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External features:::…

The DVD media comes in jewel cases or on spindles.

In this case I received the DVD+R and DVD+R DL in jewel cases shrink wrapped and packaged in a box.

The Rewritable’s came on a spindle.

Here’s a view of the DVD’s themselves. None of this range has inkjet-printable faces.

The DVD+R DL has a slight different layout, all of the DVD’s have ample labeling room.

Benchmarking:::…

Test System:

• AMD Athlon 3000 XP
• 1024 MB DDR Memory
• Asus A7V8X Main board
• Windows XP SP2
• Sony DRU700A Firmware: VY06

Nero v6.3.1.25

Nero is the well known burning software by Ahead.

The speed of the DVD+R should have been higher, were it not that the Sony didn’t recognize the speed of the media.

It needs a new firmware to support this 16x DVD+R.

KProbe v2.4.2

KProbe is a testing tool or DVD Media Quality testing software.

The program produces scans of the PI and the PO of the DVD media, which in turn show the quality of the DVD media.

DVD+R DL

DVD+R

DVD+RW

This shows that the amount of PI and more importantly the amount of PIF errors are very low.

This means that the quality of the DVD media is very good and ensures the media will last longer and retain the data better.

The single spikes in the scans are specks of dust or smudges on the media, making the scan area harder to read.

You can see at the scan of the DVD+R DL where the layer transition lies, a big spike marks the spot.

PI – PIF Explained

Before I started this review, I didn’t really know much about the tests involved with testing DVD media.

I asked around for information and Michael “SirQuk” at CDR-Zone.com was very helpful with providing me info on these tests.

This is taken from the ECMA standard:

A row of an ECC Block that has at least 1 byte in error constitutes a PI error. In any 8 consecutive ECC Blocks the total number of PI errors before correction shall not exceed 280.

A row is 182 bytes long where the last 10 bytes contain PI (Parity Inner) information. An ECC block is 208 rows long where the last 16 rows contain the PO (Parity Outer) information. This gives us a maximum possible PI error amount of 208 errors per block and for 8 blocks after each other this sum is of course 8 times higher giving a maximum possible amount of 1664 PI errors.

If a row of an ECC Block contains more than 5 erroneous bytes, the row is said to be “PI-uncorrectable” or PIF (Parity Inner Failures).

In any ECC Block the number of PI-uncorrectable rows should not exceed 4.

So far for the EMCA standard, you can find more on this at http://www.ecma-international.org or at http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=80545

In some testing programs PIF or “PI uncorrectable” are also referred as PO (Parity Outer)

So basically these tests are the data parity or ECC checks for DVD media.

As for the values of PI and PIF:

Anything up till 280 PI is considered a good quality disc, 350-400 PI can still be ok and anything above those values is considered bad.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the media is classed as unreadable, there are reports of some writers/players still able to read discs with 1200 PI, but the quality of that media is terrible.

10 PIF and below means it a good quality disc, anything above 32 PIF is unreadable.

DVDInfoPro

DVDInfopro is like K-probe, it measures the quality of the DVD Media.

Here are the surface scans of the DVD Media.

DVD+R DL

DVD+R

DVD+RW

The pictures tells it all, as you can see no surface errors at all.

I used the DVD writer and DVD-ROM player of a different system to do the surface scans, to see if any errors would popup.

Strangely enough I had to scan the DVD+RW in the DVD-ROM player, because the DVD writer kept reporting the error that the DVD was empty.

Compatibility:::…

Of course there remains the compatibility issue.

Some DVD-ROM players and writers can’t recognize the media when it’s inserted.

As you can see no real problems with playing the media.

These numbers don't necessarily tell much of a tale when viewed alone, but we will add more results from additional media tests as we get them done over the coming months.

Conclusion

The 3DVelocity "Dual Conclusions Concept" Explained: After discussing this concept with users as well as companies and vendors we work with, 3DVelocity have decided that where necessary we shall aim to introduce our 'Dual Conclusions Concept' to sum up our thoughts and impressions on the hardware we review. As the needs of the more experienced users and enthusiasts have increased, it has become more difficult to factor in all the aspects that such a user would find important, while also being fair to products that may lack these high end "bonus" capabilities but which still represent a very good buy for the more traditional and more prevalent mainstream user. The two categories we've used are:

The Mainstream User ~ The mainstream user is likely to put price, stock performance, value for money, reliability and/or warranty terms ahead of the need for hardware that operates beyond its design specifications. The mainstream user may be a PC novice or may be an experienced user, however their needs are clearly very different to those of the enthusiast, in that they want to buy products that operate efficiently and reliably within their advertised parameters.

The Enthusiast ~ The enthusiast cares about all the things that the mainstream user cares about but is more likely to accept a weakness in one or more of these things in exchange for some measure of performance or functionality beyond its design brief. For example, a high priced motherboard may be tolerated in exchange for unusually high levels of overclocking ability or alternatively an unusually large heat sink with a very poor fixing mechanism may be considered acceptable if it offers significantly superior cooling in return.

The Mainstream User ~

This media is of good quality and ensures the mainstream user of a good write.

The mainstream user might not have the latest equipment to burn it at the fastest speed, but if the user does get a faster writer, the media is there to support it.

Due to the good quality of the media, data preservation is guaranteed to be longer.

	NA

The Enthusiast ~

Again here, the media is of good quality and ensures the enthusiast of a good write too.

The enthusiast user now has the media to support the writes the enthusiast has, burning at the fastest possible way.

Here goes the same, data preservation is guaranteed to be longer.

	NA

Conrexx strives to maintain a good relationship between them and the press. This way they get the most and the best feedback from the consumers and continue to improve their products. This positive attitude shows Conrexx was extremely helpful in helping me write this review.

I would like to thank Floris Evers of Conrexx for helping me out with the information I needed. Also I would like to thank Michael “SirQuk” at CDR-Zone.com for the tremendous help he gave me.

We're always looking for ways to make our reviews fairer. A Right To Reply gives the manufacturer or supplier of the product being reviewed a chance to make public comments on what we've said. They can explain perhaps why they've done the things we were unhappy with or blow their own trumpet over the things we loved. It's easy for us to pick a product apart but sometimes things are done a certain way for very specific reasons.

Should Ritek decide to exercise their "Right To Reply", we'll publish their comments below: