TDK 880N - Printer Friendly version

1. Retail Package - Installation

TDK 880N DVD±RW recorder - Page 1

TDK`s latest DVD rewriter has been already released on the market, promising to fully cover the mid-user's DVD burning needs. The DVDRW880N is the European version of the TD Indi880 and supports both DVD+R & DVD-R recording.

Features

TDK features DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW and CD-R/RW recording capabilities, providing 8x multiformat recording speed for both DVD+R and DVD-R media. Buffer underrun protection is also supported, but it doesn`t support DVD-RAM media.

Specifications

Host/Interface:	ATAPI (E-IDE), PIO Mode 4, MW DMA, Ultra DMA/Ultra DMA33
Usable CD Formats	CD-DA, CD-ROM (Mode 1 &2), CD-ROM XA (Mode 2, Form 1, Form 2), Photo CD, Video CD / Super Video CD, CD-Extra (CD-Plus), CD-I (FMV), CD-Text, CD-R, CD-RW.
Usable DVD Formats	DVD-Video (Single/Dual layer), DVD-ROM (Single/Dual layer), DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R for General V.2.0, DVD-RW (Ver 1.0 &1.1)
Writing CD mode:	CD-R & CD-RW: Disc-at-Once, Track-at-Once, Session-at-Once, Packet Writing
Writing DVD mode:	DVD+R/-R & DVD+RW/-RW: Disc-at-Once, Incremental recording, Multi-Border for DVD-R/RW
DVD, CD Read Performance	DVD-ROM: 5x-12x CAV(SL) 3x-7x CAV(DL) DVD+R/-R/DVD=RW/-RW: 3.3x-8x CAV: 4.5-11 MB/s DVD Video: 2-5x CAV CD-ROM /CD-R: 17x-40x CAV: 2550-6000 kB/s CD-RW/ CD-DA: 13x-32x CAV: 1950-4800 kB/s CD Audio Play: 4x-10x CAV
DVD, CD Write Performance	DVD-R/+R: 8x, 6x (ZCLV), 4x, 2.4x (CLV) DVD+RW: 4x, 2.4x (CLV) DVD-RW: 4x, 2x (CLV) CD-R: 32x, 24x (ZCLV), 16x, 8x, 4x (CLV) CD-RW: 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV)
Access time:	DVD 140ms, CD 120ms
Buffer memory:	2 MB with Buffer Underrun Protection
Audio output:	Analogue output (Molex connector)
Weight:	1.08 kg
Dimensions:	148.2 (W) x 42 (H) x 190 (D) mm

The drive uses a 2MB buffer memory store and supports RAW DAO 96 writing (CD). The drive does not support Mount Rainier.

The drive 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

The european retail package includes a technical support manual, a quick install poster, mounting screws, an eject pin and a TDK DVD+R 4,7GB disc. The package also includes one CD with Ahead's Nero 6 SE and software manual(pdf ).

The drive's front panel's color is black. On the tray from left to right we can see the following: TDK`s logo, the drive`s code number, DVD R/RW logo, RW DVD+ReWritable logo and High Speed Compact disc Rewritable logo. Below from left to right we can also see the power led, the emergency eject hole and the eject button.

On the rear panel you can find 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. Click on the photos for an enlarged view.

The chipset of the drive is manufactured by Nec, and it is the same with this one in Nec ND-2500A recorder.

The main chipset is manufactured by Mediatek and it is the same with most 8x recorders coming from Teac, LiteOn etc.

- Installation

The device was connected to our test PC and was identified as "TDK DVDRW880N" under WinXP. All tests were done with firmware revision 1.31

The following pages include test`s results from TDK DVDRW880N drive, compared with NEC ND-2500A and PIONEER DVR-107D, since both have virtually the same specifications with the testing one.

2. Data CD Reading Tests

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Data CD Reading Tests

- Pressed CD results (Click for CDSpeed results)

In the graph above, we can figure out that the drive was the slightly the slowest among the other two, even though it managed to confirm the manufacturer's specifications.

