Plextor PX-740A
Sep 26th, 2005 | By Archive
Plextor PX-740A
Date
: 09/27/05 – 12:46:27 AM
Author
:
Category
: Optical Devices
Page 1 : Index
Manufacturer
: Plextor
Price
: $99
Not too long ago, we had the opportunity to review the fastest DVD burner Plextor had to offer. That was the PX-716A reviewed by Michael in great detail. We now have in our hands the
Plextor PX-740A
.
There are a few differences between the 716 and the 740. First and foremost, this is what Plextor considers a ‘simple solution’, something that is low cost. When you compare this to some of the other models Plextor has released, it certainly is more affordable – 149USD for the PX716SA, 139USD for the PX716A and 109USD for the PX740A. That's not all. For a lower cost, you get a faster write speed. With PX-740A you get a blazing
8x DVD+DL
write speed!
Let's find out if Plextor's simple solution is capable of being the top dog among burners.
Page 2 : Package
Like all the Plextor packages, the PX-740A was housed in a well designed box that conveyed the most essential pieces of information.
Boldly displayed are the performance specifications of the PX-740A. Plextor clearly does not want you to be misinformed about their product. A simple picture with the tray ejected shows you exactly what the drive looks like.
On one side of the package, there is a display of the contents.
Not a whole lot, but limiting the extras and providing blank media is an easy step to shave the costs of production.
On the opposite side of the package, Plextor gives us a quick rundown on the Nero software suite included.
On the back of the box, we get a detailed look at the specifications. Don't bother straining your eyes here, we'll provide a detailed list of the specifications on the next page.
At the top of the box, we get another look at the performance specifications and a blurb on why you should buy a Plextor product.
As promised, flip to the next page for the specifications.
Page 3 : Specifications
Plextor has always been on the leading edge of optical drive technology. For those who do a mammoth amount of DVD writing, the faster the write is the less time everything will take. With 16X DVD+/-R and 8X DVD+DL or 6X DVD-DL, you certainly have no worries about spending an hour writing a single DVD. As a matter of fact, you'll have your single layer DVDs done in six minutes.
You will notice that the PX-740A comes with 2 MB of buffer. Most of the previous Plextor models came with a whopping 8 MB! Since Plextor is still using the BURN-Proof technology, and since all other competitors have successfully sold 2 MB buffer products without any issue, you won't have to worry about creating coasters despite having ‘only’ a 2 MB buffer.
A full comparison between the PX-740A and the PX-716A is available here.
Here's how Plextor markets their PX-740A:
For those who are unclear about what 16X is or 48X, this little table should certainly clarify the details. The 716A also sports a 66 MB/sec transfer rate compared to the 33 MB/sec. The 740A has a faster DVD+R DL write speed of 8X, compared to the 6X on the 716A, but suffers from a 4X DVD-R DL compared to the faster 716A with 6X. When it comes to CDs, the PX-740A writes CD-RW's at 32X while the PX-716A writes at a slightly slower 24X. The physical dimensions of the PX-740A shows it to be slightly longer than the PX-716A (0.3′ to be exact). The PX-740A lacks a few of the writing formats and isn't as technologically advanced, sporting only Buffer Underrun and the ability to read CD+G. Last but not least, Plextor packages the kit with Nero and not PlexTools Pro, Roxio Easy Media Creator or Dantz Retrospect.
Achieving these high speed writes requires power. You won't exactly achieve these performance numbers on a 486-DX100 running Windows 3.1. Here are the minimum specifications required by Plextor:
⢠800 MB to 1 GB free hard disk space for copying CD to CD image
⢠10 GB free hard disk space for DVD authoring
⢠256 MB memory
⢠Monitor display resolution 1024×768 at 16-bit color
⢠OS Support – Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP
[/quote]
Now that we know how the PX-740A runs and what we need to get it going, it's time to open up the box.
Page 4 : Package Contents
Breaking the seal of the box, we can easily lift out the drive and the protective casing.
The drive is protected by two inches of Styrofoam that will hold the unit in the center of the box, requiring something to punch in about 2 inches before actually touching the drive.
Pulling the drive out of the bag, we get to see the top. Gone are the days of plain boxes, this puppies got some contours.
At the edge of the drive, Plextor has stamped out the names of each connector.
A quick look at the connectors:
Nothing really stands out. If we go around the sides, we see the female end for the screws; also nothing special, so we'll skip the picture for now.
The front of the drive shows a few of the features we're already aware of.
Just under the center of the tray is a pin sized hole. If the drive isn't responding and you really need to get your CD or DVD out, you push the provided tool through this hole and the drive tray will pop out.
