detail information

Positive Points:

• Nice and complete software package (includes for instance five (!) 48X CD-R discs)
• Complete manual and in many different languages
• Two year full warranty for Europe, The Middle-East and Africa
• Supports 48X Full-CAV writing of data and audio
• Supports 24X P-CAV re-writing
• Supports 48X Full-CAV reading via SpeedRead
• 4MB buffer plus BURN-Proof
• Good features:
  • PoweRec (which can now also be disabled)
  • VariRec
• Good software package:
  • Ahead's Nero Burning Rom & InCD
  • Plextor's PlexTools
• Good DAE quality
• Excellent seek times
• Excellent Mount Rainier performance
• Supports DAO-RAW writing
• Supports writing of 8cm discs
• Supports reading and writing of CD-Text
• Supports reading and writing of full SubChannel Data
• Could back-up SafeDisc 2 (before version v2.51.021)
• Could read Key2Audio (audio protection) just fine
• Drive has an extra strong front bezel to protect from possible injury due to exploding discs

Negative Points:

• Picky with media that's not recommended by Plextor
• Cannot fully overburn to 99 minutes (max is 94:56 minutes)
• Doesn't reach 48X reading until 80-minute mark
• DAE and CD-RW reading is limited to about 42X
• Failed to back-up SafeDisc v2.51.021 even with CloneCD's AWS
• Reading scratched/low quality discs could be improved

Our expectations were high when we started this Plextor PX-W4824A review since Plextor has always been known for their quality drives. Plextor has put a lot of work into this new recorder and the drive, compared to their previous PX-W4012A model, has been improved a lot. The Plextor PX-W4824A is the first Plextor drive to support the ultra-speed re-writing format, full P-CAV writing, the Mount Rainier format just to name some things.

As always with Plextor drives the package is very complete and it includes everything you need to get started writing right away. You get a generous amount of five 48X CD-Recordable discs, an ultra-speed CD-ReWriteable disc, excellent software and a very complete manual located on the Plextor CD-ROM.

When it came to performance we had somewhat of a mixed result. Things that really impressed us were the drives excellent seek times and Mount Rainier performance. When reading discs the Plextor PX-W4824A drive is by default limited to 40X reading but the drive can be 'unlocked' to reach 48X. This can be done manually or via the PlexTools software. Plextor has done this because 48X reading can result in exploding discs when you use a disc that is damaged. As an extra security Plextor has fitted the drive with an extra strong front bezel to prevent parts of the exploded disc coming out the front of the drive and possibly injuring somebody. These kind of measurements show that Plextor cares about its products.

Unfortunately, when we did enable the SpeedRead option, we couldn't reach 48X reading in our tests. This can be explained due to the fact that the PX-W4824A drive doesn't reach 48X until the 80-minute mark of the disc. Since we used smaller sized discs for our tests 48X wasn't reached. We would have liked to see the Plextor PX-W4824A drive reaching 48X at the 68-minute mark as Plextor uses as indication to reach 40X. Digital Audio Extraction and the reading of CD-ReWriteable media was also limited to about 42X.

When it came to writing the Plextor PX-W4824A showed a good result. It's not the fastest drive we've seen but we can only compare the drive to 48X Lite-On recorders we've reviewed. When we compare the drive to 40X drives the write times are pretty close. What did bother us was the write quality. When you use CD-R discs that are recommended by Plextor we had an excellent result. However when we used other discs that were not on the list the quality wasn't that good. Although all discs could be read fine after they were written the C1/C2 error tests showed a lot of C1 errors. Luckily we can be sure that Plextor will release new firmware versions improving the media support and write performance.

When dealing with copy-protections the Plextor PX-W4824A performed pretty much as expected. Reading of SafeDisc protected titles was extremely fast and SecuRom can now also be read a lot quicker than we saw with previous Plextor drives. One thing that did disappoint us was the fact that the Plextor PX-W4824A drive failed to make a fully working back-up of the SafeDisc v2.51.021 protection even with CloneCD's 'AWS' function enabled. When it came to audio protections we got our usual results.

During this review we received a new firmware upgrade for the Plextor PX-W4824A drive. We already tested this new version with the SafeDisc v2.51.021 protection but it unfortunately also failed. We will keep you informed via our Plextor forum when we update some tests.

Update: With firmware 1.03 the 'AWS' problem has been fixed. More information on this thread on our Plextor forum!