DVD burners have become very popular because they are the most flexible and capable multifunction devices. They can read and write CDs, and also read and write DVDs. This year, most manufacturers have come out with new DVD burners rated at 16x speeds. In this review we will take a look at 10 of them: the Asus DRW-1604P, BenQ DW-1620, LG GSA-4160B, Lite-On SOHW-1633S, NEC ND-3500A, Philips DVDRW-1640P, Pioneer DVR-A08XLA, Samsung TS-H552B, Sony DRU-710A and TDK 1616N.
These drives are similar in many respects. For DVD-R, all manufacturers have gone with multi-format, and even diehard Philips has moved into the world of compatibility.
Write speeds also don't differ much from one burner to the other. Maximum speeds are 16x in DVD-R and DVD+R mode, 4x for DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD+R DL (also called DVD+R9), 48x for CD, and 32x for CD-RW. 24x is still the most often used speed. Read speeds are 16x for DVD and 48x for CD.
As we mentioned in our earlier comparison , 16x will be as high as burning speeds will go for DVD. For dual layer technology, on the other hand, speeds will continue to increase. To understand how dual-layer works, click here .
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Please report noise levels in optical drive reviews. This is a big factor in which drive to buy for some people. My current DVD burner sounds like a jet engine for 5 minutes after putting a disc in.
