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One of the most important things about a DVD recorder (and a CD-RW recorder too) is probably the write quality. A recorder is completely useless when it cannot reliably record data to a disc. On this page of our Plextor PX-712A review we're going to check how well the drive can write both DVD and CD media. For our DVD error measurement tests we used the PX-712A drive in combination with the PlexTools Professional software. For our CD error measurement tests we used a Plextor Premium drive. You can also use the DVD recorder for the CD error measurement tests but we preferred to use the Premium drive to save some time.

All the discs we tested were created with the Nero CD-DVD Speed software. In the tests below you can see a screenshot of the recording process using this software and below that you can see a screenshot of the error measurement test using the PlexTools software. PlexTools offers three test options for DVD error measurement. Here's the explanation from PlexTools itself:

As you can see PlexTools Professional offers us three different tests, SUM8, SUM1 and a basic test. The SUM8 test is very interesting because it shows us the PI errors before error correction while SUM1 will show us the uncorrectable errors (after correction). This way you will get a very reliable result. The Plextor PX-712A drive will test the DVD discs at 2x CLV.

How to look at the errors:

It's hard to give you an easy explanation on how to look at the produced errors. Tor Magne has tried to explain it in his reviews and in this thread on Club CD Freaks but it's still very hard to understand. What you basically need to keep in mind is the following:

• PIE (Parity Inner Errors ): No larger areas on the disc should exceed 280 PI-8 errors.
• PIF (Parity Inner Fail): No larger areas on the disc should exceed 4 PO-1 (actually PI uncorrectable) errors.
• POF (Parity Outer Fail): Should be 0 since they indicate uncorrectable errors.

The lower the amount of errors, the better of course.

DVD+R Write Quality:

Note: The Nero CD-DVD Speed screenshots were all took while the test were being performed. We had to do this because Nero CD-DVD Speed would shut down after each test which made it impossible for us to take a screenshot of the finished test...

Plextor 8x:

The first disc we tested was a Plextor 8x DVD+R disc which works at 12x in the PX-712A drive. Here's the ADIP information from the disc:

PI/PO Test (SUM8) - PIE: 0.30 avg. | 20 max. | 43199 total - POF: 0 total

PI/PO Test (SUM1) - PIF: 0.00 avg. | 4 max. | 670 total - POF: 0 total

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 55986 total - POF: 0 total

For our first DVD error measurement test we have used all three modes PlexTools has to offer us. In the first screenshot you can see the errors on the DVD disc before any error correction by the drive. As you can see, the amount of errors is very low throughout the entire disc. In the next screenshot (SUM1) you can see the same disc only this time after error correction by the drive. The amount of errors is again low making this disc perfectly readable. The last screenshot shows us a basic test. This gives us about the same information as the other two tests. This 8x Plextor DVD+R disc was perfectly written at 12x!

Plextor 4x:

The next disc we tested was another Plextor DVD+R disc only this time a 4x disc which worked at 8x in the PX-712A drive. Here's the ADIP information from the Plextor 4x DVD+R disc:

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 50169 total - POF: 0 total

The 4x Plextor DVD+R disc was perfectly written at 8x. We can see this from the low amount of errors on the disc and the POF count of 0. This time we have only included a basic error measurement test since it gives us about the same information as the other two tests and besides that, a single test takes around 30 minutes to complete, so three tests take 1½ hours to complete.

Ritek 4x:

After looking at Plextor's own brand of DVD+R media it's time to check out some other brands. The next disc we tested was a Ritek 4x DVD+R disc which the PX-712A drive wrote at 8x. Here's the ADIP information from the Ritek 4x DVD+R disc:

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 14163998 total - POF: 8 total

As you can see the Ritek disc had a lot more errors than we saw on both the Plextor discs. The amount of errors is still within the limits of what can be corrected and the PX-712A could completely read the disc, although at a limited speed:

Samsung 4x:

The next disc we tested was a Samsung 4x DVD+R disc manufactured by BeAll. The Plextor PX-712A wrote the disc a 8x but lowered the write speed to 6x and 4x at the end of the write process. Here's the ADIP information from the disc:

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 63325 total - POF: 0 total

The Samsung/BeAll 4x DVD+R media was written a lot better than the previous Ritek media. The error count on the disc was very low and there were no PO errors. An excellent result this time.

