Memorex 16x DDL-IN DVD Burner Review

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Review: Memorex 16X DDL-IN Reviewed by: crossg Provided by: Memorex Firmware: 1.A4 Manufactured: December 2005

Memorex were kind enough to send us their latest DVD Burner, the Memorex 16X DDL-IN for review. In this review we will be testing how the Memorex 16X DDL-IN performs with different media types.

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN supports 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 8x/6x DVD+R DL/DVD-R DL writing technology, allowing Double/Dual Layer discs of 8.5GB to be written. 

Company information: 

Let us take a look at some of the company information found at the Memorex website

Company History: Since Memorex burst onto the recording scene more than 30 years ago with "Is it live or is it Memorex?" a lot has changed. But with each generation, Memorex continues to remain one of the most widely recognized and respected names in the consumer electronics industry. By bringing to market the high performance products consumers demand, Memorex is a dominant brand in CD and DVD media, optical drives, flash drives and media accessories.

Today, Memorex brand products can be found in over 25 different countries across the globe. At home, in the United States, Memorex media products are carried in 21 of the nation's top 25 retailers, which represent more than 25,000 retail locations. As the number one retail provider of digital media, Memorex ships nearly a billion CD and DVD discs each year- enough to carpet the entire state of New York!

 Not just a media company, Memorex markets a wide range of products that consumers use to capture, save and share all facets of life, from music to memories. Other storage products offered by Memorex include the award-winning line of CD and DVD recorders, a fast growing line of USB flash drives, and a wide assortment of media cleaning, labeling, and organization products.

The Memorex brand continues to thrive, serving as the benchmark for lifelike sound and image reproduction. Is it live or is it Memorex? You decide.

Recordable Media
Memorex is the number one provider of digital media, outperforming all other brands of CD and DVD media. 2004 marked the fifth consecutive year in the CD category and third consecutive year in DVDs that Memorex led its U.S. competitors in all blank digital media, in both volume and sales.

Accessories
Memorex offers a complete line of media accessories, including CD and DVD labeling tools, storage cases, and cleaning products. With the widest assortment of media accessories, Memorex helps you protect and store your memories for years to come.

CD & DVD Drives
Memorex's CD and DVD drives have been recognized as the industry's best. Memorex drives have been named Editors Choice by PC Magazine, Editors Pick and Best Buy by PC World, and have consistently been included among the top brands of DVD burners by countless other consumer and technology publications.

Travel Drives
For consumers looking to keep important files, music, video or digital photos with them wherever they go, the Memorex family of TravelDrives offers sleek and stylish high performance storage in a flash drive small enough to fit on a keychain. Memorex TravelDrives are ideal for securely taking precious files between home, school, office, or anywhere in between.

If you are interested in reading more company information, please visit Memorex.

Drive specifications:

Technical Specifications

Write Specifications

System Requirements

What's inside the box?

On this page we will take a look at what the retail drive came shipped with and take a look at the drive and its technology.

The drive supplied was the retail version, and as we can see, we were supplied with the following:

• Memorex 16X DDL-IN drive
• Black bezel with silver tray
• 1 DVD+R 16x disc
• Nero 6.6.0.8 Memorex suite software disc
• 40 wire IDE cable, analogue audio cable
• Fixing screws
• Instruction booklets for Hardware and Software

Box front

Box rear

Box left and right

Box top

Now it's time to take a look at the drive itself:

Black bezel with silver tray

The bezel and tray of the Memorex 16X DDL-IN is uniquely styled with a silver tray and black bezel. On the tray we can see the 'Memorex" logo, a emergency eject hole, a single green coloured LED for read and write (we prefer a different LED colour though for writing) and an eject button.

Top

Label

On the top of the drive we found one label, and we can see that the drive was made in Malaysia, dated December 2005.

Underneath

RH side

LH Side

Rear

On the rear of the drive starting from the left, we can see a digital audio connector, analogue audio connector, jumpers for cable select, slave, and master; IDE connector, and finally the power connector.

Software Suite

Now it's time to take a look at the bundled software suite.

The main support disc

Installation screen splash for support disc

Bitsetting Update

 Memorex Suite (Nero) screen splash

As we can see from the above screenshot, the Memorex main support disc contains:

• Nero Express 6.6.0.8

• Nero InCD

• Nero BackITup

• Nero Showtime

• Nero Recode 2

• Nero Cover-Designer

• Nero Tool Kit

•  Photoshow Elite

• Nero Vision Express 3

But let us continue this review and see how the Memorex 16X DDL-IN really performs.

