Released by Computing Which?:
Burning Desire To Get Organised? - Computing Which? puts DVD Burners to the test
Despite some real breakthroughs in the world of DVD burners, choosing the right model could leave brains frazzled warns a Computing Which? report (published today, 29 June 2004) that tested the lasted drives.
Ideal for storing up to seven times as much information as a CD, DVDs are ideal for making large-scale back-ups and emergency copies of software.
But as Computing Which? found, buying a DVD burner isn’t straightforward. Packaging can be deceptive, manufacturers’ claims about speed can be misleading and using the right media to get the best from a burner is essential.
When it came to packaging, the magazine found that three of the tested drives which looked to be distinct, and from rival manufacturers, were in fact all made NEC, despite a price difference of £50. A close inspection revealed that despite minor cosmetic differences and new ‘firmware’, two of the burners were ‘rebadged drives’. Interestingly, this did not mean all three drives performed similarly in practice – the rebadged versions performed significantly worse than the NEC ‘original’. Consumers need to be aware of the practice of rebadging which can be misleading given the difference in price.
Also criticised were the speed claims made by manufacturers, as more often than not they bore little resemblance to reality, with drives in the test consistently failing to achieve the speeds claimed by their maker. All of the internal drives claimed to write DVD+R 8x but when tested, the best performing drive in this category could only achieve a write speed of 6.3x.
People will also have to buy the correct type of media for any of the faster 8x drives to live up to their full potential. For example, to get the most from an 8x burner, it’s necessary to use 8x discs. Unfortunately, when new generation burners are first released, the appropriate media is often not readily available.
Jessica Ross, Editor of Computing Which? said:
“For consumers to get the best from their DVD burner they need to know just what it is they are buying. Manufacturers need to start stating the facts as they are.
“They also need to ensure consumers can get their hands on the appropriate media for the burners. There’s no point selling 8x drives if there’s no way of getting the discs to use the burner to its full capacity
“There have been some real breakthroughs in the world of DVD burners. Manufacturers are clouding these successes by failing to tell consumers the whole truth.”
Overall…
One of the biggest surprises of the test was the lightening speed of the external drives. Good news for anyone not wanting to go rooting around inside their computers. With an overall score of 79% the Iomega Dual DVD 8x (£127) was the test’s clear winner. The fastest drive for burning re-writable DVDs, it was also a snap to install and a good looking drive to boot.
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