ASUS DRW-1814BLT, a high speed DVD-RW Product Review

With fierce competition among manufacturers of DVD ± RW which tries to write up to 18x speed boost, ASUS has answer this challenge by issuing DRW-1814BLT. This device comes with a Serial ATA connection and is equipped with “Super Multi” drives that brought the DVD ± RW write speed of this advance to the next level. This device not only offers write speeds of 18x DVD ± R, 8x DVD + RW, 6x DVD-RW and 8x DVD ± R, but also became the first DVD ± RW device that has an ability to write DVD-RAM media with 14x speed.



ASUS certainly did not stop there, with support by the HP’s LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling System, DRW-1814BLT has features such as the previously owned ASUS FlextraLink technology, FlextraSpeed, QuieTrack. With features and specifications that are owned by this device, it is difficult for us to not impressed with this product.

Visible from the front, DRW-1814BLT ASUS product looks like the series of DRW-1612BL. Both these series have in common not only in design, but has many similarities to the logos attached to it. Along with a big logo “ASUS”, you can see some characteristics that indicate that this device supports the DVD Multi specification and DVD-like ReWriteable QuieTrack and LightScribe technology, which owned the device.

At the bottom of the opening CD tray there is a default condition LED This LED will light green when the device is reading or writing. On the back of the DRW-1814BLT will appear parallel between the liaison with the SATA connection and plug into a power source.

This device comes with a speed of 18x DVD ± R, 8x DVD ± R (DL), 8x DVD + RW, 6x DVD-RW, 14x DVD-RAM, 48x CD-R, 32x CD-RW with a buffer size of 2MB. The time required to access the CD-ROM for 150ms and 140ms for DVD-ROM. DRW-1814BLT is the last drive on out by ASUS with features LightScribe technology. Developed by HP, LightScribe burning produces a durable, quality labels with LightScribe technology, the fine directly to CDs and DVDs you are using the same device when you burn the data. According to HP, this is a simple matter of burning the data, flip the disc and then burning the label.

Of course you can not do only with the device, software or media alone. While LightScribe has the ability to use the same laser when burning both, both labels and data. LightScribe technology, the device and should be able to accurately control the laser focus in order to fit and maintain the position as well as the speed of rotation. And they also must be able to recognize LightScribe media. These special discs have a thin coating on the label side that can absorb laser light. This could spark a chemical reaction that can produce changes in color and can allow users to print text, artwork or graphics.

High Speed DVD

When the first DVD burners came to market, they were exotic beasts costing hundreds of dollars. On top of the steep price tag, the battle waged between the Recordable DVD Council (which supports a DVD-R/-RW standard) and the DVD+RW Alliance (with its competing DVD+R/+RW standard) only served to stymie users further.



While the two groups never really kissed and made up, hardware manufacturers have stepped up to the plate and are offering universal recorders that handle a variety of formats. Iomega even shipped a drive that would burn the somewhat uncommon DVD-RAM format, as we noted in our previous universal drive roundup.



Now that Sony has shipped the first dual layer DVD burner for the PC, it's time to revisit the "old" technology of single layer DVD burning.



With the price of high-speed, multiformat, single layer burners dropping precipitously, now may be a good time to take the plunge. If you either don't need dual layer burning, or don't want to pay the cost for new dual layer drives and media, then a low-cost, single layer burner may be just the ticket.



So we took a look at a good cross-section of current DVD burners, ranging from the very inexpensive Lite-On 812S to the fast-burning Plextor PlexWriter 712A. We also look at three burners based on a Pioneer-designed mechanism, a drive from AOpen, and the latest Toshiba 8x burner. We compare all of them to the Sony DRU-530A, one of the earliest 8x burners.



First, we'll examine the drives' performance, then take a look at individual features, including software bundles. Finally, we'll pick the drive or drives we think are best-suited for different users.