Sony AW-G170A DVD Burner Preview

---

 

Preview: Sony AW-G170A Reviewed by: Dee-27 Provided by: CDFreaks Firmware: 1.71 Manufactured: August 2006

We at CDFreaks would like to present a preview of one of the latest DVD-ReWriters from Sony NEC Optiarc inc. '? the Sony AW-G170A. The Sony AW-G170A supports 18x DVD±R, 8x/6x DVD+RW/DVD-RW, 12x DVD-RAM and 8x DVD+R DL/DVD-R DL writing technology, allowing Double/Dual Layer discs of 8.5Gb to be written.

Drive specifications:

---

What's inside the box?

---

Since the drive is a bulk drive, there is neither a retail box nor any software, cables or fixing screws.

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

The bezel of the Sony AW-G170A is plain but not an unattractive style. The front sports a single (green) LED for read/write, an emergency eject hole and the eject/close button. The logos located on the bezel include: a DVD Alliance DVD+R DL logo, a DVD-R DL multi recorder logo, and a CD-RW Ultra Speed logo.

Top

On the top of the drive we found one label, and we can see the drive was manufactured in Malaysia, during August 2006.

Bottom

On the back of the drive there various connectors, they are from the left: Digital Audio connector; analogue audio connector; pins and jumper to set the drive to cable select, slave or master; IDE connector, power connector.

Now, let us install the drive and check out the features on the next page…

---

 

Test machine:

---

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

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUSTeK A8N-SLI DELUXE (nForce 4 SLI chipset)
• Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (Toledo) Dual Core
• RAM: 2 GB Corsair TWINX 2CL DDR
• GFX: Leadtek Winfast 6600 TD (PCI Express nVidia)
• Sound: SoundBlaster Audigy 2
• Hard disk: 2x 250BG Seagate Barracuda (SATA 2)

System set-up:

The Sony AW-G170A was connected as Primary Slave and identified itself as SONY DVD RW AW-G170A. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and autorun was enabled for all devices.

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 preview:

• Nero CD-DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool
• KProbe

Installation:

---

We quickly installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

Our drive came shipped with firmware 1.71. The only drawbacks we could see are: The missing Mt. Rainier support along with the small buffer size.

Features and techniques:

---

ACTIVE OPC:

Sony NEC Optiarc inc uses Active OPC Technology with its optical hardware. Active OPC constantly monitors the sensitivity of the media and adjusts the laser strength to achieve the best possible results. It does this by analyzing the reflection from the media's surface.

Writing Technology:

---

18x DVD±R writing speed:

The Sony AW-G170A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD+R at 18x. The average speed is 13.28x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 25 seconds.

The Sony AW-G170A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-R at 18x. The average speed is 13.32x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 24 seconds.

8x DVD+R DL writing speed:

The Sony AW-G170A uses Z-CLV (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 8x, with an average write speed of 6.53x and a total writing time of 18 minutes and 37 seconds.

8x DVD-R DL writing speed:

The Sony AW-G170A CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-R DL at 4x. We did not have an 8x DVD-R DL media to test the drive at 8x write speed.

12x DVD-RAM:

The Sony AW-G170A uses P-CAV (Partial Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-RAM media at its maximum speed of 12x (verify off). This resulted in an average write speed of 9.73x and a total write time of 6 minutes and 8 seconds.

On the next page: Reading performance…

---

 

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.

Pressed discs:

For this test we used a pressed CD-ROM disc containing Roxio Media Creator 7.5 install CD that is close to 75 minutes in length. Below you will see the produced result:

CD-Recordable Discs:

For this test, we made a copy of the original Roxio Media Creator 7.5 install CD. The disc we used was a Verbatim 48X certified CD-R disc manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemicals Corporation. 

CD-Rewritable discs:

We used CD-Speed to write a data disc then read it in the Sony AW-G170A. Below is our obtained result.

The drive is locked around 40x while reading CD-RWs.

Audio CD:

We used Nero CD-DVD Speed to measure the transfer rate. The audio disc we used is slightly larger than the disc used for the other tests, to be exact it's about 79 minutes long (78:53:31).

The drive is locked around 40x while reading Audio-CDs.

DVD reading performance:

---

Again, we will use Nero CD-DVD 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 dual 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-Video Double Layer (OPT)

As we can see, it reads DVD-Video Single layer at 16x and DVD-Video Double layer at 12x.

DVD '? DVD+R/RW:

---

For this test, we used one DVD+R and one DVD+RW with about 4.4Gb of data. Below are the results:

DVD+R

DVD+RW

DVD '? DVD-R/RW:

---

For this test, we used one DVD-R disc and one DVD-RW disc filled with about 4.4Gb of data. Our test results are found below:

DVD-R

DVD-RW

DVD '? DVD+R DL:

---

For this test, we used one DVD+R DL disc and the result can be found below:

DVD '? DVD-R DL:

---

For this test, we used one DVD-R DL disc and the result can be found below:

DVD '? DVD-RAM:

---

For this test, we used a Maxell DVD-RAM 12x disc and the result can be found below:

On the next page: CD-R/RW writing performance…

---

 

Writing Data CD-R discs:

---

The specifications state that the drive should be able to write CD-Rs at 48x and CD-RWs at 32x:

The Sony AW-G170A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write CD-R's at 48x. This gave an average writing speed of 35.54x and a writing time of 3 minutes and 09 seconds and excellent write quality with our Taiyo Yuden media.

