Plextor PX-716A DVD Recorder

Now that we’ve taken a look at the Plextor PX-716A’s features and read performance it’s time to take a look at the most important thing about any recorder: its write performance! As always, we’re going to start our write tests with taking a look at how fast and how well the drive can write CD-R and CD-RW media. For our tests we used Nero CD-DVD Speed and its “Create Data Disc” option. The burned discs were then scanned using the PlexTools Professional software and a Plextor PX-712UF drive.

Below you can find an overview of our results. Every test begins with the mentioning of the ATIP information from the disc to identify the manufacturer of the media and to check its certified write speed. The ATIP info is followed by the Nero CD-DVD Speed write graph, showing the Plextor PX-716A drive writing the actual disc. Last but not least we have included the PlexTools C1/C2 Error graph.

CD-R Disc 1 – Memorex 48x:

Manufacturer        : CMC Magnetics
Code                : 97m26s66f
Disc Type           : CD-R
Usage               : General
Recording Layer     : Dye Type 6: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Certified Speed     : 48x
Capacity            : 79:59.73
                      703 MB

Our first result is a good one. The Memorex disc, manufactured by CMC Magnetics, was written at its certified speed (48x) and the C1/C2 scan looks fine.

CD-R Disc 2 – Maxell 40x:

Manufacturer        : Hitachi Maxell
Code                : 97m25s29f
Disc Type           : CD-R
Usage               : General
Recording Layer     : Dye Type 9: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Certified Speed     : 40x
Capacity            : 79:59.74
                      703 MB

The Hitachi Maxell was written perfectly at a slightly higher speed than the media was certified for (40x, written at 48x). C1/C2 scan looks perfectly fine.

CD-R Disc 3 – Taiyo Yuden 24x:

Manufacturer        : Taiyo Yuden
Code                : 97m24s01f
Disc Type           : CD-R
Usage               : General
Recording Layer     : Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine, AZO)
Certified Speed     : 24x
Capacity            : 74:43.01
                      656 MB

Taiyo Yuden media is considered to be one of the best media you can get and the scans here prove it once again. An excellent C1/C2 error graph. The Plextor PX-716A had no problems writing this Taiyo Yuden 24x media at 32x.

CD-R Disc 4 – Maxell 48x:

Manufacturer        : MPO
Code                : 97m25s07f
Disc Type           : CD-R
Usage               : General
Recording Layer     : Dye Type 7: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Certified Speed     : 48x
Capacity            : 79:59.00
                      702 MB

Another Maxell disc only this time manufactured by MPO. There isn’t much to tell about the Plextor’s performance here other than that it did a great job once again. The disc was written at its certified speed of 48x and the C1/C2 scan looks fine.

CD-R Disc 5 – MAM-E 48x:

Manufacturer        : Mitsui
Code                : 97m27s58f
Disc Type           : CD-R
Usage               : General
Recording Layer     : Dye Type 8: Short Strategy (Phthalocyanine)
Certified Speed     : 48x
Capacity            : 79:59.74
                      703 MB

The last CD-R disc we tested was again a good result. The disc was written at its certified speed and the C1/C2 scan shows no problem areas on the written disc.

CD-RW Disc 1 – Plextor 24x:

Manufacturer        : Verbatim
Code                : 97m34s24f
Disc Type           : UltraSpeed CD-RW
Usage               : General
Recording Layer     : Phase Change
Recording Speed     : 24 X
Capacity            : 74:43.00
                      656 MB

The Plextor CD-RW disc manufactured by Verbatim was written perfectly. CD-RW discs always have a (much) higher C1/C2 error count and we can see this in the produced graph as well. But, the amount of C1 errors is not high enough to cause any problems.

CD-RW Disc 2 – Yamaha 24x:

Manufacturer        : Verbatim
Code                : 97m34s23f
Disc Type           : UltraSpeed CD-RW
Usage               : General
Recording Layer     : Phase Change
Recording Speed     : 24 X
Capacity            : 74:43.00
                      656 MB

The second and last CD-RW we tested had a higher C1 error count than the previous Plextor CD-RW media we wrote. But, again higher C1 error counts are normal on CD-RW media and since the disc could be read back without slowdowns we consider this a okay result. Now, let’s continue with DVD+R performance!