Aopen 1648/AAP discussion

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers
#1

Since easy-going-man asked me for details of this DVD-ROM in a different thread, and since I don’t want to ruin that thread with off-topic posts, I thought that it is a good idea to start a new thread about this drive.

CDBremse does not work with the drive (yet).

It is one of the fastest drives on the market atm. c’t magazine tested DVD-Rom drives a few weeks ago (08/2004 issue), and the Aopen was the fastest drive in almost all categories (all DVD and CD formats). See if you can get that issue (if you don’t have it already), it’s a very detailed (typical c’t) review.

A few transfer rate scans:

DVD+R (DVD-ROM booktype, not a full disc):

With the DVD-ROM booktype, all discs are read at full 16x speed, basically treated like pressed SL discs. Without this booktype, the speed is (artificially) reduced for recordable media to prevent the disc from exploding in the drive (precautionary measure, not really necessary IMHO), as can be seen in the next DVD-R scan:

DVD-R:

All DVD-ROMs on the market reduce the reading speed a little for recordable media. The only way to enable full speed reading is either to use DVD+R discs with the DVD-ROM booktype, or modified / hacked firmware, so called “speedpatches”. TDB released some speedpatched firmware for the LiteOn 166s. In principle, it should be possible to release similar firmware for the Aopen drive.
The NEC 3500A is the only drive I know that reads recordable (non rewriteable) media at full speed regardless of the booktype.

DVD+RW:

This is very fast for rewriteable DVD media. The NEC 3500 is quite a bit slower. I wonder how fast the drive would read these discs with the DVD-ROM booktype. Can’t test that yet though, since the TDB / Herrie firmware does not allow DVD+RW booktype changing (yet).

DVD9 CSS protected disc:

Quite fast as well. It should hit the 13x mark with a full DVD-9 disc. The NEC 3500A is considerably slower.

CD-R :

No comment needed I guess.

#2

Thank you very, very much! The results are promising. One last question: How fast does the drive read CD-RW and more important: How fast does the drive read Safedisk 1/2 protected CDs?

#3

I just added a CD-R scan. I’ll add a CD-RW scan soon. Unfortunately, I don’t have Safedisk protected games here atm, so I can’t test those.

#4

And one thing I wanted to add:

It was often stated that DVD-Rom drives are not as accurate as DVD-recorders concerning error-scanning. My experience is that even KProbe scans of two LiteOn DVD recorders cannot be compared to each other. I had a LiteOn LDW-811s and Sohw-812s some time ago. When I scanned the same disc in the two drives, the error level was significantly higher in the 811s. There was no direct comparison possible. Only the course of the graphic was similar, but the average values were completely different.

So I conclude that a DVD-Rom - which is compatible to CD-Bremse - can also be an adequate scanner. Not every1 can afford a LiteOn DVD burner just for KProbe scanning :frowning:

#5

Wow that’s really impressive… but how about the seek, login and recognition times?

#6

Seek times are a bit higher than the LiteOn 166s, for example. Login and recognition times are fast. I’ll add some results later.

#7

CD-RW (650MB disc):

Quite a bit faster than the Liteon166s, but slower than the Toshiba drives.

#8

Seek times, eject, recognition etc.:

CD-R:

Spin-up time: 1.31 seconds
Spin-down time: 4.14 seconds
Eject time: 0.95 seconds
Load time: 7.26 seconds
Recognition time: 0.51 seconds

DVD+R (DVD-ROM Booktype):

Spin-up time: 0.96 seconds
Spin-down time: 4.33 seconds
Eject time: 0.95 seconds
Load time: 6.25 seconds
Recognition time: 0.85 seconds

#9

The best thing about this drive is the error correction though. It has the best error correction of all drives I have tested so far. The DVD9 disc I used for the transfer rate scan above has quite a lot of scratches, for example.

#10

Thanks for your detailed information. Two last questions: How’s the DAE speed & quality and does the drive read DVD-Ram?

#11

The drive can’t read DVD-RAM.

Advanced DAE quality test:



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Offset
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-1872 bytes (-468 samples)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sequential Read Test
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average Speed: 28.68 X
Data errors: 0
Sync errors: 0

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Random Read Test
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average Access Time:  127 ms
Data errors: 0
Sync errors: 0
Total Data Errors: 0
Total Sync Errors: 0
Quality Score: 100.0

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On The Fly Copying Simulation
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copying at 1 X
OK
Copying at 2 X
OK
Copying at 4 X
OK
Copying at 6 X
OK
Copying at 8 X
OK
Copying at 10 X
OK
Copying at 12 X
OK
Copying at 16 X
OK

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CD Text
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drive is capable of reading CD Text information

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subchannel Data
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Test 1
  Track (01): 01
  Relative position (01:05.00): 01:05.00
  Absolute position (01:07.00): 01:07.00
  Index (5): 5

Test 2
  Track (17): 17
  Relative position (01:33.00): 01:33.00
  Absolute position (33:35.00): 33:35.00
  Index (1): 1

Test 3
  Track (36): 36
  Relative position (00:00.00): 00:00.00
  Absolute position (70:02.00): 70:02.00
  Index (1): 1

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lead-in
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drive can read max. 130 sectors (-00:01.55) from the Lead-in

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lead-out
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drive cannot read data from the Lead-out

Test completed
Elapsed Time:  0:16:43

As a comparison, the Plextor Premium CD-RW, the drive the disc was burned with, has an average read speed of 29.60. Perfect quality score, of course.

#12

Nice results.
Quick question :
do you consider this drive better than the Liteon 166s?
I’m looking for a new dvd-rom, and the Liteon looks like 1 of the best around.
Was planning on buying the Liteon.

#13

I personally consider it to be a little better than the LiteOn, mainly because of the (much) better error correction, and because it is quieter. But both the LiteOn 166s and the Aopen 1648/AAP are the best drives on the market atm IMHO, so you can’t go wrong either way.

#14

Thanks for the quick reply.
I might try them both, as they are so cheap (22-23€ each), and I can always use one in another rig, just in case. :slight_smile:

#15

With the AOpen full speed reading can be enabled by a software command. :slight_smile:
The current version of Nero CD-DVD Speed supports this command (Nero DriveSpeed not yet).
Here are some graphs:

CSS Dual Layer DVD-Video

DVD+RW

#16

Wow, great news ErikDeppe. Those transfer rate scans are truly impressive, I have never seen better ones for both DVD9 and DVD+RW discs. How can I enable the full speed reading for the drive?

This drive rules… :slight_smile:

#17

Impressive performance from a DVD-ROM. :slight_smile:

@Erik, will you build an option into a future version of CD-DVD Speed to “enable max read speed” for this drive?

#18

Wow, really for everyday copying is it possible to enable those full speed readings? Or it is only available in nero’s dvdspeed testing? I already feel the need to buy this pretty drive so I just want to make sure it worth to sell my Asus e616p.

#19

The dual layer scan is a lot faster than my 166S running TDB riplocked SW that allows it to hit 10X. Their tests indicated that was the upper reliable limit.

Mike

#20

That convinced me :wink: I just ordered the drive for 19 €. I will post my results in this thread.

@Erik: Have you managed to reduce the reading speed with DriveSpeed or CD/DVD Speed? Is it even possible?