Freecom FX-50 external 16X

Review Pages

Freecom FX-50 DVD+/-RW 16X Burner - Page 11

DVD Recording Tests

- Writing Performance

The FX-50 can write DVD+R and DVD-R media up to 16X CAV, and can rewrite up to 4X CLV.

By using Nero CD-DVD Speed with DVD-R and DVD+R media, we are able to see the 8X ZCLV, 12X ZCLV, 13X CAV and 16X CAV recording technology being used by the recorder for -R and +R media.

DVD+R media @ 8X ZCLV

DVD+R media @ 12X ZCLV

DVD+R media @ 13X CAV

DVD+R media @ 16X CAV

DVD-R media @ 16X CAV

Below is a table with several 12X and 16X recorders, listing their average writing speeds as measured by Nero CD-DVD Speed.

Drive	Writing Strategy	Writing Speed	Average Writing Speed
Plextor PX-712A	P-CAV	12X	10.62X
LG GSA-4120B	Z-CLV	12X	9.87X
BenQ DW1620A	CAV	16X	11.52X
ASUS DRW-1604P	Z-CLV	16X	10.11X
TDK 1616N	CAV	16X	11.86X
NEC ND-3500A	CAV	16X	11.86X
Freecom FX-50 External	CAV	16X	11.85X
Pioneer DVR-108A	Z-CLV	16X	10.03X

- Burning Tests

DVD-R media

Only TDK 16X -R media was recorded at the 16X writing speed. The drive supports over-speed burning where some 8X media was recorded at 12X or 4X media at 8X. Best performance came of course with TDK 8X -R media that was recorded at the highest speed, in 6:03mins.

DVD+R media

As it can easily be observed, writing at 16X with +R media format is slower than writing at 16X with -R media. Best performance was reported with Verbatim 16X media, but it took 7:33mins to complete the burning process. It should be noted that some 16X certified media was not recorded at 16X but at 8X, or even 4X in the case of Traxdata 16X media. This is a major drawback for this drive.

- Comparison with other drives

Although the times reported with +R media were higher than the Memorex and ASUS drives, they can be considered as satisfactory. However, with -R media, the Freecom FX-50 was the fastest of all three burners in this comparison, and much faster than the Memorex external burner.

With DVD+RW and DVD-RW media, writing speed differences are not as significant as before. The overall performance of the drive with this media type is good.

- DVD Overburning Tests

Using Nero CD-DVD Speed, we tested if the FX-50 burner can overburn DVD+R and DVD-R media. The drive does not support overburning, giving the following error with all inserted media.