The reported seek times for TDK drive were quite good for all modes.

- CD-R results (Click for CDSpeed results)

We made a copy of the previous, pressed CD in order to test the drive's behavior with a CD-R media. As in the previous test the TDK drive gave similar results with the other drives.

The comparison outcome with pressed CD is similar with the pressed cd seek time comparison.

- ReWritable Media (Click for CDSpeed results)

For the reading test we used 24x High Speed rewritable media from Mitsubishi Chemicals.

Quite the same results with the other two drives. No bodacious difference.

3. CD Error Correction Tests

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Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we check the drive's behavior when reading scratched / defective audio discs. The test discs used were the ABEX series from ALMEDIO.

- ABEX TCD-721R

Errors total	Num: 3143574
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 139529	Avg: -74.3 dB(A)	Max: -18.7 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 9506	Avg: 1.0 Samples	Max: 28 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 12	Avg: 6.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result	66.1 points (out of 100.0 maximum)

The performance with this disc was not very good. The total error count was high, and the maximum level of the loudness errors reported will probably mean audible "clicks" in playback. The total score could be better. In addition, many samples were muted.

- ABEX TCD-726

Errors total	Num: 108
Errors (Loudness) dB(A)	Num: 4	Avg: -96.1 dB(A)	Max: -89.2 dB(A)
Error Muting Samples	Num: 2	Avg: 40.0 Samples	Max: 40 Samples
Skips Samples	Num: 0	Avg: 0.0 Samples	Max: 0 Samples
Total Test Result	89.7 points (out of 100.0 maximum)

The Abex TCD-726 test disc is much easier for drives in general to read. That's why TDK performed better than with the previous CD. The total error count was not high, while there no skips and only two mutes. The total score of 89.7 out of 100 is good.

- CD-Check Audio Test Disc

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

The tracks are being reproduced through a software multimedia player (i.e. Windows Media Player). Each level is considered as passed, if the tone is smooth, continuous without interruptions, skipping or looping. The higher the Check Level passed, the more reliable the sound reproduction of the tested drive.

Error Level	1	2	3	4	5
TDK 880N	5/5	5/5	0/5	0/5	0/5

The drive once again performed very poorly. It managed to playback only the first two levels out of five. We expected to play successfully at least the first four levels.

- Summary

Test Disc

Reading Speed

Score

ABEX TCD-721R

Max

66.1

ABEX TCD-726

89.7

Average Score

77.9

The total score of the drive is not too low. However the CD error correction of the TDK 880N is not something to be proud of.

4. DVD reading tests

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DVD reading tests

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

TDK's reading speed is really close to the other two drives, but it's the slowest though.

TDK's seek times are quite good.

- 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 the read process from the inner tracks on the disc, which is the beginning of each layer, and progressing outwards towards to the outer tracks for each layer.

DVD`s dual layer speed result didn't reach a high level.

The seek times were increased for TDK drive.

- 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 disc's second layer. The beginning of the second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading from the outer tracks inwards towards the inner tracks of the disc.

As it can been seen in the following screenshot the OTP dual layer DVD test disc had the same speed as the PTP one. The seek times are about in the same levels.

- DVD Ripping Tests

We measured the DVD-Video ripping speed of the TDK 880N using the latest version of DVD Decrypter. The DVD Video title is the "Matrix" pressed DVD-Video.

TDK drive was the fastest while Nec was the slowest. However, the reported 6457 kb/s is a good transfer rate.

- DVD Recordable / Rewritable reading Tests

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

TDK has a normal level for RW reading.

5. DVD Error Correction Tests

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DVD Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we examined the DVD reading capabilities of TDK drive with scratched / defective DVD media. For the tests we used CDVD Benchmark and Nero CDSpeed. The testing media referred, 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.

