nu DDW-163
Unlike the conventional DVD-writers, double-layered DVD-writers can burn up to 8.5 GB of data, and require a special 2.4X double-layered DVD R media for it. The nu DDW-163 is one such drive, which supports speeds of 16X write on DVD+/-R, 4X rewrite on DVD+/-RW, and 16X DVD-ROM read. Its CD-writing speeds are slower than the conventional CD-writers. It only supports up to 40X CD read/write, and 24X CDRW, while regular CD-writers support up to 52X. This can result in a difference of up to a minute in CD-writing. The double-layer DVD-R is roughly equal to 4 hrs DVD video quality and 16 hrs VHS video quality for TV recording. This drive also comes bundled with InterVideo for video playback/capture, and Sonic for creating music and data discs. We tested this drive on a P4 3.0 GHz machine with 256 MB RAM and 20 GB HDD. The media used were HCL 52X CD-R, 24X CDRW, 8X DVD+/-R and 2.4X DVD+RW and 2X DVD-RW. Unfortunately the 2.4X double-layer media is still not available in the market, so we couldn't check that function.
DVD+/-R burning speeds are comparable to the BenQ DVD-writer that we've reviewed in this issue. We faced an issue while copying 4.3 GB data to the DVD-RW. It gave an error mid-way and only managed to copy up to 2.3 GB data. Even the BenQ drive gave the same error. The DVD burning/copying uses more CPU power than CD-writing in this drive. This can go up as high as 90%.
Test/Model | nu | BenQ | nu | BenQ | nu | BenQ | nu | BenQ | nu | BenQ |
CD R/DVD R burn speeds (min:sec) |
CD (650 MB) |
DVD+R (4.33 GB) |
DVD-R (4.33 GB) |
DVD+RW | DVD-RW | |||||
Data copy |
3:17 | 3:25 | 8:34 | -- | 9:24 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
CD-CD Copy (data) |
4:25 | 4:25 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
73 min Audio copy |
3:19 | 3:23 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
CD-CD copy (audio) |
6:08 | 8:16 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
Time to create 650 MB ISO Image |
6:22 | 6:25 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
ReWritable media tests |
CD | DVD+R | DVD-R | DVD+RW | DVD-RW | |||||
Time to format (sec) |
20 | 35 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 |
Max capacity |
530 MB | 530 MB | NA | NA | NA | NA | 2.3 GB | 2.53 GB | 2.3 GB | 2.53GB |
Data transfer time (min:sec) |
10:21 | 8:20 | NA | NA | NA | NA | 20:11 | 21:13 | 18:27 | 21:56 |
Other CD/DVD tests |
CD (643 MB) |
CD (73 mins Audio) |
DVD (4.33 GB) |
DVD+R/RW | DVD-R/RW | |||||
average transfer rate (x) |
30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 12 | NA | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
total seek time (ms) |
192 | 176 | 159 | 163 | 172 | NA | 172 | 173 | 172 | 170 |
CPU utilization in % |
7 | 8 | 11 | 8 | 90 | NA | 80 | 47 | 80 | 52 |
Media recognition time (secs) |
5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | NA | 11 | 8 | 11 | 11 |
The Bottom Line: Overall an affordable drive with good DVD writing speeds.
Sudarshana Mishra