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Dual Format DVD Burners 28th June 2004
We've been waiting to do this review for a while now mainly for TDK to send us a sample but in the end they decided not to. Whether this was due to lack of availability or not wanting to go up against the stiff competition of the products we are reviewing here today will probably never be known. On to the review.
We received retail packs from LiteOn, NEC and Plextor. All are dual format 8-speed DVD+R/DVD-R except for the Plextor model which writes DVD-R at a maximum of 4x.
The drives are of a fairly standard length except the LiteOn which is shorter - no doubt a bonus for owners of Small Form Factor PCs. We'll look at each drive individually and then pit them against each other in a series of tests.
The Plextor is the only drive in our Roundup to offer a two year warranty and is a reflection of their confidence in the build quality of their products.
Supplied are the usual leads, screws and basic manual. Application CDs have various software which is listed in the feature comparison table below.
The drive itself is very attractively styled and certainly the most appealing of the three.
The NEC model burns at 8x with either DVD-R or DVD+R media and is widely available now.
As well as the usual cables we have media supplied in jewel boxes (becoming a rarity these days as price pressures mount) including a 4x DVD+RW - something we have been unable to find from any online source to date.
As with other NEC models the fascia is plain for compatibility with the greatest number of cases.
LiteOn manufacture a huge quantity of Optical drives and this is their only 8x product before they switch to 16x as well as Dual Layer by the end of the year.
A lot of software is supplied (see feature comparison table below) representing excellent value for money.
This is the standard LiteOn fascia and while not as stylish as the Plextor one, conveys all the pertinent information.
Feature |
Drive |
|||||||
|
|
Lite-On SOHW-812S |
Plextor PX708A |
NEC ND-2500 |
|||||
|
|
|
|||||||
Read:-
|
|
|||||||
|
CD-R |
Yes |
40X |
Yes |
40X |
Yes |
40X |
||
|
CD-RW |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
||
|
DVD-RAM |
No |
- |
No |
- |
No |
- |
||
|
DVD-ROM |
Yes |
12X |
Yes |
12X |
Yes |
12X |
||
|
DVD-R |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
||
|
DVD-RW |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
||
|
DVD+R |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
||
|
DVD+RW |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
||
|
DVD+R DL |
No |
- |
No |
- |
No |
- |
||
|
CD Text |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
||
|
CD+G |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
||
|
C2 Errors |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
Yes |
- |
||
|
|
||||||||
Write:-
|
|
|||||||
|
CD-R |
Yes |
40X |
Yes |
40X |
Yes |
32X |
||
|
CD-RW |
Yes |
24X |
Yes |
24X |
Yes |
16X |
||
|
DVD-RAM |
No |
- |
No |
- |
No |
- |
||
|
DVD-R |
Yes |
8X |
Yes |
4X |
Yes |
8X |
||
|
DVD-RW |
Yes |
4X |
Yes |
2X |
Yes |
4X |
||
|
DVD+R |
Yes |
8X |
Yes |
8X |
Yes |
8X |
||
|
DVD+RW |
Yes |
4X |
Yes |
4X |
Yes |
4X |
||
|
DVD+R DL |
No |
- |
No |
- |
No |
- |
||
|
Mount Rainer |
No |
- |
Yes |
- |
No |
- |
||
|
Buffer Underrun Protection |
Yes |
- |
||||||