I recently got a different DVD burner and it doesn't seem as fast as it claims so I was wondering what the best program out there is for testing its burning capabilities?

Well, an easy test is to time how long it takes. Then use that and the amount of data burned to get the overall speed.

CD/DVD Drive speeds are to be taken with a pinch of salt. Please read this FAQ, and also take a look at some of the software on that webpage.

Basically, if a drive said it was 100x, it may mean that it can only write the last few MB of the disc at that rate. Also, there is a possibility that your drive doesn't like your media very much and is clocking down its speed. There is a comprehensive media review/information website out there but it escapes me at the moment.

Also, check out some of the reviews of similar drives at CDRLabs and see whether you get similar results as they do.

I bought a couple of very fast 16X combo burners (Pioneer, I think.. don't have them handy here at the moment to check, though). Speed sucked under MS-Win, until I did some kind of reinstall of some widget or something. Now burns at very fast speed.

Verbatim DVD-DL media burns at 8X, and regular SL media averages around 12X over the burn interval, peaking at 16X as expected.

Cheers