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| Posted by | Dennis |
| Posted on | 22/04/03 13:16 |
| Number of views | 10278 |
 | Review: Plextor PX-504A (IDE) Reviewer: Dennis Provided by: Plextor Europe Firmware: version 1.00 TLA: #0000 |
Plextor is a well known brand in the optical storage industry. They have been producing CD-ROM and CD-RW drives for a very long time and it's no surprise that they have recently released their very first DVD-writer, the PX-504A. For their first DVD-writer Plextor has decided to go for the +RW (plus) format and not the -RW (minus) format (or a dual format writer).
A lot people have been wondering which is the better format when it comes to recordable DVD discs. Both formats have their advantages and disadvantages and as of yet, it's hard to identify a clear winner in the ongoing 'DVD format war', or as the manufacturers like to call it, the 'DVD format race'. Although the minus format was the first recordable standard for DVDs, the plus format has lately been gaining some advantage with Microsoft's announcement to back the plus format.
For now Plextor has decided to bring out a writer that supports the plus format and it's one of the first drives to support 4x DVD+R recording. One thing we should mention before we begin is that, contrary to what some people seem to think, DVD-recording speeds are not measured in the same was as CD-recording speeds. While 1x CD-recording means a transfer rate of 150kb/s, DVD-recording speeds are about nine times higher and 1x DVD-recording means a transfer rate of 1.350kb/s.
Besides 4x DVD+R recording the Plextor PX-504A also supports 2.4x DVD+RW recording, 16x CD-R recording and 10x CD-RW re-writing speeds. Reading of DVD-ROM media is done at 12x maximum while normal CDs can be read at a maximum speed of 40x. In this review we'll see what these speeds mean in real terms and if the PX-504A drive can life up to the standards we've come to expect from Plextor...
Test Machine:
For the tests we'll be using the following configuration:
Hardware:- Motherboard: GigaByte GA-7VAXP
- Processor: AMD AthlonXP 2100+
- RAM: 512MB (PC2700)
- GFX: ASUS V8200 (GeForce 3 Ti200)
- Hard Disks: DiamondMax 40GB (7200rpm)
The Plextor PX-504A drive was hooked up as Master to the (onboard) secondary IDE-controller and identifies itself as "PLEXTOR DVDR PX-504A". DMA (Direct Memory Access) was enabled and autorun was disabled for every device.
Used Software:
The Windows XP Professional operating system is installed on our test machine. We'll be using the following software to perform the various tests:
On the next page of our review we'll take a look at the drive's package, the drive itself and its specifications and features.
Conclusion
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