Multifunction DVD writers are now taking the main stage when it comes to optical drives. Multifunction DVD drives are able to write on both + and – media which makes them very useful. Not only do multifunction DVD writers do both DVD formats but they also burn CD-R and CD-RW making them that much more impressive.
Plextor CD-R/RW drives were introduced in 1998 so they have been making drives now for 6 years which gives them quite a bit of experience. Plextor has long been known for being on the forefront of technology and producing quality and reliable products. In the past I have reviewed Plextor’s PlexWriter 40/12/40A CDRW drive and PX-504A DVD+RW drive. I was very impressed with both of the afore mentioned drives and can’t wait to see what this drive can do.
BURN Proof
“Buffer-UnderRuN-Proof Technology” was patented by Sanyo Electric Co. to prevent Buffer UnderRuns. BURN-Proof™ is accomplished by a combination of drive hardware, firmware, and supported writing software. This technology makes it possible for the user to write and multitask on their PC, where previously they could not. Lower performance PCs benefit by being able to perform high-speed recording, and do not have to suspend their work, close applications, or remove network connectivity when they are recording.
PoweRec
PoweRec technology is something relatively new from Plextor. PoweRec stands for Plextor Optimized Writing Error Reduction Control. PoweRec identifies the media when it is inserted and compares it to a list of media stored in the firmware. The firmware includes a large database of supported media. This database includes a lot of information about the media including its maximum speed. Because Plextor can’t test all media and include it in the firmware they have added another solution. The drive will run a Optical Power Calibration test, which checks the characteristics and current conditions of the media which will decide the best laser power and speed for the media. The drive will also monitor the media on the fly while it is writing to ensure the best data transfer possible. Plextor has taken the original PoweRec technology and made it even better. PoweRec II adds the ability to test the write quality of the zone it has completed. If the drive feels the write quality was good enough, it will increase the speed and laser power and continue writing. If not, the drive will continue writing at the same speed.
VariRec
VariRec lets users adjust the laser power for discs that allow for some manual audio quality. A setting of 0 is what the OPC (Optical Power Calibration) believes the laser power should be for the blank disc you’ve got in the drive. VariRec lets you play with the relative settings of the laser power (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2) so users can do some comparison tests on their high-end audio equipment to find the best setting for the type of media you have on hand.
Lossless Linking
This technology is the property of Philips and used in Plextors new DVD±RW drives. Below is a direct quote from the Philips website explaining what this technology does.
“In the DVD+RW Video format, video can be encoded with a variable bit-rate (VBR). Because the writing process takes place at a constant bit rate, the writing process needs to be suspended and continued frequently. Normally, this would result in a linking loss, making the disc incompatible with read-only devices like DVD Video players and DVD-ROM drives. With DVD+RW it is possible to perform lossless linking, i.e. to suspend and continue the writing process without linking loss. This feature makes the format very efficient and suitable for random write in data as well as video applications. Additionally, lossless linking makes it possible to replace any individual 32 kB block (recording unit) by a new one, without losing compatibility. For lossless linking it is necessary to write any data block in the correct position with high accuracy (within I micron). For this purpose the groove is mastered with a high wobble frequency (817 kHz at n= I), which ensures that the writing can be started and stopped at an accurately defined position. The writing clock as obtained from this groove is very accurate. At the same time, address information is stored in this wobbled groove by locally inverting the sign of the wobbled waveform. For each ECC block, which is 32 kB, four addresses exist, resulting in a reliable address format with large detection margins.”
Specifications
The Plextor PX-708A boats an impressive amount of highly desired attributes. This drive is able to burn DVD+R (8x), DVD+RW (4x), DVD-R (4x), DVD-RW (2x), CD-R (40x), CD-RW (24x) and read at 40x. All of these speeds are just about the fastest on the market right now and this drive has been out for a while now. Plextor has a reputation of being one of first companies to release new products as soon as they are ready while the competition tries to keep up.
