48x CD-RW Combo Roundup Vol.1 - Page 13

Writing Quality Tests - page 2

Optorite DC4801

We tested the Optorite DC4801 with a variety of other media. Note that the recording speed for each disc is the maximum allowed by the drive.

- 3T Pit results

The first results at a glance would be that the drive gave the best results with Mitsui 48X (MAM 48X) and Mitsubishi Chemicals 48X media. The 3T Pit jitter reported for these discs was adequate, but have in mind that those discs were recorded at 16X and 40X, respectively (writing speed controlled by the drive).

Among the rest media we tested, the best results at 48X came with Ciba Plasmon 48X. The rest media produced high jitter values especially in the outer part of the discs.

The highest average 3T Pit jitter values were reported with Memorex 52X and SKC 48X media.

- 3T Land results

The 3T Land jitter results were better although the jitter values reported were higher than 35nsec in most cases. Again the Ciba Plasmon media gave the best results at 48X. Below you can see the average 3T Land jitter values for all the discs we tested.

- Conclusion

In generall, the drive introduced high jitter values with the most of the media we tested. The discs that were not allowed to be burned at the maximum 48X speed gave better results, (MC 48X and Mitsui 48X) as it is usually noticed in the jitter tests.

It is not always easy to characterize the writing quality of a drive judging solely from the jitter measurements. However, the tests strongly indicate that recording at 48X could affect the integrity of your data.