X-bit labs

Plextor PX-760A Dual-Layer DVD Burner Review

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 12/20/2006 | 12:35 PM ]

DVD-burners from Plextor have been traditionally regarded as special products. Even without knowing exactly why, you realize you can expect something more from them than from ordinary products after you’ve taken a look at the price tag. I’ll try to find out if Plextor indeed has something special to offer us by testing the company’s DVD-burner which key feature is the ability to burn DVD media at a speed of 18x.

Table of contents:

• Closer Look
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Nero Info Tool and DVDINFOPro
  
• Performance
  
• CD WinBench 99
  
• Nero CD-DVD Speed: Basic Tests (CD)
  
• Nero CD-DVD Speed: Basic Tests (DVD)
  
• Nero CD-DVD Speed: Advanced DAE Quality Test
  
• Nero CD-DVD Speed: Advanced DAE Error Correction Test
  
• Nero CD DAE
  
• Exact Audio Copy
  
• Nero CD-DVD Speed: Disk Quality Test
  
• Digitex DVD+R 16x
  
• TDK DVD+R 16x
  
• Philips DVD+R 16x
  
• Sony DVD+R 8x
  
• Verbatim DVD+R 16x
  
• Digitex DVD-R 16x
  
• LG DVD-R 16x
  
• Sony DVD-R 16x
  
• TDK DVD-R 16x
  
• Philips DVD-R 16x
  
• Verbatim DVD-R 16x
  
• Fujifilm DVD+RW 4x
  
• Philips DVD+RW 8x
  
• Digitex DVD-RW 4x
  
• Verbatim DVD-RW 6x
  
• Conclusion
  

Closer Look

There are no extraordinary traits about the appearance of the device. However, the manufacturer has done something to “enliven” it visually. There is a horizontal line going along the disc tray below the manufacturer’s and model names. Under the tray there is a rounded eject button and a LED indicator of operation mode. Next to them there are a few icons denoting the class and technical features of the device. The rear panel of the drive carries power and interface connectors, a jumper with pins to select the status of the device on the IDE channel, analog and digital audio outputs. There are also vent openings in that panel.

The drive can read DVD-ROM media at 16x speed and CD-ROM media at 48x speed, but the CD read speed is limited to 40x by default to reduce noise. You should use the PlexTools software to enable the highest possible speed. DVD+R and DVD-R can be recorded at 18x. DVD+RW and DVD-RW media can be written at 8x and 6x, respectively. The max burn speed for DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL formats is 10x and 6x. CD-R and CD-RW discs can be recorded by the drive at 48x and 24x, respectively.

The average access time is 100 milliseconds for CD and 150 milliseconds for DVD media. The cache buffer is 2MB large. The drive is equipped with an EIDE (ATAPI) interface and supports the following media formats: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, Multi-Border, Multi-Session, DVD+VR, DVD-VR, DVD+MRW (by firmware upgrade), DRT-DM, CD-DA (CD-DA/CD+G/CD-Text), CD-ROM (Mode1/Mode2), CD-ROM XA (Mode2 Form1/2), Audio CD, Data CD, Photo CD, Video CD, CD-I, CD-I Ready, Mixed CD, CD-Extra, Multi-Session CD, Packet Write CD (Mount Rainier by firmware upgrade), Bootable CD. The dimensions of the drive are 146x41.3x170mm; its weight is 1kg.