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Cranberry Offers up DVDs that will Last 1,000 Years

Justin Kerr — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:44:48 -0600

Most people don't really think about it, but optical media, particularly the stuff you burn at home has a limited shelf life. Worse yet, depending on the quality of the disk, its probably a lot less than you might think. This is but one of many reasons why DVDs typically make lousy long term backups, that is of course, unless you have a burner from a new startup company called Cranberry. Its new optical technology called "DiamonDisk" claims to have a useable life of more than 1,000 years, or to put it in layman's terms, about 900 more than any of us would care about.

The durability of the disk is apparently a result of the media itself containing no dye layers, or adhesives / reflective materials that will deteriorate. Data is also said to be etched far more deeply into the disk using its proprietary burner. Currently a drive will set you back about five grand, but just in case you find this a bit extreme, you can also upload your data to the company's website and let them burn it for you.

Anyone considering this for a time capsule might also want to toss in a drive for good measure. 1,000 years from now a DVD is likely to be about as useable as an 8-track. Lets just hope they still use USB!

DVD Rip Challenge: 12 Popular Drives Put to the Test

Katherine Stevenson — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:30:00 -0500

Which DVD Drive is the Fastest Disc Ripper? Our test of 12 popular drives proves you can’t predict performance based on the specs

Whether you’re copying your movie discs to your hard drive for archival purposes or queuing them up in HandBrake for a batch transcode, your optical drive’s performance can make a big difference in time spent on this menial chore. The trouble is, there’s no obvious way of knowing which optical drive will do the job fastest.

The optical drive spec that gets the most attention is the DVD+/-R write speed. It’s the spec that’s prominently featured on the packaging and often even integrated into the drive’s name. But if you assume that the newest drive with the fastest-rated write speed will also kick butt at copying the contents of your movie discs to your hard drive, you’re mistaken.

For this task, read speed is what matters. But even knowing that, you can’t judge a drive’s real-world performance at copying video files simply by looking at its read specs. Not only do the specs indicate maximum capability as opposed to average speed, but a drive’s read time with video files can differ from its read time with data files. To find out which is the fastest drive for DVD copiers, we grabbed a bunch of DVD drives, a copy of Batman Begins, and got ripping.

The Test

We gathered up the most popular DVD burners on Newegg.com, including Samsung’s SH-S223 (our current Best of the Best pick), Plextor’s 850SA, LG’s GH22LS30 (reviewed on page 86), and Lite-On’s iHAS422 —all brand-new 22x drives from those vendors. We also tossed in a couple Blu-ray burners and even added a couple ancient DVD drives to the mix for good measure. Our objective was to test each drive’s speed at copying a commercial video DVD’s VOB files to hard disk. We didn’t want OS or application clutter on the hard drive to have any bearing on the optical drives’ performance, nor did we want the speed of the hard drive to be an issue, so we copied the video files to a clean 10,000rpm Western Digital 300GB Velociraptor.

AnyDVD first removes the CSS encryption from a movie disc so you can easily copy the contents to your hard drive.

In each instance, we reformatted the Velociraptor drive, rebooted, then used AnyDVD’s disc ripping tool to copy the contents of a pristine double-layer DVD movie disc to the hard drive, and timed the operation. We then checked that the resulting file matched the size of the original disc. We recorded the average time of three runs.

The Results

Benchmark Results

Drive	Average Copy Time of 7.18GB DL Movie Disc (min:sec)
Samsung SH-S223	15:26/8:13*
Plextor PX-850SA	10:43
Lite-On iHAS422	10:16
Lite-On DH-20A4P	10:22
Sony-NEC AD-7200A	10:38
Pioneer DVR-116DBK	10:03
LG GH22LS30	20:24
Asus DRW-2014	15:14
LG GBW-H20L (Blu-ray drive)	15:19
Sony BWU-300S (Blu-ray drive)	20:23
Sony DDU1612 DVD-ROM (2003)	15:28/15:37*
Pioneer DVD-106S (1999)	16:19

*Time after firmware patch.

The results were enlightening. Pioneer’s DVR-116DBK drive took the prize with an out-of-the-box rip average of 10:03 (min:sec). A number of the other DVD burners performed comparably, with rip times of less than 11 minutes. But we observed some notable variance. LG’s new GH22LS30 drive, for instance, was one of the slowest drives at the task, taking twice as long as many of the others to copy the movie to hard disk. Interestingly, LG’s GBW-H20L Blu-ray drive was speedier than its standard DVD kin. In general, Blu-ray drives don’t feature the best DVD specs, so we expected those drives to lag behind the others in DVD reads—only Sony’s Blu-ray drive did.