On the next page we will take a look at the test machine, the software, and the drive features…………

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Test machine:

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe

• Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz with Hyper Threading support

• RAM: 1 GB OCZ 4000 Dual Channel Gold

• GFX: ATI RADEON X850 XT PE. (AGP)

• Sound: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS

• Hard disk: 1X 120GB Maxtor

 System set-up:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN drive was connected as Primary Slave and identified itself as Memorex 16x-DDL-IN drive. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and autorun was enabled for all devices.

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Memorex 16X DDL-IN drive has a 2 MB buffer size. The drive came shipped with firmware version 1.A4.

Firmware Update:

Drive was shipped with firmware revision 1.A4. We checked Memorex's website and found there was no firmware update available at the time of the review.

Installed Software:

Windows XP Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

• Nero Burning ROM version 6.6.0.8
• Nero CD/DVD Speed V4.11
• Nero InfoTool v4.00
• Slysoft CloneCD v5.2.5.1
• Exact Audio Copy v0.95 beta 2
• K-Probe v2.5.1

Features and techniques:

Disc quality scanning: The Memorex 16x-DDL-IN supports PIE/PIF quality scanning with the use of Nero CD-DVD Speed.

Nero CD-DVD Speed Disc Quality Scan

Buffer underrun protection

The buffer underrun protection technologies offer a solution to prevent writing failures during the burning process for CD and DVD by pausing the burn if the data to the drive write buffer is slowed or stopped. The drive resumes the burn process after the drive write buffer is refilled.

Disc Writing Technology:

In the following tests, we take a look at the disc writing technology used by the Memorex 16X DDL-IN.

For these tests we simple burned a disc with Nero CD-Speed's 'create data disc" function.

CD-Recordable:

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48x. This gives an average write speed of 36.40x and as we can see, it took the Memorex 16X DDL-IN 3 minutes 3 seconds to write the disc.

 For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see
from the table, the Memorex 16X DDL-IN is one of the
fastest drives when it comes to writing CD-R's.

CD-Rewritable:

The
Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses Z-CLV
(Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write
CD-RW at its maximum speed of 32x, with an average write speed of 29.56x and a
total write time of 3 minutes and 24 seconds.

Below are
some other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer
DVR-110 uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW media at its maximum speed of
32x, with an average write speed of 24.90x and a total writing time of 4 minutes
and 3 seconds

The Samsung
SE-W164C uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RW media at its maximum speed of
32x, with an average write speed of 28.32x and a total writing time of 3 minutes
35 seconds.

For a better
overview we present the following comparison table:

As we can see
from the table, the Memorex 16X DDL-IN is among the
fastest drives when writing CD-RW's.

16X DVD+R writing speed:

The
Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at the maximum supported speed
of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.74x and a writing time of 6
minutes and 9 seconds.

16X DVD-R writing
speed:

The
Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at the maximum supported speed
of 16x. This gives an average write speed of 11.76x and a writing time of 6
minutes and 09 seconds.

Below are
some write graphs from some other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer
DVR-110 uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write
DVD-R at the maximum supported speed of 16x. This gives an average write speed
of 11.59x and a writing time of 6 minutes and 1 second.

The NEC 3540A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write
DVD+R at 16x. This gives an
average writing speed of 11.81x
and a writing time of 5 minutes and 58 seconds.

The Philips
DVDR16LS uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity) to write
DVD+R at 16x. The average speed is 11.33x and total writing time is 6 minutes
and 8 seconds. The average speed is lower and the writing time is higher than it
could have been due to the Walking OPC generation 2 using some time to
constantly adjust the writing quality, we could see this as constant dips in the
speed curve.

The LG
GSA-4163B uses P-CAV, (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at 16x. The average speed is
12.90x and total writing time is 5 minutes and 20 seconds.

Below, we
made a comparison table:

*1 '“ Actual
writing speed was max 14x due to USB-Bridge limitations.
*2 '“ Actual writing speed was max 13x due to USB-Bridge
limitations.

From the
table above, we can see that the Memorex 16X DDL-IN is about
average when it comes to burning DVD±R
media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

The Memorex
16X DDL-IN uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is
7.99x and total writing time is 8 minutes and 19 seconds.

Below are two
drives for comparison.

The Lite-On
SHW-16H5S uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is
7.74x and total writing time is 7 minutes and 35 seconds.

The Pioneer
DVR-110 uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is
7.81x and total writing time is 8 minutes and 43 seconds.

We made the
table below for easy comparison.

The Memorex
16X DDL-IN was about average when it came to writing DVD+RW at
8x.

6X DVD-RW writing speed:

The
Memorex 16X DDL-IN uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is
5.79x and the total writing time is 11 minutes and 09 seconds.

Below are
three other drives for comparison.

The Lite-On
SHW-16H5S uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is
5.83x and total writing time is 10 minutes and 55 seconds.

