Plextor PX-Q840U Qflix 20x DVD±RW/RAM

Model: Plextor PX-Q840U Qflix 20x DVD±RW/RAM
Manufacturer: Plextor
Provided By: Plextor LLC

When it comes to optical storage, there are few names as well known as Plextor. For more than a decade, they've produced some of the best drives the industry has seen. Known the world over for their quality, performance and features, these drives have become favorites among consumers and professionals alike. To keep ahead of the competition, Plextor has continued to lead the way, bringing cutting edge technologies to market. Today, their product lineup includes a number of high performance DVD and Blu-ray Disc writers, many with features found nowhere else.

One of the latest additions to Plextor's already impressive line of DVD writers is the PX-Q840U. Sporting the same specs as its internal counterpart, the PX-806SA, this new external drive is capable of 20x DVD±R, 12x DVD-RAM, 8x DVD±R DL, 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. The PX-Q840U also features support for Plextor's new PlexUtilities software as well as Sonic's Qflix recording technology. With Qflix, consumers can purchase and download movies and then burn a permanent copy that can be played back on a standard DVD player.

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what Plextor's new external DVD writer has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect from the PX-Q840U, we'll take a look at some of its features and then see how it stacks up against some of the 20x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Can the PX-Q840U deliver the performance and features that we've come to expect from Plextor? Keep reading as we find out.

What's in the box?:

• Plextor PX-Q840U 20x DVD±RW/RAM Drive
• Plextor Software Disc
• Quick Installation Guide
• Roxio Venue Quick Install Guide
• USB 2.0 Cable
• AC Power Adapter
• 2 RiDATA Qflix DVDs
• Drive Stand
• CinemaNow $25 Gift Certificate
• Warranty Information

Physical Features:

The drive Plextor sent us for this review was manufactured in November of 2008 and had firmware 1.05. For this review we used firmware versions 1.05 and 1.08.

From the front, the PX-Q840U looks nothing like its internal counterpart, the PX-806SA. Plextor's new external DVD writer sports a more sophisticated look thanks in part to its glossy plastic and chrome highlights. The PX-806SA also has its share of logos. Along with the large "Plextor" and "PX-Q840U" logos, you can see a few showing support for the DVD Multi and DVD+ReWritable specifications, as well as Sonic's Qflix technology.

The PX-Q840U's enclosure is radically different from Plextor's previous external drives. Relatively compact for an external DVD writer, it measures only 163 x 51.5 x 224.7 mm (6.42 x 2.03 x 8.85 in) and weighs in at 1.1 kg (2.43 lbs). Like the front bezel, the enclosure is made out of glossy black plastic. While this looks nice, finger prints and smudges have a tendency to stand out.

In case you missed the fact that PX-Q840U is capable of writing to Qflix media, there is an extra large Qflix logo on top of the drive. On the bottom, the drive has four small rubber feet to keep it from sliding around when placed on a flat surface. The PX-Q840U can also be positioned vertically using the included drive stand.

The rear of Plextor's new external drive has its share of connectors. Starting from the left, you can see its USB 2.0 connector, on/off switch and power connector.

Technical Specs:

The specs below have been taken from Plextor's website and the documentation that came along with the drive.

More Features:

By looking at the picture below, you can see that Plextor's new external DVD writer is identified as a "PLEXTOR DVDR PX-Q840U."

Nero shows that the PX-Q840U has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is backed up by Sanyo's BURN-Proof buffer underrun protection. Technically this isn't true, as the drive uses a chipset from MediaTek, not Sanyo. According to Nero, the PX-Q840U can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity, it had no problems overburning up to 99 minutes with our CompUSA media. 

Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the PX-Q840U is a "two sheep" burner and is capable of backing titles protected by SafeDisc 2.90. Like most drives, it did not pass the "three sheep" test.

Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the PX-Q840U's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.

InfoTool also shows that the PX-Q840U is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware.  The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. While there isn't an RPC-1 firmware available for the drive, there is a utility available that can make the drive region free.

While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the PX-Q840U's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities.  By looking at the screenshot above you can see that Plextor's new drive can read and write to most DVD formats and offers support for Qflix and DVD Download recording.

Oddly enough, the PX-Q840U does not support bitsetting. I tried a number of programs, including Nero and CD Speed, and none of them let me change the book type of DVD+R, DVD+RW or DVD+R DL media. After running a few tests, I found that the PX-Q840U does not automatically set the book type either. According to Plextor, this feature was supposed to make it onto the drive and did not for whatever reason. The company currently plans to add it in a future firmware update.