Data Transfer Rate
Z-CLV and CLV write/CAV read and CLV read
Sustained DVD Read/Write Speeds
8X (DVD+R only)
4X (DVD+/-R,+RW only)
2.4X (DVD+R/RW only)
2X (DVD-R/RW only)
5X-12X (DVD read only)
3X-8X (DVD read only)
2X-5X (DVD read only)
2X (DVD read only)
Sustained CD Read/Write Speeds
40X (CD write only)
32X (CD write only)
24X (CD rewrite only)
17X-40X (CD read only)
16X (CD write only)
14X-32X (CD read only)
10X (CD read only)
10X (CD rewrite only)
8X (CD read/write)
4X (CD write/rewrite/read)
Burst Read/Write
33 MB/sec (Ultra DMA Mode 2)
16.6 MB/sec (PIO Mode 4/DMA Mode 2)
Recommended media
Because DVD media is still somewhat new the compatibility is not like that of CDRW drives. There are only so many brands out there and only so many work well until new firmware is released. This drive should have no problem with any CDRW media however I would stick to what they recommend when it comes to DVD media. You can always try different DVD media and in most cases it will work just fine.
| Media type | Speed | Brand |
| DVD+R (4.7 GB) DVD+RW DVD-R DVD-RW CD-R (74 min or 80 min) CD-R CD-RW (74 min) CD-RW |
8X, 4X, 2.4X 4X, 2.4X 1X-4X 1X-2X 40X 4-32X 24X 4X-10X |
Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, Taiyo Yuden, Ricoh Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, Ricoh Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, Taiyo Yuden, Maxell, TDK Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, TDK, Victor Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, Taiyo Yuden, Maxell Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, Taiyo Yuden, Mitsui Chemicals, Ricoh, Maxell Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical Verbatim/Mitsubishi Chemical, Ricoh |
The front of the box is quite nice showing off all of the speeds and mediums the drive can write or rewrite. I’m not so fond of the color red and this box sure has a lot of it, then again this review isn’t really about what color I like is it? Within the box the drive is packaged very securely so that it does not get damaged during shipping.
Plextor provides a good amount of burning software along with a single 8x DVD+R disk. The software provided is below I have not used any of these specific titles before but I have used Roxio’s Easy CD creator before. I personally would have liked to have seen Nero included rather than Roxio but that is just my personal preference.
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The front of the drive looks almost identical to that of the Plextor PX-504A with only a few changes to the logo lineup. The back of the drive is also pretty similar to the PX-504A with a few minor changes. From the top of the drive we can see that it was manufactured in September of 2003.
The drive comes with a IDE cable, screws, jumper, and emergency eject tool incase a CD gets stuck or the power is off. Along with these accessories come a quick reference guide which is handy and a manual for a more in-depth information.
I wanted to take a look at the software provided by Plextor to see if it was any good. At times I can be somewhat stubborn when it comes to trying new things which is a poor choice if that new thing happens to be something good. Also the review would be less complete if I just left out looking at the software provided. I am not going to go into too much detail with each application just a quick overview of it.
Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator 6
From the main screen of Roxio’s Easy CD & DVD creator 6 basic you are prompted to choose what you want to do. The first component is the disc copier which allows you to create a copy of a disk. Audio central allows you create, manage, and edit audio files with following formats: MP3, WMA, and OGG.
The DVD builder is a DVD authoring program which allows you to capture and edit video from your camcorder. Of course this program is not as robust as Adobe Premiere or Pinnacle Studio however it is good for a home user. Like Adobe and Pinnacle this DVD builder allows you to add music, transitions, and menus to your video. Once you have finished authoring your video you can then burn it to a DVD or CD.
Disc creator classic looks quite similar to Nero Burning ROM with some cosmetic differences. This is how I prefer burning things since it normally gives you the most control. This version is better than previous versions I have used from Roxio but I still like Nero better. Regardless of what I like better the fact that this is included is great, especially if you don’t have any burning software to being with.
Roxio PhotoSuite 5 SE
This program allows you to manage, edit, and manipulate images from your digital camera. With this software you can print, create an album, or publish your pictures online. Overall it is a pretty good program but is very basic, if you need to do some major work you will need something more powerful.
Roxio DVDMax Player
This DVD playing software is basically CyberLink’s PowerDVD branded for Roxio. Because this is the same software as PowerDVD I know that it is a great program and plays DVDs, VCDs, SVCDs, and many other video files with ease. This included software only supports two speakers so if you have more than that you would need a retail copy of PowerDVD or some other player.
