Plextor 708A: First exclusive look at 8X DVD+R
by Kristopher Kubicki on September 12, 2003 11:11 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Testing the Drive
We used the following configuration to test our DRW-0402P/D:Gigabyte GA-7VRXUsing CD Speed 2.02 and DVD Speed, we had run a battery of read, write and rewrite tests on the drive. The following read speeds are for a pressed HP System Recovery CD.
AMD Athlon MP 2100+
2 x 128 DDR Corsair XMS 2400
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache
Windows XP SP1
Click to enlarge.
The drive has no problems with CD media, as obtaining 40X CAV was no challenge. In fact, since we only used a 70min CD, reading speeds for 80min CDs might be even closer to 48X read. However, take notice of the horrible access times. What good is a 22MB/s burst rate if it takes 339ms to seek? Below is a table of some media read times and their respective mappings in Nero CD Speed.
| Average Transfer | Seek Random | Seek 1/3 | Seek Full | Media Length | |
| Pressed HP System Recovery (Turbo) | 30.25X | 110ms | 116ms | 339ms | 69:18.41 |
| Pressed DAE Global Underground 24 CD2 | 31.85X | N/A | N/A | N/A | 73:20.15 |
| Burned PNY 48X CDR Dummy File | 31.95X | 112ms | 119ms | 119ms | 74:00.05 |
| Burned Mitsubishi 32X CDRW Dummy File | 30.85X | 86ms | 110ms | 168ms | 71.28.40 |
| Pressed DVD The Matrix | 6.12X | N/A | N/A | N/A | 7.82GB |
| Pressed Mixed DVD The Animatrix | 6.14X | N/A | N/A | N/A | 7.92GB |
| TDK 4X DVD-R Data CD | 6.03X | 88ms | 102ms | 181ms | 4.38GB |
| FujiFilm 4X DVD+R Data CD | 6.05X | 91ms | 102ms | 182ms | 4.38GB |
| Imation 4X DVD+R Data CD | 4.61X | 136ms | 164ms | 311ms | 4.38GB |
| FujiFilm 4X DVD-RW Data CD | 4.62X | 139ms | 170ms | 316ms | 4.38GB |
| FujiFilm 2.4X DVD+RW Data CD | 6.11X | 387ms | 421ms | 717ms | 4.38GB |
We never really saw the 12X DVD read claimed by Plextor. On the other hand, the read speeds certainly do not disappoint either. Typical reads ended up around 8X (6X average), which out-performs the only 4-5X capable A06. For whatever reason, the CPU usage seems slightly excessive, and we really have no idea what is going on in the DVD+RW read test.
DVD access times are very good. The drive clearly seeks on DVDs 10-15% quicker than the Pioneer A06.
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blackjack - Sunday, September 14, 2003 - link
well in response to your response, I also have a plextor 24/10/40a cd writer. Also the cd tray is really slow to eject, don't know if that is a common thing with plextor although the new dvd writer is quite fast (well in comparison). I could never get it to work with easy cd creator and it always used to create problems using cds with computers at work. The fact that plextor bundles nero and not easy cd creator says something to me. Also it seems that for re-writing, you have to have INCD which I'm positive isn't compatible with roxio because I got a message saying I had to uninstall it. Please direct me to an appropriate webpage and put me out of my ignorance.Anonymous User - Sunday, September 14, 2003 - link
"For years, Plextor took an approach to optical storage that was only duplicated by a few manufacturers. 8MB buffers, extra features and rock solid performance put Plextor on the high end of CDR and CDRW drives."those 8MB buffers were in yamaha's drives when plextor still used 4MB.
Also burnproof technology doesn't mean a small buffer is as good as a bigger one. Why ?, because when the drive actualy uses its burnproof to recover the disc this process costs extra time so the average burning speed goes down. Therefore to achieve a high burn speed there should be very little (none at best) recovering by the burnproof circuit and the bigger the buffer the smaller the chance the burnproof technology needs to recover.
Falco. - Sunday, September 14, 2003 - link
KristopherKubickibah.. i'd rather u test the tdk branded one then the oem, even if they are the same.....
KristopherKubicki - Sunday, September 14, 2003 - link
#13: The TDK drive is nice, but TDK doesnt make it ;) We have the OEM drive in a future review coming up.Cheers,
Kristopher
Anonymous User - Sunday, September 14, 2003 - link
futureshop canada has a sale on LG 4x dvd-r drive (does all the formats) for 200$ cdn after rebate...8x can wait for that price..Falco. - Saturday, September 13, 2003 - link
blackjack..plextor hardware doesn't like ezcd ??? since when ?? ezcd is all i have ever used for my plextor 12/10/32 scsi cd writer, and i have had no problems with it..
and WHY wasn't the tdk dual format mentioned at all in this review??? and will it be included in the round up ????????????????????
AgaBooga - Saturday, September 13, 2003 - link
Well, its good to see DVD drive coverage also being added to reviews along with occasional LCD screen reviews. I think this will help AT reach out to more people than just those interested in computer components like the CPU, motherboard, video card, etc.blackjack - Saturday, September 13, 2003 - link
I already own this drive and am very happy with it. I was tempted by the pioneer a06 but the cd-r was only 16x which they could have easily made 32x surely? Apart from a few coasters using imation 2.4x write once dvd+r media, it is quite happy with dvd-r and of course dvd+rw. Yet to get hold of some decent tdk dvd+r but they should be fine at 6-8x.All in all, given its good price (£158 + VAT), I have no complaints although plextor hardware does not like roxio easy cd creator (although I'm getting quite used to nero now)
Anonymous User - Saturday, September 13, 2003 - link
Will the buying code of "Anandtech280" works :)KristopherKubicki - Saturday, September 13, 2003 - link
Oops. Thanks #8: Fixed.As far as the question about booktypes: Nero, ImgTools, and pretty much everything else we tried did not allow us to change the booktype. We have a pretty strong suspicion that a future firmware upgrade will fix this though.
Cheers,
Kristopher