The PX-Q840U is one of the first drives to ship with Plextor's PlexUtilities software. Using this new software, Plextor owners can view basic and advanced drive information, control specific drive functions, perform media quality tests and destroy data on CD/DVD media.

The PlexUtilities interface is fairly straightforward. The software has five sub-sections which can be accessed through the Tools menu on top as well as the Tool panel located in the main window.

The first section provides basic information about the drive, discs and the system being used. Along with the media types and protection systems supported by the drive, it can be used to display a disc's MID, manufacturer, capacity and supported read/write speeds. 

PlexUtilities can also display additional information about the drive. The Engineering Specification option lets you view things such as the drive's data buffer size, burst rate, sustained data transfer rate, access times and spin speed. The IOP option indicates the percentage of laser diode (LD) decay in the drive.

The Advanced Control section allows you to test the performance and change the power condition settings of the drive. From here you can set the idle and standby timers and perform built-in self tests that check to make sure the drive is working properly.

This section also lets you control the PX-Q840U's PlexERASE function. This technology gives users the ability to destroy the data on CD-R, DVD±R and DVD±R DL media without physically damaging the disc itself. To do this, it uses the drive's laser beam to "re-record" over the lead-in and data sectors, rendering the disc unreadable and unrecoverable.

PlexUtilities also includes a number of Disc Quality tests. The BLER option measures the block error rate for burned CD and DVD media. Along with a graph showing the number of C1/C2 and PI/PIF errors, the test reports the average and maximum values detected. This section also includes jitter and TE/FE (tracking error and focusing error) tests as well as PlexSCAN which scans the surface of a disc, looking for non-writeable areas.

Plextor has made it easy for you to keep your drive's firmware and PlexUtilities up to date. The Online Update section within PlexUtilities lets you obtain the latest updates by simply clicking on a link.

PlexUtilities has a lot of useful features that Plextor owners will appreciate. Nevertheless, I'd like to see Plextor expand its capabilities by adding book type controls as well as a way to manage the writing strategy optimization technology the drive uses.

The Plextor PX-Q840U is one of the first drives to offer support for Sonic Solution’s Qflix technology. This implementation of the DVD-Download specification gives consumers the ability to purchase movies and TV shows online and download them to their computers. Using a drive like the PX-Q840U, they can then be burned to DVD using special Qflix media. These discs use the same copy protection (CSS) found on commercially released DVDs and can be played back on most standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc players.

To do all of this, you will need to use Roxio Venue, which comes bundled with the PX-Q840U. This software lets you connect directly to CinemaNow and navigate through its catalog of Qflix titles. The main page lists the six newest releases. Otherwise, if you're looking for an older movie, you can browse by genre (Comedy, Drama, Action, Thriller, Family). Clicking on a movie will bring up additional information such as the director and starring actors as well as a brief synopsis.

While CinemaNow has thousands of movies for sale through its main website, only a handful of them can be downloaded and burned to DVD. Prices also range from $7.99 for an older, catalog title to $19.99 for a new release.

To test the Qflix capabilities of the PX-Q840U, I purchased The Chronicles of Riddick. Along with being able to download and burn this movie to DVD, CinemaNow's license lets me play it on up to three desktops, laptops or compatible portable devices. Once I logged in and selected a payment method (PayPal, credit card or gift certificate), I was able to begin the download process.

The amount of time it takes to download the movie will vary depending on your internet connection. In my case, it took about 1:35 to download The Chronicles of Riddick over my 3Mb DSL connection. The movie is 1:59 in length and the downloaded file was about 1.97GB in size. One nice thing with Venue is that you can watch the movie on the computer while it is downloading. This way you don't have to wait for the entire movie to download before you can watch it.

Venue also has the ability to burn your movies to DVD. To save time, you can automate the process by telling Venue to start burning the DVD before the movie has finished downloading. Otherwise, you can burn it manually once the download is complete.

Burning it manually can take a considerable amount of time. With The Chronicles of Riddick, it took Venue nearly three hours to prepare the movie and burn it to RiDATA's Qflix DVD media. Needless to say, you'll want to take Venue's recommendation and start burning the DVD while the movie is still downloading.

As promised, the Qflix DVD burned by Venue played fine in my Lite-On DVD recorder and Playstation 3. While lacking a menu or any sort of extras, there were chapter marks every five minutes.