Dantz Retrospect 6.0
Also included is a 30 day trial of Dantz Retrospect 6.0 backup software. This software allows you to backup your computers data to DVD or CD media. Backup is very important because you never know if or when something bad is going to happen. You can use this program to schedule your backups however it’s only a 30 day trial so there would not be much use to do so. A better alternative in my opinion since this is only a trial is use Windows built in backup software to backup your files then use Easy CD & DVD Creator 6 to back them up to DVD or CD.
Nero’s InfoTool gives a lot of information of optical drives. From the main page of the program you can see all of the media that it supports which is everything but DVD-RAM. The drive has a 2MB buffer which is somewhat small but with Burn Proof it will be fine. Also showing is the CD-R write speed and the read speed capability, both of which are 40x.
Test Bed:
- Albatron K8X800 Pro II
- AMD Athlon64 3200+
- 60GB Seagate Barracuda IV HDD
- Corsair 1024MB PC3200 TwinX
- XFX GeForceFX 5700 Ultra
- Koolcase’s Panther
- Plextor 708A DVD burner
- SilenX 400w PSU
- Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
Nero CD Speed 3.10 – pressed CD
This first test was done using a pressed Visual Studio .NET CD 1 which is 73:51 in length. The average read speed was 31.34x and does get up to 41.44x at the end. Seek times and CPU usage are good for the most part, however at 8x the CPU does spike to 43%!
Nero CD Speed 3.10 – burned CD
For the burned CD testing I used a Slackware 10 CD 1 ISO that I recently burned. The CD is 75:35 in length and was burned on a generic 80 minute CD-R from Target using Burnatonce software. The end read time does reach 41.97x which and has an average read speed of 30.93 both of which are impressive. You can see however that the reading does get a bit erratic and at one point does drop significantly. This could be due to the way the ISO was burned of the drive doing a poor job reading the media used.
Nero CD Speed 3.10 – CD DAE
DAE stands for Digital Audio Extraction which is drives capable speed of extracting audio from a CD. I used a Zondervan NIV audio bible CD that was 73:27 in length. As you can see the max read time does not reach the 40x that this drive is rated out however it does get a 10 for the quality and does use accurate stream.
Nero CD Speed 3.10 – DVD-ROM
For this test I used a pressed PC Gamer DVD-ROM that was 3.99GB in size. DVD reading was slower, on average 5.93x at the end reaching 7.89x. Seek times were also pretty low but peaked at full seek time. The CPU usage is also very heavy at 4x and 8x which reached 88% and I was using an Athlon 64 3200+.
Nero CD Speed 3.10 – DVD+R
For this test I used the 8x DVD+R that Plextor provided with the drive. I burned 4.37 GB worth of data of OCmodshop data that really needed to be backed up. The files ranged in size from a few KB to over 100MB. The read speeds and seek times were just a little faster than the pressed DVD-ROM while the CPU usage was quite lower, especially at 8x.
I downloaded a trail version of Nero 6 Ultra Edition to try with the drive. I then burned 4.37 GB of essential OCmodshop files as well as some other data. The write process successfully finished in 14 minutes 3 seconds which includes the lead-in and lead-out tracks which do take a significant amount of time. There were warnings shown however they were because some files could not be found that I probably moved before the write.
Conclusion:
Plextor has once again outdone themselves and I am more than impressed for the third time. The abilities of this drive far surpass that of any other that I have used. I really feel that Plextor took the time to look over their PX-504A which was the predecessor to this new drive and greatly improve upon it. The biggest improvement I noticed other than the obvious faster and more compatible DVD burning was the eject time and noise level. The eject time with this drive is very fast and burning both CD and DVD are extremely quiet. Not only is burning quiet but even at over 40x read speeds the drive doesn’t sound like a plane taking off. With new technologies like Mt. Rainier and Lossless linking and the ever increasing support for DVD±RW media I see no end in sight for Plextor’s reputation for quality and high performing products. Overall I am more than impressed with this drive and am going to give it a 10/10 and award it the OCmodshop Seal of Approval. I would like to thank Plextor for sending this drive over for review.
Pros
- Plextor first on the market with an 8x DVD+R drive
- DVD±RW support
- Very fast DVD and CD burning
- Great read speeds
- 40 CD-R and 24x CD-RW capability
- Fast DAE speeds
- Low seek times
- Supports Lossless Linking technologies
- Buffer-UnderRuN-Proof Technology
- Mt. Rainier support
- very quiet
- None