Optical storage: Feel the burn

It's been just over a year since our last CD writer group test and, understandably, technology has moved on quite a bit since then. All the CD writers we've looked at this month have a minimum 40-speed (40x) write capability, which equals a data transfer speed of 6Mbps.

This means that you can write a full 700MB CD in just over three minutes. CD-RW speed has also increased, and all of these drives can now write CD-RW discs at a minimum of 12-speed.

We even have a couple of faster drives on test this time round. So now you can store large amounts of data, of any sort, on reasonably cheap media in double quick time.

However, the major advance in optical storage has nothing to do with CD writers at all but with DVD writers. Last year we didn't do a group test of DVD writers as they were still new to the market. But this year they've made major inroads and are now a viable option for many people.

They're still expensive compared to CD writers, and are still far from being mainstream, but you can expect to find them retailing for less than £300. Just don't expect this year's batch of DVD writers to be speed demons.

It takes a good 25 minutes to write just over 3GB of data on one of these drives, whether it uses DVD-R or DVD+R. This is hopefully something that will change in the near future as hardware improves, but it's hard to see this technology taking off until DVD writers record at around twice the speed of today's products.

In this group test we've looked at nine of the latest CD writers as well as six DVD writers. As always, we've performed rigorous tests to check every aspect of how these drives are intended to be used, so read on to find out which drive burns white hot and which does not.

ASUS CRW-4816A
Previously we've seen some good CD writers from Asus, and the CRW-4816A doesn't disappoint. However, as we used an early hardware sample in our tests we had problems with the 40-speed Verbatim media, so we used the Asus supplied 48-speed disc.

The CRW-4816A wasn't that good in the mpeg4 test, but a firmware upgrade has been promised by the time you read this review. Software-wise you get Nero 5.5.8.0, which you can upgrade free at www.nero.com.

You also get InCD 3.23.1, a CD-RW package that is Mount Rainier compatible. Mount Rainier is an industry standard that allows you to do multiple writing sessions without formatting the whole disc first.

The CRW-4816A supports buffer underrun protection in the form of Flextralink, which works fine and is compatible with Nero. The drive also features a 2MB buffer, which is a bit lean but we didn't experience any problems.

Asus is one of the first companies to move on to Constant Angular Velocity (CAV) technology, which means the motor spins at a constant speed, with less noise and error correction than Zone Constant Linear Velocity (Z-CLV) drives. Overall this is a good drive, as long as Asus sorts out the firmware issues.

Price: £81.08 (£69 ex VAT)
Contact: Dabs.com 0870 429 3220
www.dabs.com
Pros: Very good performance
Cons: Some media compatibility problems
Overall: (4) A good drive that will get even better when the new firmware version is released.

LG GCE-8400B
LG's 8320B CD writer has been deposed by the GCE-8400B as our Best Buy. The GCE-8400B is a new generation of drive, featuring Partial Constant Angular Velocity (P-CAV) technology, allowing the drive to quickly and consistently achieve maximum write speed.

This is not quite as good as the CAV drives, but is better than Z-CLV. The error correction systems of both write and read drives must compensate for gaps created on discs written with Z-CLV technology, however this is not necessary when you use P-CAV technology.

The LG isn't the fastest drive on test here, but its overall performance is good. The only thing that could be improved is the time it takes to do a full format on a CD-RW.

LG has moved away from Roxio Easy CD Creator and is now using Nero instead. The CD writer comes with version 5.5.7.6, but can be upgraded for free.

Our one complaint is that the version of InCD supplied is not compatible with Windows XP. If you're an XP user you'll have to download the latest version for free before you can use InCD. You also get a 8MB buffer and Superlink buffer underrun protection, which works with Nero.

Price: £72.19 (£61.43 ex VAT)
Contact: www.komplett.co.uk
Pros: 8MB buffer; good price.
Cons: Need to upgrade InCD software to work with Windows XP.
Overall: (4) Good features and price make this a solid choice.

