Plextor PX-760A 18X DVD+-RW
Reviewed by: Jason Hambly
Date: October 10, 2006
Manufacturer: Plextor
Model: PX-760A
Supplied by: Plextor
Category: Enthusiast
Price: $119
Grammatical and Spelling Editor:
Plextor is one of those companies that don?t really require an
introduction. Pretty near anyone that has been a PC enthusiast for any
amount of time has heard of them or used one of their products. Mainly
known for their optical drives, Plextor also produces hard drives and
software. Right now we will be looking at one of their latest DVD+-RW
drives, the PX-760A, with a maximum write speed of 18x. This should be
the fastest drive on the market.
{mospagebreak title=Specifications}
Specifications:
Data Transfer Rate – CAV, PCAV, CLV write/CAV and CLV read
Sustained Read/Write Speed –
18X (DVD write only) 9.97 – 24.93 MB/sec
16X (DVD read/write) 9.28 – 22.16 MB/sec
12X (DVD read/write) 8.31 – 16.62 MB/sec (write)
6.93 – 16.62 MB/sec (read)
10X (DVD write only) 8.31 – 13.85 MB/sec
8X (DVD read/write) 8.31 – 11.08 MB/sec (write)
4.70 – 11.08 MB/sec (read)
6X (DVD write only) 8.31 MB/sec
5X (DVD read only) 2.90 – 6.92 MB/sec
4X (DVD write only) 5.54 MB/sec
2.4X (DVD write only) 3.32 MB/sec
2X (DVD read/write) 2.77 MB/sec
1X (DVD write only) 1.38 MB/sec
48X (CD read/write) 3.15 – 7.29 MB/sec (write)
3.00 – 7.20 MB/sec (read)
40X (CD read only) 2.60 – 6 MB/sec
32X (CD read/write) 3.15 – 4.8 MB/sec (write)
2.08 – 4.8 MB/sec (read)
24X (CD read/write) 3 – 3.6 MB/sec (write)
1.6 – 3.6 MB/sec (read)
16X (CD write only) 2.4 MB/sec
10X (CD write only) 1.5 MB/sec
8X (CD read/write) 1.2 MB/sec
4X (CD read/write) 600 KB/sec
Burst Read/Write – 66 MB/sec (Ultra DMA Mode 4) 16.6 MB/sec (PIO Mode 4/DMA Mode 2)
Typical CD Random Access – <100 ms
Typical DVD Random Access – <150 ms
Buffer – 2 MB
Error Rate – Mode 1: block/1012 bits
Mode 2: block/109 bits
Recommended Media(All DVD-RW and CD-RW media is rewritable up to 1,000 times)
DVD+R (4.7 GB) – 18X*, 16X, 8X, 4X Maxell, Ricoh, Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical
DVD+RW – 8X, 4X, 2.4X Ricoh, Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical
DVD+R DL (8.5 GB) – 10X*, 8X, 2.4X Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical
DVD-R – 18X*, 16X, 8X, 4X Maxell, Taiyo Yuden, TDK, Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical
DVD-RW – 6X, 4X, 2X, 1X Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, TDK, Victor
DVD-R DL (8.5 GB) – 6X Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical
CD-R – 48X Maxell, Taiyo Yuden, TDK, Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, 32X Taiyo Yuden
CD-RW – 24X Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, 4X – 10X Ricoh, Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical
* Check for the latest media compatibility list on the Plextor website. NOTE: PoweRec will determine if 18X speed is possible and will set the optimal write speed.
