Philips DVDR824P DVD+RW - Page 4

DVD reading tests

- Single Layer PTP DVD-ROM (Click for CDSpeed results)

Philips DVDR824P supports 12x CAV reading speed with single layer DVD-ROM media. The drive was even faster in our test and gave the highest average reading speed (9.36x) among the rest drives. The Plextor drive follows closely with 9.09x, and Ricoh / Optorite drives are slower. Note that the Optorite DD0203 supports 8x CAV DVD-ROM reading.

The official specifications give the Philips drive an average Random seek time of 160msec for DVD. The drive was fast in the random and 1/3 reading tests, attaining times around to 105 msec, while it was slower in the full mode with 173 msec. The Plextor drive gave almost the same results but was slightly slower in the full stroke.

- Dual Layer PTP DVD-ROM (Click for CDSpeed results)

The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially with the drive starting reading from the inner part of the disc, which is the beginning of each layer, towards the outer range, for each layer.

Philips DVDR824P limits the reading speed to 8x with dual layer DVD-ROM discs. The reading speed in the beginning of the disc was 3.16x and the ending speed was lower than 8x (7.6x). The drive used the CAV reading strategy, as you can see in the CDSpeed test link.

In the same task, both Ricoh and Plextor drives were faster with a 6.8x average reading speed. The Optorite drive is the slowest reader since it supports only 4.5x CAV reading.

In addition, the seek test gave the Philips drive the lowest seek times among the rest drives:

- Dual Layer OTP DVD-ROM

The first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way as the first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously. The difference here is the reading strategy of the second layer of the disc. The beginning of the second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading from the outer tracks toward the inner part of the disc.

The transfer rate graph is smooth and each layer was read at 3.45x~8x CAV.

- DVD Ripping Tests

We measured the DVD-Video ripping speed of Philips DVDR834P using the latest version of the DVD Decrypter software. The DVD Video title is the "Matrix" pressed DVD (single layer, 4.38GB).

Philips DVDR824P 12x CAV DVD Video reading/ripping. The drive ripped the DVD movie files to the hard disk at 8.441 KB/s (6.1x) average. The Ricoh drive performed slightly better, while Optorite DD0203 is slower with 5,846 KB/sec.

Plextor PX-708A supports 2x DVD Video ripping by default, but pressing the eject button for 3 seconds (no disc inserted) will enable DVD ripping at higher speeds. In this case, the average ripping speed for the same movie reached the 8,957KB/sec (6.5X).

- DVD Recordable / Rewritable reading Tests

The chart below shows the Nero CDSpeed results with the following media:

• 8x DVD+R
• 4x DVD+RW
• 4x DVD-R
• 2x DVD-RW

Philips DVDR824P supports 8x CAV reading for the DVD±R/RW formats. The CDSpeed tests confirmed it and each disc was read flawlessly at 6.2x average. Ricoh and Plextor drives gave similar results, and Optorite follows with 4x average for all the discs.