Hamburg  - DVD writers boasting high speeds sound good, but their error rates are high, also too.

A total of 48 different recordable DVD blanks were recently put to the test by Computer Bild magazine. The Hamburg-based magazine determined that burn speed has a major impact on quality. Quality is excellent when burning at four to eight times the standard burn speed. At a 16x tempo, however, the error rate climbs quickly.

For the DVD+R format, the Platinum DVD+R 16x proved top of the class. In the DVD-R camp, the Memorex DVD-R up to 16x was the victor. For double-layer discs the DVD+R DL 8x and DVD-R DL 8x from Verbatim took top grades.

The experts also examined 16 blanks for Blu-ray burners. For single data layer discs with 25 gigabyte (GB) capacity, the Emtec BD-R 2x discs led the way. The Panasonic LM-BR50MDE was declared the winner among double-layer discs, offering 50 GB of storage. (dpa)