Plextor PX-740UF 16x FireWire/USB 2.0 DVD±RW

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16 andDLA 4.95:

To test the DVD writing performance of Plextor's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media. To get the writing times, a 4.38GB image was burned to our test discs using Nero.

When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x, the PX-740UF uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that the drive starts writing at about 5.6x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed as it reaches the end of the disc.

The PX-740UF also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. While the drive uses CLV when writing to DVD-RW media, it uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum DVD+RW writing speed.

Plextor's new drive performed pretty well in our DVD writing tests. While not nearly as fast as the drive from LG, it turned in some respectable times with both DVD±R and DVD±RW media.

While Plextor has a list of recommended media on their website, I wanted to see for myself how well the PX-740UF worked with some of the DVD+R and DVD-R media currently available. The media types, along with the average time it took the drive to write our 4.38GB image, are listed below.

So what about writing quality? Testing a drive's DVD writing quality isn't easy. Until now, there were very few options, unless you wanted to shell out thousands of dollars for a certified test machine. Thanks to KProbe, we can test a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates.For these tests I used a Lite-On SOHW-1673S (firmware JS07) and read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8 and 1 respectively. For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 is able to report PI Errors, PI Failures, Parity Outer Failures and even jitter levels. For this test, the discs are read at 8x with both the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

So what are "good" results supposed to look like? With KProbe, the PI errors should not exceed 280 and the number of PIF errors should stay below 4. When testing with CD Speed, the number of PI errors should stay below 280 as well. However, because it scans with an ECC sum of 8, a higher number of PIF errors is acceptable, as long as they do not exceed 32. Since POF errors are uncorrectable, we really don't want to see any of them at all.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. By reading these discs back at this speed, we can see if there are any readability issues caused by the number of errors or high levels of jitter.

The PX-740UF's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits. The only real exception being Optodisc's 16x DVD+R media. When scanned with the BenQ DW1640, the PI/PIF rates jumped up considerably near the end.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. While the writing quality varied from one manufacturer to another, the results were pretty good for the most part. The only exception was Daxon's 16x media. When tested with CD Speed, there were a number of POF errors on these discs.

To test the PX-740UF's packet writing performance I used DLA 4.95. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW media were used once again.

The PX-740UF performed pretty well in our packet writing tests. While not as fast as some of the other drives when writing our test data to disc, it took a little more than 6 minutes to read back all 4GB of files and directories.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.16:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the PX-740UF, I used Verbatim 8x DVD+R DL, Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL, Memorex 2.4x DVD+R DL and Verbatim 4x DVD-R DL media. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

The PX-740UF had no problems writing to Verbatim's 8x and 2.4x DVD+R DL media at 8x. Unfortunately, Memorex's Ritek manufactured discs would not work at anything faster than 2.4x.

The PX-740UF did very well in this test. Thanks to its 8x DVD+R DL writing speed, the drive took less than 15 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality was very good with Verbatim's 8x DVD+R DL media. As you can see, the PI/PIF rates remained very low from start to finish. The results weren't as good with the 2.4x DVD+R DL media from Verbatim and Memorex. However, the PI/PIF rates remained within acceptable limits.

As you can see, the PI/PIF rates remained very low from start to finish. Unfortunately, the results weren't as good with the 2.4x DVD+R DL media. The PI/PIF rates were not only higher, there were a number of POF errors on the discs from Verbatim.

The PX-740UF also features 4x DVD-R DL writing speeds. To test the drive's writing times, Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media was used.

The PX-740UF wasn't nearly as fast when writing to DVD-R DL media. In our tests, it trailed behind the drive from NEC by more than 8 minutes. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The PX-740UF's writing quality was pretty good with Verbatim's 4x DVD-R DL media. The PI/PIF rates stayed within acceptable limits when tested with both KProbe and CD Speed and there were no readability problems.

Performance Revisited:

Before I wrap up this section of the review, I wanted to point out that the PX-740UF didn't work as advertised with some USB or FireWire controllers. As you saw in our tests, the drive was not able to read at 16x when connected to the USB 2.0 ports on our ASUS K8V SE Deluxe (VIA K8T800) motherboard. Switching to an Intel based motherboard really didn't help either. When connected to an MSI 875P Neo-FISR (Intel 875P), the drive was lucky to reach even 14x. I also ran a few tests using the FireWire connector on the ASUS K8V SE Deluxe. While the PX-740UF was able to read at 16x, its writing speed peaked at only 13x.

The PX-740UF still performed pretty well throughout most of our tests. While not as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD-R DL discs, it turned in very good times with DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD+R DL media. The PX-740UF was also fairly quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, it was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R discs at speeds has high as 15x and other types of recordable media at 12x.

Plextor's external writer also did very well in our CD read tests. It had no problems reading all types of media at its rated speeds and had some very good seek times. Writing CD's wasn't a problem for the PX-740UF either. The drive turned in some impressive times and its writing quality was quite good. With all things considered, the Plextor PX-740UF gets a solid 8 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.