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| Posted by | Dennis |
| Posted on | 07/01/05 19:57 |
| Number of views | 13022 |
Finally, the stuff we've been waiting for! On this page we're going to take a look at the Plextor's DVD+R recording performance. Just like we did on the previous page (CD-R Write Performance) we're going to use Nero CD-DVD Speed to write the actual disc and then use a Plextor PX-712UF drive to do a PI/PO SUM8 (scale 500) and SUM1 (scale 10) scan.
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:
- SUM8: No larger areas on the disc should exceed 280 PIE errors.
- SUM1: No larger areas on the disc should exceed 4 PIF errors.
The lower the amount of errors, the better of course.
Note: The first write tests we did were done with firmware 1.02 installed. During our review a newer version was released and thus, the rest of the tests were done with firmware 1.03 installed. Also, we used two Plextor PX-716A drives for our tests, both of course with the same TLA number (#0202).
DVD+R Disc 1a - Mitsubishi 16x PoweRec
Enabled:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R: MCC-004-000] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD-ROM] Manufacturer Name : [Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.] Manufacturer ID : [MCC] Media Type ID : [004] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x , 6x-8x , 6x-16x] ----------------------------------------------------------
Our first test result with the 16x media is a good one although notice that the drive didn't reach 16x since PoweRec kicked in, reducing the write speed to 12x. By default PoweRec is enabled for the PX-716A drive so the rest of our tests were done with this feature enabled. However, let's show you the same disc as we just wrote, written with PoweRec disabled:
DVD+R Disc 1b - Mitsubishi 16x PoweRec
Disabled:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R: MCC-004-000] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD-ROM] Manufacturer Name : [Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.] Manufacturer ID : [MCC] Media Type ID : [004] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x , 6x-8x , 6x-16x] ----------------------------------------------------------
As you can see from the images this time the Plextor PX-716A did reach its rated speed of 16x. The PI/PO scans look good so the increased write speed wasn't a problem for this media!
DVD+R Disc 2 - Plextor 8x:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R: YUDEN000-T02-000] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD-ROM] Manufacturer Name : [Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd.] Manufacturer ID : [YUDEN000] Media Type ID : [T02] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x , 6x-8x] ----------------------------------------------------------
Excellent result here. The 8x DVD+R media could be written at 16x only too bad that PoweRec kicked in again, limiting the write speed to 12x. But, the PI/PO scans look excellent.
DVD+R Disc 3 - Plextor 4x:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R: YUDEN000-T01-001] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD-ROM] Manufacturer Name : [Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd.] Manufacturer ID : [YUDEN000] Media Type ID : [T01] Product Revision : [001] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x] ----------------------------------------------------------
An excellent result although too bad about that slowdown at the end of the burn to 6x. PI/PO scans look excellent.
DVD+R Disc 4 - Arita 4x:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R: RICOHJPN-R01-002] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD-ROM] Manufacturer Name : [Ricoh Co. Ltd.] Manufacturer ID : [RICOHJPN] Media Type ID : [R01] Product Revision : [002] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x] ----------------------------------------------------------
The PI/PO error scans look great but the write speed was only 4x (the Plextor PX-712A has no problems writing these discs at 8x). Note though that this was the third Arita/Ricoh disc we wrote, the first two discs were written with much lower quality (see page 2: AutoStrategy).
DVD+R Disc 5 - Verbatim 8x:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R: MCC-003-000] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD+R] Manufacturer Name : [Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.] Manufacturer ID : [MCC] Media Type ID : [003] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x , 6x-8x] ----------------------------------------------------------
Wow this is the best scans we've seen so far! A truly excellent burn done at 12x while the discs were certified for 8x recording. Highly recommended discs for use with the PX-716A.
