Testing 18x DVD Burning Speed on a Mac

Earlier this week, we were mentioning the new Pioneer DVD burner, DVR-112, and its main feature, 18x burning speed. However we could not test it as we could not find compatible media. We finally put our hands on Verbatim DVD-R, harboring the reference MMCRG20 (18x).


Using Toast 8, we burned a complete DVD at the maximal speed. It took 7 minutes and 10 seconds from the lead-in to the lead out at 18x. To store the same amount a data at 16x, it would have taken 15 seconds more.
In summary, if the 18x burning speed is of course faster, the difference remains negligible, and beside of being a marketing argument, this faster burning speed does not provide a real improvement for user. In addition, it can only be used with some limited number of DVD media, hard to find, and more expensive than some standard 16x media.