Plextor PX-608CU 8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW/RAM

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4 andDLA 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of Plextor's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, 16x DVD-R, 6x DVD-RW and 4x 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 media at 8x, the PX-608CU uses Z-CLV. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that Plextor's new drive starts writing at 2x or 2.4x and jumps to 4x at the 0.2GB mark. When it reaches the 1.7GB mark, the drive changes to 6x. The PX-608CU writes at this speed until about the 3.7GB minute mark. At this point, the writing speed increases to 7.4x and stays there until the very end of the session.

According to Plextor, the PX-608CU is capable of 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds. In our tests, the drive had no problems writing to DVD-RW media at 6x. Unfortunately, it would not write to the 8x DVD+RW media from Verbatim and RiDATA at its rated speeds.

While not nearly as fast as some of the internal writers we've looked at, the PX-608CU performed as expected when writing to DVD±R and DVD-RW media. Unfortunately, with its writing speed limited to only 4x, the PX-608CU took longer than it should have when writing to DVD+RW discs.

To check the media compatibility of the PX-608CU, I ran a few tests using some of the media available in my area. 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 DW1620. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1620 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 with a Lite-On XJ-HD166S. By default, this DVD-ROM drive reads recordable media at only 8x. However, thanks to a firmware patched by The Dangerous Brothers, I was able to boost the drive's read speed to 12x. 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.

When tested with KProbe, the PX-608CU's writing quality appears to be pretty good. With the exception of RiDATA's 8x DVD+R media, the error rates remained fairly low. Unfortunately, the results weren't nearly as good when scanned with the BenQ DW1620. Looking at the CD Speed screenshots, you can see that the PI/PIF rates were considerably higher on the discs recorded at 8x.

Plextor's new drive did a little better this time around. Aside from a few PI and PIF spikes, the results stayed within acceptable limits with both KProbe and CD Speed. Even then,if you look at the transfer rate graphs you can see that there were still readability issues with most of the discs.

Something to point out is that while the PX-608CU had no problems erasing DVD+RW discs at its rated speeds, it erased DVD-RW media at only 2x.

To test the PX-608CU's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 6x DVD-RW, Verbatim 4x DVD+RW and Maxell 5x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

The PX-608CU's packet writing performance was pretty mixed. The drive turned in some pretty good times with DVD-RW and DVD-RAM media. However, it took longer than expected when reading and writing to DVD+RW discs.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.1.4:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the PX-608CU, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim, RiDATA and Memorex. I created about 8GB of random files and directories on my hard drive and then burned them to our test discs with Nero.

Depending on the media used, the PX-608CU took anywhere from 31 to 33 minutes to write 8001MB of data with Nero. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

The writing quality was very good with Verbatim's DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media. Aside from a few isolated spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed well within acceptable limits. Unfortunately, the results weren't nearly as good with the discs from Memorex and RiDATA. The jitter and error rates were very high throughout some sections of the discs. When testing RiDATA's DVD-R DL media, we also saw a large number of PO Failures at the layer change which caused some major readability issues.

Performance Revisited:

For a portable drive, the PX-608CU performed pretty well in our tests. When writing DVD's, it turned in some relatively good times with DVD±R, DVD-RAM and DVD-RW media, but took longer than expected when writing to DVD+RW discs. The PX-608CU was also fairly quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, the drive was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R/RW media at 8x and DVD±R DL discs at 6x.

The PX-608CU also did fairly well in our CD read tests. While its seek times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive had no problems reading all types of media at its rated speeds. Writing CD's wasn't a problem for the PX-608CU either. The drive turned in some good writing times and the writing quality was quite good. With all of these things considered, I gave the Plextor PX-608CU a solid 7 out of 10 for its performance.