Another surprise our testing uncovered was the lackluster performance of the Samsung’s SH-S223, which performed superbly in our standard optical drive benchmarks when we reviewed the drive in February. It all just goes to show you that you can’t judge a drive’s ability at copying discs based on its specs or performance in other areas.

Hacking the Firmware

One way to get improved performance from an optical drive is to hack its firmware—assuming a hack for your model exists. For instance, we caught wind of a firmware hack for Samsung’s SH-S223 drive on the CD Freaks forum. The forum discussion blamed a feature called Riplock for the drive’s relatively pokey read speed. According to the posts, Riplock is a concession to the movie studios in that it slows down disc rips in order to make the practice less appealing to consumers. (As of this writing, Samsung would not comment on Riplock.)

The forum thread included a link to Codeguys.rpc1.org, a repository of firmware patches for numerous LiteOn and Samsung optical drives, including the SH-S223. Often a firmware patch is a simple executable that, when launched, identifies your optical drive and updates it. The patch for the SH-S223 is actually a utility that lets you modify Samsung’s own latest firmware by offering a list of third-party features you can pick and choose from. One option was to remove Riplock from the firmware, so we tried that. But our drive performed exactly as before, taking more than 15 minutes to rip the movie disc. Next we tried patching the firmware with the option to increase the SH-S223’s dual-layer DVD read speed to 16x (from the official speed of 12x). This patch made a huge difference. Our movie disc copying time was cut almost in half to 8:13, surpassing all the other drives in this roundup.

A firmware hack helped the Samsung SH-S223 save face, although it voids the drive’s warranty.

Of course, we checked to verify that the file produced after the hack contained the same data as the file produced by the unhacked drive. (It did.) We also went a step further and tested the hacked Samsung with a well-worn Netflix DVD replete with minor nicks, smudges, and scratches, and the drive’s speedy performance held up. Again, it copied the disc in just a little over eight minutes and the file it produced was the same size as the file produced by the slowest DVD drive in the bunch. Still, it’s important to note that hacking a drive’s firmware does void the warranty.

Codeguys.rpc1.org also has a firmware patch for the Sony DDU1612 DVD-ROM in this roundup that purportedly increases the drive’s read speed, although in our tests, the patch did nothing to change the drive’s performance. We are unaware of any third-party firmware hacks for the other drives we tested.

The Data Difference

We got to wondering if there was any difference in a drive’s performance when copying video files to a hard drive versus transferring data files. After querying drive vendors and also running our own tests, we found that there’s no pat answer. Plextor reps, for example, said video transfers would take longer due to processes involved with codecs, region restriction removal, CSS matters, etc., but when we tested the Plextor drive using a data disc made from the same video files of our earlier test, there was virtually no difference in transfer times. On the other hand, LG’s GH22LS30, which was woefully slow at video rips, took half the time (10:52) to copy the data. And yet LG’s Blu-ray offering, the GBW-H20L, took slightly longer to copy data (16:24).

Asus reps told us there’s no difference between data and video reads and our experience with the Asus drive bore that out. Samsung reps wouldn’t comment on the matter, but our hacked SH-S223 was just as speedy with data as it was with video copying.

In the end, we decided that the only way to know for sure how fast a drive is at copying movies or data is to test it. Going forward, all of our optical drive reviews will include benchmarks for both.

Lite On 4x Blu-ray Triple Writer DH-4B1S

Katherine Stevenson — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:26:27 -0500

Lite On’s new drive may sport a faster 4x BD-R write rating, but it performs worse than its 2x kin.

It doesn’t matter a lick to us that Blu-ray has prevailed in the high-def format war if the hardware remains expensive and uninspiring. We have to admit, we thought the tide was turning when we reviewed LG’s GGW-H20L Blu-ray burner back in December. That drive represented a dramatic price drop (falling to $500 from its predecessor’s $1,200 price tag in a matter of months—and now settled at $400 MSRP), and its 6x rating for BD-R media resulted in burn times we could actually live with (22.5GB in a little over 20 minutes).