The Pioneer
DVR-110 uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write
DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 6.01x and the total writing time is 9 minutes
and 53 seconds.

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is
5.80x and total writing time is 11 minutes 6 seconds.

We present
the table below for easy comparison.

The Memorex 16X
DDL-IN According
to the table the drive is the slowest one when writing DVD-RW
media

8X DVD+R DL writing speed:

The
Memorex 16X DDL-IN supports 8x
writing speed on DVD+R DL media.

The
Memorex 16X DDL-IN used Z-CLV,
(Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write
the Verbatim DVD+R DL disc at 8x. The average speed was 6.56x and the total
writing time was 18 minutes and 42 seconds.

Below are
three other drives for comparison.

The Pioneer
DVR-110 uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 8x. The average speed is
7.00x and total writing time is 18:06 minutes.

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL media at 8x which gives an
average write speed of 6.55x and a total write time of 18 minutes and 40
seconds.

The BenQ
DW1640 uses P-CAV (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at its maximum speed of 8x.
This gives an average write speed of 7.32x and a total write time of 15 minutes
and 36 seconds.

6X DVD-R DL writing speed:

The
Memorex 16X DDL-IN used CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write the Verbatim DVD-R DL disc at 6x.
The average speed was 5.65x and the total writing time was 20 minutes and 48
seconds.

Below are
three other drives for comparison.

The Lite-On
SHW-16H5S used CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity) to write
the Verbatim DVD-R DL disc at 4x. The average speed was 4.02x and the total
writing time was 27 minutes and 32 seconds.

The Pioneer
DVR-110 uses Z-CLV, (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL at 8x. This gives an
average writing speed of 7.06x and a total write time of 17 minutes and 55
seconds.

The NEC
ND-4550A uses Z-CLV (Zone Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL media at 6x which gives an
average write speed of 5.67x and a total write time of 20 minutes and 41
seconds.

We present
the table below for easy comparison.

The
Memorex 16X DDL-IN was around
average when writing DVD±R DL
media

Book type (bitsetting):

The Memorex 16X DDL-IN supports
bitsetting with the use of Nero supplied with the drive and supports DVD+R/RW/DL
media with DVD-ROM book type.

 Bitsetting

Here is how
you could check if your discs are really written with DVD-ROM book
type:

Start Nero
CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info button and you should get the following
screen:

DVD+R DL with
book type DVD-ROM.

Another quick
test is to start Nero CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

This should
say DVD-ROM.

Now let us
take a look at the reading performance of the Memorex 16X DDL-IN on the nest page….

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Reading
performance:

For these
tests we will use Nero CD/DVD-Speed to read various CD and DVD's, including
audio discs and DVD-media. As already mentioned in the introduction, this drive
supports:

• DVD-ROM : 16x
• CD-ROM : 48x
  

Pressed
discs:

For this test
we used a pressed CD-ROM disc that is 70 minutes 46 seconds in length. Below you
will see the produced result:

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN reached 46.83x, and will reach
faster speeds on a full disc. Let's compare the result in the table below:

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN was better than average reading a
pressed CD-ROM.

CD-Recordable
Discs:

For this test
we made a copy of the original Pressed CD-ROM. The disc we used was a Ridata 48x
certified CD-R disc manufactured by Ritek. 

As we can see from the above
screenshot, the Memorex 16X DDL-IN
reached
46.04x when reading CD-R. This gives an average read speed of 34.81x.

Now let us
compare with the drives below.

Once again the
Memorex
16X DDL-IN was around average for reading
CD-R media,

CD-Rewritable discs:

Again, we made
a copy of the original pressed CD-ROM; this time we used a Verbatim Ultra Speed
(32X) CD-RW disc made by Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation.

As we can see
above, the Memorex 16X DDL-IN
will read
at 40x when reading CD-RW; now let us compare it to other drives
below.

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN is ranked with the fastest drives
at reading CD-RW's.

Audio '“
Digital Audio Extraction:

To test the
digital audio extraction performance of the Memorex 16X
DDL-IN,
again we used Nero CD/DVD-Speed to create the audio disc then measure the
transfer rate.

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN reached 39.95x when reading our
audio CD, let us compare the result with other drives:

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN performed below average reading
the Audio-CD.

For this test we used EAC (Exact
Audio Copy) to test the drives Audio extraction performance. As we can see from
the screenshot below, the drive supports accurate stream and C2 Error Info.

Below is the
results produced by EAC:

 Burst mode

Secure
Mode

Advanced
audio '“ DAE quality test:

Before we move
on to testing DVD read speeds, we will take a last audio test, and this time we
used the 'Advanced DAE Quality Test" feature in CD-Speed. For this test we used
a CD-R media from Ridata.

