Philips DVDRW885 Dual layer DVD-Writer

DVD+R Dual Layer writing speed and compatibility:

The Philips DVDRW885 supports the new DVD+R DL standard for writing Dual Layer discs with a size of 8.5Gb. Since we do not have many results to compare with we decided to include results from a Sony DRU-700A (Lite-On 832S) Dual layer drive. Let us first take a look at the media we will use:

Let’s find the manufacturer and media information too, for this we will use DVD Identifier 3.3:

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Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R-DL:MKM-001-000]
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Disc Type :              [DVD+R DL]
Manufacturer ID :        [MKM]
Manufacturer Name :      [Mitsubishi Kagaku Media]
Media Type ID :          [001]
Product Revision :       [Not Specified]
Disc Application Code :  [General Purpose]
Recording Speeds :       [1x , 2.4x]
Blank Disc Capacity :    [4,173,824 Sectors = 8,152.0 MB = 7.96 GB]
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[DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
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Full media code:

0000 : 00 00 00 00 e0 0f 32 10  00 03 00 00 00 fc ff ff   ……2………
0010 : 00 22 d7 ff 00 00 00 4d  4b 4d 00 00 00 00 00 30   .”…..MKM…..0
0020 : 30 31 00 3c 25 25 37 13  02 4d 69 02 4d 69 1f 1f   01.<%7..Mi.Mi..
0030 : 0a 0a 12 12 02 01 01 1f  1f 0a 0a 12 12 02 01 01   …………….

The media is made by Mitsubishi Kagaku Media and is to our knowledge the only available (shipping) Dual Layer media.

Testing procedure: We created an ISO Image of the largest DVD-Video disc we had (Three Kings, 7.83Gb) using DVD-Decrypter. Then we wrote this image file using Nero Burning ROM 6. Below are the results:

Philips DVDRW85 used 45 minutes and 5 seconds for writing the disc at 2.4x.

The Sony DRU-700A used 44 minutes and 37 seconds for writing the disc at 2.4x.

As we could see the Sony has a slight lead for writing the disc as it used 28 seconds less time for writing it. But the difference is pretty minor, let us take a look at the K-Probe result of the created discs:

The above picture shows the result of the DVD+R DL discs written by the Philips DVDRW885 and overall the amount of errors is very low. There is a small error spike at the layer change, but hopefully not enough to cause any problems.

And this picture shows the K-Probe result of the Sony DRU-700A written disc. And as we could easily see the amount of errors is much higher at the second layer.

Summary: The Philips took a clear victory over the Sony for writing quality measured with K-Probe.

Now it’s time to take a look at some real life reading tests with various DVD-Writers and DVD-ROM drives.

First we will try to read the discs back in the Philips DVDRW885:

Reading the Philips written Dual Layer disc.

Reading the Sony written dual layer disc.

As we could see the Philips DVDRW885 had no problems reading any of the discs, let us see if the Sony DRU-700A has any problems reading the Dual Layer discs:

Reading the Philips written dual layer disc.

Reading the Sony written dual layer disc.

The Sony DRU-700A did not have any problems with reading the dual layer discs either, but the reading speed is limited to 6x. Time to try some other readers, first out is the Plextor PX-712A:

Reading the philips written dual layer disc.

Reading the Sony written dual layer disc.

As we could see none of the discs could be read back without problems. There were some problems in the middle of the Philips written disc, while there were problems with the second layer of the Sony written disc. Let’s try reading the discs in a JLMS XJ-HD165H DVD-ROM:

Reading the Philips written dual layer disc.

Reading the Sony written dual layer disc.

Again we could see some of the same problems, the Philips written disc shows some problems near the layer change, while the Sony written disc shows some problems on the second layer of the disc. Now it’s time to try with a Toshiba SD-M1612 DVD-ROM:

Reading the Philips written dual layer disc.

Reading the Sony written dual layer disc.

This time the Sony written disc gave back the best result, let us take a last reading test, this time with an Asus DVD-E616 DVD-ROM:

Reading the Philips written dual layer disc.

Reading the Sony written dual layer disc.

This time the Sony written disc also gave back the best result. The Asus slowed down near the layer change and never speeded up again when reading the Philips written disc.

Standalone DVD-Player compatibility:

Unfortunately we do only have one standalone DVD-Player available to test with; a cheap Denver DVD-188DivX. Compatibility results:

Philips DVDRW885 Dual Layer disc written with DVD+R DL booktype: Disc not recognized
Philips DVDRW885 Dual Layer disc written with DVD-ROM booktype: Plays perfect.
Sony DRU-700A Dual Layer disc written with DVD+R DL booktype: Disc not recognized
Sony DRU-700A Dual Layer disc written with DVD-ROM booktype: Plays perfect.

With our player it’s at least required to have DVD-ROM booktype. And for reference here is some compatibility information provided by BenQ:

Notice that those results is provided by BenQ and not verified by us.

As we could see there is a big difference in compatibility between discs with DVD+R DL booktype and DVD-ROM booktype. And we think and hope that this difference will force all manufacturers to add bitsetting support for their Dual Layer writers. Releasing a Dual Layer writer without bitsetting support will not be very wise in our opinion.

Summary: There is no clear winner as it appears that different readers has different preferences, some got problems due to the error spike near the layer change on the Philips written disc, while others got more problems with the Sony disc due to the increased amount of errors on the second layer. But all in all both works as they should and the discs worked in all players we tested them in ‘“ as long as the booktype was set to DVD-ROM.

This concludes our DVD-writing tests, so head on to next page and read about the RW and packet writing performance of this drive…