DVD+R Disc 6 - Philips 8x:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R: CMC MAG-E01-000] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD+R] Manufacturer Name : [CMC Magnetics Corp.] Manufacturer ID : [CMC MAG] Media Type ID : [E01] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x , 6x-8x] ----------------------------------------------------------
The Philips 8x DVD+R discs (manufactured by CMC Magnetics Corp.) could not be written any faster than they were certified for. The produced scans look fine although there is a high spike in the SUM1 error graph. But, individual spikes are not a very big problem and the Plextor PX-716A had no problems reading back the burned disc.
DVD+R Disc 7 - Arita 8x:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R: RITEK-R03-002] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD-ROM] Manufacturer Name : [Ritek Corp.] Manufacturer ID : [RITEK] Media Type ID : [R03] Product Revision : [002] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x , 6x-8x] ----------------------------------------------------------
The Arita 8x discs (manufactured by Ritek) were written at their certified speeds. The PI/PO scans look fine. They're not the best we've seen but certainly not bad either.
DVD+R Disc 8 - Prodye 8x:
Media ID: Plasmon1C1 Write speed: 8x Write time: 8m:16s
The Prodye discs were written at 8x, their certified speed. Nothing to complain about here as the PI/PO scans look fine.
DVD+R Disc 9 - Samsung 8x:
Media ID: OPTODISC.OR8 Write speed: 8x Write time: 11m:24s
Ouch! The Samsung media was written very poorly at a low speed (around 6x). The PI/PO values are way too high and there is a small red spike in the SUM1 graph which indicates an unrecoverable error on the disc (POF). This disc will definitely cause read problems in players.
DVD+R Disc 10 - eProformance 8x:
Media ID: Prodisc.R03 Write speed: 8x Write time: 8m:03s
A good result here. But, we did notice a problem with this disc. The written disc could not be recognized by most drives and PlexTools cannot find the correct length of the disc without selecting "track based" under preferences. We suspect this is a bug in the firmware of the PX-716A drive that causes the TOC or lead-in/out to be written incorrectly. Plextor should definitely look into this!
DVD+R Disc 11 - Commodore 8x:
Media ID: VDSPMSAB002 Write Speed: 8x Write time: 8m:06s
Sorry, no scans for this media as the Plextor PX-716A created an unreadable disc. We tried two discs with mediacode VDSPMSAB002 but both times the created disc was not readable (by any drive).
DVD+RW Disc 1 - Mitsubishi 8x:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+RW: MKM-A03-000] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+RW] - [DVD+RW] Manufacturer Name : [Mitsubishi Kagaku Media] Manufacturer ID : [MKM] Media Type ID : [A03] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x] ----------------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately we cannot show you any scans from this DVD+RW media either. The disc we're testing here is one of the first 8x DVD+RW media types available and the Plextor PX-716A currently does not support these discs. In fact, at the time of writing this review the PX-716A does not support any 8x DVD+RW discs. Support for 8x DVD+RW media is expected to be added with firmware 1.04.
DVD+RW Disc 2 - Philips 4x:
---------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+RW: PHILIPS-041-000] ---------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+RW] - [DVD+RW] Manufacturer Name : [Philips] Manufacturer ID : [PHILIPS] Media Type ID : [041] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Recording Speeds : [1x , 2.4x , 4x] ----------------------------------------------------------
The Philips DVD+RW media was written with an acceptable result. The SUM8 scans looks fine and although the SUM1 scan shows some error spikes they're not high enough to cause any real problems. Let's continue to DVD+R DL performance.
Writing CD-R/RW
The main conclusion about it for me is to not worry about the innovative technologies PowerRec, AutoStrategy, VariRec, (which was not reviewed), and just give it what it craves, Taiyo Tuden 8x +R and it burns and reads with the best.
but it looks nice hmm :/
Isn't that what the powerec is for; to improve quality at a small speed penalty? You're missing the whole point here.
Mt Rainier not supported. Oh my Gosh! Now I will certainly never-ever buy this drive. Come on, who cares...
he said that when disabling PowerRec, there was no decrease in quality
didn't you read the review????
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