LITE-ON LTR-48125W
Lite-On is a newcomer to PCW CD-RW group tests. This is the second of two 48-speed CD writers this month, the other being the Asus drive. It is also the fastest drive on the CD-R write tests, although the Asus beat it on the CD-RW tests.

We experienced problems with both the Lite-On and the Mitsumi in the drag and drop test, as both drives were slow. However, the Lite-On did perform well in our read test so on the whole there is little to complain about.

Lite-On supplies a copy of Nero 5.5.8.0 as well as InCD 3.27.1. The LTR-48125W is also Mount Rainier-compatible and has a 2MB buffer. Buffer underrun protection comes in the shape of Smart-X, a Lite-On proprietary standard, and there were no incompatibilities with Nero.

Another Lite-On special feature is Smartburn, an automatic media detection feature that will slow down the drive if the media is not certified to be written at a particular speed.

Lite-On allows you to disable this feature in case the drive doesn't recognise your media. Just like the Asus, this is a CAV drive, which shows that Lite-On keeps up with the latest technology.

Price: £85.77 (£73 ex VAT)
Contact: Dabs.com 0870 429 3220
www.dabs.com
Pros: Very fast; media detection can be disabled.
Cons: More expensive than the Asus and not as fast on CD-RWs.
Overall: (4) A very good drive that just loses out against the Asus.

MEMOREX FORTYMAXX 1248AJ
Memorex, also a new name in our group tests, is probably more well-known for its blank media than its CD writers, even though it has been selling the latter for some time.

Memorex doesn't make its own drives and the one on test here is a rebadged Lite-On with a Memorex logo. This doesn't make it a bad drive, but it does make it slightly older than the one supplied by Lite-On.

The drive features Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) technology, a 2MB data buffer and Justburn buffer underrun protection. The biggest difference between the Memorex and most of the other CD writers on test is that it is the only one to come with a copy of Roxio Easy CD Creator - version 5.1.1.104a to be more exact.

Looking at the software supplied in this year's test, it's apparent that Easy CD Creator has lost significant ground to Nero, which is a more advanced package.

This is a slightly unexciting CD writer but it performs as we expected it to, apart from being slow in our drag and drop test. It is, however, fairly poor value at this price compared to most of the drives in this group test.

Price: £87.03 (£74.07 ex VAT)
Contact: Datec 01922 710 211
www.datecsys.co.uk
Pros: Does what it says on the box.
Cons: Pricey.
Overall: (3) No major ups or downs, but a fairly high price for a drive that doesn't offer anything extra.

MITSUMI CR485C-TE
Mitsumi did quite well in last year's CD writer group test, and it's good to see that it has kept up with advancing technology since then. This drive is the first 20-speed CD rewriter we've come across, albeit only on blank new CD-RW media. However, after you've written on a CD-RW once the drive will only write it at 12-speed thereafter.

The CR485C-TE features what Mitsumi calls Aegis write, which is its buffer underrun protection (Exaclink), laser optimisation and CD media check, which verifies the speed at which the media is certified to be written.

The drive also features a 2MB data buffer, which we feel is a bit on the low side, but we had no problems during our tests with buffer underruns.

This drive uses Z-CLV technology, and you get a copy of Nero 5.5.8.2 and InCD 3.28.1, which is Mount Rainier compatible, as well as a Mount Rainier reader for systems which are not fully compatible.

Overall this is a good, fast drive but, if you intend to use it for drag and drop, you'll want to download the latest firmware upgrade, as with the current version it didn't do too well in our tests.

Price: £62.27 (£53 ex VAT)
Contact: Dabs.com 0870 429 3220
www.dabs.com
Pros: Very fast on blank CD-RW media; cheap.
Cons: Some problems with our drag and drop test.
Overall: (4) As long as the problems we had are fixed in a future firmware updates, this is a good drive.

PLEXTOR PX-W4012TA/BLACK
Plextor is not only known in the industry as one of the top CD drive makers, but for producing firmware that prevented users from copying games. The company's CD writers have done well in past reviews but, sadly, this offering is behind the cutting edge, as it is still using Z-CLV technology.

