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Double layer DVD-ReWriter and Drive: Double Layered DVD Drives

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

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.

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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

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