Introduction
Our last look at a product from Plextor was at the PX-712A 12x model, which performed extremely well in our media tests. The PX-712A had an 8MB buffer and was the first to market the 12x speeds. Plextor brought the PX-712A fast and hard, but the only thing that kept many from investing in one was just that - it was quite an investment to make. At the time that our review of the drive was published, the PX-712A retailed for around $175-$200, which made it the most expensive drive, and probably 3 times the price of other drives on the market.The performance, large buffer, and high price carried over to the PX-716A models, but Plextor has also introduced the PX-740A, which is part of the latest generation of DVD writers. The PX-740A carries a price much lower than the PX-716A while picking up a few new features like speed increases for writing to DVD-RW, CD-RW, DVD+R DL, as well as the addition of writing to DVD-R DL media.
The PX-740A is priced much less than the PX-716A series, but can the PX-740A match the performance of its last generation counterpart? Since our Summer 16x roundup a few weeks back, we have taken some of our readers' requests of adding more media to our tests and also to bring back the detailed specifications of the products that we review. Let's take a look at what the PX-740A has to offer.
Special thanks to Marken Communications for supplying us with Verbatim brand test media.
Special thanks to Antarra Communications for supplying us with Ridata brand test media.
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Bozo Galora - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
Yet another DVD review with no Taiyo Yuden DVD media.semo - Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - link
yeah that bothers me too. mcc media are a good high grade specimen but ty are a lot more consistent. infiniti branded mcc media does not perform as good as verbatim branded ones (just like memory, some chips are ultra fast and ultra expensive and some are slow and just expensive).ty on the other hand don't deviate much from excellent (even the value grade ones). i have some unbranded 8x rated tyg02 dvd-rs that burned @ 16x in my dw1620 surpass the 16x mcc 03rg20 infinitis (burned at any speed) in quality.
ty should be used more in reviews since it is very consistent. i'm half way through my tub of 100 and i never got a dvd with >500 pifs (usually less than 80). ty media is also very cheap in the us. in the uk it is more expensive but it is still half the price of even the cheapest junk sold in supermarkets or even cheaper and about the same price as mcc.
joex444 - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
I'm liking that 716's SATA inteface, though. Time to replace my NEC 1300.larson0699 - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
PERHAPS its low price tag (in relation to PX-716A) has *something* to do with the fact that it's back to the old interface.Sorry, but SATA is totally 0wn1ng. *pets his 716A*
WileCoyote - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
Woah woah... time out. When did Plextor start rebadging drives? I always thought they were an OEM with top-notch quality. Now they're like everybody else? Sad.dmxlite - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
Maybe because the BenQ drive is really good, and they needed something for the low end in their product lines.kmmatney - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
So, are these only sold in 10 packs, or what?...Hacp - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
I was hoping for something for Anandtech to review....... Cameras and Optical drives are just boring :(.yacoub - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
hahah yeah, I almost fell asleep by the third page. Oh well it's still a very useful review for the review database here so when you're looking for a DL DVD burner drive in the future you can read it.DeeSlanger - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
Instead of bitching about , Why dont you suggest or ask them if they can review some thing for Hacp...