BenQ (founded in 1984) is one of the top manufacturers of optical storage drives. For the year 2004, BenQ's revenue reached US$5 billion. The latest DW1620 DVD burner reported very good burning results. BenQ drives are becoming more and more popular, since they offer a wide range of high-end features.

With this company profile, BenQ could not miss the LightScribe technology bandwagon. In fact, their latest BenQ DW1625 LightScribe-enabled drive was the first LightScribe model that reached our labs.

- Features

Like the DW1620 model, the new DW1625 uses advanced writing control features to improve burning quality. Tilt Control and WOPC II ensures that perfect control over both the laser beam angle and the power rate being projected onto the disc is maintained. You can see a more detailed description of the WOPC II feature by clicking here.

- Specifications

Performance	[DVD+R DL] Data Transfer Rate /double layer write: 26.59 Mbit/sec (2.4X) [DVD+R/+RW] Data Transfer Rate /write: 177.28 Mbit/sec (16X) Data Transfer Rate /rewrite: 44.32 Mbit/sec (4X) *DVD+R LightScribe available @ 1x with LightScribe discs. [DVD-R/-RW] Data Transfer Rate /rewrite: 88.64 Mbit/sec (8X) Data Transfer Rate /rewrite: 44.32 Mbit/sec (4X) [DVDROM] Data Transfer Rate /read: 177.28 Mbit/sec (16X, Max.) Access time: 120 ms [CD] Data Transfer Rate /write: 6000 KByte/sec (40X) Data Transfer Rate /rewrite: 3600 KByte/sec (24X) Data Transfer Rate /read: 6000 KByte/sec (40X, Max.) *CDR LightScribe available @ 1x with LightScribe discs. Access time: 120 ms
Interface	E-IDE/ATAPI
Supported IDE Mode	PIO mode 0/1/2/3/4 DMA mode 0/1/2 UDMA mode 0/1/2
Buffer Size	2MB
Firmware Upgrade	Flash memory upgradable
Writing Mode	[DVD] DVD Data and Video [CD] Track-at-Once, Disc-at-Once, Multisession, Packet Writing (fixed & variable packet), CD Digital Audio, Direct-Over-Write on CD-RW, Test Write
Disc Size	[DVD] 120 mm disc [CD] 80 and 120 mm discs
Disc Formats	[DVD] DVD+R DL 8.5GB, DVD Video, DVD-5, DVD-9, DVD-10, DVD-18, DVD+RW 4.7GB, DVD+R 4.7GB, LightScribe DVD+R, DVD-RW 4.7GB (Closed Session), DVD-R 4.7GB [CD] CD-DA, CD-ROM XA (m1, m2f1/m2f2), CD-R, LightScribe CD-R, CD-RW, Bootable CD, Photo CD (Single & Multi-session), Video CD, Super Video CD, CD-Extra, Mixed-mode CD, CD-Text
Power Requirement	+5V ± 5%, ripple: 100mVpp +12V ± 10%, ripple: 200mVpp
Environment Conditions	Operating temperature: 5oC~50oC at humidity of 8-80% RH Non-operating temperature: -40oC ~60oC at humidity 5%~95% RH
Reliability Characteristics	MTBF: 125,000 POH (20%) Non-recoverable read error < 1 block in 1012 bits (CD and DVD)
Physical Characteristics	Dimensions l: 146 X 42 X 198 mm (W x H x D) Weight: 1.0 Kg
OS Compatibility	Windows XP / 2000 / ME / 98SE *QVideo and QSuite are supported by Windows XP and 2000 only.
Minimum System Requirement	• IBM PC compatible • Pentium III 550MHz CPU • 128MB RAM • 100MB free HDD space for CD/DVD recording related software installation • 1GB free HDD space for CD image recording (10GB for DVD authoring) is recommended.

The drive does not support Mount Rainier and it uses the well known RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times. DVD-RAM media is also not supported for either reading or writing. However, booktype setting can be changed on demand for DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media. Below are the drive's main specs as given by Nero InfoTool and DVDInfoPro:

- Retail Package

The retail package that arrived in our lab included the DW1625 model, a software disc with Nero 6 Suite, Nero LightScribe v.1.0.13.1, InCD v.4.3.11.1, QVideo 2 v.5.2.3.23, QSuite v.1.0 and the user's manuals. We also received a small presentation of LightScribe technology. BenQ also included 2 blank media in the retail package, one CD LightScribe media and one DVD LightScribe media. It should be noted that this was the first LightScribe product to include LightScribe DVD media in the retail package, since both HP and Philips products had only CD LightScribe media. As you can see, this is a retail package that will satisfy most users.

The drive is available in two colors, beige and black. We received the beige colored drive. The front panel is almost the same as the DW1620 model, expect for the addition of the LightScribe logo.

On the rear panel you can see the analogue and digital outputs (SPDIF), the IDE connector and the power input. Our drive was manufactured during February 2005 in China.

Removing the screws and opening the drive's cover voids the drive's warranty. For reference reasons, we post the following pictures. You can click on the mainboard picture for a higher resolution image:

The the DW1625 uses the Philip's Nexperia PNX7860E chipset.

- Installation

The drive arrived with firmware revision BBAA and since BenQ sent us their newest firmware release, we flashed the drive without problems to firmware revision BBEA.

The drive was installed with no problems under WindowsXP, and it was recognized as "BENQ DVD DL DW1625".