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A new test we're now going to do is with Lite-On's C1/C2 error scan program called WSES. This program can accurately scan a disc for errors and it's a better method of checking the write quality then when using Nero CD Speed for instance. For the quality tests we wrote several different CD-Recordable media and then measured the C1/C2 errors from the disc. The created disc was scanned using a Lite-On LTR-48125W drive (WSES only works with Lite-On drives) at 40X reading.

The display scale were using for our error measurement is 60 for C1 and 20 for C2. Please keep this in mind when you, for instance, compare our tests to other reviews. The scales may be different and you can thus not compare the results just by looking at the created graphs!

Introduction:

C1 and C2 errors are not really on a disc. They occur during reading. The more difficult it is for a drive to read a disc, the more errors will occur while reading that disc. A good disc should report low error rates even at high scanning speeds. But don't forget that a bad disc can also have low error rates after burning. A good disc will still report low error rates if you put the disc into direct sunlight, while a bad disc will damage and/or may degrade after some months. The results below are thus not an indication whether or not the used disc is of a good quality. It's merely an indication if the burn process was done properly.

In the figures below you will see a graphical overview of errors occurring during the read process. Please note that every created/burned disc will always have C1 errors. These are errors that are corrected by the drive and they will not effect the disc in a bad way as long as their amount is limited. C2 errors are however very bad for a disc and are harder to read and correct. When there are too many C2 errors present on the disc it means you have bad burned disc and it can't be read in the test drive your using as a reader (a coaster). Although a low amount of C2 errors can still be recovered by the drive, a zero amount of C2 errors is always preferred!

The Tests:

700MB Plextor CD-R80:

• Contents: Data
• Certified Speed: 48X
  
• Write Speed: 48X (2m;49s)
  
• Disc Type, Material: CD-R, Cyanine
  
• ATIP Lead-in: 97m 24s 01f
  
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 72f)
  
• Disc Manufacturer maybe: Taiyo Yuden
  

These discs were delivered with the Plextor drive and were (of course) certified for 48X recording. The number of C1 errors is very low and there are no C2 errors on the disc. A perfect burn done at the maximum speed:

700MB Plextor CD-R80:

• Contents: Data
• Certified Speed: 48X
  
• Write Speed: 24X (4m:01s)
  
• Disc Type, Material: CD-R, Cyanine
  
• ATIP Lead-in: 97m 24s 01f
  
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 72f)
  
• Disc Manufacturer maybe: Taiyo Yuden
  

Another disc that was delivered with the Plextor drive but this time written at a lower speed of 24X. The number of C1 errors is again very low but increases a little at the end of the disc. The amount is however still very low and since the disc has no C2 errors this is a perfect burn result:

700MB Maxell:

• Contents: Data
• Certified Speed: 40X
  
• Write Speed: 40X (3m:08s)
  
• Disc Type, Material: CD-R, Phthalocyanine
  
• ATIP Lead-in: 97m 25s 29f
  
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f)
  
• Disc Manufacturer maybe: Maxell
  

This Maxell CD-R disc was written at 40X, the certified speed of the media. The number of C1 errors is a little higher than with the Plextor/Taiyo Yuden media but still very low. Again, there are no C2 errors and this is thus another quality burn:

700MB MMORE CD-R80:

• Contents: Data
• Certified Speed: 32X
  
• Write Speed: 40X (3m:02s)
  
• Disc Type, Material: CD-R, Phthalocyanine
  
• ATIP Lead-in: 97m 17s 06f
  
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f)
  
• Disc Manufacturer maybe: India, MoserBaer
  

The MMORE media that was written at 40X and certified for 32X writing had a lot of errors as you can see from the graph below. We had to adjust the display scale for the C1 errors to 600 instead of 60 and the Plextor PX-W4824A thus doesn't like the MoserBaer media. Luckily there were no C2 errors on the disc so the entire disc could still be read just fine after it was burned:

700MB Hi-Space Metal:

• Contents: Data
• Certified Speed: 24X
  
• Write Speed: X (3m:01s)
  
• Disc Type, Material: CD-R, Phthalocyanine
  
• ATIP Lead-in: 97m 25s 07f
  
• Nominal Capacity: 702.69MB (79m 59s 00f)
  
• Disc Manufacturer maybe: MPO France
  

The Hi-Space Metal media produced a rather weird looking graph as you can see below. Although there were not as many C1 errors as on the MMORE media we still had to adjust the graph to 200 in order to display the results in it. As we already saw with other media there are again no C2 errors on the disc:

700MB Discplanet Media:

• Contents: Data
• Certified Speed: 16X
  
• Write Speed: 24X (4m:02s)
  
• Disc Type, Material: CD-R, Cyanine
  
• ATIP Lead-in: 97m 15s 11f
  
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f)
  
• Disc Manufacturer maybe: Ritek
  

For our next test we wrote some Discplanet Media that was only certified to 16X writing. The Plextor PX-W4824A drive wrote the disc at 24X but the number of C1 errors is way too high as you can see from the graph below. The display scale has now been adjusted to 1500! Despite the high amount of C1 errors the disc can still be read since there are no C2 errors on the disc:

650MB Taiyo Yuden:

• Contents: Data, DAO-RAW
• Certified Speed: 32X
  
• Write Speed: 24X (3m:34s)
  
• Disc Type, Material: CD-R, Cyanine
  
• ATIP Lead-in: 97m 24s 01f
  
• Nominal Capacity: 656.40MB (74m 43s 01f)
  
• Disc Manufacturer maybe: Taiyo Yuden
  

We tried some more/older Taiyo Yuden media written with CloneCD in DAO-RAW mode (it's a back-up of the 'Neverwinter Nights' game). The media was certified for 32X recording but written at 24X. The number of C1 errors on the disc is low and there are no C2 errors on the disc. A perfect back-up:

700MB Maxell:

• Contents: Audio, 72 minutes
• Certified Speed: 40X
  
• Write Speed: 40X (2m:54s)
  
• Disc Type, Material: CD-R, Phthalocyanine
  
• ATIP Lead-in: 97m 25s 29f
  
• Nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f)
  
• Disc Manufacturer maybe: Maxell
  

As a final quality test we tested some Maxell media that was written at 40X but this time with audio on it. Plextor's previous write model, the PX-W4012A, was limited to 24X recording when writing audio but this Plextor PX-W4824A drive isn't. As you can see from the graph below the disc has a low amount of C1 errors and no C2 errors. Writing audio at 40X is no problem for the Plextor drive:

Conclusion:

We had some various results when we did our quality tests. When we used quality media such as Taiyo Yuden and Maxell (recommended by Plextor) the results were excellent. However when we used other (lower quality?) media the number of C1 errors increased enormously. Luckily all discs could be read fine after they were written and the Plextor PX-W4824A drive didn't create a single C2 error. It's a good idea to check out the supported recording media once in a while to check which media Plextor recommends using.

Another thing that we must mention here is that Plextor is known for their extensive media tests and will release new firmware versions frequently with better and more media support. Since this Plextor PX-W4824A has the first firmware version the media database can and will be improved a lot in the coming months. In Plextor's PDF-document, The Process of Writing, you can find more information.

Now that we've finished our read, write and quality tests, it's time to test the drive for its ability to read and write data and audio copy-protections.