The drive read the contents of the 821 test disc, without reporting any reading error. There were some speed deviations while reading the defective areas on the disc's surface.

ABEX TDR-825

This is also a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM of 4.7GB capacity. The data structure of the disc is exactly the same of the TDR-821, with the difference that there are no scratches on the surface but defective areas ranging in dimensions from 0.5 to 1.1 mm. There are also fingerprints with height between 65 and 75 micrometers.

The drive managed to read the defective area on the disc without any noteworthy problems.

- Dual Layer media

ABEX TDR-841

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

Once again the disc was read without reading errors but some speed falls showed up, for both layers.

ABEX TDR-845

This disc is a single sided, dual layer DVD-ROM disc with capacity of 8.5GB. The only difference between the TDR-845 and the TDR-841 is that the first includes both defective areas and fingerprints. The dimensions of the defective areas range from 0.5 to 1.1 mm and the fingerprints have height from 65 to 75 microns (micrometers).

The test finished successfully without reporting any error.

ABEX TDV-541

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

Although the drive performed well in the corresponding test with the single layer disc, it had same problems in order to read the defected scratched dual layer one. Both the beginning of the 2nd layer and the ending of the first one were not read correctly, as well as the areas from both sides of the switch layer point. However this behavior didn't confirmed in PowerDVD playback.

ABEX TDV-545

The TDV-545 disc is based on the TDV-540 series. It is a single sided, dual layer Video/S-2 disc with a capacity of 8.5GB. The TDV-545 includes artificial black dots on the disc's surface, sized from 0.4 to 1.0 mm. It also has 65 - 75 micrometer high fingerprints.

This time no errors or speed drops were reported. This disc was not a problem for TDK drive.

6. Protected Disc Tests

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Protected Disc Tests

- Reading Tests

To create an image of the various protected titles onto a hard disk, we used CloneCD v.4.3.2.2 software and the appropriate settings, depending on the protection type of the inserted discs. Below the capabilities of the Nec drive are summarized, according to CloneCD software. As you can see the drive supports writing of CD+G under RAW DAO:

The game titles we used for each protection scheme are given 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

SafeDisc v.2

SecuROM v.2

TDK managed to rip the contents of all test discs successfully and gave fast ripping values for SecuROM v.2

- Writing Tests

The TDK supports the DAO-RAW writing mode. For checking the drive's EFM correction status, we used 3 different game titles with different SafeDisc 2 versions having the latest software patches installed. After making the images of the various titles onto the hard disk, we burned them (maximum speed) with CloneCD. Two different discs were created for each title; one with the "Amplify Weak Sectors" enabled and one more with the function disabled.

The table below shows the results of the attempted backups and whether they worked (game installed / played normally), or not.

Drive

Game Title

SD2 Build

Settings

Amplify Weak Sectors On

Amplify Weak Sectors Off

TDK 880N

Max Payne

v2.51.020

Yes*

Yes*

Serious Sam - The Second Encounter v1.07

v.2.60.052

No

No

The Sims Unleashed

v.2.8

No

No

The Sims Superstar

v2.9

No

No

Fifa 2004

v3.1

No

No

* playable only with TDK 880N.

7. DAE Tests

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DAE Tests

- Pressed and CDR AudioCD results

The TDK uses 32x CAV reading strategy for CD-DA. Below you can see the results from the CDSpeed transfer rate test with a pressed audio CD:

According to Nero CDSpeed, the average reading speed was 25.67x, while at the end of the reading procedure reached the 34.36x speed. The seek times were good.

We ripped the contents of the same audio disc to our hard disk, using the CDDAE software. The average ripping speed (burst mode) of 24.3x, was acceptable.

The same pressed audio disc was copied onto a CD-R and was read again with CDspeed.

Again, TDK returned just about the same results.

