TOSHIBA SD-R5372 review

Increases in DVD write speeds show no signs of slowing down, with 16X DVD burners now commonplace. This month we have two drives featuring this headlining speed for DVD+R, Toshiba's SD-R5372 and Waitec's Action 16.

Externally, there's not a lot to say about them, although the Action 16 is a littler shorter, with just enough depth to take a disc. This is only likely to be of importance if you have a small case that you want to fit a DVD recorder in.

There's little between the two in recording times for DVD+R, either. Using 16X media provided by Imation, the SD-R5372 burnt 4.7GB in 5 minutes 34 seconds, while the Action 16 took 5 minutes 55 seconds. This puts both drives near the top of the performance leagues.

The two show similar RW performance. With writing at 4X, Waitec's drive finished in 14 minutes 21 seconds, and the Toshiba took 15 minutes eight seconds. Both well within the limits we'd expect.

The drives really differ when it comes to double-layer (DL) performance. The Action 16 can write these discs at only 2.4X, while the SD-R5372 has the fastest paper write time we've seen, at 5X. It made a big difference. Toshiba's drive stormed through a full DL disc in 23 minutes 32 seconds, which is the fastest we've seen. The Action 16, meanwhile, took 43 minutes 29 seconds.

Both drives take a performance hit when writing to DVD-R discs. The Toshiba supports only 12X recording while the Waitec supports a paltry 8X recording. It's clear that these drives are aimed at users of DVD+R.

While performance is a key part of choosing, accessories are also important. Both companies score highly. Waitec supplies Cyberlink's PowerDVD and Nero Suite 3, which includes the Express recording package.

Toshiba bundles Pinnacle's Instant CD/DVD, which isn't quite as good, in our opinion, as Nero. However, the box also contains mounting screws, decent instructions and an IDE cable, so you are provided with all you need.

Of these two drives, Toshiba's SD-R5372 is the best. Its superb double-layer performance outstrips Waitec's by a mile. It also has better DVD-R performance. However, the NEC-3500A has slightly better performance in everything except for DVD+R DL and is £15 cheaper.