DVD Error Correction Tests

In the following tests we examined the DVD reading capabilities of the TEAC drive with scratched / defective 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.

The thickness of the line indicates the changes in speed during reading, while the dispersed dots at the half way mark show some difficulty reading larger scratches. There are also speed changes towards the end, during the last quarter of the disc, but overall, there were no errors reported.

ABEX TDR-825

This is also a single sided, single layer DVD-ROM with 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 the surface but instead defective areas ranging in dimensions from 0.5 to 1.1 mm. There are also artificial fingerprints with height between 65 and 75 micrometers.

As with the previous disc, the action seems to be concentrated in the middle and in the last quarter of the disc's surface. Surprisingly, at least with this disc, in the middle where we have the narrow rectangular patch, there are no defects, as is also the case with the last quarter of of the disc although here, the fluctuations start a little earlier with the artificial fingerprints. Again however, there were no errors generated.

- 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.

Again there are no errors and the drive seems to behave consistently regardless of defects.

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 sized from 65 to 75 microns (micrometers).

In all four tests so far, the Artec drive reveals that it has very good DVD error correction capability. All the defected discs were read without problems or read errors.

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 test pictures and test 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.

The specified disc was read successfully with a very smooth transition from one layer to the other.

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 micrometers high fingerprints.

DVD error correction is very good for the Artec drive. It managed to read the contents of all of our test DVDs, without reporting any read errors.