A few questions about the 1620

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers BenQ / Philips Writer
#1

After spending several days on this site and cdrlabs and cdrinfo, I am sold on the BENQ for the following reasons

  1. It’s fast
  2. It’s reliable for dvd+r media
  3. It has good compatilibity
  4. It has good error detetection for burned discs (jitter and PI/PIF). I like the fact that I can test my data to make sure there are no errors after burning.

I don’t really care about backing up games so the problems with game copyright protection do not bother me. I do care about backing up dvd movies but it sounds like this product will do that job.

But I still have a few questions.

  1. Why does cdrlabs say that many drives are faster while this site says that it’s the fastest?

http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=245&page=Conclusion
When writing at 16x, the drive took a little more than 6 minutes to write 4.38GB of data. While not as fast as some competing 16x DVD±RW drives, it’s a big improvement over BenQ’s previous DVD writers in the DW800 series

http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/159/9
Very fast writer, so far it holds the speed record.

  1. Is there a firmware update out yet for the update from 2.4x to 4x for DVD+R9 DL? if so can someone provide a link?

  2. Does the latest firmware update have all of the previous updates as well? Or do I have install every firmware update released?

  3. What is the cheapest reliable 8x and 16x media that people are using and where did you get it? I realize that there may be several good ones out there…I just want to know what is working well for people and where they got it.

I don’t see anything but 4x media at retail stores.

#2

One more question, what’s the difference between the product in the white box (OEM) and the retail? I have the latest version of nero. Is that all that I need? Does anyone know if the OEM comes with cables or not? Do I need any special cables, etc or just a plain old IDE cable?

#3

Question 1, who cares about a few seconds. It’s the WOPC and BLER OPC technology software, it watches the burning quality and used burning speed.

Question 2, take a look at the benq europe site, or the unofficial benq site here on this forum.

Question 3, the latest firmware has all the improvements, you only have to flash the latest firmware

Question 4, take a look at shop near your home, or take a look at some webshops. How can we give you advise if whe don’t know where you live. Maybe you live in the beautifull province Saskatchewan and I don’t know if there are many cdr\dvd shops.

Question 5, the difference between oem and retail is mainly the front bezel I believe (not sure)

Welcome and thank you for reading the http://club.cdfreaks.com/announcement.php?f=92 :bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

#4

I am in NY in the US. I have Compusa, Best Buy, OfficeMax, Staples, Office Depot, etc. None of them seem to have 16x. I just noticed that some have 8x, but they are only provided by one or two brands. I just assumed that most people were buying online. In any case, if you are buying reliable and cheap media online, i’de be curious to know where.

At this point, I am ready to buy the BENQ but I am not sure whether to buy OEM or retail?

#5

OK, maybe this is what your looking for http://blankmedia.ca/. I’m not sure how sales and shipping cost are being calculated?
Or maybe this site has what you’re looking for. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/cdrdvdrmedia/index.html

#6

the i/o magic 16x is a rebadged (not even rebadged benq1620). staples, circuit city, compusa, target all carry it. can be had for $49.00 - $129.00. just make sure you get the i/o magic with the 2.4 dl burning spec on box. check out this forum, plenty of good info here, inculding how to spot the benq in the i/o magic box.

#7

OEM does not come with cables. I/O magic comes with the wrong cable (40 wire). BenQ 1620 and 1620pro come with the required 80 wire cable.

BenQ does hold the record for the fastest available usable results while Sony holds the speed record with some seriously hit-or-miss quality (given that reading, writing, reading-to-verify was the test). I like the BenQ approach of coaster avoidance.
Of course the big Sony noise and 200% faster speed is really addictive. . .until 28% of your discs are wasted. The speed factor as found in reviews fails to take simple (and of ultimate importance) data integrity factors into consideration. Speed is only a single factor.
Sure, a JATO bottle on a Yugo will get you to the grocery store faster than anything else. It doesn’t even matter that you can’t relight it to get back home because the car has now become one unit with the grocery store. . .and it’s on fire. That’s my experience with Sony’s new products that break all the speed records.
No thanks, I’d rather drive the Cadillac.

