Plextor PX-760A DVD Burner Review

DVD+R/-R Double Layer writing speed and compatibility:

The Plextor PX-760A supports the DVD+R DL/-R DL standard for writing Double Layer/Dual Layer discs with a size around 8.5 GB at a writing speed of 10x for DVD+R DL and 6x for DVD-R DL. Let us first take a look at the media we will use:

Let’s find the manufacturer and media information too, for this we will use Nero CD-DVD Speed.

Verbatim 8x ‘“ Manufactured by Mitsubishi Kagaku Media. Thanks to Verbatim for sending us this media.

Verbatim 2.4x ‘“ Manufactured by Mitsubishi Kagaku Media. Thanks to Verbatim for sending us this media.

Ricoh JPN D01, manufactured by Ricoh. Thanks to Ricoh Europe for sending us this media.

Infiniti reference series - Manufactured by CMC Magnetics. Thanks to Medea International UK for sending us this media.

Testing procedure:
We created an ISO Image from a pre-authored DVD-Video compliant file set, with a total on-disc size of 8146 MB. We then wrote this image file using Nero Burning ROM 6. Below are the results:

Verbatim 8x media

Nero reported a successful burn with the Verbatim 8x media in 13 minutes and 48 seconds. (write speed 10x)

Let us take a look at the K-Probe result:

We have the usual spike at the layer break but nothing to worry about. The result is good.

Verbatim 2.4x Media

Nero reported a successful burn with the Verbatim 2.4x media in 18 minutes and 56 seconds. (write speed 6x)

Let us take a look at the K-Probe result:

The result is good, considering this 2.4x media was written at 3 times its rated speed.

Ricoh Media

Nero reported a successful burn with the Ricoh 8x media in 15 minutes and 36 seconds. (write speed 8x)

Let us take a look at the K-Probe result:

There is a worrying spike at the layer break, other than this the write quality is ok.

Infiniti 2.4x Media

Nero reported a successful burn with the Infiniti 2.4x media in 27 minutes and 35 seconds. (write speed 4x)

Now let us take a look at the K-Probe result:

The result is very good considering this 2.4x media was written and 4x

Now let us try and read the Double Layer media back, first on the Plextor PX-760A and then the BenQ DW1640.

Plextor PX-760A read-back test (MKM 003)

BenQ DW1640 read-back test (MKM 003)

Plextor PX-760A read-back test (MKM001)

BenQ DW1640 read-back test (MKM001)

Plextor PX-760A read-back test (RICOH JPN D01)

BenQ DW1640 read-back test (RICOH JPN D01)

Plextor PX-760A read-back test (Infiniti CMC MAG D01)

Benq DW1640 read-back test (Infiniti CMC MAG D01)

As we can see from our results, the Plextor PX-760A was able to read our test discs without any problems. The Benq had some problems reading some of our test discs, in some cases showing some slowdowns, and in the case of our Ricoh media, the BenQ drive failed with a read error.

Let’s compare the Plextor PX-760A with some other DL capable drives.

*1 Verbatim DVD+R DL (MKM001)
*2 Traxdata DVD+R DL (RITEK D01)
*3 Ricoh DVD+R DL (RICOH JPN D00)
*4 Infiniti DVD+R DL (CMC MAG D01)
*5 Verbatim DVD+R DL (MKM 003)
*6 Ricoh DVD+R DL (JPN D01)

DVD-R DL

As mentioned at the top of this page, the Plextor PX-760A supports the DVD-R DL standard at 6x. Let us first take a look at the media we will use:

Let’s find the manufacturer and media information too, for this we will use CD-Speed 4.50:

This media is manufactured by Mitsubishi Kagaku Media. Thanks to SVP UK for sending us this media.

Again, we used Nero Burning Rom 6 to write the DVD Image:

The Plextor PX-760A took 18 minutes and 36 seconds to write the Verbatim DVD-R DL media at 6x.

Now let’s take a look at the Kprobe result:

The Plextor PX-760A has managed to burn the Verbatim DVD-R DL media with very good quality.

We will now check the read-back curves on two different drives.

Plextor PX-760A read-back test

BenQ DW1640 read-back test

As we can see from the above read-back tests; both drives were able to read the Verbatim DVD-R DL media without problems.

Standalone DVD-Player compatibility:

We only have 3 standalone DVD-Players available and 1 standalone DVD-RAM DVD-R recorder to test the DVD+R DL medias (Book Type: DVD-ROM) and the DVD-R DL media (Book Type: DVD-R):

• Panasonic DVD-RV32
• Panasonic SA-HT520
• Proline DVDP350
• Panasonic DMR-E50 recorder

Compatibility results: 

All our DVD Standalone devices played the DVD+R DL media burned by the Plextor PX-760A without any problems apart from the Ricoh DVD+R DL media.

Only one DVD Standalone device would play the Plextor PX-760A burned DVD-R DL media without any problems.

We would like to mention, that the compatibility issue with standalone DVD Players/Recorders and the DVD-R DL media format is caused by incompatibilities with the standalone devices used in this review, and not the Plextor PX-760A or media format used.

Summary: The Plextor PX-760A burned most of our Double Layer media with good quality.

To round off this review, we will now carry out some advanced tests on the next page…..