The Sony AW-G170A uses CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) to write CD-R's at 48x. This gave an average writing speed of 35.66x and a writing time of 3 minutes and 08 seconds and excellent write quality with our Verbatim media.

Writing Data CD-RW discs:

---

The Sony AW-G170A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write CD-RWs at 32x. The average speed is 29.72x and total writing time is 3 minutes and 33 seconds.

Now lets head on to the next page were we will test DVD Recordable performance…..

---

 

DVD+R/RW Writing performance:

---

The specifications of this drive tell us that it should write DVD±R at 18x, DVD+RW/-RW at 8x/6x, and DVD±R DL at 8x.

We used CD-Speed to create our test disc, and then we used a Lite-On drive with KProbe to test our written media for disc quality. We also tested the readability of our tests discs using the Sony AW-G170A and CD-Speed's Transfer Rate Test.

DVD+R:

Plextor 16x DVD+R media at 18x, average writing speed of 13.27x, and a writing time of 5 minutes and 27 seconds. The result is good.

---

 

Verbatim 16x media burned at 18x. Once again the result is good.

---

Verbatim 8x DVD+R media at 16x, the result is good.

---

Sony 16x media burned at 18x. The result is good.

DVD+RW at 8x:

---

The Sony AW-G170A uses Z-CLV, (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+RW at 8x. The average speed is 8.00x and total writing time is 7 minutes and 32 seconds. The result is ok.

Let's head to the next page and check out DVD-R/RW writing performance....

---

 

DVD-R: 

---

Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD-R media at 18x, average writing speed of 13.14x, and a writing time of 5 minutes and 40 seconds. The result is very good.

---

Verbatim 16x media at 18x, the result is good.

---

BenQ branded Daxon 016S, the result is good.

---

Ricoh branded 16x media, the result is good.

DVD-RW at 6x:

---

The Sony AW-G170A uses CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD-RW at 6x. The average speed is 6.21x and total writing time is 10 minutes and 08 seconds. The result is very good.

On the next page you can read about DVD DL & DVD-RAM writing performance.....

---

 

DVD+R DL at 8x:

---

The Sony AW-G170A uses Z-CLV (Zone-Constant Linear Velocity) to write DVD+R DL at 8x. The average write speed was 6.53x with a total write time of 18 minutes and 37 seconds. The result is good.

DVD-R DL at 8x:

---

The Sony AW-G170A used CLV (Constant Linear Velocity) to write our 4x DVD-R DL at 4x.

DVD-RAM writing performance:

---

The specifications of this drive tell us that it should read and write DVD-RAM at 12x.

The Sony AW-G170A used P-CAV (Partial-Constant Angular Velocity) to write DVD-RAM at 12x with verify off. The average write speed is 9.73x and total writing time is 6 minutes and 8 seconds.

Above a screenshot of the Sony AW-G170A reading back the Maxell DVD-RAM 12x media.

This concludes our preview of the Sony AW-G170A drive. Let us head on to the final page for our 'preview" conclusion…..

 

Positive:

---

• Supports DVD-RAM read and write 12x
• Supports DVD±R at 18x
• Can write DVD±R certified media at higher speed
• Supports DVD±R DL writing at 8x
• Supports DVD+RW/DVD-RW writing at 8x/6x
• Supports CD-R/RW writing at 48x/32x
• Supports Bitsetting on DVD+R DL media (sets auto. BookType to DVD-ROM)
• Reads DVD-Video SL/DL at 16x/12x
• Reads DVD±R/RW at 16x/13x
• Very good reading performance
• Good write quality on our tested media
• The hardware components are 'lead-free"

Negative:

---

• Does not support Mt. Rainier
• Reads CD-DA/CD-RW only at 40x
• Does not support Bitsetting on DVD+R/+RW
• Green LED for both reading and writing

Conclusion:

---

To sum it all up, this is what we would say:

The Sony AW-G170A is an interesting drive and has a good feature set. The AW-G170A also performs extremely well, with good write quality and performance and excellent reading performance.

The only slight negative is the Sony AW-G170A has limited Bitsetting capabilities. Only DVD+R DL having its Booktype set as DVD-ROM. We would also like to see Bitsetting support for DVD+R/RW.

The Sony AW-G170A is a fast and good performing drive, an excellent effort.

By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we did not find any offers, but at several online stores we found the drive listed at £17.99 +VAT

You may discuss/comment this article below or in this forum thread.

Thanks to: 

---

Ricoh Europe '? For providing the media used in this review.

 

SVP Communications '? The United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

 

 Plextor SA/NV (B) for providing the Plextor media used in this review.

 

Verbatim - Germany and United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

 

Daxon (Taiwan) for providing the Daxon media used in this review.