Ricoh MP5125A IDE DVD+RW - Page 7

DVD Tests

- Writing Performance

We used Nero 5.5.8.0 and written the same amount of data for both Ricoh DVD+RW MP5125A and Ricoh DVD+RW MP5120A drives. The results are listed in the following table among with the average CPU Usage:

As was expected, the drives that support DVD+R/+RW format are the fastest DVD recorders. The MP5120A seems 3 seconds faster than the MP5125A for DVD+RW writing. When you use a DVD+R media, writing would be longer by one minute and 42seconds. The "high compatibility" option inside the CDR software doesn't extend the writing time. The DVD-R recorders stay below with 28:25mins, instead of 24:47mins of DVD+R format.

Here we can see Nero formatting the DVD+RW media before burning and afterwards completing the test at 23:05minutes.

The next picture shows the same amount of data, written at a DVD+R media. The drive now needs 24:47minutes:

- Erase Time Performance

The Ricoh MP5120A has very low erase times - one minute for quick erase and 11mins for full erase. The MP5125A has lower quick erase time (only 28secs) but double Full Erase time (23minutes).

- Packet Writing Performance

We used the same file/methodology we are using for our CD packet-writing test. The Ricoh DVD+RW MP5125A needs less than 2minutes to write the test file. The drive performs as the specification state:

- Compatibility Tests

The compatibility tests done with the two discs, written with Nero 5.5.8.0, (Panasonic DVD-R and Ricoh DVD+R), and had content a DVD movie:

As the test results showed, all DVD-ROM drives read DVD-R media without any problems. The playback was excellent without any glitches. The DVD+R media had some issues with four drives. Two drives come from Pioneer, one from Samsung and one from AOpen. Future firmware upgrades can improve DVD+R compatibility with various DVD-ROM drives.

We also tested the compatibility of DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW with a PS2. The results showed that the PS2 can read both DVD-R/+R media without any problems but not the DVD-RW/+RW.