the average reading speed with this disc was 32.50x, and the reported seek times were adequate.

We ripped the contents of same audio disc to the hard disk with CDDAE software. The drive gave an average ripping speed (burst mode) of 29.4x:

In the same task, the Plextor drive gave a 29x average speed, while the Ricoh / Optorite drives are slower due to their 32x CAV reading strategy.

The same pressed audio disc was copied on a CD-R and was read again with CDspeed. Philips DVDR824P gave the highest ripping speed again, finishing the task at 29.8x average.

- Advanced DAE Quality

Philips DVDR824P got a score 100 (perfect) in the Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test. CDSpeed reports that the drive can only read Leadin area information, Cd Text and Subchannel Data.

- Support of 90/99mins AudioCDs

The drive read the 76.5% of the 90min disc, which means that it ripped up to 68min address of the disc.

The 99min disc was read approximately untill the 80min address of the total disc contents.

- Reading/Ripping Protected AudioCDs

For the test procedure we used two audio discs with different audio protections. The tasks we tested is both recognition and ripping to the hard disk. The software we used is the Exact Audio Copy.

* Pressed Audio disc protected by Sony Key2Audio (Celine Dion - New Day Has Come)

* Pressed Audio disc protected by Cactus Data Shield 200 (Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies Island)

	Key2Audio	CDS200
	EAC
Philips DVDR824P	OK	Problematic
Ricoh MP5240A	Cannot recognize	OK
Plextor PX-708A	OK	OK
Optorite DD0203	OK	Recognizes disc contents but cannot rip tracks

Philips DVDR824P managed to rip both the Key2Audio and the CDS200 audio protected discs. However, the ripped CDS200 files had problems and their playback revealed many mutes and skip errors.

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8. CD-R Recording Tests

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CD Recording Tests

- CD-R Writing Tests

Philips DVDR824P supports 8x, 12x, 16x and the maximum 24x P-CAV writing speeds. Below you can see the CDSpeed writing simulation graph with Taiyo Yuden 48x CD-R media.

The writing speed in the beginning of the disc is 18.21x and increases until the 14:00:00 address of the disc approximately, where it reaches the maximum 24x. According to CDSpeed, the average writing speed with a 80min disc is 23.53x.

The Philips dynamic calibration system is responsible for the small peaks of the transfer rate graph. The feature calibrates the writing speed in real time during writing to ensure quality burnings.

 

- Recording Times

For the burning tests we created a 80min data compilation through Nero Burning Rom recorded the data on a 700MB disc. Philips DVDR824P finished the task in 4:05 minutes, when we selected the 24x writing speed. The performance is adequate for the 24x recording speed. Note that the Plextor drive is faster since it offers 40x CD-R writing.

Below you can see the best writing times of Philips DVDR824P at 8x, 16x, and 24x. In each case, the Seamless Link feature was enabled:

- CD-RW Writing Tests

Philips DVDR824P supports the 10x CLV maximum rewriting speed, with High Speed rewritable media. The drive also writes at 4x CLV with NS CD-RW. Below you can see the CDSpeed writing simulation test with blank 10x HS-RW media by Ricoh.

 

 

We used Nero Burning Rom in order to burn a data disc with HS-RW media by Ricoh. The data compilation we burned had a size of 651 MB and the duration of the recording process with Philips DVDR824P was 8:03 minutes (10x). The best rewriting times for all the drives are illustrated below.

- Packet Writing Tests

We used InCD and Mitsubishi Chemicals 10x HS-RW media for all packet writing tests. The quick formatting of the media took 32sec. The formatted disc had 530mbs of free space. We copied a 403 MB file (403.147 KB) from a Hard Disk (on the same PC as the writers) to the formatted RW media through the Windows explorer (drag and drop).

	Duration	Average speed
Read	3:53 min	11.53x
Write	6:56 min	6.46x

Philips drive gave an average writing speed of 6.46x and the writing process finished after 6:56min, which is a slow time due to the competition.

- Other features

Overburning	Up to 99:40min
CD text reading/writing	Yes

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9. Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 9

Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests

We used 80min 48X CD-R media by Taiyo Yuden and burned the same AudioCD project at 8x, 16x, and 24x. In the following page you can see the 3T Pit & Land Jitter graphs.

- 3T Pit results

Generally the drive did not introduce high 3T pit jitter with the specific media. The highest 3T pit jitter was reported from the discs recorded at 16x and 24x, in the outer area. In these areas, the jitter reached the 42 nsec and 46 nsec respectively, which is far above the Red Book limit at 35msec. The 8x and 16x recorded discs gave very good results.

The average 3T Jitter values for all recording speeds are illustrated in the following table.

 

- 3T Land results

The average 3T Land results are almost the same in comparison with the previous measurements of the 3T Pit Jitter. For speeds below 16x we took quality results but for 16x and 24x we had again increased 3T Land jitter values once again in the outer area of the disc. The highest values was 40nsec for 16x and 43 for 24x.