Sadly, Lite On has not followed LG’s lead. True, the company’s latest Blu-ray burner is cheaper than the Lite On LH-2B1S we reviewed in July 2007 ($450 vs. $600) and has a faster BD-R write rating (4x vs. 2x), but we’re not the least bit moved by these changes. For starters, the new DH-4B1S is still more expensive than the aforementioned LG GGW-H20L, and its “improved” BD-R rating has actually made burning to that media slower! It took us 48:00 (min:sec) to burn 22.5GB to a single-layer disc. Certain this was a mistake, we ran the test again—for a time of 48:14! (With the 2x Lite On drive, this very task took just 46:14.) The DH-4B1S was actually faster burning to BD-RE media—where it’s rated at just 2x—writing 22.5GB to a rewriteable disc in 46:12.

With such pathetic Blu-ray performance, it might seem moot to discuss the DH-4B1S’s other attributes, such as DVD burn times, but here you have it: The drive is rated at 12x for DVD+R single-layer discs; in our tests, it wrote 4.38GB of data to that media in 7:09 (min:sec). That’s a decent time, but LG’s GGW-H20L, which is rated at 16x, took just 5:40 to complete this task.

Like all the Blu-ray burners we’ve ever tested, the DH-4B1S comes bundled with a collection of CyberLink applications for backup, copying, playback, and authoring chores. We can’t hold the drive responsible, but we’d appreciate CyberLink’s software more if it weren’t so twitchy.

Aesthetically, the drive is pretty standard, although it does sport an LED strip across its front that signifies drive operation and whether it’s working with CD, DVD, or BD media. The DH-4B1S smartly sports a SATA interface.

We always expect technology to progress by leaps and bounds, but a drive such as this makes us feel like Blu-ray is at a standstill.

Lite-On 20A4PU EZ-Dub Optical Drive

Katherine Stevenson — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:05:33 -0500

One of the most obvious differences between an external optical drive and its internal brethren is in appearance. A device that’s going to sit out in the open for anyone to see, after all, has to look the part. Lite-On’s latest EZ-Dub optical drive accomplishes this with a fashionable white and black aesthetic that would surely do Apple proud. It’s an update from the more staid look of the previous EZ-Dub model, which was also nearly two inches longer and a half-inch taller. As with the older model, this EZ-Dub comes with a stand, so you can set the drive on its side to save desktop space.

Another distinction of external drives is convenience. The EZ-Dub connects to a PC via USB and is ready to go with you anywhere. Lite-On also equips the drive with two touch-sensitive buttons to make common optical chores easier: a Dub button for disc-to-disc copies and a File button for backing up files to a disc. Pressing the button automatically launches the bundled EZ-Dub software, and then it’s just a couple steps to completing the aforementioned tasks. In the end, it saves a bit of time, but these tasks aren’t all that laborious when you use the traditional means: The drive also comes bundled with the Nero 7 Essentials package.

Of course, what should matter most about any optical drive is its performance. The EZ-Dub is rated for 20x DVD+R write speeds, just like the Samsung SH-S203 that we’ve been recommending for many months. But Lite-On’s drive took a full minute longer than Samsung’s to write 4.38GB to a single-layer DVD+R (6 minutes vs. 5 minutes). And when writing to a double-layer disc, Lite-On’s drive took 17:56 (min:sec) to Samsung’s 13:10. Still, these scores are solid, if not stellar—and if what you’re after is an external drive solution, Lite-On’s EZ-Dub is a credible choice.

LG GGC-H20L

Katherine Stevenson — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:59:24 -0600

So your DVD burner is getting a little long in the tooth and you’re ready for an upgrade, but you’re not all that keen on adopting next-gen tech. And who can blame you? Even the falling price of hardware doesn’t make up for the relatively slow burn times, costly media, and compatibility issues that plague Blu-ray burners (and the same would be true of HD DVD burners if you could even find them!). Trouble is, you’ve got a brand-new 27-inch LCD that’s just begging to display high-def movies. What’s a consumer to do? Well, you could buy a combo drive—one that lets you read next-gen discs and write data to fast, friendly CD and DVD, like the two models we review this month.

For just $20 more than Asus’s drive, LG’s GGC-H20L lets you read both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs—a luxury that’s well worth the extra cost of admission. The GGC-H20L also affords you slightly better DVD burning performance.

Rated at 16x for DVD+/-R writing, LG’s GGC-H20L bested Asus’s drive by filling a single-layer DVD+R in 5:51 (min:sec). And its random and full-access times were much lower when reading the disc (100/178ms versus 167/349ms), as was its CPU usage at 8x speed (24 percent versus 43 percent). But when it came time to write to double-layer and rewriteable DVD media, LG’s drive was just as ho-hum as Asus’s. The GGC-H20L took 27:28 to write 7.96GB to DVD-DL and 15:01 to write 4.38GB to DVD-RW.