Memorex 4x:

The final DVD+R disc we tested was a Memorex 4x disc which the Plextor PX-712A again wrote at 8x. The ADIP information of the disc we used:

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 15826 total - POF: 0 total

The Memorex/Ricoh DVD+R disc was perfectly written at 8x as the error count on the disc was even lower than we saw on the Plextor 4x DVD+R disc. Let's continue with DVD-R media.

DVD-R Write Quality:

That's 8x:

The first DVD-R disc we're going to check is a That's 8x DVD-R disc manufactured by Taiyo Yuden. Here's the ADIP information from the disc:

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 31928 total - POF: 0 total

As expected, the That's DVD-R disc was perfectly written at 8x.

MMORE 4x:

The next DVD-R disc we tested was an MMORE disc, certified for 4x recording, at which the Plextor PX-712A also write the disc. Here's the ADIP information from the disc we used:

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 40990 total - POF: 0 total

As you can see from the produced graph the MMORE disc was perfectly written. The amount of errors is very low throughout the disc and there are no PO errors.

Memorex 4x:

The last DVD we're going to use for our DVD write quality tests is a Memorex DVD-R disc. The disc was certified for 4x recording and the Plextor drive also write the disc at this speed. Here's the ADIP information:

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 22521 total - POF: 0 total

And once again we have a perfect result. Overall we can say that the Plextor PX-712A drive performed very well during our DVD write quality tests. It wrote almost all discs at perfect quality. We saw the highest error rate with the Ritek discs but the amount of errors was still within the standards. The Plextor PX-712A was also able to record all of the 4x DVD+R discs we tested at 8x. Let's continue with CD-R write quality.

CD-R Write Quality:

Memorex 48x:

The first CD-R disc we're going to test is a Memorex 48x disc which the Plextor PX-712A also wrote at this speed. Here's the ATIP information from the disc we used:

C1: 3.2 Avg/Sec - Max/Sec 25.0 - Total 15163.0 | C2: 0 Total | CU: 0 Total

We achieved a good result with the Memorex discs. The amount of C1 errors is limited and there are no C2 or CU errors on the disc.

MAM-E 48x:

The next CD-R disc we tested was a MAM-E disc, certified for 48x recording. The Plextor PX-712A wrote the disc at maximum speed. Here's the ATIP information:

C1: 9.0 Avg/Sec - Max/Sec 76.0 - Total 43134.0 | C2: 0 Total | CU: 0 Total

The amount of errors on the MAM-E disc were higher than we saw on the previous Memorex discs. The achieved result is not bad at all though because the MAM-E discs are not the best quality discs we've seen.

Taiyo Yuden 24x:

Plextor drives are known to work well with Taiyo Yuden media. For our next test we wrote a 650MB Taiyo Yuden disc which was certified for 24x recording. The Plextor wrote the disc at 32x. Here's the ATIP information:

C1: 1.0 Avg/Sec - Max/Sec 41.0 - Total 4310.0 | C2: 0 Total | CU: 0 Total

As expected the Plextor PX-712A showed an excellent performance with the Taiyo Yuden disc. With an average C1 error count of only 1 per second this disc was perfectly written.

Maxell 40x:

The last disc we tested was a Maxell 40x CD-R disc which the Plextor PX-712A drive wrote at 48x. Here's the ATIP information again:

C1: 2.1 Avg/Sec - Max/Sec 21.0 - Total 10229.0 | C2: 0 Total | CU: 0 Total

And once again a good result; a low amount of C1 errors and no C2 or CU errors.

Overall we can say that we were very pleased with the Plextor PX-712A's performance with CD-R media. The drive wrote all media at their certified speed or faster and every disc was written well.