 

- Summary

Recording Speed	Average 3T Pit Jitter (ns)	Average 3T Land Jitter (ns)	> 35ns	Max 3T jitter values (ns)
8X	29.66	31.98	Yes	32 Pit, 36 Land
12X	28.27	30.00	No	30 Pit, 31 Land
16X	35.66	35.24	Yes	42 Pit, 40 Land
24X	33.56	32.76	Yes	46 Pit, 43 Land

The average 3T Pit and Land jitter values are below the 35nsec standard for 8x and 12x speeds. The other two speeds of 16x and 24x gave high jitter in the outer addresses so the error rate will be possibly higher there.

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10. Writing Quality Tests - C1 / C2 Error Measurements

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW- Page 10

Writing Quality Tests - C1 / C2 Error Measurements

We measured the C1 / C2 error rate on the recorded discs we burned at the various supported writing speeds. The software we used is the Nero CDSpeed CD Quality Test and Plextor Premium as a reader for retrieving the error rate information. The charts below illustrate the Q-Check graphs for various CD-R media.

• Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 8x

• Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 12x

• Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 16x

 

• Taiyo Yuden 48x recorded at 24x

• SKC 48x recorded at 24x

• Emtec 48x recorded at 24x

• Memorex 52x recorded at 24x

- Summary

The results with Taiyo Yuden media are very good for all the supported writing speeds. The C1 error rate is low, and no C2 or CU errors were reported. The Memorex media had almost the same performance. With the other two media, SKC and Emtec, we tested we had low quality results especially with Emtec where the score was totally zero. In that case lot of C2 were reported.

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11. DVD Recording Tests

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 11

DVD Recording Tests

- Writing Performance

Philips DVDR824P supports DVD+R/RW writing. The maximum supported speeds are 8X and 4x respectively.

We used a 8x DVD+R disc by Mitsubishi Chemicals, in order to check the 8x writing strategy of the drive. The software we used is Nero CDSpeed, and its "create disc" function.

Philips started writing at 5.34x and finished at 8.03x which confirm manufacturers specifications. As we mention in the first page of this test the behaviour of the drive as it illustrates in the following diagram is natural, confirming once again Philips strategy.

Below is a screenshot of CDspeed writing test with 4x DVD+RW discs by Ricoh (4x CLV):

The 4x DVD+RW media has almost the same performanse with the previous test. The writing process began at 4x and the average speed was 3.88x.

- Burning Tests

We burned 4315MB of data on various DVD+R, DVD+RW media. We used the maximum allowed writing speed for each disc. The best recording times are illustrated in the following table. For comparison, we also include the writing times of Optorite DD0203, Ricoh MP5240 and Plextor PX-708A:

As we can see with DVD+R media Philips and Plextor gave almost the same values, with Philips being slower for 7 sec. Because of the 8x writing speed of this drives it was logical to have half time than the other two , Ricoh and Optorite.. At the DVD+RW part the values again depends on the writing speed of the drives. Between the three drives that we can compare Ricoh was faster while Philips and Plextor had once again the same performance.

The following pictures come from Nero, after successful burnings with Verbatim 4x DVD+R, Taiyo Yuden 4x DVD+R, and Ricoh 4x DVD+RW media. The amount of data is the same for all the tests.

• Philips 8x DVD+R (8x recording)

 

• Verbatim 4x DVD+R (8x recording)

 

• Ricoh 4x DVD+RW

Philips selects the maximum allowed recording speed according to the inserted blank DVD discs. In the following table you can see the maximum permitted writing speeds with various media.

Disc Label	Disc Information	Writing Speed
MCC 8x DVD+R	Philips081	8x
Verbatim 4x DVD+R	MCC002	8x
Ricoh 4x DVD+RW	RICOHJPNW11	4x

- DVD+RW Packet Writing

Philips DVDR824P supports packet writing with DVD+RW and DVD+RW media. To test the performance in the DVD+RW format, we formatted some Ricoh 4x DVD+RW discs and started the drag'n drop process, using an 412MB (412.822Kb) file. With the background formatting in full progress, we wrote down the reading / writing performance. The performance of the drive is illustrated in the table below:

	Duration	Average speed
Read	3:49 min	1.33x
Write	3:55 min	1.3x

Although the media we used support the higher available writing speeds for each format, under packet writing the performance is lower than in the case of normal writing. In case of DVD+RW, this can be explained by the fact that the background formatting process was running in parallel with our tests.

- Mount Rainier

Philips DVR824P is currently not supporting DVD+MRW. According to Philips, the implementation will be possibly added with a future firmware upgrade.