The PX-Q840U also comes with the CinemaNow Media Manager. While lacking Venue's burning capabilities, CinemaNow Media Manager can be used to mange your video library and download queue as well as play movies purchased or rented from CinemaNow.

For the PX-Q840U's software bundle, Plextor has turned to Roxio. Along with the aforementioned Venue and CinemaNow software, the DVD contains Roxio Central, BackOnTrack, MyDVD, CinePlayer and Roxio Creator 10 CE which includes Creator Classic, Music Disc Creator and PhotoSuite.

Roxio Central gives users access to all of the applications in the Roxio Creator 10 CE with Venue suite. From the main menu, they can create their own CD's and DVD's, make copies of existing discs, backup their computer and organize their photos, videos and music.

The suite also includes what Roxio calls "Creator Classic" and "Music Disc Creator." While not as robust as disc mastering applications like Nero, these two programs will have you creating your own custom data and audio discs in no time.

MyDVD is Roxio's DVD authoring application. With this program you can easily edit and then burn your favorite videos to CD or DVD. MyDVD will also allow users to add video effects, transitions and background music, create animated menus, and organize clips and photos into custom slide shows. 

Roxio's PhotoSuite software gives you the ability to repair, enhance and share your digital photos. It also includes a number of automated and advanced photo editing tools that will let you easily crop and rotate your pictures, remove things like red-eye and add text and special effects.

The suite also includes Roxio's backup software, BackOnTrack. This easy to use program lets you backup your files to CD, DVD or another hard drive. Backup jobs can be launched manually or scheduled to run at regular intervals so the data is always protected. BackOnTrack also supports compression and encryption and can instantly restore your system to a previous state.

Last but not least, you have Sonic's DVD playback software, CinePlayer. Along with DVD movies, CinePlayer can be used to play back your VCD's, SVCD's or whatever video files you might have on your hard drive.

While lacking a number of Plextor's more advanced technologies, the PX-Q840U still delivers a good number of features. Their new external drive supports all major DVD formats and sports some pretty impressive specs. The PX-Q840U is capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R DL, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. The drive also supports Sonic's Qflix recording technology as well as Plextor's new PlexUTILITIES advanced application and diagnostic tool. With all of this, it's easy to see why the Plextor PX-Q840U gets a solid 9 out of 10 for its features.

Plextor's new external DVD writer was very easy to install. Thanks to its USB 2.0 interface, the entire installation process took only a matter of minutes.  With no jumpers to worry about, it was as simple as connecting the USB cable, plugging in the power cable, and powering the drive on. Once connected to our test computer, it took only a matter of seconds for plug and play to install the necessary drivers. After making sure that the drive was recognized correctly in the Device Manager, I was ready to start installing the software.

Software Installation:

As I mentioned earlier, the PX-Q840U comes with a DVD full of software from Roxio. If you have autorun enabled on your computer, the menu shown below will appear when you insert the disc.

From here you can access the manual, register your drive or install the bundled software. Simply click the name of the application you want to install, and its setup program will start up automatically.

If you have installed Roxio's Easy Media Creator before, you're probably already familiar with the installation process. All you need to do is choose what language you want and select your installation options. By default the setup program will install the entire suite onto your computer. If you don't want to install everything, select the custom installation. From here you can choose just the components you want.

Documentation:

The bulk of the PX-Q840U's documentation is located on the software CD in electronic format. Similar to the ones included with Plextor's other DVD writers, the manual starts out by getting the user familiarized with their new drive. The first section goes over the drive's capabilities, features and system requirements. Plextor has also provided some pretty good diagrams showing the various buttons and connectors located on the front and back of the drive. Everything is labeled clearly and the functions of each are easy to understand.

From here, the manual jumps right into the physical installation of the PX-Q840U. The instructions are pretty brief since there really isn't much to do other than plug in a few cables and turn the computer on. The manual continues on by going over the basic operation of the PX-Q840U. Along with information on how to use and maintain the drive, there is a short list of frequently asked questions. Last but not least, the manual finishes up with a comprehensive list of specifications for the PX-Q840U.

The PX-Q840U also comes with a "Drive Installation Guide." This small, fold out guide takes the user step by step through the installation process. While a little short on words, Plextor has provided a few diagrams showing how the drive should be hooked up. For most people, the "Drive Installation Guide" will be all they'll need to get the PX-Q840U up and running.

For ease of installation, the PX-Q840A is hard to beat. Thanks to its USB 2.0 interface, it's as simple as plugging in a few cables and flipping the power switch. If for some reason you do run into trouble, the documentation Plextor has provided is quite good, even though it is in electronic format. With this in mind, the PX-Q840A scores a 9 out of 10 for the installation portion of this review.

