Plextor PX-716A 16x DVD±RW

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 6.6.0.6 and DLA 4.60:

For this test I randomly generated 650MB and 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

Like the drives from Sony and NEC, the PX-716A has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Imation's 48x media, the drive started writing at about 21.31 and reached a maximum speed of 48.73x at the end of the session. This gave Plextor's new DVD±RW an average writing speed of about 36.91x.

To test the PX-716A's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden manufactured Fuji media rated at 48x. The results are below.

Plextor's new drive did very well in our CD writing tests. Thanks to its 48x CD writing speed, it was able to write an entire 650MB CD in 2:38. This is about 3 seconds faster than the Sony DRU-710A and a good 12 seconds faster than the drive from NEC.

To test the PX-716A's writing quality I used the Q-Check C1/C2 Test built into PlexTools Professional. This test can be used to give us the average, maximum and total number of C1, C2 and CU (uncorrectable) errors on a disc. For these tests, the drive's read speed has been set to 24x. For comparison, I've also included test results from Lite-On IT's KProbe2.

The PX-716A's writing quality was very good. By looking at the screenshots, you can see that the number of C1 errors stayed relatively low. More importantly, there were no C2 or CU errors on any of the discs I tested.

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 24x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

When rewriting at 24x, the PX-716A uses P-CAV, or Partial CAV, to reach this speed.By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that the drive starts rewriting at about 21.25x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at about the four minute mark.

Plextor's new DVD writer did pretty well in our rewriting tests. Thanks to its P-CAV writing method, the PX-716A took only 2:21 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:25 to do the same with DLA. Unfortunately, it was not as fast as some of the other drives when reading back our test data.

The PX-716A also erases at 24x. In our tests, it not only tied the DVR-A08XL for the best quick erase time, it was able to do a full erase in an impressive 3:52.