- Advanced DAE Quality

In the Nero CD Speed Advanced DAE test, the TDK drive returned an average speed of 24.23x, which is good performance, and a quality score of 100. According to CDSpeed the drive can read Cd Text and Subchannel Data but this is not the case for Leadin and Leadout.

- Support of 90/99mins AudioCDs

TDK drive managed to playback 90min, but it doesn`t support 99min test discs, hence skipping tracks all the time.

- Reading/Ripping Protected AudioCDs

For the test procedure we used two audio discs with different audio protection schemes. We performed the tests for both recognition and ripping to the hard disk. The software used was Exact Audio Copy.

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

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

Key2Audio

CDS200

EAC

TDK 880N

OK

OK

Pioneer DVR-107D

NO

OK

NEC ND-2500A

OK

OK

TDK drive playbacked successfully both Key2AudioCD and Cactus Shield audio protected discs.

8. CD Recording Tests

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CD Recording Tests

- CD-R Writing Tests

The TDK 880N supports 4x, 8x, 16x, 24x, 32x writing speeds. Below you can see the CDSpeed writing simulation graph with Taiyo Yuden 32x CD-R media.

The simulation test, under Nero CD Speed, confirmed the manufacturer's specifications for 32x recording, which is under Z-CLV. The average speed was 27.35x.

- Recording Times

We created an 80min data compilation with Nero Burning Rom and recorded it on a 700MB disc. TDK needed 3:40 to conclude the burning procedure.

Below we present the best writing times for TDK drive at 4x, 8x, 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x with a Taiyo Yuden media.

In the following graph you can see the recording times with various media brands.

- CD-RW Writing Tests

The TDK 880N supports 16x CLV maximum rewriting speed, with Ultra Speed rewritable media. Below you can see the results from the CDSpeed writing simulation test with blank 24x US-RW media from Mitsubishi Chemicals.

The test once again confirmed the drive's specifications for 16x rewriting. The average speed at the end of the test was 15.99x.

We also used Nero Burning Rom software to burn a 24x US-RW data media from Mitsubishi Chemicals again. The data compilation we burned onto the disc, had a size of 651 MB. The duration of the recording process was 5:03 minutes for TDK.

- Packet Writing Tests

We used InCD and Mitsubishi Chemicals 24x US-RW media for all Packet Writing tests. The formatted disc had 530mbs of free space. We copied a 403 MB file (412.822 KB) from Hard Disk (on the same PC as the recorder) to the formatted RW media through Windows explorer (drag and drop).

Operation

Duration

Average speed

Read

3:33 min

14.3X

Write

3:47 min

13.4X

- Other features

Overburning

Up to 89:45

CD text reading/writing

Yes

9. 3T Jitter Tests - Page 1

TDK 880N DVD±RW recorder - Page 9

Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests

On an 80min 48X CD-R disc from Taiyo Yuden we burned the same AudioCD project at 4x, 8x, 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x. The 3T Pit & Land Jitter graphs are presented here.

- 3T Pit results

As we can easily conclude from the graphs above and below, the drive gives really low jitter values using 16x, 20x, 24x speeds.

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

The average Pit jitter for recording speeds of 24x and over is acceptable, and very good for those below.

- 3T Land results

The jitter land levels illustrated in the graph above, are very good for all speeds . Once again, recording at 16x and above renders high quality recording. Notice that the 4x burning speed did not gave the lowest 3T land jitter.

The following average values graph confirms the very good burning quality of the TDK recorder.

Recording Speed	Average 3T Pit Jitter (ns)	Average 3T Land Jitter (ns)	> 35ns	Max 3T jitter values (ns)
4X	31.29	38.39	Yes	34 Pit, 49 Land
8X	29.17	34.37	Yes	31 Pit, 36 Land
16X	26.73	26.73	No	29 Pit, 29 Land
20X	26.54	26.12	No	30 Pit, 30 Land
24X	26.49	27.34	No	31 Pit, 31 Land
32X	27.37	27.20	No	29 Pit, 30 Land