Waitec VISION HR DVD Recorder - page 3

Reading Tests

Although this device focuses mainly on recording, we still carried out our usual array of reading tests, since most VISION HR owners will use it for both reading and recording.

In playback mode, the device has all the usual features with easy access to all the appropriate settings. Below, just for reference, there is a screenshot of the Waitec recorder during playback. The displayed settings may vary depending on the inserted media type.

You can also choose whether to have information displayed regarding the inserted media. However, it would be nice to have had more information, such as the bit-rate, available during playback.

DVD support

• DVD-Video

The Waitec VISION HR we have in our hands is a region-2 drive, which means that the player is able to decode (play) only the pressed DVD-Video discs for the European region.

We recorded a 4.35GB DVD-Video file on various DVD+R/-R, DVD-RW/+RW media. The recorders we used are some of the latest dual-format burners available on the PC market, as well as some first generation recorders. Pressed single and dual layer DVD-Video discs were also verified in the test. All the test discs were created with the same PC software in DVD-Video mode.

We checked the player's disc recognition, as well as smooth navigation and playback. The results were very impressive, since all the discs were read completely. See the drives and media we used in the table below:

As was expected, all the DVD±RW discs played successfully without problems. In the case of DL media, playback produced some freezing.

• DVD-ROM

The Waitec VISION HR supports reading of DVD-ROM format.

• CD support

The Waitec VISION HR works well with AudioCD, CD-R/-RW, VideoCD and Super-VideoCD playback. The *.cda files of any audioCD are recognized correctly, regardless of whether the disc is factory-pressed or is a CD-R/RW. In addition, CD-Text is supported.
Please note that, when talking about data CD (CD-R/-RW), we refer to either compressed audio files (MP3, WMA, Ogg Vorbis.), pure *.wav files, or to VideoCD and Super VideoCD.

• AudioCD

In the case of pressed AudioCDs, the player recognizes and plays all the tracks, offering additional features like CD-Text reading and navigation between tracks, as already mentioned on the previous page. This also applies to CD-R and CD-RW discs. The device played audio files on CD-R, 10x HS-RW, 24x US-RW and 32x US-RW discs we inserted in the disc tray.

In addition, no problems were noticed either when we played 8cm CD-R/-RW (185MB), 90/99min CD-R or CD business cards, as long as they are round-shaped. The player's tray is not designed to accept any other media shapes, which can sometimes be the case with smart cards or business cards.

The Waitec VISION HR will not dissapoint anyone who has purchased any protected audio discs from a music store. The discs we tested were "Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies island" protected with Macrovision Key2Audio protection scheme, and "Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come" protected with Cactus Data Shield 200. Both titles were recognized and played without any problems, which is good news as this kind of media is almost impossible to play on PCs due to the protection schemes, which are designed to discourage PC users from making copies.

• Super AudioCD

The Waitec VISION HR does not support Super AudioCD.

• Compressed Audio (data CD)

Let's now see how the player reacts to various compressed audio files stored on data CD-R/RW. Although the specifications of the DVP-NS330 clearly indicate MP3 support, it is not sure whether the drive can handle all MP3 compression modes. CBR or VBR encoding mode and variations in the sampling rate could be hard for any reader to decode. The table below shows a list of MP3 and WMA files with a variety of compression settings and how the device handled them.

• VCD/SVCD

Both formats are supported.