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12. Writing Quality Tests - PI / PO Error Measurements

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 12

KProbe PI/PO quality results

In the following screenshots you can see the PI/PO scans for various 4x DVD+R and DVD+RW media, recorded with Philips DVDR824P at the maximum allowed speed.

The software we used for the measurements is the KProbe v1.1.24, and the reader is LiteOn LDW-401S. The specific methodology is very depended on the drive we use as a reader, and the reliability of the PI/PO provided output is also not technically confirmed. As a result, we cannot safely come up with absolute results, but we are allowed to compare the behavior of the drive with various DVD recordable/rewritable media. The official specifications for DVD demand that the PI should be < 280/sec (PI<<280/sec good quality) and the PO should be zero.

The recordable discs we used come from Hitachi-Maxell, Philips, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Verbatim, Ritek and Hi-Space. More information about each disc type is available in the bottom of the page.

• Mitshubishi Chemicals 8x DVD+R

• Philips 4x DVD+R

• Maxell 2.4x DVD+R

• Verbatim 4x DVD+R (Recorded at 8x)

• MCC 4x DVD+RW

• Maxell 4x DVD+R

• Hi-Space 4x DVD+R

• Ricoh 4x DVD+RW

Media	Code
Philips 4x DVD+R	RICOHJPNR01
Mitshubishi Chemicals 8x DVD+R	Philips 081
Maxell 2.4x DVD+R	RICOHJPNR00
Verbatim 4x DVD+R	MCC002
Mitshubishi Chemicals 4x DVD+RW	MKMA02
Maxell 4x DVD+R	MAXELL 001
Hi-Space 4x DVD+R	MPOMEDIA 040
Ricoh 4x DVD+RW	RICOHJPNW11

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13. Conclusion

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Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 13

Conclusion

Pros

Cons

8x DVD+R writing Features Seamless Link & Dynamic Calibration technologies 4x DVD+RW writing Adequate CD/DVD seek times Fast CD-R/RW/DVD-ROM/DVD±R/RW reading Good CD error correction capabilities Excellent Sound Reproduction with defected audioCDs High DVD-Video ripping speed Quality reading with defected/scratched DVD-ROM/Video 40x max DAE Supports ripping/playback Key2Audio protected discs Good CD-R writing quality Overburning up to 99min Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)

Doesn't support Mount Rainier Cannot create working backups of SafeDisk and SecuROM protected discs Performance with Cactus Data Shield 200 discs could be better Increased jitter values at 24x High C2 error rate with specific media

The new DVDR824P recorder is definitely a good answer of Philips against the competition of DVD writers in the market, offering the highest writing speeds for DVD recording, and very good performance as a CD-RW drive as well.

The supported 8x DVD+R writing offers impressive recording times, almost the same with Plextor PX-708A. Our 4.315GB DVD movie file was burned in only 8:00 minutes. The drive also burned the same files to a 4x DVD+RW disc in 14:09 minutes. Although the supported media list for 8x is currently very limited, it is expected to be wider as soon as more media manufacturers support 8x recording.

The drive did not manage to achieve quality score with the ABEX TCD-721R test disc but fortunately that didn't happened with Abex TCD-726 which was much easier for the drive to read. The drive also had excellent performance with our CD-Check Audio Test Disc, where it managed to read the 1.5mm defected area without reporting any audible clicks.

The DVD error correction tests showed that Philips is capable of reading accurately all the ABEX DVD-ROM discs (defected / scratched) by ALMEDIO, independently of the defected areas dimensions.

Another important issue, however, is that the drive didn't manage to make working backups of all the game protections we tested. The lack of DAO RAW 96 writing feature means that the drive cannot create working backups of protections based on subchannel data such as the SecuROM. However the drive is able to handle the protected Audio CDs. Key2Audio was not a problem for the drive but it could be better with CDS200 where occurred many mutes and skip errors.

Although the supported 24/10/40 capabilities is not the fastest among the compatible drives, the average writing times are quite low. The maximum DAE speed is 40x.

The 3T jitter measurements were positive with an exception at 24x where the jitter values were quiet increased. However the quality measurements (C1 C2) were adequate with all the media we tested at 16x and 24x with an exception with the SKC media, which gave back high C1 and C2 error rates.

The PI/PO measurements saw that the drive has good writing quality with all the DVD media we tested. However with the Mitsubishi Chemicals 8x DVD+R media the average PI and PO error rate was increased at the outer area of the disc far beyond the acceptable level.

The Philips DVDR824P price is not currently available in the market, at least under the Philips brand. The recent joint venture of Philips with BenQ gives candidate users the chance to own the DVDR824P under the BenQ brand, with the DW800 DVD writer. Priced at $150~190, it is an attractive solution for fast DVD recording. In the meantime, NEC, Optorite, Pioneer and others (OEM) have already announced 8x dual writers, so the following months are expected to be really interesting.

 

Written and Edited by

Constantin Kioulafas, Tony Veglis