Writing Performance

The maximum supported speed is 16X CAV for both the DVD+R and DVD-R formats. For DVD+RW, the speed is 8X while for DVD-RW, 6X CLV.

Using Nero CD-DVD Speed with DVD-R and DVD+R media, we were able to see the writing strategy of the drive for both formats at 16X burning speed.

- 16X DVD+R Single Layer writing

The drive completed successful DVD writing at 16X in 5:32mins. The test started at 6.68X, reached a maximum writing speed of 15.98X and reported an average speed of 11.94X.

- 16X DVD-R Single Layer writing

The drive completed successful DVD writing at 16X in 6:09mins. The test started at 6.68X, reached a maximum writing speed of 15.96X and reported an average speed of 11.93X.

- Burning Tests

• DVD-R media

We burned a variety of DVD-R 16X and 8X enabled media. Almost all media were burned at their designated speed, with the exception of BenQ and Prodisc (S05) 16X media, burned at 12X. Bust burn (time-wise) was with Verbatim, Optodisc and Philips media, all burned in 5:58mins.

• DVD+R media

In this case, there were some media burned at speed lower than their designated. Philips, Prodisc (R04) and Traxdata media were burned at 8X and 12X respectively instead of 16X. Best burn came with the BenQ, CMC, and Prodisc (R05) media, all burned at 16X in 5:57mins.

- Comparison with other drives

With a slight difference in the time needed for a full burn in both cases, the LiteOn drive proved to be the fastest of the three drives.

With Rewritable media, the reviewed drive was slowest but with a negligible difference.

- DVD Overburning Test

• DVD+R

• DVD-R

Unfortunately, the drive does not support DVD overburning for either the -R or +R media formats, giving the above error messages.

- DVD-RAM

Now we will see how the drive performs when a DVD-RAM media is inserted. According to the manufacturer's specs, the drive can read and write DVD-RAM media, at the maximum speed of 5X.

As Maxell stated: "DVD-RAM is an advanced recording media format that offers a range of digital data applications. Its phase-change recording material allows discs to be re-recordable and erasable, and a superior defect management system ensures accurate recording and playback. DVD-RAM allows instant, random access to any location on the disc for fast and easy data reading and writing. Because DVD-RAM supports fast formatting and no finalizing, it is an extremely easy-to-use media. And with DVD-RAM, changes can be made directly on the disc without the need to transfer data to a hard drive first, speeding up the editing tasks..."

- Burning Tests

Using NeroCDSpeed produced the following graph:

The test started at 3.00X burning speed and reached 5.00X, reporting an average speed of 4.63X. It took only 12:30mins to write a full DVD-RAM, while with Nero and a blank DVD-RAM, the reported time was 30:53mins, as the drive uses the "Write and Verify" feature when burning DVD-RAM media.

Using the latest Nero version, we burned our usual Single Layer DVD compellation.