While Plextor claims that this technology is superior to P-CAV and CAV, the latter appears to be currently taking a larger share of the market.

The use of Z-CLV technology means that the PX-W4012TA is not as fast as some of the other CD drives in this group test, but it is still more than fast enough for most users. The drive features a 4MB buffer and supports Burnproof buffer underrun technology.

The drive also supports Plextor's Powerrec and Varirec technologies. Powerrec checks the quality of the media used and controls the laser power, while Varirec is a utility you can use to tweak your audio CDs.

Copies of Nero 5.5.7.3 and InCD 3.20 are supplied with the drive, and it will support Mount Rainier in a future firmware upgrade once the standard has been ratified.

Price: £99.87 (£85 ex VAT)
Contact: Dabs.com 0870 429 3220
www.dabs.com
Pros: Feature-rich writer.
Cons: Too expensive for what it is.
Overall: (3) This drive doesn't really compete on price or performance.

SAMSUNG SW-240B
Samsung is not one of the top players in the optical storage market, although we see quite a few of its drives in our monthly PC group tests.

We have, however, become more and more impressed by its CD writers as they have progressed. The SW-240B comes with a distinctive new design, featuring a slightly rounded tray, which is a perfect match if you own a Samsung DVD-Rom drive.

But the Samsung doesn't really stand out from the crowd here. Overall performance was good, but not great. This drive features Z-CLV technology which seems to have fallen out of fashion lately in favour of P-CAV or CAV drivers. But the performance of the SW-240B is quite good, and it ends up beating the Plextor in most of the tests, which is impressive.

The software consists of a copy of Nero 5.5.7.8 as well as InCD 3.24, while the drive features an 8MB buffer as well as Justlink buffer underrun protection, plus the Justspeed media detection and laser calibration system to improve write quality.

Overall this is not a bad drive and it has a great price, but it's not competitive against the P-CAV and CAV drives on performance.

Price: £66.21 (£56.35 ex VAT)
Contact: www.komplett.co.uk
Pros: Cheap; matches Samsung's DVD-Rom drive.
Cons: Nothing special.
Overall: (4) A great buy at this price.

SONY CRX195A1
Sony might not be the most famous CD writer brand on the market, but it's a big player in the home electronics market. This drive differed in many ways from the others on test here, particularly in its software package from a company called BHA.

The main application is called B's Recorder Gold version 3.23. It looks nothing like any of the other applications we encountered and was initially slightly awkward to use. The packet writing software, which handles drag and drop functionality, is B's Clip version 3.24, which appears to be a modified version of InCD.

The CRX195A1 is a P-CAV drive with a 2MB buffer and features Powerburn buffer underrun protection, which was new to us.

Another unusual feature is that if you press the eject button for five seconds the drive will read CDs at 48-speed rather than 40-speed. This feature was a pleasant surprise to encounter and using it allowed us to gain 20 seconds in the mpeg4 copy test.

Overall this is a fairly speedy drive and we have no real complaints about it, apart from the unfamiliar, yet perfectly useful, software package.

Price: £75.20 (£64 ex VAT)
Contact: Scan 0870 755 4747
www.scan.co.uk
Pros: One of the faster drives on test.
Cons: Software package initially awkward to use.
Overall: (4) A quality drive from a well-known brand name.

TEAC CD-W540E
Teac is a household name in CD writers, and is well known for quality products. The CD-W540E is a Z-CLV drive which, up until recently, was the most common CD writer technology around. The main issue we had with this drive was that it wouldn't write to CD-RW discs at 12-speed, even though we tried several different brands of certified 12-speed media, including the one supplied in the box.

We even upgraded the drive firmware to the latest version, but in the end we had to test the drive at 10-speed instead, which meant that the results were not as good as they could have been. The CD-W540E is a good drive, but it had the potential to do better.

The Teac makes use of Sanyo's superior Burnproof buffer underrun technology, although Teac has named it Writeproof. The drive also has a 8MB buffer to further prevent buffer underruns.

