The other day I was talking to one of
my tech inclined friends and he recounted how he owned an early
generation DVD burner back when they were $5000 a piece. Luckily
those days are ancient history and now DVD burners cost less than
some DVD movies.
For todays review, our friends at
Acoustic PC sent us the latest burner from Asus: the Asus DRW-22B1LT.
This DVD burner is a Multi DVDR/RW which includes LightScribe
technology for laser etching labels. Using LightScribe is as simple
as burning the data to your DVD and flipping the disc over to laser
etch a label. Besides these fairly standard features, Asus added a
few new wrinkles including E-Green technology, OTS (Optimal Tuning
Strategy) and Auto Vibration Reducing System (AVRS).
So lets take a closer look at the Asus
DRW-22B1LT and find out if it is one of the quietest drives around.
Let’s get started….
Reviewed by: Tomas Ratas
Sponsor: Acoustic PC
Tech Specs,Features or the
Basic Info:
LightScribe Drive enables personalized and professional labels
The Asus DRW-22B1LT is X Multi DVDR/RW drive capable of reading
and writing data on DVD+R/RW/DVD-R/RW/ DVD-RAM formats in a more
power saving mode. The dual compatibility feature of the DRW-22B1LT
allows you to create DVDs that can be played or read by most DVD ROM
drives and DVD players. This function provides you with flexibility
and efficiency in terms of multimedia data storage and sharing.
The Asus 22B1LT offers consumers and businesses a more power
saving drive to burn professional, silkscreen-quality labels on their
CDs and DVDs. Using the same laser that burns data in their disc
drives, customers burn their data as always, flip the disc over,
reinsert it into the drive and burn a precise, laser etched label.
Multi
Function: (X MULTI+LightScribe)
– Max. 22X DVDR/ 8X DVD+RW/ 6X
DVD-RW/12X DVDR (DL) Write
– Max. 48X CD-R/ 32X CD-RW Write
–
Max. 16X DVD-ROM/ 48X CD-ROM Read
– Max: 12X DVD-RAM Write/12X
DVD-RAM Read br>
Energy
Green Engine(E-green)
The innovative E-Green Engine
technology features an E-Green Mode that automatically closes drive
applications when not in use to help conserve energy – helping the
environment by decreasing CO2 emissions and reducing the depletion of
trees.
Optimal
Tuning Strategy(OTS)
Automatic Adjustments for Optimum
Disc Backup with OTS. The advantage of OTS:
Cover both media and drive variations as well as operating
temperature.Optimal write speed detection.
Total write quality improvement.
Extend the lifetime of drives: OTS is capable of produce the most
suitable and write quality improvement.Reduce the possibility to burn unplayable disks.
Reduce disc coaster
Auto
Vibration Reducing System (AVRS)
The AVRS technology is designed to
minimize the vibration caused by the spindle motor and resonance
between components as well as the drive and PC cases. AVRS is
designed to reduce vibration and noise induced by unbalanced mass of
rotating machinery. With AVRS, Asus DRW-22B1L provides high
readability and playability.
LightScribe
Direct Disc Labeling
LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling
enables CD and DVD images and disk labels to be permanently etched
onto discs using the same drive that is used to burn the data. The
technology requires three elements to deliver lasting,
silkscreen-quality labels: 1) a LightScribe-enabled optical disc
drive, 2) LightScribe-compatible media, and 3) LightScribe-supported
software applications.
Compatible
with a Wide Range of Disc Formats
Operates
on Horizontal or Vertical Mounting
Asus
Unique Live Firmware Update Tool
Windows
XP/ NT/2000/VISTA Supported
A Better Look at Things
:
The Asus DRW-22B1LT comes in a
rectangular cardboard box with plenty of reading material on the
package. On the front of the box is a picture of the drive and the
Asus logo in the top left corner with the model number next below it
and a large 22×22 label. Above the picture of the drive is a listing
of burn speeds for various media types and the LightScribe logo.
Also listed on the front, we see Asus
have included a version of Nero8 Essentials and a white DVD face
panel for those who still have beige boxes.
On the back are description panels
about Optimal Tuning Strategy (OTS), E-Green and How It Works, which
give short description about each of these features in seven
different languages.
The sides of the box list the features
of the drive in the same seven languages.
Once the box is opened, we find the
Asus DRW-22B1LT drive, a white face panel, the Nero8 Essentials CD,
four installation screws and a quick installation guide.
Looking at the Asus DRW-22B1LT we find
it measures 14.5 x 17 x 4 cm with a black face plate on the front.
On this face plate we see silver writing with the Asus logo in the
center of the drive drawer door, and logos for the various formats
which the drive supports. Below the door is a LED light, an eject
button and an opening for manually ejecting discs (the paper clip tip
eject). The white drive plate has the same writing and features
except in gray ink.
Beyond the face plate, the rest of the
Asus DRW-22B1LT is silver. On the top we find the drive information
label including model and serial number. The back of the drive
houses the SATA data and power connectors.
Now what differentiates this DVD burner
from its brethren is the inclusion of E-Green Engine which is a
technology designed to close down drive applications when not in use
to help conserve energy which in turns helps the environment by
decreasing CO2 emissions and reducing the depletion of trees. Go
Asus!