Disc
Useable DVD Formats – DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, Multi-border, Multi-session, DVD+VR, DVD-VR
Useable CD Formats – CD-DA, CD-Extra, CD-ROM Mode-1, CD-ROM Mode-2, CD-ROM XA, Photo-CD, Video-CD, Multi-session, CD TEXT, CD-I, CD+G, UDF, Packet Write, Bootable CD, Hybrid-CD
Disc Diameter – 12 cm, 8 cm
Recording CD Modes – Track-at-Once, Disc-at-Once, Packet Write (variable and fixed), Session-at-Once
Recording DVD+R DL Mode(s) – Disc-at-Once, Multi-session, Incremental Recording
Recording DVD+R/RW Mode(s) – Disc-at-Once, Multi-session, Incremental Recording/Random access write, Sequential Write
Recording DVD-R DL Mode – Sequential Write
Recording DVD-R/RW Mode(s) – Disc-at-Once, Multi-session, Incremental Recording
Front Panel
Eject – Auto Eject/Manual Emergency/Software Control
Lights – Power on/Disc Access/Writing/Disc Type/Reading Disc Loading Auto load/Manual load
Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions (W/H/D) - 5.75 in x 1.63 in x 6.69 in
146 mm x 41 mm x 170 mm
Weight - 2.20 lbs 1000 g
Rear Panel
Power Supply – DC +5 V and DC +12 V
Mode Jumpers – Master; Slave; Cable Select
Interface Connector – IDE host adapter and 40-pin Flat E-IDE cable
SPDIF – Digital Audio Out
Minimum System Requirements
CPU – Pentium? 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent (minimum)
HDD – 1 GB free space for copying CD to CD image, 10 GB free space for DVD authoring
RAM – 256 MB
Monitor Display Resolution – 1024 X 768 at 16-bit color
OS Support – 2000/XP?/XP Professional x64?
{mospagebreak title=Features}
Features:
- Double layer allows you to record up to 4 hours of high-quality MPEG-2/DVD video on a 8.5 GB disc
- AUTOSTRATEGY writing technology for unknown media with uneven quality
- Achieves 18X write performance with recommended 16X DVD?R media
- Supports DVD+RW background format
- Supports DVD?VR format for direct disc recording
- Supports CD-Text and CD+G writing/reading
- Buffer Underrun Proof technology prevents buffer underrun errors
- Horizontal or vertical mounting orientation
- Short drive length for small form factor PC
- Replaceable beige front bezel included
- Windows? 2000/XP?/XP Professional x64
- One-year full warranty (parts and labor)
- Unlimited toll-free technical support
AutoStrategy? – Writing technology for unknown media with uneven quality. When a
writable disc isn?t listed in the drive?s internal media catalog, AUTOSTRATEGY automatically
checks the disc and develops a write strategy for it.
PowerRec? – Plextor Optimized Writing Error Reduction Control (PoweRec) adjusts laser
power and writing speed so they?re at the optimum settings for that particular disc.
PlexEraser? is a data destruction utility that makes a recorded CD-R or DVD disc unreadable.
SecureRecording lets you write on a CD-R disc and protect the data with a password.
GigaRec? allows high capacity storage of up to 900 MB on a 700 MB CD-R disc. With this advanced feature, you can increase the maximum writing capacity up to 30%.
Q-Check? diagnostic suite is used to verify the quality of blank and recorded media.
VariRec? provides users with unprecedented control over the burn process.
SilentMode? enables users to vary tray load/unload speed, spin up/down speed and
write/read speeds.
Black disc tray minimizes jitter and reduces C1 error rates. Optimized PCB circuits near
the power supply decrease noise and provide clean power to the drive, improving both
jitter and deviation levels.
PlexTools? Professional software allows you to control powerful functions with an
easy-to-use interface and includes Plextor premium features for AUTOSTRATEGY,
PoweRec, PlexEraser, SecureRecording, GigaRec, Q-Check, VariRec, and SilentMode.
Roxio? Easy Media Creator? 7 is an award winning software suite which combines
full-featured photo, video, music, burning, and authoring applications for the PC.
Specifications/Features: 4.75/5
{mospagebreak title=Packaging and Appearance}
Packaging and Appearance:
Plextor ships the PX-760A in a white box with it’s specifications listed on the outside. There are also awards listed on the front but they are for other Plextor drives and not for this particular drive. Inside the stiff cardboard box is the drive protected by two pieces of styrofoam at each end. There shouldn’t be any worries of the drive not arriving in good shape. Also in the box is an IDE cable, beige face plate, mounting screws, blank DVD+R disc, and the software disc.
The PX-760A looks similar to just about any other optical drive from the front; disc tray, open/close button, DVD/RW logos, and a flashing light of some sort. Plextor takes one step ahead of many others by including an additional front bezel in the box. The black bezel came installed and the beige bezel was shipped in the box. A few clips and the bezel can easily be changed. The drive itself is shorter than most drives but not by a lot. It is only ?? shorter than my Pioneer DVR-111. However in a small form factor (SFF) case that ?? may make the difference.
