Plextor PX-740A 16x DVD±RW

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 DVD writers the performance tests are broken down into four sections: CD read, CD write, DVD read and DVD write tests. 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 v4.00 are used to test read speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing both CD Speed and CD DAE are used. CD Speed is used to give an overall DAE speed rating and CD DAE is used to give the track by track extraction speeds and to check the extracted tracks for errors the drive may have created.

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 Sonic's DLA 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 v4.00 is used to test read speeds, seek times, and CPU usage.

DVD Write Tests: To test the DVD write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 4GB to our test media. Times are recorded. Then Sonic's DLA is used to test packet writing speeds. The same files are copied and pasted in Windows Explorer and timed.

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 DVD writerdid pretty well in the CD Winbench portion of our tests. While the PX-740A's overall score wasn't as high as some of the other drives, it had some very good transfer rates. The drive started reading at 19.6x (2940 / 150) and reached a maximum speed of about 43.5x (6520 / 150) on the outside.

CD Speed v4.00 - 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-740A	NEC ND-3540A	Sony DRU-800A	Plextor PX-716A
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	36.37x 20.65x 48.14x	35.60x 20.56x 47.07x	36.37x 20.74x 48.10x	35.46x 20.50x 46.90x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	109ms 125ms 179ms	125ms 137ms 213ms	125ms 141ms 216ms	102ms 120ms 172ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 2% 3% 6%	0% 1% 3% 6%	1% 2% 4% 7%	0% 1% 2% 3%

The PX-740A performed even better in our CD Speed tests. Plextor's new DVD writer flew past the drives from the competition, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48.14x. While not as low as the PX-716A's, the PX-740A's seek times were also quite good.

CD Speed v4.00 - 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.

The PX-740A was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, the drive was able to reach a maximum transfer speed of more than 49x. On top of that, its seek times were again quite good.

Plextor's new DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The drive read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 52.88x! This is pretty good for a drive rated at only 48x.

CD Speed v4.00 - 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.

Like the ND-3540A and PX-716A, the PX-740A's CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 40x. As you can see, the drive had no problems reaching this speed in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.00 - 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 the Plextor PX-740A supports accurate stream and has the ability to cache audio data, it does not have the ability to retrieve C2 error information.

CD Speed	Plextor PX-740A	NEC ND-3540A	Sony DRU-800A	Plextor PX-716A
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	36.74x 20.89x 48.54x 10 Yes	30.92x 17.99x 40.11x 10 Yes	36.75x 21.32x 48.58x 10 Yes	31.45x 18.20x 41.55x 10 Yes

Like Plextor's previous DVD writers, the PX-740A performed very well in our DAE tests. The drive flew past the PX-716A, reaching a maximum DAE speed of 48x. .

To get a better look at the quality of the extracted audio we use CD DAE. CD DAE is actually designed to be an audio ripping program. It converts the CD-DA on the CD to .wav files. We use it in our testing because it can also be used as a quick and easy way to test the quality. Where CD Speed tests the DAE as one large session, CD DAE extracts each CD track individually. It actually extracts each track twice and then compares them to check for any errors. Every error a drive creates could be a hiss or pop you would hear later in the audio tracks.

Plextor's new DVD writer was a little slower when extracting our test disc track by track with CD DAE. The drive started out at an impressive 22xbut came up a little short of 48x in the end.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.00 - 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.

The PX-740A was a little slower when ripping audio CD-R discs. While the drive still performed well, it wasn't able to reach 48x this time around. So how did it do in CD Speed's advanced DAE tests? Take a look below.

Plextor's new DVD writer completed CD Speed's advanced DAE tests with an average score of 34.62x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors. In the advanced tests, the PX-740A was able to read the CD-Text, subchannel data and lead in section of the CD, but for whatever reason was not able to read the lead out.

To see how well Plextor's DVD writer can read scratched and dirty discs, I used CD Speed's ScanDisc utility to see how many sectors were damaged or unreadable. This is a very rough, but good way to test the drive's error correcting abilities.

CD Speed - ScanDisc

Like the BenQ drive its based on, the PX-740A cannot retrieve error information. Without this ability, the drive is unable to determine whether a sector is damaged or unreadable. This causes all of the sectors to show up as being "bad" in ScanDisc.

You can also get an idea of how well the drive can read scratched and dirty discs by using CD DAE. CD DAE will extract the audio tracks twice and then compare them. From this information we can see what the drive's average speed was and how many errors it generated.

Plextor's new DVD writer gave some mixed results in this test. While the number of errors was very low, the scratches on the disc caused it to slow down considerably.