Asus employs something called Optimal
Tuning Strategy which adjusts the function of the DRW-22B1LT
depending on media and drive variations as well as operating
temperature. This technology is supposed to reduce the chance of
coaster production.
Finally the inclusion of the AVRS (Auto
Vibration Reducing System) is used to reduce vibration and noise
induced by unbalanced mass of rotating machinery. With AVRS, Asus
DRW-22B1L provides high readability and playability.
Installation, Testing and
Comparison:
Installation of the Asus DRW-22B1LT is
just like any other CD/DVD drive, find an open 5.25” drive bay in
your case and then install it depending on what your case requires
for mounting the drive, whether it is using brackets, directly
screwing the drive into position, etc.
For testing the following setup was
used running outside of a case:
System:
Motherboard: Asus P6T Deluxe
CPU: Intel Core i7 920
Memory: Kingston KHX16000D3K3/3GX –
3GB
Video Card: MSI n260GTX
Hard Drive: Seagate 200 GB 7200RPM
PSU: Ultra
X-Finity 800 Watt Power Supply
OS: Windows XP
Professional SP3
Thermal
Interface: OCZ Freeze Thermal Extreme Conductivity Compound
Cooler: Noctua
NH-U12P SE1366
I
pitted the Asus DRW-22B1LT
against an LG GH22NS30 which runs at the following speeds:
22X (CAV) DVD+R
8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL
22X (CAV) DVD-R
6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM
16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R
32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM
2MB Cache SATA
My
system has the Full Nero 8 Suite installed, so I did not use the Nero
8 Essential disc, but many of the features on the Essentials are
enough to get peak performance from the Asus DRW-22B1LT.
If
you wish to use LightScribe, then you will need to download the
software which can be found here – http://www.lightscribe.com/downloadSection/windows/index.aspx?id=810.
For testing I used Nero InfoTool5 and Nero DiscSpeed4.
Using Nero InfoTool5, we can see that the Asus drive can read all CD
variations and was able to write to the same two types as the LG
drive. Otherwise, both drives have similar read/write features.
I ran the Benchmark and Creation Test using DiscSpeed4
and here are the results:
Surprisingly the LG beat the Asus in the DVD Creation
Benchmark by a little over 30 seconds.
While running the Nero DiscSpeed4 we see the average
speed was equal for both at 11.9.
Running the Benchmark Test, we see the Asus take a
commanding lead over the LG drive.
However, when scanning the Disc Quality, we find the one
burned with the LG had a quality score of 90 while the Asus was 84.
Since the LG did not have disc scanning built in, I used the Asus
drive to scan both discs burned by each drive.
In terms of DVD tray opening and closing speed, the Asus
took that one quite easily.
For another burning speed comparison I used DVD
Decrypter 3.5.4 to burn a 3.6 MB file onto a DVD-R 8X disc. Once
again the LG was faster, but only by 9 seconds.
Besides running these several benchmarks, I was able to
burn various disc media all without any issues. No coasters is
correct.
Besides
the disc burning capability, the Asus DRW-22B1LT
includes LightScribe technology which is a nice addition, but it does
require the user to buy LightScribe compatible media.
As you can see I burn
the good old Dragonsteelmods logo onto on of my data discs. It
definitely looks nice and there are no worries about any sticker
label peeling off. The bigger the label size and intricacy, the
longer it takes the Asus DRW-22B1LT
to burn the LightScribe image. This particular disc took a little
over twenty minutes.
Another noted feature is the E-Green engine which goes
into effect when the drive is idle for 2.5 minutes. Once active, the
E-Green engine will close drive applications thus helping to conserve
energy. After having several DVD burners with lights that would
indicate constant drive activity, this technology is a welcome
addition and seemed to work as advertised.
Finally the inclusion of the AVRS (Auto
Vibration Reducing System) helps keep the drive noise down. This
does not there is no disc spinning start up or shutdown noise or that
you will have silent burning. But this technology does make the Asus
DRW-22B1LT definitely quieter than most other DVD burners that I have
encountered.
Summary and Comments
The Asus DRW-22B1LT is a quality DVD
burner with several features not found in competing products such as
AVRS (Auto Vibration Reducing System), E-Green Engine and
LightScribe. These are excellent features to have and make the Asus
DRW-22B1LT a good choice if you are looking for a quiet reliable and
energy efficient DVD burner. Just be aware that these features will
add a little to the cost of the burner making it a few dollars more
expensive than its brethren.
It is not the fastest drive around, but
we are talking about seconds of speed variation, so this should not
be a major issue. The Asus DRW-22B1LT is definitely one of the more
silent and energy efficient DVD burners around and that helps
overlook the speed issue. However, the Disc Quality test is somewhat
concerning as it scores lower than the LG model we tested it against.
I did not have any playback issues with any of the music or videos
that were burned with the Asus DRW-22B1LT. If you are concerned
about the quality of your burns, then this issue may be harder to
resolve.
DragonSteelMods gives the Asus
DRW-22B1LT a 4 out of 5 score.
Pros:
-Very quiet operation
-Energy efficient
-LightScribe built in
Cons:
-Not the fastest DVD burner
-Lower disc quality scores than would
like to see.
I would like to thank Acoustic
PC for the chance to review the Asus DRW-22B1LT and for their continued support of DSM.
review#566