#8

blackrain: i live in nyc. just go to Staples and get the Pacific Digital 16X dvd burner on sale this week for $99 plus u get a $30 mail in rebate so your final cost will be around $77 with tax. i just brought four last night and they are Benq 1620 with manufacture date of october 2004.

edit: Staples dont have a restocking fee like Compusa, so i open the boxes to make sure right after i paid for them. if they werent benq i would of return them (not nice i know, but with rebadging u cant tell alot of times who makes what!)

#9

Hello…I have the IO Magic and it is a BenQ (2.4X DL on Box). Mine did not come with the cable and it is on a 40 Pin. I have an 80 pin I can use, but the drive works fine. Just what will going to 80 pin do for this drive?

TIA…and it is on an ATA100 controller, with a DVD_ROM reader, so 80 pin would not hurt, I guess.

#10

and if you can stand the suspense of a 5 day wait for delivery, Newegg (dot com) is selling the NU DW163 (a rebadge BenQ 1620) for $58. No IDE cable or blank media, but it was a Sept. '04 manufacture (Newegg restocked Dec 22 - they were out).

#11

Thanks for all of your replies. :bow:

I decided that I am probably going to go with either the BENQ retail box at MWAVE ($68) or the I/O Magic (CC)/Pacific Digital (Staples) ($69.99 after rebate)

I am leaning more toward the BENQ retail box. If I get a rebadged product, and have to exchange it 3 months from now, I/O Magic might not give me the rebadged BENQ again. I don’t want to get stuck with a BTC as an exchange.

Also, I/O magic doesn’t come with a cable as someone mentioned earlier.

Plus, I don’t have to wait for a rebate.

Other than being able to do a quick return, I don’t see any point in getting the rebadged product when MWAVE’s price is so low??

#12

Where does it say that the 80 wire cable is [i]required[/i] for the BenQ 1620 or clones? The BenQ operates in UDMA Mode 2 which has a maximum transfer speed of 33 MB/sec… The 33 MB/sec max rate could be used only on buffer bursts for about 60 milliseconds (until the 2 MB buffer is cleared). At the maximum DVD speed of 16x, the throughput would be about 22 MB/sec… The older 40 pin cable is now obsolescent as it was capable of supporting only the older UDMA Mode 2 (33 MB/sec) hard drives. Since these drives are not being made any more, its a wonder that 40 wire cables are still around. Perhaps I/O Magic is using up old stock. :slight_smile: It’s true that the superior 80 wire IDE cable is always a better choice for UDMA Mode 2 drives if it is available.

You should be referring to 40 and 80 wire cables, not pins. They both have the same pin layout. Your experience demonstrates that the drive may operate O.K. with a 40 wire IDE cable. Nevertheless, I would not use a 40 wire cable permanently but would replace it with the newer 80 wire version. Will the drive operate faster or better? Probably not, but the 80 wire cable is electrically (electronically) superior to the 40 wire and helps to suppress electrical interference or crosstalk that could degrade data transmission accuracy/speed. The 80 wire cable uses the same 40 wire pin connection as the older cable, but it is interlaced with an additional 40 ground wires between the 40 active wires.

#13

The retail BenQ from MWave will cost you about $78 with UPS ground shipping (at least 5-6 business days for delivery).

Personally I would go for the NU Technology Black 16X DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model DDW-163 BLK from NewEgg. NewEgg is a superior on-line computer technology retailer with excellent pricing, service and delivery times. The Nu drive is a retail box version (always a BenQ/Philips clone) with included software and instructions. You can use the BenQ firmware with it if desired, but this isn’t necessary for good performance. It doesn’t come with an IDE cable, but most people don’t need them anyway, using the cables already hooked up to their computer.

The NU DDW-163 drive is currently selling for $58 + $3 shipping (Fed Ex Saver) for a total of $61. All else being equal, I would buy from NewEgg before MWave, and when I could save $17 and get faster delivery the choice wouldn’t even be close. :wink:

#14

Too late. Wish I had seen your post earlier. :wink:

My pc is beige anyway. The black drive would stick out.

I think that $78 is a great price for this incredible drive anyway. :bigsmile:

#15

Thank you. Yes, I do know that both have 40 pins at the header. Anyway, I think that I will take your advice and change them on both systems with the DVD burners. One with a Mad Dog/NEC3500 and the other with the IO Magic/BenQ …especially since I have so many 80 wire cables left over from the ATA133 drives I bought for my ReplayTV’s! :smiley: