The folks over at CDRLabs have put up a review for your perusal, putting the BenQ DW1620 through the paces. This company is coming on strong in the optical drive arena and gaining popularity fast. This new drive features the Philips' Nexperia chipset, is rated for 16x DVD±R and 4x DVD±RW writing speeds and up to 16x DVD reading speed. The drive also supports dual layer at 2.4x. Here is just a snippet from the conclusion.
| Like BenQ's other DVD writers, the DW1620 has its share of features. To prevent buffer underruns, the drive has a 2MB buffer that is backed up by their Seamless Link technology. The DW1620 also features WOPC and BLER OPC. While some would argue that WOPC and BLER OPC are more of a hassle then a benefit because they can add 20-30 seconds to the total burning time, I personally believe that the added recording quality and coaster prevention more then makes up for it. One also shouldn't overlook the software that comes with the drive. BenQ has done some excellent picking of programs to be bundled with it, including software from Sonic, InterVideo, and even some software written by BenQ themselves! I think one of the most exciting things about the BenQ DW1620 is the incredible firmware support that BenQ is providing for it. Since the drive originally shipped (with firmware B7C9) four new firmware updates have been released, each improving the overall performance of the drive substantially. Even more exciting is the fact that BenQ has announced that they will be releasing a new firmware which will increase the drive's maximum writing speed for DVD+R9 media from 2.4x to 4x, at no extra charge! Another promised feature in the upcoming firmware is support for PI/PIF scanning through the popular tool DVDInfoPro, at testing speeds of up to 8x. |
The drive comes bundled with Sonic RecordNow, WinDVD 4 and WinDVD Creator 2 Plus from InterVideo. It also includes BenQ's QVideo and Booktype Management utilities. Be sure to head on over to CDRLabs and read this excellent review of what seems to be a nice writer. Please feel free to add your comments here or in our Recording Hardware Forum.
Source: CDRLabs
