Ricoh MP5308D DVD±R/RW Recorder - Page 21

The Ricoh MP5308D performed well having low seek times in the CD reading tests. The error correction test results however, showed below average performance.

DVD reading is fast with both recordable and pressed media, along with good seek times. The drive further displayed very good error correction capabilities with the defective discs. The drive managed to playback all of our test discs without reporting any errors or problems, which means strong DVD error correction capability.

The drive offers poor performance with our protected games CDs. The drive doesn't support the latest SafeDisk2 versions and partially working backups are playable with SafeDisc v2.51.051 and EFM off. Full support occurs only with SafeDisc v2.51.020 and EFM off. Ripping times of 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 was performed without any error for Cactus Data Shield 200.0.4 - 3.0 build 16a (Aiko Katsukino - The Love Letter). The drive could not play our 99min AudioCD but read the 90min CD.

When writing CDs with the Ricoh drive, we had poor writing quality with three out of the five media we used. The drive creates CDs with high C1/C2/CU errors and we also suggest avoiding Taiyo Yuden 48X media with this drive as it gave us the highest jitter results and C2/CU errors. We expect that all this will be fixed with a new firmware upgrade. Best results with low jitters & C1/C2/CU were with CMC 48X media.

DVD recording revealed that the drive has good media compatibility with all media except with Bulkpaq 4X DVD-R burned at 4X speed, N-Star 4X DVD-R & Vanguard 4X DVD-R. The recording quality is good with low PI/PIF error levels.

The drive priced at about $112.

- The Good

• Low priced 8X DVD Burner
• Good DVD writing quality for DVD±R media
• Very Good DVD error correction
• Almost 100% C2% accuracy
• Can backup most protected Audio discs (CDS200, Key2Audio)
• Can read DVD+R DL discs (DVD-ROM Booktype)

- The Bad

• Doesn't backup newer versions of SafeDisc2 protected discs
• Strict supported media list for 8X
• Poor CD Error Correction
• Doesn't support overburning
• Doesn't support Mount Rainier format
• Doesn't support reading of DVD-RAM media
• Doesn't support DVD overburning for DVD±R media
• Doesn't support BookType BitSetting for DVD+R/+RW/ formats

- Like to be fixed

• Allow 4X media to burned at 8X
• Ripping process of 99min Audio CDs
• High C1/C2 errors with the majority media at 32X
• Recognize process of burned DVD+R9 (DVD+R DL BookType)