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 and CD Speed are used to test transfer speeds, seek times and CPU usage. For DAE testing, CD Speed is used to give an overall speed rating and is used in combination with CD DAE to see how well a drive reads scratched and dirty discs.

CD Write Tests: To test the write speeds, Nero Burning Rom is used to write 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 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 writer performed pretty well in our CD Winbench tests. While the PX-Q840U's overall score wasn't as high as Samsung's, it had a low access time and some fairly good transfer rates. It started reading at about 19.3x (2890 / 150) on the inside and reached a maximum speed of about 42.8x (6420 / 150) on the outside.

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-Q840U	Pioneer DVR-2920Q	Optiarc AD-7200S	Samsung SH-S203N
Transfer Speed Average: Start: End:	35.78x 21.06x 47.30x	31.29x 18.13x 41.37x	35.50x 20.41x 46.96x	35.96x 20.75x 47.55x
Seek Times Random: 1/3: Full:	99ms 112ms 162ms	109ms 126ms 193ms	143ms 157ms 236ms	102ms 105ms 177ms
CPU Usage 1x: 2x: 4x: 8x:	1% 2% 3% 8%	4% 3% 5% n/a	16% 1% 2% 4%	0% 1% 2% 4%

The PX-Q840U didn't perform as well as I had expected when reading pressed CD's. While rated at 48x, Plextor's new external drive came up a little short of this number in our tests. On a more positive note, the PX-Q840U's seek times were very good. 

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.

The PX-Q840U was a little faster when reading CD-R media. Thanks to this small speed boost, it had no problems reaching a maximum transfer speed of 48x in our tests.

Plextor's new DVD writer had no problems recognizing our 99 minute CompUSA media. The PX-Q840U read our test disc from start to finish, reaching a maximum transfer speed of 52.16x.

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.

While the PX-Q840U can read pressed and CD-R media at 48x, its CD-RW read speeds are limited to only 40x. While Plextor's new drive came close, it wasn't able to reach this number in our tests.

CD DAE and CD Speed v4.7.7.16 (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 the Plextor PX-Q840U supports accurate stream and has the ability to retrieve C2 error information from the CD, it does not cache audio data.

 

CD Speed	Plextor PX-Q840U	Pioneer DVR-2920Q	Optiarc AD-7200S	Samsung SH-S203N
Average: Start: End: DAE Quality: Accurate Stream:	36.13x 20.70x 47.74x 10 Yes	31.26x 18.84x 41.35x 10 Yes	30.89x 17.71x 40.00x 10 Yes	30.93x 17.76x 40.86x 10 Yes

The PX-Q840U did very well in our DAE tests. With a maximum speed of 47.74x, it had no problems taking the top spot in our tests.

CD DAE and 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.

The PX-Q840U was a little slower when extracting audio from CD-R media. This time around, the drive reached a maximum DAE speed of only 47.19x. 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 34.04x. The drive had no problems passing all of the on-the-fly tests and did not create any errors.  If you look at the advanced features, you can see that the PX-Q840U was able to read the CD-Text and subchannel data but failed to read the lead in and lead out sections of the CD.

To see how well the PX-Q840U 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

The PX-Q840U handled scratched discs relatively well. By looking at the screenshot, you can see that the drive considered only 57.4% of the CD to be "damaged".  More importantly, none of the sectors on the disc were unreadable.

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

The PX-Q840U gave us some mixed results in this test. While the number of errors was fairly low, the scratches on the disc caused it to slow down considerably. 

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 and DLA 5.20:

For this test I randomly generated 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.

The PX-Q840U has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Verbatim's 52x media, the drive started writing at about 21.40x and reached a maximum speed of 48.35x at the end of the session. This gave the PX-Q840U an average writing speed of about 36.59x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Verbatim media rated at 52x. The results are below.

Plextor's new drive did very well in our CD writing tests. Thanks to its 48x CD writing speed, the PX-Q840U was able to write an entire 701MB CD in 2:52.

To test the PX-Q840U's writing quality I used the C1/C2 test built into PlexUTILITIES. This test can be used to give us the average, maximum and total number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests, the drive's read speed has been set to 32x.

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Taiyo Yuden 52x

Verbatim 52x

The PX-Q840U's writing quality was very good. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and there were no C2 errors at all. 

