Plextor PX-740A

DVD+R Media

We have a total of 4 types of DVD+R media tested with the PX-740A.   They are as follows:

MCC 004

Looking at the speed graph, we notice how similar this graph is to one using a BenQ drive. Since the technology used is basically identical, we are not surprised to see this happen. The write to MCC 004 media was completely successful, but only reached a top speed of 12x.

The read back using the same drive shows a successful write as we should expect from Plextor and BenQ/Philips hardware. When we read back the disc on our Plextor PX-712A, only 885 PI errors came up, making this disc virtually a perfectly written disc.

Philips C08

Memorex media isn’t the highest in quality and we sometimes get chills down our backs when we aren’t working with the top-of-the-line media, but the PX-740A didn’t disappoint. We tested the Philips C08 media, which is the older 8x media, and were not surprised to see the results here. The drive started its write at 5.68x and jumped to 8x at about the 0.4GB mark of the disc using the P-CAV method.

Here, again, the transfer shows a successful write and a read up to 16x on this medium quality media.

Ritek R04

During the write process, the PX-740A only reached up to 12x using the P-CAV method. It attained 12x at the 2GB mark and carried that speed until about 2.7GB were written, and then dropped to 11x. The drive then steadily increased back up to 12x speed and carried that speed from the 3.5GB mark to the end.

The read back showed a successful write and the PX-712A only picked up 3302 PI errors over the entire disc.

VDSPMSAB 001

And now, the lower quality media. This media is old and one of the lowest quality brands that we could find out there. It is a 4x media, so we did not expect much out of it and we didn’t get much either. During the write, the drive stuck to the 4x speed and looked like it performed the write successfully.

But looking at the read graph, the drive gave up on reading the media just after the 2.2GB mark. Obviously, this was not a successful write. The PX-712A would not read the disc past about 1.75GB, and it did manage to pick up 262,565 PI errors within that first 1.75GB section.

The screenshots of Nero’s CD-DVD Speed and Plextor’s Plextools can be downloaded here.