Although the
drive is not capable of reading lead in lead out the extracting quality is
excellent, and the drive performed flawlessly with this test, an excellent
result.

DVD reading
performance:

Again, we will use
Nero CD-Speed to measure the reading performance, this time for various types of
DVD discs. The drive should read pressed single layer DVD-discs at
16X.

DVD '“
DVD-Video:

For our DVD
reading performance tests we are going to start with a single and Double Layered
DVD video discs. While only 1X speed is required to watch DVD movies, it's
useful to be able to read the discs at higher speeds if you're going to extract
(rip) the content of the disc to your hard drive.

DVD-Video Single Layer

DVD-DL
Video:

DVD-Video Double Layer

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN is not riplocked and reads a
pressed DVD-Video at up to 16x for a Single Layer disc, and at 12x for a Double
Layer disc.

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN performed well with our SL
DVD-Video test. It was one of the fastest drives at reading a pressed SL
DVD-Video disc. With the Double Layer DVD-Video it performed around
average.

DVD '“
DVD+R(W):

For this test
we used a Verbatim 16X DVD+R and a Verbatim 8X DVD+RW with about 4.38GB of data.
Below are the results:

DVD+R

DVD+RW

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN performed above average when
reading DVD+R/RW media.

DVD '“
DVD-R/RW:

For this test
we used a Verbatim 16X DVD-R disc and a Verbatim 6X DVD-RW disc filled with
about 4.36GB of data. Our test results are found below:

DVD-R

DVD-RW

The
Memorex
16X DDL-IN once again performed above average
when reading DVD-R/RW media.

Overall
thoughts:

Overall
reading performance is above average.

But now
it's time to head on to a more interesting part: Writing CD-R and CD-RW
discs…

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The specifications of the Memorex 16X DDL-IN state that the drive is able to write CD-R discs at 48x and CD-RW at 32x. Let us find out how the drive really performs in speed and quality.

Writing Data CD-R discs:

For our data writing tests, we simply used the Nero CD-DVD Speed create data disc function. The screenshot below shows how long it takes to write a disc at the highest speed. (48x):

The drive took 3 minutes and 03 seconds to write the disc at 48x. Let us see how this compares to other drives in the table below:

Write Quality:

We will test CD-R discs from many different CD-R manufacturers. To really measure the write speed, we used the 'create data CD" function in Nero CD-Speed. The discs were written at the maximum speed that the drive supports. For the quality test, we used K-Probe 2 which is a tool developed by a Lite-On employee. It runs under Windows and works with drives made by Lite-On. Also note that different drives and different reading speeds may affect the results obtained when scanning the discs. We used a Lite-On SOHR-5239S drive with firmware 2S0B and scanned the discs at 48X speed.

A written CD-R disc will always have some C1 errors; C1 errors are easily corrected by the drive's error correction capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be corrected by most drive's error correction capabilities; they are not wanted on a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the best discs, or at least below 10.0 averages for good quality discs. After C2 errors, there are only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

Below are the obtained results:

Brand:	Fujifilm.
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	97m24s01f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Capacity:	79:59.72 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	40x (P-CAV)
Write Time:	3m:29s
C1 Average/Sec:	0.16
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

Media made by Taiyo Yuden have always had a good reputation and with the average C1 errors of 0.16 it goes into the group 'best quality discs" category. Highly recommended!

The result on this Verbatim Super AZO disc is very good. With a C1 error average of 0.24 this disc goes into our 'best quality disc" category. Highly recommended!

The Sony result is excellent. With a C1 error average of 0.93 this disc goes into our 'best quality disc" category. Highly recommended!

Brand:	Ridata
Manufacturer:	Ritek
Code:	97m15s17f
Disc Type:	CD-R
Recording Layer:	Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Capacity:	79:59.70 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	48x
Write Speed:	48x (CAV)
Write Time:	3m:03s
C1 Average/Sec:	1.77
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

The Ridata CD-R manufactured by RITEK, with its C1 average of 1.77 places this disc in our 'best quality disc" category.

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

Due to requests from our readers, we will add a few write quality tests with re-writable media. Settings and testing procedures are the same as used earlier in this review, so you may want to go back and read them if you are unsure. All discs used for these tests have been written to before, but none have been written to more than 5 times.

CD Re-Writable media:                                                                                                           

Brand:	Verbatim Ultra Speed 32x '“ Thanks to Verbatim USA for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	973425: 744300
Disc Type:	Ultra Speed CD-RW 32x
Recording Layer:	Phase Change
Capacity:	74:41.00 (703MB)
Certified Speed:	32x
Write Speed:	32x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	3m:24s
C1 Average/Sec:	1.66
C2 Average/Sec:	0.0

With a C1 average of 1.66 this places this Verbatim media in our 'best quality disc" category. A good result, recommended.