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 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the PX-Q840U uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it uses a total of three "zones" to reach its maximum speed. The drive starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 23 minute mark. The PX-Q840U writes at this speed until about the 49 minute mark. When it reaches this point, its writing speed increases to 32x and stays there until the end of the session.

Plextor's new DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the PX-Q840U took 2:49 to write 400MB with Nero and 3:09 to do the same with DLA.

While the PX-Q840U's Z-CLV writing method didn't have much of an effect on its quick erase time, the drive took 3:47 to do a full erase.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-ROM:

For this test I used a single layer, single sided data DVD-ROM disc that is 4.37GB in size.

The PX-Q840U was fairly quick when reading single layer DVD-ROM's. In our tests it started reading at 6.66x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 16.15x. Looking at the other scores, you can see that the drive's seek times were also quite good.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-RAM:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I made copies of our DVD-ROM test disc using some general use 8x DVD-R and 6x DVD-RW media from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. For the DVD-RAM tests, media from Maxell was used. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD-R DL

The PX-Q840U had no problems reading DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. In our tests, the drive read DVD-R discs at 16x, and both DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media at a respectable 12x.

Maxell 12x DVD-RAM

Plextor's new drive has a maximum transfer speed of 12x when reading DVD-RAM discs. By looking at the screenshot you can see that it starts reading at 5.91x and accelerates, reaching 12x at the 2.7GB mark. 

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I made a copy of our DVD-ROM test disc using some 8x DVD+R and 8x DVD+RW media from Verbatim. I then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD Speed. The results are below.

Verbatim DVD+R DL
 

The PX-Q840U's performance was very similar to what we saw with DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media. The drive read DVD+R discs at 16x and both DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media at 12x.

Nero CD Speed v4.7.7.16 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is over 4GB and single sided.

The PX-Q840U didn't slow down very much when reading single layer DVD videos. It started out at about 6.59x and reached a maximum read speed of 15.99x. Pioneer's new drive was also fairly quick when reading dual layer discs. By looking at the screenshot below, you can see that the drive's transfer speeds peaked at about 12x.

To see how well the PX-Q840U worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace using Nero Showtime. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was fairly quiet.

DVD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 and DLA 5.20:

To test the DVD writing performance of Pioneer's new drive I used Verbatim 16x DVD+R, Verbatim 16x DVD-R, RiDATA 8x DVD+RW and Verbatim 6x 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 and DVD-R media at 20x, the PX-Q840U uses CAV. By looking at the screenshots above, you can see that Plextor's new drive starts writing at about 8.4x and accelerates, reaching its maximum speed at the end of the disc.

The PX-Q840U also features 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW writing speeds.  In both cases the drive uses Z-CLV to reach its maximum writing speed.

The PX-Q840U performed fairly well in our DVD writing tests. While not as fast as some of the other drives, it turned in some respectable times with DVD±R and DVD±RW media.

To check the media compatibility of the PX-Q840U, 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? Using the disc quality tests built into Plextor's PlexUTILITIES software, we can measure a disc's PI (Parity Inner) and PIF (Parity Inner Fail) rates. For these tests, I read the discs at 4x with the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.  For comparison, I also tested the discs on a BenQ DW1640. When combined with Nero CD Speed, the DW1640 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 the PI and PIF ECC sums set to 8.

I also put these discs through a "stress test" by reading them back at 16x with the DW1640. 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. 

The PX-Q840U's writing quality was pretty good with most of the DVD+R media we tested. Aside from a few small spikes, the PI/PIF rates stayed well within acceptable limits.

Lastly, here are some results from our DVD-R test media. With the exception of RiDATA's 16x DVD-R media, the PI/PIF rates remained well  within acceptable limits when tested with both PlexUtilities and CD Speed.

To test the PX-Q840U's packet writing performance I used DLA 5.20. Verbatim 8x DVD+RW, Verbatim 6x DVD-RW and Maxell 12x DVD-RAM media were used once again.

The PX-Q840U had no problems holding its own when reading and writing to DVD-RAM media. However, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast as the other drives when writing to DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs.

Double Layer DVD Write Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0:

To test the double layer DVD writing performance of the PX-Q840U, I used DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media from Verbatim 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.

With a maximum writing speed of only 8x, the PX-Q840U was no match for the drives from Pioneer and Samsung. Nevertheless, it performed as expected, taking less than 19 minutes to write 8001MB of data. So what about writing quality? Take a look below.