Still, we’ll gladly take the HD DVD compatibility and faster DVD+/-R writes for a few extra bucks. Like the Asus drive, the GGC-H20L offers a SATA interface, a CyberLink bundle, and a simple, black face plate, so what’s there to lose?

Asus BC 1205PT

Katherine Stevenson — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:57:05 -0600

With Asus’s BC-1205PT you get to read high-def discs, but only if they’re of the Blu-ray variety, so you’ll want to have a strong affinity for that format (and its affiliated movie studios) to take the plunge. Because while you do save money by forgoing the ability to write to Blu-ray, the BC-1205PT still isn’t cheap. It’s a couple hundred dollars more than a high-performance standard DVD drive, and its DVD burn performance is far from top-notch.

The BC-1205PT is rated at 12x for DVD+/-R write speeds—a good deal slower than today’s top DVD burners, now at 20x, and not surprisingly, burn times take a hit. It took us 7:12 (min:sec) to fill a single-layer DVD+R with the BC-1205PT, compared to the 5 minutes flat it took our favorite drive, Samsung’s SH-S203B (reviewed October 2007). Burning to a double-layer DVD, the Asus drive maintained a 3.96x average speed and filled the disc in 27:09, more than twice the time it took our Samsung. Only when burning to DVD-RW media did the Asus and Samsung perform on par, writing 4.38GB to a single-layer disc at 15:07 and 14:31, respectively. When reading data from all of our test discs, Asus’s drive had notably slower seek times than both the Samsung and the LG GCC-H20L reviewed here.

Middling performance aside, the BC-1205PT offers a SATA interface, the CyberLink BD Solution suite for playback and burning chores, and a simple, black face plate.

Plextor PX-810SA

Katherine Stevenson — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 13:36:02 -0500

Ever since Plextor stopped manufacturing the PX-755SA DVD burner, we’ve been on the hunt for a worthy replacement. We loved the Plexy’s SATA interface, so we’re not settling for anything less going forward. (It’s just plain foolish to opt for a drive with an oversized, outdated parallel connector when SATA models are available.) Since SATA drives from Lite-On and Asus failed to win us over in the August issue, we corralled a couple new contenders, including Plextor's new PX-810SA.

We were a little perturbed to find that the PX-810SA doesn’t come with a SATA cable; it’s a negligible expense, but seeing as this is one of the more expensive DVD burners we’ve tested of late, the cable really should be included (as it has been with other drives). The PX-810SA boasts a DVD+R write rating of 18x, so it’s not surprising that it took almost a full minute longer than Samung’s drive to write 4.38GB of data to a single-layer disc (5:57). But Plextor’s drive also fell behind the 18x Asus drive we reviewed in August in both read and write speeds (see chart below).

The PX-810SA regained its composure somewhat when burning to double-layer media. It took 15:37 to fill a DVD+R DL disc, which is faster than the Lite-On and Asus drives we reviewed in August but not up to the speed of Samsung’s burner. The drive also fell within the middle of the pack with DVD+RW burn times of 15:12.

The bundled EasyMediaCreator 9 is a nice addition, but it’s not enough to bridge the gap between this drive’s average burn speeds and its premium price.

Samsung SH-S203B

Katherine Stevenson — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:05:58 -0500

Samsung’s DVD burner didn’t waste any time strutting its stuff: In our first burn test, in which we fill a single-layer DVD+R disc, the SH-S203B turned in a time of 5:00 (min:sec) flat. That’s a Lab record, folks, and proof that the burner’s 20x DVD+R write rating pays off. We saw a similarly speedy score of 5:06 from the Lite-On 20x burner we reviewed in August, but only when we used pricey, hard-to-find Taiyo Yuden media. With Verbatim media, that drive’s 5:49 burn time doesn’t even come close to Samsung’s.

We expected great things from Samsung’s double-layer performance as well, given its 16x write rating for DVD+R DL. And sure enough, the burner blew away the competition by writing 7.96GB of data to a disc in 13:10—that’s a good four minutes faster than any other drive we’ve tested. The SH-S203B turned out a time of 14:31 when writing 4.38GB to a DVD+RW disc—a respectable showing for rewriteable media.

Based on performance alone, we’re smitten with the SH-S203B, but Samsung sweetens the deal further with 48x CD-R burn speeds, support for DVD-RAM, and a host of Nero apps, including Nero Express 7, Nero BackItUp, and Nero Recode. Looks like we’ve found ourselves a new fave.