The Maxell CD-RW manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation, has performed extremely well. With a C1 average of 0.29, this places this disc in our 'best discs" category; an excellent result. Highly recommended!

Summary: The CD-R/RW writing quality is excellent.

So let us head on to next page and read about DVD-Writing performance…

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Write Quality:

You should first notice that this is not a scientific and professional way to test the discs. But according to our testing done in recent months, we would conclude that there is a clear link between the quality reported when scanning the disc and the playability of the disc in different devices. Also notice that different drives report different amounts of errors. K-Probe was designed to work with Lite-On DVD-Writers, so we recommend using a DVD-Writer from Lite-On. In this test we use a Lite-On SHW-1635S DVD-Writer, as already said; remember that scans done with a Lite-On DVD-ROM or Lite-On combo drive can't be compared with the results obtained with a Lite-On DVD-Writer. Also remember that different PI/PO ECC sum settings along with different reading speeds in K-Probe will affect the result, we use these settings;  PI (Parity Inner) set to summarize 8 ECC blocks, PIF (Parity Inner Failures) set to summarize 1 ECC block, reading speed: 4X CLV (Constant Linear Velocity). Setting the PI sum to 8 and the PIF sum to 1 will give a result that we may compare to the standards for DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW.

But what is a good scan? That is a discussion that we don't think will end soon, as different drives report different amount of errors, some players are more picky about media than others, and so on. But as a comparison we present you with a scan from two pressed DVD discs:

This scan shows the results from a pressed DVD-Video disc (GoldenEye).

 

This scan shows the result from a pressed DVD-Video disk (Tomb Raider). Notice the error jump when shifting to the second layer (the error level actually drops from the end of the first layer to the beginning of the second layer).

If you read below, you will see that both the pressed DVD-discs are well within the standards.

Download the ECMA 267 Standard for DVD-ROM, the ECMA 337 Standard for DVD+R/RW and the ECMA 338 Standard for DVD-R/RW at http://www.ecma-international.org if you want to look at the standards for yourself. Here is some data from the ECMA standards (same for DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW):

Random errors:

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.

Here we see that a PI error is defined as a row in an ECC block having 1 byte or more containing errors and that the sum of PI errors in 8 ECC blocks after each other should not exceed 280 PI errors.

But what is a row and what is an ECC block? Again we refer to the ECMA standards. We do not copy and paste everything, but if you're interested, look in the ECMA standards. 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-8 errors. In practical use, a disc with 1664 PI-8 errors is unreadable.

According to our tests the specified max PI-8 sum of 280 for good discs seems to be a good guideline, as some readers have problems reading discs when the PI-8 errors is over 300 and most players starts to have problems when the PI-8 error level reaches 600 or more.

But what are the PIF errors that K-Probe reports? They are Parity Inner Failures, meaning errors left after PI correction. Only the ECMA 337 standard describes the Parity Inner Failures. So how is a Parity Inner Failure defined? Here is what the ECMA 337 states:

'If a row of an ECC Block as defined in 13.3 contains more than 5 erroneous bytes, the row is said to be 'PI-uncorrectable"."

In theory, an ECC block may in the worst case have 208 PIF since every ECC block is 208 rows long. But the ECMA 337 standard goes further and specifies the max amount of accepted PI Failures (uncorrectable errors) allowed on a good disc:

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

This means that when the PIF sum is set to 1, the maximum error value should not exceed 4. The theoretical maximum value for PIF is 208 errors.

But what makes a disc unreadable? A POF (Parity Outer Failure) error will make the disc unreadable, but K-Probe does not display the POF's.

Notice that there are other aspects such as disc reflectivity, jitter, tracking errors and so on that also will affect the readability of a DVD disc '“ but for this we do not have measuring equipment available.

Also, another note is that we have scanned the discs at 4X CLV speed, by lowering the speed to 2X(DVD-R/RW)/2.4X(DVD+R/RW) or 1X the amount of reported errors may drop on some discs. We scanned at 4X CLV due to lower speeds taking too much time.

To see if there is a connection between the reported amount of errors and readability of the discs we also include the reading curve from a Memorex 16X DDL-IN  DVD-Writer. The reason why we have changed the reader is that some companies disliked that we used a modified firmware to obtain 16x reading speed. So to please them, we are now using a drive that reads DVD+R/-R media at 16x as default. A small speed reduction near the end is still accepted on good discs, but serious reading problems or reading failures is a bad sign.

