TDK 880N

Review Pages

1. Data CD Reading Tests
2. Retail Package - Installation
3. CD Error Correction Tests
4. DVD reading tests
5. DVD Error Correction Tests
6. Protected Disc Tests
7. DAE Tests
8. CD Recording Tests
9. 3T Jitter Tests - Page 1
10. 3T Jitter Tests - Page 2
11. C1 / C2 Error Measurements
12. DVD Recording Tests
13. KProbe PI/PO quality tests
14. Conlusion

TDK 880N DVD±RW recorder - Page 1

TDK`s latest DVD rewriter has been already released on the market, promising to fully cover the mid-user's DVD burning needs. The DVDRW880N is the European version of the TD Indi880 and supports both DVD+R & DVD-R recording.

Features

TDK features DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW and CD-R/RW recording capabilities, providing 8x multiformat recording speed for both DVD+R and DVD-R media. Buffer underrun protection is also supported, but it doesn`t support DVD-RAM media.

Specifications

Host/Interface:	ATAPI (E-IDE), PIO Mode 4, MW DMA, Ultra DMA/Ultra DMA33
Usable CD Formats	CD-DA, CD-ROM (Mode 1 &2), CD-ROM XA (Mode 2, Form 1, Form 2), Photo CD, Video CD / Super Video CD, CD-Extra (CD-Plus), CD-I (FMV), CD-Text, CD-R, CD-RW.
Usable DVD Formats	DVD-Video (Single/Dual layer), DVD-ROM (Single/Dual layer), DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R for General V.2.0, DVD-RW (Ver 1.0 &1.1)
Writing CD mode:	CD-R & CD-RW: Disc-at-Once, Track-at-Once, Session-at-Once, Packet Writing
Writing DVD mode:	DVD+R/-R & DVD+RW/-RW: Disc-at-Once, Incremental recording, Multi-Border for DVD-R/RW
DVD, CD Read Performance	DVD-ROM: 5x-12x CAV(SL) 3x-7x CAV(DL) DVD+R/-R/DVD=RW/-RW: 3.3x-8x CAV: 4.5-11 MB/s DVD Video: 2-5x CAV CD-ROM /CD-R: 17x-40x CAV: 2550-6000 kB/s CD-RW/ CD-DA: 13x-32x CAV: 1950-4800 kB/s CD Audio Play: 4x-10x CAV
DVD, CD Write Performance	DVD-R/+R: 8x, 6x (ZCLV), 4x, 2.4x (CLV) DVD+RW: 4x, 2.4x (CLV) DVD-RW: 4x, 2x (CLV) CD-R: 32x, 24x (ZCLV), 16x, 8x, 4x (CLV) CD-RW: 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV)
Access time:	DVD 140ms, CD 120ms
Buffer memory:	2 MB with Buffer Underrun Protection
Audio output:	Analogue output (Molex connector)
Weight:	1.08 kg
Dimensions:	148.2 (W) x 42 (H) x 190 (D) mm

The drive uses a 2MB buffer memory store and supports RAW DAO 96 writing (CD). The drive does not support Mount Rainier.

The drive uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times. For our tests, we set the region code to 2 (Europe).

- The drive

The european retail package includes a technical support manual, a quick install poster, mounting screws, an eject pin and a TDK DVD+R 4,7GB disc. The package also includes one CD with Ahead's Nero 6 SE and software manual(pdf ).

The drive's front panel's color is black. On the tray from left to right we can see the following: TDK`s logo, the drive`s code number, DVD R/RW logo, RW DVD+ReWritable logo and High Speed Compact disc Rewritable logo. Below from left to right we can also see the power led, the emergency eject hole and the eject button.

On the rear panel you can find the analogue and digital audio outputs (SPDIF), the IDE connector and the power input.

Removing the screws and opening the drive's cover voids the drive's warranty. For reference reasons, we post the following pictures. Click on the photos for an enlarged view.

The chipset of the drive is manufactured by Nec, and it is the same with this one in Nec ND-2500A recorder.

The main chipset is manufactured by Mediatek and it is the same with most 8x recorders coming from Teac, LiteOn etc.

- Installation

The device was connected to our test PC and was identified as "TDK DVDRW880N" under WinXP. All tests were done with firmware revision 1.31

The following pages include test`s results from TDK DVDRW880N drive, compared with NEC ND-2500A and PIONEER DVR-107D, since both have virtually the same specifications with the testing one.