Packaging and Appearance: 4.5/5
{mospagebreak title=Performance/Test System}
Performance:
Test System
DFI LP UT SLI-DR Expert
AMD Opteron 165 @ 2.5
2x Leadtek 7800GT TDH Extreme in SLI
Corsair TwinX PT 2x512MB
Plextor PX-760A
Pioneer DVR-111D
2x Samsung 80GB SATA 3G in RAID 0
2x Seagate 7200.10 SATA 3G in RAID 0
To test the performance of the PX-760A I ran it through several read and write tests using different media formats and compared it to the results of the Pioneer DVR-111. Read tests were done using Nero CD-DVD Speed. Writing was done using Nero Burning ROM and the write quality was checked with PlexTools Professional.
{mospagebreak title=Performance/Read Tests}
Read Tests
CD
Pressed Audio CD
To test audio CD read speeds I used my Eminem Curtain Call album. The disc was unprotected and was very close to 80min.
For some reason I could not get the Plextor to read this CD above 8x. I checked some other reviews of the drive and they were able to get the drive to read above this speed, but after trying several different things I went with this since that was all I could get.
Written Audio CD
Since I had the Eminem disc out I made an image of it and burned it on another machine. I took this disc and then reran the previous read test to see how the drives read a written CD compared to a pressed CD.
Plextor PX-760A Pioneer DVR-111D
Both drives were able to read this disc faster than the original disc, especially the Plextor. However the Pioneer still came out on top with faster read speeds.
Pressed Data CD
For this I did a quick search of my desk and found a FarCry disc 2, which was the biggest data disc I had on hand. At 64:12 minutes long it isn?t a full disc but should give a decent impression.
In this test the Plextor read the disc quite a bit faster than the Pioneer. Although not measured directly I did notice this when installing games and programs and even Windows.
Written Data CD
Since the FarCry disc wasn?t a full disc I made up a data CD to use for this test to measure the read speed across an entire CD. The test CD measured 80:06 minutes in length.
Again for the written data disc the Plextor came out faster than the Pioneer. The Plextor managed to reach its full read speed of 48x. However the Pioneer has a maximum read speed listed as 40x but it was able to exceed that by reaching 42x during this test.
CD Extra
One last CD read test was to try out a CD Extra. This is an audio CD with added features. For this I used the Beastie Boys to the 5 Boroughs album. This is a protected CD with added features on the disc. However the length of the disc is pretty small at only 42:12 minutes in length.
Similar to the audio CD test the Pioneer managed to get past the Plextor however this time the Plextor was not stuck at 8x read speed.
DVD
Pressed DVD
To test the read speeds of a pressed DVD I pulled out my Call of Duty 2 DVD which measured 3.53GB. Again this is not a full disc but enough to give a good picture of the performance of the drives.
This test was extremely close, both drives showed almost identical speeds. If the tests were rerun they could very easily be back and forth so neither drive is faster at reading a pressed DVD.
Written DVD
Since the Call of Duty 2 DVD wasn?t full I created my own data DVD to test for the written disc test. I wrote a 4.35GB disc on another machine so that I could test the read across the full disc.
Like with the pressed DVD test the drives were very close to each other. This time the Pioneer was ever so slightly faster though. The Plextor did manage to have faster seek times.
Dual Layer DVD
Using a 7.95GB data disc, the same one used in the next section I was able to measure the read speeds of both drives across both layers of the media.
The read speeds on both drives was very close for dual layer discs but overall the Plextor read the disc slightly faster across the entire disc.
{mospagebreak title=Performance/Write Tests}
Write Tests
CD
To test the write speeds of each drive I wrote a full data CD with each drive at its maximum allowed write speeds in Nero.
| Plextor PX-760A | 2:45 |
| Pioneer DVR-111D | 4:08 |
The Plextor easily handled the Pioneer in the CD write test. The Pioneer drive is limited to 32x write speeds where as the Plextor writes to CDR media at 48x.