You get a copy of Nero, in this instance version 5.5.7.7, as well as InCD 3.23. The drive is Mount Rainier compatible, but the included version of InCD is not. You can upgrade to the latest version at www.nero.com.

Price: £76.37 (£65 ex VAT)
Contact: Dabs.com 0870 429 3220
www.dabs.com
Pros: Fast in the read tests; good price.
Cons: Unable to write to CD-RW media at 12-speed.
Overall: (3) Not as impressive as Teac's past offerings, but this could be fixed in a future firmware upgrade.

HEWLETT PACKARD DVD200I
You could be forgiven for thinking that the DVD200i is just another HP CD writer, as it looks identical, apart from the small DVD+R/+RW logo on the front. But don't let this fool you, as it comes with all the functionality you'll need in a DVD writer.

The drive is similar to the rest of the 2.4-speed DVD+R/+RWs. This means you'll get similar performance from this drive when compared to the other DVD+ drives on test. HP has gone for its own software, which will suit novice users as it's straightforward to use, but if you're an advanced user it may frustrate you fairly quickly as you can't enable the advanced options.

To do this you'll have to buy an online upgrade from Veritas, which is a bit of a shame, as all the other drive manufacturers supplied fully featured writing software.

On the other hand the HP Drive Letter Access (DLA) software for packet, or drag and drop, writing is easy to use.

Another plus is the software packages that are included: Sonic MyDVD, Power VD and HP Simple Backup. If you're a novice user this is the drive to go for, but if you want more control you'll have to fork out for additional writing software.

Price: £363.07 (£309 ex VAT)
Contact: Dabs.com 0870 429 3220
www.dabs.com
Pros: Easy to use.
Cons: No advanced options; fairly expensive.
Overall: (4) A great drive for the novice user, although it lacks any advanced features.

MEMOREX DVD RECORDER 100
The Memorex DVD Recorder 100 is a Ricoh drive in disguise. In all respects, aside from a few labels, it's identical to its competitors.

However, Memorex has supplied a different software bundle, which includes a copy of Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 and Roxio Videopack 5. A critical thing to note here is that our model was supplied with a version of Easy CD Creator that doesn't support DVD+R/+RW, a big omission if you're buying a DVD+R/+RW drive.

We had to download the latest patch from Roxio's website to bring the software up to date. We have to question how Memorex expects customers without an internet connection to use the drive. Another letdown is that Memorex doesn't supply any media with the drive, even though it is a media company.

Like the Ricoh, the Recorder 100 features a 2MB buffer and Justlink buffer underrun protection. Performance is on a par with the other Ricoh clone drives and, again, the read tests are identical while the write tests show a small performance difference. This drive is let down by its high price, as you don't get a lot for your money when compared to the Ricoh or Sony units.

Price: £351.32 (£299 ex VAT)
Contact:Scan 0870 755 4747
www.scan.co.uk
Pros: Roxio software if you like it.
Cons: Quite pricey compared to the Ricoh and Sony.
Overall: Not a bad drive, but nothing out of the ordinary.

PIONEER DVR-A04M
Pioneer was one of the first companies to make a DVD writer using the -R/-RW technology. Sadly, this technology hasn't progressed much and it's by far the slowest when it comes to writing blank discs.

Its major advantage over -Ram and +R/+RW technology is that it seems to be more compatible with a wider range of home DVD players. This makes it a more suitable choice if you plan to make your own DVD movies to share with family and friends.

CD writing performance wasn't great in our tests and we hope this issue will be addressed in Pioneer's next generation of drives. The DVR-A04 is not that different from its predecessor, the DVR-A03, except for the addition of buffer underrun protection.

On the plus side the price has dropped on the DVR-A04, which it makes it more appealing if you're after a compatible DVD writer and have patience when it comes to writing your data.

The reality is that DVD +R/+RW drives are a bit faster, but at the most there's only a couple of minutes difference between them. So you should look at what you're going to use the drive for, and go for the one that best suits your needs.