Easier explanation on how to read the test results: 

Maybe this got too technical, and you are wondering what to look for in KProbe reports?

Use this as a guideline for good discs:

• PI (Parity Inner): No larger areas on the disc should exceed 280 PI-8 errors, do not worry too much about high single spikes that exceed 280.
• PIF (Parity Inner Failures): No larger areas on the disc should exceed 4 PIF-1 errors, do not worry too much about high single spikes that exceed 4.

And as always; lower is better.

And look at the reading curve; if it looks clean with no dips it should be good, a small slowdown near the end is acceptable.

DVD+R media compatibility and write quality:

---

In these tests we will be using a Lite-On SOHW-1693S drive with firmware KSOB and K-Probe to measure the disc quality. Transfer tests will be done with the Memorex 16X DDL-IN drive.

Reviewers note: Some of the following KProbe scans show single spikes to 7 and are caused by the re-link points when the drive is writing. As you can see by the transfer rate tests they do not cause an issue.

Brand:	Memorex.  Thanks to Memorex for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Ricoh Company Limited
Code:	RICOH JPN R03
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	1x-16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:6s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	6.32
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.03

A very good result. Recommended!

Brand:	Verbatim
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	MCC 004
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:09s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.91
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

An excellent result form the Verbatim 16x media manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals. Highly recommended!

Brand:	Fujifilm
Manufacturer:	Phillips Electronics
Code:	PHILLIPSC16 (001)
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:14s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.90
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.08

Though PIE levels are not consistent, however the read back indicates this is a good result from this media.

Brand:	Ridata
Manufacturer:	Ritek
Code:	Ritek R04
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:09s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	14.80
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.16

The result is good but there is room for improvement.

Brand:	FujiFilm
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	YUDEN000T02
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:09s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.14
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.03

Excellent result from Taiyo Yuden. Highly recommended!

Brand:	Verbatim
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	MCC003
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	9m:54s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.70
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.03

The PI errors are low. We have another excellent result. Recommended!

Brand:	Maxell '“ Thanks to Maxell for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Ricoh Company Limited
Code:	RICOH JPN R01
Disc Type:	DVD+R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	8x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	9m:55s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.93
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

PI errors are very low as are PIF levels. The result is excellent. Highly recommended.

Now let us see how the
Memorex 16X DDL-IN performs with DVD+RW media.

DVD+R Re-Writable media:

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We used the same test procedures as in our DVD+R tests.
Below are our obtained results

 The result is excellent. Highly recommended.

The result is very good.

Overall good result from this media.

To sum it up: So far the Memorex 16X DDL-IN writes DVD+R/RW with good quality.

On the next page you will find the DVD-R/RW writing results...

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DVD-R media compatibility and write quality:

In these tests we will be using a Lite-On SOHW-1693S drive
with firmware KSOB along with K-Probe to measure the disc quality. Transfer
tests will be done with the Memorex 16X DDL-IN drive.          

Brand:	Taiyo Yuden Unbranded
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	TYG03
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:09s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.47
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

The PIF errors are low, and the read-back curve is perfect. Result is excellent. Highly recommended!

Brand:	Verbatim.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MCC 03RG20
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:00s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.08
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.04

Low levels of PI and PIF errors give us an excellent result. Recommended.

Brand:	Memorex
Manufacturer:	RITEK
Code:	RITEK F1
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	16x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:10s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	10.67
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.07

The PI error levels are quite high around the end of the burn but all well within specification, PIF levels are out of spec near the end of the burn but the read-back test shows no problems reading disc. OK result.

Brand:	Maxell
Manufacturer:	Maxell MIJ
Code:	MXLRG03
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	16x (CAV)
Write Time:	6m:03s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.72
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.08

The result is good for overspeeding 8x media. Read-back test is perfect.

Brand:	Taiyo Yuden unbranded
Manufacturer:	Taiyo Yuden
Code:	TYG02
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	12x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	7m:00s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	5.12
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.00

The PIF errors are astonishingly low, and the read-back curve is perfect. Good result. Recommended!

Brand:	Verbatim
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MCC 02RG20
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	12x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	7m:07s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.54
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.01

Low PIE/PIF levels, our read-back test is perfect; Excellent result. Highly Recommended!

Brand:	Ridata
Manufacturer:	Ritek
Code:	Ritek G05
Disc Type:	DVD-R
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	8x
Write Speed:	8x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	10m:05s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	25.48
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.07

PI errors are above average throughout the disc but the read back is good. Result is ok but could be improved.

DVD-ReWritable media:

We used the same testing procedures as we did for DVD-R media.
Our obtained results can bee seen below. 

