Plextor PX-B940SA 12x Blu-ray Disc Writer

While CPU, memory, OS and other variables don't often make a huge difference, there are some nonetheless. We have a computer that is used only for testing hardware. We do this so all tests can be compared reliably.

Test System:

For Blu-ray Disc writers, the performance tests are normally broken down into six sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read, DVD write, BD read and BD write. Each benchmark test has been run three times. The score given is an average of the three. DMA has been enabled in device manager for all IDE devices supporting it.

CD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the CD-ROM benchmarks, CD WinBench 99 v3.0 and CD Speed v4.7.7.16 are used to test read speeds, access times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 650MB and 700MB to our test media. Times are recorded. To test rewrite scores, Nero is used again to time how long it takes to write 400MB of random files and directories. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

DVD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the DVD benchmarks CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, access times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write a 4.38GB image to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Roxio's Drag-to-Disc is used to test packet writing speeds. For this, 4GB of random files and directories are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

BD Read Tests: For the read performance section of the BD benchmarks, CD Speed v4.7.7.16 is used to test read speeds, access times, and CPU usage.

BD Write Tests: To test the BD write speeds, CD Speed's "Create Data Disc" feature is used to burn an entire BD-R/RE disc. Times are recorded.

CD Winbench 99 Scores:

The CD Winbench test is as close as we can get to testing every day usage. It fires off eight different applications using scripts. This tries to mimic the activities of a person loading these programs onto their own computer.

Plextor's new Blu-ray Disc writer gave us some mixed performance in our CD Winbench tests. In the transfer speed tests, the drive started reading at 13.6x (2040 / 150) and reached a maximum speed of about 38x (5710 / 150) on the outside. While this is fairly good for a drive with a maximum read speed of 40x, the PX-B940SA's access time and overall score were not as good as some of the other Blu-ray drives we've looked at. 

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - Pressed CD:

For this test I used a pressed CD containing one Mode 1 data track. The disc is 74:38 in size and is full of data and directories.

 

	Plextor PX-B940SA	Pioneer BDR-2203	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	31.40x 18.46x 41.39x	30.94x 17.80x 40.63x	36.43x 21.08x 48.18x	35.19x 20.35x 46.52x
Access Times Random: 1/3: Full:	148ms 169ms 308ms	114ms 129ms 186ms	127ms 146ms 214ms	145ms 152ms 280ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	6% 9% 6% 71%	1% 1% 8% 9%	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 5% 2%

The PX-B940SA performed a little better in our CD Speed tests. While still not as fast as the drives from LG and Sony, it had no problems reaching a maximum speed of 41.39x. Unfortunately, its access times were a little higher than we'd like to see.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-R Media:

For this test I made a copy of our pressed test CD. I used 12x rated Memorex Gold 74 minute media for the tests.

 

	Plextor PX-B940SA	Pioneer BDR-2203	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	31.66x 18.40x 42.02x	25.32x 14.58x 33.57x	36.95x 21.17x 48.93x	35.96x 20.51x 47.65x
Access Times Random: 1/3: Full:	162ms 177ms 374ms	161ms 187ms 335ms	122ms 145ms 225ms	161ms 169ms 304ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 3% 6%	2% 8% 6% n/a	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 6% 2%

The PX-B940SA was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of 42.02x.

Plextor's new Blu-ray drive had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The PX-B940SA read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 42.59x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - CD-RW Media:

For this test I made a copy of a pressed test CD. I used some PNY 80 minute CD-RW media for the tests. 

 

	Plextor PX-B940SA	Pioneer BDR-2203	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	18.71x 11.01x 24.71x	18.72x 10.99x 24.74x	30.00x 17.48x 39.69x	24.85x 14.37x 32.82x
Access Times Random: 1/3: Full:	157ms 180ms 319ms	155ms 179ms 319ms	119ms 142ms 215ms	153ms 163ms 303ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	0% 1% 2% 4%	0% 8% 6% n/a	1% 1% 2% 5%	0% 1% 2% 2%

While the PX-B940SA is rated at 40x when reading pressed and CD-R media, its CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 24x. This is pretty slow considering most of the Blu-ray Disc writers we've tested have been able to read CD-RW media at 32x or higher.

CD Speed v4.7.7.7 (DAE) - Pressed CD:

For this test I used Pure Funk. The CD is almost exactly 74 minutes. This helps to squeeze the maximum performance out of the CD.

Exact Audio Copy can tell us a lot about a drive's capabilities. You can see from the screen shot that while Plextor's new Blu-ray DIsc writer supports accurate stream and caches audio data, it does not have the ability to retrieve C2 error information from audio CD's.     

 

CD Speed	Plextor PX-B940SA	Pioneer BDR-2203	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	31.26x 18.84x 41.23x 10 Yes	31.27x 18.84x 41.36x 10 Yes	30.25x 17.91x 39.96x 10 Yes	18.66x 10.96x 24.65x 10 Yes

The PX-B940SA did fairly well in our DAE tests. While not as fast as the Pioneer BDR-2203, it was able to rip pressed audio CD's at at respectable 41.23x.

CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (DAE) - CD-R Media:

For this test I used a copy of the Pure Funk CD. It's burned onto the same Memorex Gold 74 minute media I used in the CD Speed tests.

 

CD Speed	Plextor PX-B940SA	Pioneer BDR-2203	LG BH08LS20	Sony BWU-300S
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	31.02x 18.79x 41.05x 10 Yes	24.83x 15.09x 32.76x 10 Yes	29.90x 17.99x 39.43x 10 Yes	18.42x 10.88x 24.37x 10 Yes

Plextor's new Blu-ray drive was a little slower when ripping audio CD-R discs. Nevertheless, this didn't keep it from reaching a maximum DAE speed of 41.05x in our tests. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

The PX-B940SA completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 28.82x. While the drive went through all of the tests without creating any errors, it was unable to pass all of the on the fly copying tests. If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the PX-B940SA was able to read the CD-Text and subchannel data but failed to read the lead-in and lead-out sections of the CD.