Philips ED16DVDR external DVD-writer


 





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Review:
Philips ED16DVDR
Reviewer:
Jan70
Provided
by:
Philips Europe (NL) Firmware: B5S3 &
B5S6
Manufactured: October 2004

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Philips
Europe (NL) was kind enough to send us the Philips ED16DVDR external DVD-writer.
This drive supports 16x DVD+R writing, 8x DVD-R and 2.4x DVD+R9 DL writing
technology, allowing dual layer discs of 8.5Gb to be written.

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Philips has enjoyed a long history
of developing optical drives and has in the past joined up with BenQ for
manufacturing and development. This strategic alliance seems to benefit both
parties. BenQ has the production facilities, while Philips designs
chipset/electronic components as well as being one of the main DVD+R/RW
developers.


 


Company
information:


 


We
are sure that most of you know Philips already, but let us take a look at some
of the company information found at www.philips.com.


 


Royal
Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is one of the
world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of EUR 29 billion in 2003. It
is a global leader in colour television sets, lighting, electric shavers,
medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, and one-chip TV products. Its
165,300 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting,
consumer electronics, domestic appliances, semiconductors, and medical
systems.


 


Global Leader


 


Royal
Philips Electronics is tenth on Fortune's list of global top electronics
corporations. We are active in about 60 businesses, varying from consumer
electronics to domestic appliances and from security systems to
semiconductors.


 


We
are a world leader in digital technologies for television and displays, wireless
communications, speech recognition, video compression, storage and optical
products as well as the underlying semiconductor technology that makes these
breakthroughs possible.


 


We
have world-class solutions in lighting, medical systems (particularly scanning
and other diagnostic systems) and personal and domestic appliances where our
investments in design and new materials are critical to success.


 


Translated
into figures, we produce over 2.4 billion incandescent lamps every year, and
some 30 million picture tubes.


 


Around
2.5 million heart procedures (scans and interventional procedures) on X-ray
equipment are carried out each year using our technology.


 


One
in seven television sets worldwide contains a Philips picture tube, and 60
percent of all telephones contain Philips products.


 


Thirty
percent of offices around the world are lit by Philips Lighting, which also
lights 65 percent of the world's top airports, 55 percent of major soccer
stadium, and 30 per cent of hospitals.


 


The
strength of Philips' global operations is reflected in its (value-based)
leadership position in many of the markets in which it is active:


 















































 


World


Europe


Lighting


1


1


Consumer
Electronics (audio/video)


3


1


Monitors
(units)


4


3


Shavers


1


1


Steam
irons


2


2


Semiconductors


9


4


Color
picture tubes


3


1


DVD
recorders


1


1


Medical
imaging equipment


2


1


Dental
care (electric toothbrushes)


2


2


 


If
you are interested in reading more company information, please visit www.philips.com.


 


Drive
specifications:






 

These
are the specifications of this drive, found on the Philips site in
United
Kingdom:


 


Storage
Media



  • Recording
    speed: 16x DVD+R, 2.4 DL, 8x DVD-R

  • Rewriting
    speed: 24x CDRW, 8x DVD+RW, 4x DVD-RW

  • Access
    time (typical): 120ms 

  • Disc
    capacity: 4.7 GB DVD R/RW, 700 MB CD-R/R 

  • Disc
    size: 120 mm 

  • Mass
    storage class compliant: yes 

  • Reading
    speed: 48x Read CD, 16x read DVD 

  • Recording
    media: 8cm CDs, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R double layer, DVD+RW, DVD-R,
    DVD-RW


  • Supported
    formats: CD-Audio, CD-Recordable, CD-Rewritable, CD-ROM, CD-Text, DVD+R,
    DVD+RW, DVD-ROM, DVD/R, DVD/RW, Photo CD, Video-CD, DVD+R DL, DVD-R,
    DVD-RW


  • Write
    modes: Disc at once (DAO), Fixed packet, Multi session (MS), Over-burn
    writing, Packet writing, Raw mode burning, Session at once (SAO), Track at
    once (TAO), Variable packet

Connectivity



  • USB:
    USB 2.0


Accessories



  • AC/DC
    adaptor: Yes


  • CD-ROM
    : Install CD Nero 6

  • USB
    cable: yes


  • User
    manual: yes


Software



  • Ahead
    Nero Suite 6 : Nero Burning Rom 6, InCD 4, Nero Vision express 2, Nero media
    Player 1, EasyWrite Reader 4, Nero Burning Rights 1

System
Requirements



  • Hard
    disc space : 500 MB

  • PC OS
    : Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP

  • Processor
    : Pentium 4 1 GHz or faster 


What's
inside the box?






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


 



Front


 



Back


 



Top


 



Left side


 



Right Side


 


Below
you will see the contents of the retail box:


 



 




  • The
    external drive itself

  • AC/DC
    Power adapter

  • USB
    2.0 Cable


  • Power
    cable


  • 'How
    to…?" manual


  • Nero 6
    software and Win98 drivers

  • Quick
    install guide

  • Nero
    DVD-Video Plug-in rebate code


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


 


 


A
standard bezel with the logos DVD+R9 DL and CD-RW US. Headphone connector and volume
knob is missing. The drive uses one coloured led (green) for read and write (we
prefer a different led colour though for writing).


 



Top


 




On the
underside of the external drive we found one sticker and we can read it was
manufactured in China, dated October 2004.


 




On the
back of the external drive from left to right: audio out connector, USB
connector and the power connector.


 


We
installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero info
tool:


 


 


 


From the
screenshot of Nero Info Tool above, we miss Mt.Rainier support and a larger
buffer size. Our drive came shipped with firmware B5S3 and was later updated to
firmware B5S6 (See below):


 




 


And
another shot from Nero Burning ROM:


 



 


We do
not really find anything alarming here, but Mount
Rainier and a larger buffer would have been nice.


 


But
let us continue this review and see how it really performs.


 


 


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


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