CDRLabs.com has reviewed the flagship of Nu Tech's new line of DVD writers: the DDW-081. Announced this October, the DDW-081 takes DVD writing speeds to the next level. Based on Philips' new "Nexperia" platform, this new drive features 8x DVD+R and 4x DVD+RW writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 12x. The DDW-081 also offers 40x CD reading and writing speeds, 10x rewriting speeds and features like Seamless Link buffer underrun protection. Here's some of their review:

If you're looking for a fast DVD writer, the DDW-081 definitely won't disappoint. When it comes to writing DVD's, the DDW-081 is hard to beat. Thanks to its 8x DVD+R writing speeds, it was able to write 4GB of data in less than 8 minutes. The drive was also pretty quick when reading DVD's. The DDW-081 was able to read single layer data DVD's at 12x and recordable media at a respectable 8x. Unfortunately, it slowed down to 4x when reading DVD videos.

While priced affordably, the Nu Tech's new DVD+RW drive has many features found on more expensive writers. To prevent buffer underruns, the DDW-081 has 2MB buffer that is backed up by Seamless Link technology. While the buffer was a little smaller than we'd like, this system worked very well to prevent coasters. Like Plextor's new DVD writer, the DDW-081 can also write to select 4x DVD+R media at 8x. With 8x DVD+R media just starting to ship, this is a feature that many will appreciate. Unfortunately, the DDW-081 is lacking support for the Mt. Rainier format. This was a little surprising seeing it was one of the features listed on the box and Nu Tech's website. According to Nu Tech, support for this feature will be added by the end of December via a firmware update.

So how much does the DDW-081 cost? $150? $200? As I mentioned earlier, one of the best things about Nu Tech's new drive is its price. Currently going for as low as $132 on Pricewatch, the DDW-081 is definitely one of the best bangs for your buck.