Brand:	Vebatim - Thanks to Verbatim USA for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation
Code:	MKM0 1RW6X01
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	6x
Write Speed:	6x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	11m:09s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	10.85
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.02

The Memorex 16X-DDL-IN has handled the Verbatim DVD-RW media very well and a good read back indicates the result is good.

Brand:	Maxell. Thanks to Maxell USA for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	TDK Corporation
Code:	TDK502sakuM3
Disc Type:	DVD-RW
Capacity:	4483MB
Certified Speed:	2x
Write Speed:	2x (CLV)
Write Time:	28m:18s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	1.16
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.07

PI errors are low overall, PIF errors remain fairly constant throughout the disc but are well within specification, and we have a perfect read-back curve; the result is good.

To sum it up: Overall, the write quality is generally good on DVD-R and DVD-RW media, but some improvement is required on some 8x and 16x DVD-R media.

Head on to next page and read about DVD+R DL compatibility and write quality...

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DVD+R/-R Double Layer writing speed and
compatibility:

The Memorex
16X-DDL-IN supports the DVD+R DL/-R DL standard for writing Double Layer/Dual
Layer discs with a size around 8.5 GB at a writing speed of 8x for DVD+R DL, and
6x for DVD-R DL.

For manufacturer and
media information, we will use Nero CD-DVD Speed version 4.11.

Testing
procedure:
We created an ISO Image from
a pre-authored DVD-Video compliant file set, with a total on-disc size of 8109
MB. We used Nero CD-DVD Speed to create an ISO test disc, this way we could also
see the writing strategy the drive uses. Below are the results:

Nero reported
a successful 8x burn with the Maxell 2.4x media in 18 minutes and 42
seconds.

Brand:	Maxell '“ Thanks to Maxell USA for sending us this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	MKM 001
Disc Type:	DVD+R DL
Capacity:	8145MB
Certified Speed:	2.4x
Write Speed:	8x (Z-CLV)
Write Time:	18m:42s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	14.26
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.14

PI errors are good on the
1st layer, PI and PIF errors on the 2^nd layer are higher but within
specification. The result is very good.

Nero reported
a successful burn with the Ritek D01 2.4x media in 44 minutes 19 seconds @ 2.4
write speed.

Brand:	Ridata
Manufacturer:	Ritek
Code:	Ritek D01
Disc Type:	DVD+R DL
Capacity:	8145MB
Certified Speed:	2.4x
Write Speed:	2.4x (CLV)
Write Time:	44m:19s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	5..26
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	1.22

There is
clearly a PIF increase at the layer break of the disc. The PIF errors are out if
specification yet the transfer test shows no problems. The result is ok but could be
improved

As we can see from our
results, both drives were able to read all our test discs with very few
problems. There are the usual slowdowns at the layer breaks. This should not
cause too much concern.

Let's compare
the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN with some other DL capable drives.

DVD-R
DL

As mentioned
at the top of this page, the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN supports the DVD-R DL standard
at 6x. Let us first take a look at the media we will use:

Let's find the
manufacturer and media information too, for this we will use CD-Speed
4.11:

Again, we used
Nero CD-DVD Speed to write an ISO Image.

The Memorex
16X-DDL-IN took 20 minutes and 48 seconds to write the Verbatim DVD-R DL media
at 6x.

Brand:	Verbatim '“ Thanks to Verbatim USA for providing this media.
Manufacturer:	Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation
Code:	MKM 01RD30
Disc Type:	DVD-R DL
Capacity:	8109MB
Certified Speed:	4x
Write Speed:	6x (CLV)
Write Time:	20m:48s
PI-8 errors Average/Sec:	0.08
PI-1 failures (PIF) Avg/Sec:	0.29

The result is
very good.

Standalone DVD-Player compatibility:

We only have 3 standalone
DVD-Players available to test the DVD+R DL medias (Book Type: DVD-ROM) and the
DVD-R DL media (Book Type: DVD-R):

• Panasonic DVD-F87
• Toshiba SD-3750
• Samsung DVD-P4

Compatibility
results:

All DVD
Standalone devices played the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN burned DVD+R DL media. But only
one DVD Standalone device would play the Memorex
16X-DDL-IN burned DVD-R DL media without any
problems.

We would like to mention, that the
compatibility issue with standalone DVD Players/Recorders and the DVD-R DL media
format is caused by incompatibilities with the standalone devices used in this
review, and not the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN or media format used.

Summary: Although all the discs
were readable in our scanning and read-back test drives. We would like to see
some improvement in write quality.

To round of
this review, we will run some advanced tests on the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN on the next
page…

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The 'Sheep Test":

---

To round off this review, we will run some advanced tests on the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN. These tests are: 'Sheep Test", protected audio discs and some special disc tests.