Price: £282.77 (£240.65 ex VAT)
Contact: www.komplett.co.uk
Pros: Widely compatible format; good price.
Cons: Slower than the rest on test.
Overall: (3) A great drive if you need to produce the most DVD player-compatible discs, but it's very slow.

RICOH MP5125A
As mentioned earlier, many of the DVD+R/RW drives in this group test are rebadged versions of this drive, which is mainly due to the fact that Ricoh is one of the few companies that actually manufactures DVD+R/RW drives.

The MP5125A is a basic drive, but it does the job without any fuss. It ships with a copy of Nero so, if you've used this before, you'll find it easy to work with. You also get InCD for packet writing, a copy of Winproducer for video editing and WinDVD for DVD playback. It's not the most remarkable software package, but it'll get you started.

Performance-wise it's not quite as fast as the HP on DVD+ media, but it's similar in the rest of the tests, performing the read tests identically.

As with all the other DVD+ drives here, it features Justlink buffer underrun protection and a 2MB data cache. This doesn't seem large on a drive of this type, but we didn't encounter any buffer underrun when testing.

On the plus side, Ricoh does supply two DVD+R, one +RW and one each of CD-R and CD-RW blank media discs, which is a good value bundle. In our view, this drive is aimed at the experienced user.

Price: £334.87 (£285 ex VAT)
Contact: Dabs.com 0870 429 3220
www.dabs.com
Pros: A well-rounded bundle at a good price.
Cons: None to worry about.
Overall: (4) The best DVD+R/+RW drive for the money, and it comes with a good bundle to get you started.

SONY DRU-120A
The Sony DRU-120A is the identical triplet to the Ricoh and the Memorex drives, but comes with a completely different software package. For starters the software supplied by Sony is similar to the packages it supplies with its CRX195A1 CD writer, as you get a copy of BHA's B's Recorder Gold and B's Clip.

On top of this you get a copy of Retrospect Express, Neo DVD Standard Edition and PowerDVD. This excellent package gives you a good start with both CD and DVD writing software, in addition to backup and VideoCD/DVD video editing software. But what you gain in one area you lose in another, as Sony only supplies a single blank DVD+RW disc.

The drive performed as we expected. It was faster than the Ricoh in the normal write tests, but a bit slower when it came to packet writing and formatting of media. The read performance of this drive was identical to both the Ricoh and the HP drive, which proves that all of these drives have the same guts, but different software and firmware to run them.

If you're a Sony fan you might buy this drive for the software bundle. But in performance terms there's little separating the two.

Price: £335.14 (£285.23 ex VAT)
Contact: Datec 01922 710211
www.datecsys.co.uk
Pros: Good software bundle.
Cons: Only one blank disc supplied.
Overall: (4) No great surprises here as this is a clone Ricoh drive, but it's a reasonable bundle for the money.

VIVASTAR RS-111
Vivastar is a new brand to cross our path and its silver-coloured RS-111 drive is actually a rebadged Matsushita (Panasonic) LF-D310 drive, which means it is a DVD-R/Ram drive with no CD writing capabilities. This is a letdown if you don't already have a CD writer or if you were considering throwing out your old one.

As for compatibility, DVD-Ram is not the most widespread DVD media type around, but the advantage of this rewritable media is its scratch-resistant plastic casing. The drive is capable of writing DVD-R, which makes it a compatible drive as far as DVD media is concerned.

The supplied software is Vivastar Recording, version 1.3. You also get drivers for the DVD-Ram aspect of the drive and a full copy of Powerdirector 2.0 Pro VE. Also supplied is a sample CD with video-editing software and other time-limited trial titles.

Sadly it's only a single-speed DVD-R writer, which makes it even slower than the Pioneer drive. Our biggest complaint about the RS-111 is the noise it produced while writing discs; it was noisier than any of the other drives we tested.

Price: £279.99 (£238.29 ex VAT)
Contact: Jungle 0870 727 1771
www.jungle.com
Pros: Very cheap for a DVD writer.
Cons: Slower than the Pioneer.
Overall: (3) A drive for those on a budget, but it might be worth splashing out a bit more.