Memorex True 8Xn external DVD±R/RW Recorder - Page 15

The Memorex True 8Xn drive is aimed at users who need an external drive, offering the flexibility to be used on different computer systems.

The drive performed well, yielding low seek times in the CD reading tests. The error correction test results however, showed poor performance.

The drive managed to playback only some of our DVD test discs, reporting errors with many of our test media as in the case of the OTP DVD dual layer & DVD+R test discs. The reading speed was acceptable with both recordable and pressed media, along with good seek times but the drive had poor error correction performance with the defective discs. Only the ABEX TDR-825 single sided & single layer DVD-ROM media passed the test whereas the other three DVD error correction tests never finished, producing a high number of read errors.

The drive showed poor performance with our protected games CDs. The drive doesn`t support the latest SafeDisk2 versions and had only partially working backups with SafeDisc v2.51.051. Ripping times for the various protected game titles was acceptable.

The drive returned good performance with the CDS200 protection scheme as the ripping process completed with no problems but reading & testing CRC comparison was not the same for all tracks. Key2Audio protection ripping process completed with no problems as well as reading & testing CRC comparison. Reading and writing completed without any error for Cactus Data Shield 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a (Aiko Katsukino - The Love Letter). The drive doesn't support 99min AudioCDs but read the 90min audio CD.

The Memorex drive has average writing quality with CD-R media. Three out of the five media we used reported C2 errors. On the other hand, jitter levels were about average for all media we burned. Overburning is supported up to 89:57min. We expect that all this will be fixed with a new firmware upgrade.

The recording quality with DVD+/-R media is good with low PI/PIF error levels. With DVD+RW we found high PI & for DVD-RW high PI with some PIF errors.

Retail Price: $150.

- The Good

• Low priced.
• Good DVD writing quality for DVD+/-R media.
• Supports protected Audio discs (CDS200, Key2Audio) as well as accurately. backup "Aiko Katsukino - The Love Letter", Audio protected disc.
• Low jitter.

- The Bad

• Read errors with a number of our DVD test discs.
• Bad CD/ DVD error correction.
• Average writing quality with CD-Rs & DVD+/-RW media.
• Doesn`t backup newer versions of SafeDisc2 protected discs.
• Doesn`t overburn up to 99mins.
• Low C2% accuracy.
• Doesn`t support DVD/CD Mount Rainier.
• Doesn't support reading of DVD-RAM media.
• Doesn't support DVD overburning.
• Doesn`t support the BookType BitSetting for DVD+R/+RW formats.

- Like to be fixed

• Error correction for CD/DVD.
• Support for newer versions of SafeDisc2 protected discs.
• C2% accuracy.
• Overburning.
• Writing quality with DVD+/-RW media.