Performance Revisited:

When it comes down to it, the performance of Plextor's new Qflix enabled DVD writer was pretty mixed. While the PX-Q840U had no problems holding its own when writing to DVD±R and DVD-RAM media, it wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW and DVD±R DL discs. Nevertheless, the PX-Q840U was fairly quick when reading DVD's. In our tests, it was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD±R discs at 16x and other types of recordable media at 12x.

The PX-Q840U also did relatively well in our CD read tests. The drive read pressed and CD-R discs at speeds as high as 48x and had some very good seek times. When it came to writing CD's, Plextor's new drive gave us some mixed results. While the PX-Q840U turned in some impressive times when writing to CD-R media, its Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests. With all things considered, the Plextor PX-Q840U gets a solid 7 out of 10 for the performance section of this review.

As a leader in the industry, we've come to expect a lot from Plextor. Over the years, the company has introduced some of the world's fastest and most feature packed optical drives. With the PX-Q840U, Plextor has tried to continue this trend. While not of the same caliber as their "Premium" DVD writers, the PX-Q840U offers some impressive specs as well as a long list of features including Plextor's PlexUtilities software and Sonic's Qflix recording technology.

The PX-Q840U performed relatively well when writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media at 20x. At this speed, it took the drive about five minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD. The PX-Q840U also had no problems holding its own when writing to DVD-RAM discs. However, due to its Z-CLV writing method, it wasn't as fast as some of the other drives when writing to DVD±RW discs. The PX-Q840U also lagged behind the drives from Pioneer and Samsung when writing to DVD±R DL discs, taking nearly 19 minutes to write 8GB of data.

When it came to media compatibility, the PX-Q840U gave us some mixed results. While the drive wrote to most of our test media at its rated speed or better, only two types worked at 20x. On the other hand, the PX-Q840U's writing quality was fairly good for the most part. However, there is still room for improvement, especially with Ritek manufactured media. Hopefully, Plextor can address this in a future firmware update.

Plextor's new external drive did very well in our DVD read tests. It was able to read single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at 16x and had some very good seek times. The PX-Q840U also reached some pretty impressive transfer speeds with other types of DVD media. In our tests, it read DVD±R discs at 16x and DVD±RW, DVD±R DL and DVD-RAM media at 12x.

Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the PX-Q840U either. In our tests, the drive read pressed and CD-R media at speeds as high as 48x and CD-RW discs at 39x. This level of performance carried over to our DAE tests, where the drive ripped audio CD's at a respectable 47x. The PX-Q840U also performed pretty well when writing to CD-R media. The drive not only turned in some impressive times, its writing quality was quite good. Unfortunately, the PX-Q840U's Z-CLV writing method put it at a slight disadvantage in our rewriting tests.

When it comes to features, the PX-Q840U definitely delivers. Along with support for all major CD and DVD formats, it has a 2MB buffer that is backed up by some sort of buffer underrun technology. While this buffer is a little smaller than what we'd like to see on a 20x DVD writer, this system worked flawlessly in our tests. Unfortunately, the PX-Q840U lacks support for bitsetting. However, according to Plextor, this feature will be added in a future firmware update. Last but not least, the PX-Q840U comes with Plextor's new PlexUtilities software. Using this tool, Plextor owners can view basic and advanced drive information, control specific drive functions, perform media quality tests and destroy data on CD/DVD media.

Of course, the PX-Q840U's biggest feature is its support for Sonic’s Qflix technology. Using the bundled software, consumers can purchase movies online from CinemaNow, download them to their computer and then burn them to DVD. This technology worked as advertised in our tests. However, I was a little turned off by the limited selection of titles as well as the amount of time it took to download and burn the movie to disc. While this may not bother those already purchasing movies online, it's going to be hard to convince consumers to download and burn their DVDs instead of buying them at retail stores.

The PX-Q860U is available now and can be purchased through some of the online vendors listed on Pricegrabber. Prices vary depending on the seller, but Plextor's new external DVD writer can be picked up for around $110.

Highs:

• Supports Qflix technology
• Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 20x
• Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
• Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
• Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 8x
• Reads and writes DVD-RAM media at 12x
• Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
• Reads DVD±R media at 16x
• Reads DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 12x
• Features 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW writing speeds
• Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
• Excellent DAE speeds
• Low seek times
• Includes Roxio Easy Media Creator 10 and PlexUtilities
• Supports 99 minute CD-R media
• Nice looking design
• Can do write quality testing
• Good documentation

Lows:

• High media requirements when writing at 20x
• Slower than other drives when writing to DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media
• Current firmware does not support bitsetting
• Expensive