 For this test, we will use the Sheep tests made by Alexander Noé. Why is it called sheep test? That's because the logo of the first 1 to 1 copy program called CloneCD is a sheep. When looking at supported writers, you will notice that the feature list has sheep to indicate if a feature is supported or not. In this case we are interested in the writer's ability to backup/write weak sectors. Also called: 'Correct EFM encoding of regular bit-patterns".

• No sheep: Can't backup any safedisc 2 versions without the help of software tricks
• 1 Sheep: Can backup safedisc 2 up to version 2.4x without software tricks
• 2 Sheep: Can backup safedisc 2, including version 2.5x
• 3 Sheep: Can write all possible weak sectors, few if any writers could do this.

One of our forum moderators Womble, has written a guide concerning the 'Sheep Test" that can be found here.

In the screenshot below taken from CloneCD, we see the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN supports all features.

The Memorex 16X-DDL-IN supports DAO-RAW96 recording mode, which basically means, it can write uncorrected data and sub-channel data.

As we can see from the table the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN is a 'Two Sheep Burner", although it was not able to complete our Safedisc 2.90 test.

Overburning:

---

700MB (80 minute) over-burn test:

For this test we used a Ridata 80min/700mb CD-R.

From the screenshot above, it was clear the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN should be able to write the 80 minute media at its full length. We then set up a test over-burn with Nero CD-Speed. We set the test at 89:57.74 to be exact, and then attempted to write a test disc.

The Memorex 16X-DDL-IN successfully created our test disc. We then tested to see if the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN could read our created disc. As you can see from the screenshot below, the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN could recognise the overburned disc but failed to read the complete disc.

We can conclude that the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN can not overburn CD-R media at up to 89 minutes and 57 seconds.

DVD+R overburn test

Unfortunately the Memorex 16X DDL-IN does not support DVD+R overburning.

This concludes our Memorex 16X-DDL-IN review, let's head on to the last page to read our conclusion…

Positive:

---

• Excellent write quality with CD-R/RW media
• Very good to excellent write quality with most DVD+R media
• Supports DVD+RW/-RW at 8x/6x
• Supports DVD+R DL/-R DL at 8x/6x writing speed
• Good DVD+RW write quality
• Can write DVD+R DL certified media at higher speed
• Very good CD-R reading performance
• Good DAE quality
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R/RW/+R DL (booktype to DVD-ROM)
• Can read Pressed DVD-ROM/DVD-Video SL/DL at 16/12x
• Reads DVD±R/RW at 16x/13x
• 'Two Sheep" writer
• Supports PI/PIF disc quality scanning
• Supports DAO-RAW writing
• Good software package

Negative:

---

• Write quality on some DVD±R media's could be improved
• Can not over-burning CD-R or DVD media
• Write quality on some DVD+R DL media needs to be improved
• Reads DVD±R DL at 7x
• Reads CD-RW/CD-DA at 40x
• Single colored LED for read/write

Conclusion:

---

Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main positive points: The Memorex 16X-DDL-IN can write most DVD±R with very good to excellent quality depending on the media. The Memorex 16X-DDL-IN was able to handle most media with good write quality and did not have trouble reading back any media tested even though some were slightly out of specification. Bitsetting and PIE/PIF quality scanning are supported with the use of Nero CD-DVD Speed.

CD-R write quality was also excellent. CD-R media compatibility was also very good.

The supplied software is also of very good quality, Memorex Suite supplied with the drive which includes the popular Nero suite. This will provide enough software for the beginner and the more advanced user. The Memorex 16X-DDL-IN also runs quiet and did not create excessive heat in this review PC.

The main negative points:  Every drive has its weak points, and the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN is no exception.

Some work is required to improve DVD+R DL write quality with certain DL media's.

We would also like to see the read speed of DVD±R DL media increased, 7x is a bit slow by today's standards.

Overburning support for DVD+R and CD-R media would be a welcome feature.

Of course there is always the single colour LED that could be multicolour.

To sum it all up, this is what we would say: 'The Memorex 16X-DDL-IN is a well rounded drive with good write performance" Some areas need attention. Overall the drives performance is good.

 By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we were unable to locate a listed price for the Memorex 16X-DDL-IN. Suggested retail for this drive according to Memorex is $79.99 USD

You may comment on this review below or in this forum
thread

Thanks to:

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 For providing the Memorex media used in this review. Memorex is one of the largest providers of all types of media for larger parts of the world.

 For providing the Maxell media used in this review. Maxell is one of the world's leading producers of optical and magnetic memory media.

For providing the Verbatim media used in this review. Verbatim provides high quality media all over the world and strives to be the standard for DVD hardware reviewing.