I wanted to get a new DVD drive that I could write DVD with instead of depending on other people's tme or hardware. One of the things I'll use the DVD writer for is backups and file archives, that means the quality of disc burns have to be best and with as few flaws as possible. Wouldn't it suck to not be able to read back data 10 or 20 years from now just because your DVD writer didn't care to write the data sectors correctly?
After some initial research I found that the latest drive from NEC indeed was the best choice; NEC ND-3500A. But after a week I picked up on the research and found that BenQ had a drive that produced the best write quality over all, the DW-1620 PRO.
NOT PURCHASED, ONLY RESEARCHED
NEC is known for putting out great drives in the past, like and ND-2500 and ND-1300. Where I work, I almost decided to go for the latter one but bailed out and bought a Sony drive instead. The ND-3500 is in the new '16X' category and was introduced a few month back (July/August 2004). As of November 2004 only a hand full of 16X drives are available and just a few of them are worth buying untill better firmwares are released for the other drives.
Since I need a drive that was compatible with Mac and had reasonable writing quality, I've read up a few reports and benchmarks, all of which is listed below. The xlr8 Your Mac database was the most helpful site and I could easily check if the drive I was looking at worked corretly, i.e. booting from CD/DVD, iApp and Finder compatibility and particular problems with settings etc.
Also, the drive is easy to firmware hack and there are dozens of different hacked firmwares available.
Low values <picture here>
It's a good practice to not fill a DVD-/+R disc completely, just leave 1-1.5 GB free and the errors that might pop up at the end, or at the edge of the disc, won't affect the stored data.
ND-3500 is supposely quite good at writing at the edge of most discs and both PO (Parity Outer) (ruthless) and PI (Parity Inner) error correction values are relative low compared to other competing drives. The reason for the poor quality on the outer edge is frankly because the disc vibrates more when the distance from the center increases, and the burner needs to constantly calibrate the laser to cope with this. Some drives does this better than others and thats what distincts a good burner from a less perfect burner.
It's always smart to get the latest software updates for DVD writers as the newer versions usually add media codes and writing strategies for new discs. Some of the hacked firmwares include a special or extended media code list if the latest official one is doing a bad job.
cdfreaks.com NEC Forum [cdfreaks.com]
The BenQ drives were famous for beeing the best DVD+R drives around but untill recent the BenQ development team managed to conquer the DVD-R format too. Thus producing the finest DVD writers around thanks to the Walking Optimal Power Calibration (WOPC) system and the Tilt Control and Slideing Cone mechanism which constantly recalibrates and reposition the laser power to match the media surface perfectly.
The writing speeds are affected by the extra effort put into the writing quality, but I believe it makes more than enough up for it to prevent coasters.
Current fall 2004 drives:
There are only one hacked firmware I'm aware of, The Dangerous Brothers region-free firmware.
I've seen various people confirm that it's possible to cross flash several BenQ drives to the latest DW-1620 PRO firmware. Here's a list of a few BenQ and re-branded drives:
I used this procedure to crossflash a regular DW-1620 to a DW-1620 PRO. This should work for any other drive, i.e bulk version of DW-1620 with firmware GXXX. For the retail DW-1620 you can skip step 1-2.
Here's a list of media for the DW-1620 that's easy to get and has excellent quality. A good source for more quality media is the media thread over at cdfreaks.com
DVD+R
DVD-R
It's a good thing to avoid cheap quality 4x media because their getting old and the quality of the discs usually don't reflect the writing strategy of the firmware anymore.
cdfreaks.com BENQ Forum [cdfreaks.com]
Cdfreaks presents BenQ DW1620A review [cdfreaks.com]
Cdfreaks presents BenQ DW1620A thread [cdfreaks.com]
BenQ 1620/1620pro official firmware (B7T9) release thread [cdfreaks.com]
CDRLabs.com BenQ DW1920 Review [cdrhlabs.com]
B7P9 Media Code list thread [cdfreaks.com]
T9-BenQ's prefered media list [cdfreaks.com]
Firmware upgrade BenQ DW1620 [cdfreaks.com]
I later sold the 1620 Pro drive and bought the new BenQ 1640 Pro, it's essentially just an speed upgrade and with better cooling.
It's important to handle a DVD disc properly to avoid any long term damage. Here's a few hints how to store the disc.
DVD Write types [source]
DVD read and write ratings [source]
Single Layer(4.7GB) write speeds
Dual/Double Layer(8.5GB) write speeds
Single Layer (4.7GB) read speeds
PI/PO
Use this as a guideline for good discs [source]
Media Code
The media code is the identification of the disc maker (not the media brand), i.e. MCC (Mitsubishi Chemicals Corp), TY (Taiyo Yuden), CMC (CMC Magnetics, etc. For a media quality guide check out nomorecoasters.com.
Accelerate Your Mac! Compatibility chart [xlr8yourmac.com]
10 DVD Burners: 16x and Dual-Layer - or Nothing! [tomshardware.com]
Fall 2004 DVDR Roundup: Dual Layer and 16X DVD+R [andantech.com]
Videohelp.com DVD Writer list [videohelp.com]
Blank Media & Quality FAQ [nomorecoasters.com]
DVD Bitsetting [cdfreaks.com]