Plextor PX-760A 18x DVD±RW

As the world's first 18x DVD±RW, the PX-760A has been the topic of many discussions here at CDRLabs. While some people have questioned the need for 18x writing speeds, others have welcomed the idea, hoping that it will save them time when burning DVD's. No matter what side of the debate you're on, its hard to ignore the fact that the PX-760A is an impressive drive. Offering great all around performance and an almost overwhelming number of features, it's a good example of why Plextor is considered to be one of the top names in the industry.

Without a doubt, what the PX-760A does best is write DVD's. When writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 18x, it took the drive less than 6 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. While an impressive feat, this wasn't enough to top the LG GSA-4167B and its P-CAV writing method. Plextor's new drive also did pretty well in our rewriting tests, turning in some very good times with both DVD-RW and DVD+RW media. Even more impressive was the PX-760A's DVD+R DL writing performance. Thanks to its 10x writing speed, the drive took a little more than 15 minutes to burn an entire 8.5GB DVD.

If you want to write at 18x on the PX-760A, be aware that the list of supported media is very short. Out of all the media we tried, only three types were capable of this speed. The drive faired much better when writing at 16x. However, there were a few cases where PoweRec kicked in, preventing it from reaching this speed. The PX-760A's writing quality was also pretty good for the most part. With most of our test media, the error rates stayed well within acceptable limits, even when writing at 18x. There is still room for improvement though, especially with Ritek manufactured media.

Plextor's new drive did pretty well in our DVD read tests. It was able to read both single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at 16x and had some relatively good seek times. Reading recordable media wasn't a problem for the PX-760A either. In our tests, it read both DVD±R and DVD±RW media at 12x and DVD±R DL discs at a respectable 8x.

The PX-760A was also fairly quick when reading CD's. With SpeedRead enabled, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at 48x and CD-RW discs at an impressive 41x. The drive also did pretty well in our DAE tests, reaching a maximum speed of 41x. As a writer, the PX-760A performed as expected. The drive turned in some impressive times when writing to CD-R media. However, its 24x CD-RW writing speed put it at a slight disadvantage in some of our rewriting tests.

When it comes to features, the PX-760A has few equals. Along with features like PoweRec, VariRec and BURN-Proof, it supports a number of more advanced technologies including SecuRec, GigaRec and Q-Check. Most notable, though, is AUTOSTRATEGY. When a DVD±R disc is inserted, AUTOSTRATEGY automatically selects the best writing strategy. If the media is unknown, it will create a new writing strategy on the fly. The PX-760A also offers a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from and supports bitsetting for DVD+R and DVD+R DL media. To top it all off, Plextor has included a great software bundle containing Roxio's Easy Media Creator suite and PlexTools Professional.

As usual, performance and features like this don't come cheap. With prices on Pricegrabber starting at about $100, the PX-760A is one of the more expensive DVD±RW drives currently available. Of course, there are more affordable alternatives, but if you go that route you won't have nearly as many features or a company like Plextor backing you up. As usual, I'll leave the decision up to you.

Highs:

• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 18x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL media at 10x
• Writes to DVD-R DL media at 6x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R and DVD±RW media at 12x
• Reads DVD±R DL media at 8x
• Features 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds
• Very good transfer speeds with all types of CD media
• Good DAE speeds
• Low seek times
• Good CD and DVD writing quality
• Supports GigaRec, SecuRec, PoweRec, VariRec, Silent Mode, AUTOSTRATEGY and Q-Check technologies
• Includes Easy Media Creator 7 and PlexTools Professional
• Supports bitsetting for DVD+R and DVD+R DL media
• Supports 99 minute media
• Good documentation

Lows:

• High media requirements when writing at 18x
• Tendency to slow down when writing to some DVD±R media
• Cannot write to 8x DVD±R media at 16x
• Writes to CD-RW media at only 24x
• Reads GigaRec recorded discs at only 8x
• Cannot set the book type of DVD+RW media
• Has a 2048KB buffer
• Expensive