DVD
To test the write speeds of each drive I wrote a full data DVD with each drive at its maximum allowed write speeds in Nero.
| Plextor PX-760A | 6:43 |
| Pioneer DVR-111D | 6:42 |
Burning a data DVD on each of these drives turned out to be very close in the amount of time taken. The Plextor wrote the full disc in 6:43, while the Pioneer managed to squeak in a time of 6:42. Both drives wrote the disc at 16x, Nero did not recognize the Plextor?s ability write at 18x with the Memorex media used in this test. I also tried Taiyo Yuden media that is suggested by Plextor but it also would only write at 16x. The Pioneer ended with an error in one of the test runs and needed to be redone.
Dual Layer DVD
To measure the write speeds for a dual layer DVD, I wrote a 7.95GB of data onto the DL media.
| Plextor PX-760A | 27:30 |
| Pioneer DVR-111D | 44:59 |
The only media I had available at the time of testing was 2.4x, but the Plextor managed to over-speed the burn process to 4x. This enabled it to easily write the disc faster than the Pioneer which would only write at 2.4x. The Pioneer also ended with an error on the first attempt and had to be redone.
Sheep Test
The Sheep test will let you know if a particular drive will be able to write current copy protection methods. This can be very important for those that wish to keep back up copies of software. Drives are classified as; no sheep, one sheep, two sheep, or three sheep drives. A no sheep drive will not copy most protections while a three sheep writer will write pretty near all protection methods. To pass each test the drive must write a series of small files to a disc and then the goal is to retrieve those foles back from the disc onto your hard drive. Eash consecutive file means one more sheep. Unfortunately the PX-760A failed even the first sheep test and is classified as a no sheep drive.
{mospagebreak title=Performance/Write Quality}
Write Quality
To test the write quality of the PX-760A I used the discs that I wrote in the previous tests at maximum speed and ran them through the PlexTools Q-Check tests. For the CD I used the C1/C2 test, for the DVD and DL DVD I used the PI/PO tests and Beta/Jitter test. Here are the results. Note that all tests pass industry standards however many individuals use their own standards far beyond the normal. Slower write speeds would of course yield better results. I personally write everything at max speed, I have never had problems with a disc not being readable because of this. I will leave these results for your own personal interpretation.
Q-check tests
CD C1/C2
DVD 4.7 PI/PO Sum8
DVD 4.7 PI/PO Burst
DVD 4.7 Beta/Jitter
Dual Layer PI/PO Sum8
Dual Layer PI/PO Burst
Dual Layer Beta/Jitter
Performance: 4/5
{mospagebreak title=Price/Warranty}
Price/Warranty:
Plextor lists the price of the PX-760A on their site as $119. A quick search of the Internet and you can find several retailers that have it listed around $99. Since Plextor only sells retail version of their drives there is quite a price difference between this drive and many of the other drives on the market. Even the majority of other retail drives list well below $100. Plextor does have a loyal following of users that don?t seem to mind paying a premium for their drives.
Plextor warrants their drives for 1 year following the date of purchase.
Price/Warranty: 3/5
{mospagebreak title=Conclusion}
Conclusion:
After running the PX-760A for several weeks I have found it to be a very reliable drive. It is not the fastest drive under every circumstance and there are a few quirks that can probably be remedied with a bit of playing around with settings, but for the average user this drive will cover all their needs quite easily. Burning a DVD at 18x turned out to be quite a task since a few of the different media I used it wouldn?t write to beyond 16x. However, the few seconds that you would actually save between 16x and 18x is very minimal. I don?t think there will be a noticeable speed increase until 20x or 24x drives and media become available. This drive would make an ideal media center optical drive. With its ability to turn down the speed to lower the amount of noise and the quiet opening of the tray you don?t have to worry about waking up the family when watching a late night movie, even though the movie is more likely to wake them up. For all the gamers that like to make backup copies of their games, this drive isn?t optimal for them. The PX-760A failed all the Safe Disc tests. Overall the Plextor PX-760A is a good drive but not quite as good as I was expecting, with the hype over the PX-716, I think that the small increase in write speeds with the PX-760A let us down a little.
Pros:
- 18x Write speeds
- Adjustable noise level
- Changeable face plate
Cons:
- Not all 16x media will write at 18x
- Won?t write SafeDisc
Specifications/Features: 4.75/5
Packaging and Appearance: 4.5/5
Performance: 4/5
Price/Warranty: 3/5
Overall: 16.25/20
Acknowledgements:
We would like to thank Plextor for sending us this drive for evaluation.
Popularity: unranked [?]