The present invention relates to an apparatus and a corresponding method for determining write strategy parameters for recording data on an optical record carrier (100) and to an apparatus and a corresponding method for determining read parameters for reading data from an optical record carrier (100). In order to provide an improved apparatus and method which can be easily implemented in practice, require only a short amount of time and allow for determination of optical write strategy parameters also for discs when also write strategy stored in a media table in the drive, an apparatus for determining write strategy parameters is proposed comprising: initialization means (110) for setting initial write strategy parameters, —setting means (120) for setting initial variable levels and an initial experimental plan, based on variations of said initial write strategy parameters, for use in a design of experiments method for optimization of said write strategy parameters, optimization means (130) for determining optimized write strategy parameters by use of a design of experiments method, and—iteration means (140) for checking if, based on a predetermined criterion, the optimized write strategy parameters determined by the optimization means (130) shall be further optimized and, in case the write strategy parameters shall be further optimized, for determining new variable levels and a new experimental plan for use in another iteration of the design of experiments method for further optimization of said write strategy parameters.