The bottom of the drive has a sticker that tells you the serial number, model number and the month and year the drive was manufactured.
Apart from the drive that came in the box, Plextor has packaged a few accessories.
To the top left we have a number of exclusive offers. One I really like is the 20% off Plextor video device. To the right of the offers is the Plextor driver CD with various software applications and a quick installation guide.
Below the CD is a bag with four mounting screws, a jumper and a thin wire with a loop at the end. This little piece of metal is what you stick into the pin sized hole under the drive tray if any media gets stuck. To the left of this bag is an ATA100 cable for installation.
Page 5 : Installation
If you've ever put together your own system, you've probably installed an optical drive to install an operating system. Even if you've never done it before, it's really simple. If you're a Pro at these types of procedures, you can skip this entire section.
Now, for those who have never done this before here is where we'll start. You'll need to quickly go over the Quick Installation Guide to determine which setup you have. If you're using this drive in Master or Slave, be sure you've got the cables and jumpers correctly assigned.
The first step in putting the drive into your case is to free up a bay drive. To do this you need to get your case manual and follow the instructions on how to remove the bay cover. Many of the new cases have tool-less designs that allow you to set up the drive rails and just slide in the unit avoiding the need to use a screwdriver.
Here is the pictorial process for installing the PX-740A with a SilverStone TJ05:
Once the drive is in the case, you'll want to make all the necessary cable connections: E-IDE, Power, Audio.
Once you have that, boot and you're ready to do some software installation.
Once you boot to Windows, the drivers will install and within minutes you're ready to go with the PX-740A.
Now that the drive has been recognized, the provided CD gives use a number of software options – but only one is needed to burn your CDs.
For many, the installation of Nero 6 will be sufficient. For those who need Adobe's Reader, it's also available and is required if you want to read the manual. Those who know a thing or two about the previous Plextor products will notice that PlexTools is missing. If you buy your Plextor product from America, you won't find PlexTools. If you buy this from a European retailer, it will be packaged. PlexTools is engineered and owned by Plextor Europe and has unlimited licensing rights to it. Plextor America has to purchase each individual license. If you think you're getting the short end of the stick, fear not because you aren't. The PX-740A has no real advantage when you use the PlexTools software. If you're looking to run error checking, the hardware to do this is not incorporated in this model. This means you won't be able to check for C1/C2/CU or PI/PO errors.
One of the important things to do with any piece of hardware is to stay up-to-date on drivers. The PX-740A was sent to me with a 1.01 firmware. A quick search on the Plextor website reveals the latest to be 1.01.
To update, download the upgrade application and eject any media from your drive.
Once that is done, hit OK and update.
With the latest firmware flashed in, we can proceed by installing Nero 6. There are a number of options you can choose with Nero, but I stick with the basic application. Loading up the InfoTools software, it has this to say about the PX-740A:
Page 6 : Benchmark Guidelines
The only true way to test a DVD Writer is to burn, burn and when you're tired of wasting DVDs on burning test discs, burn some more! BlankMedia was kind enough to process my late order and make sure I got my media the next day. Talk about service. For our testing, we're going to attempt to write on various DVDs at the maximum speed Plextor states. To do this, here is our test bed:
AMD 3000+ Venice @ 300*9
Thermaltake Big Typhoon
1 GB Patriot Memory PC3200 XBLK
PowerColor X700 Bravo
Seagate 7200.8 200GB SATA w/ NCQ
Antec TrueBlue 2.0
SilverStone TJ05
Everything was done on a clean install of Windows XP Professional SP2 with the latest updates and drivers.
Optical Drives:
Plextor PX-740A
LiteOn SOHW-1213S for Error Checking[/quote]
For the review, our list of media includes:
16X DVD+R Verbatim Silver
16X DVD-R Ridata with Logo
4X DVD+RW Ridata
DVD+R DL Verbatim rated 2.4X
48x Maxell CD-R
24X Verbatim CD-RW
The media will be subjected to Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.01 (available @ CD Speed 2000) and the standard read and write tests. After the media has been created, we'll place the media into the LiteOn unit for some error checking.
Let's get burning!
Page 7 : DVD+/-R Benchmarks
Before we begin, let's start this section off with the basics about the media we will be using. Our Vertbatim DVD+R is rated for 16X operation.
Our Ridata DVD-R is also rated for 16X.
Both of our media reached the expected 16X speed without too much trouble. We'll start things off by looking at the Verbatim DVD+R disc. The write process was a bit jittery with the RPM constantly dipping to 4000 RPM from the usual 8000 RPM. The affect of this was the burn speed, while increasing, would have moments of writing at 6.5X.
There's not much to say, Plextor meets its rated speed of 16X as we just hit 16.01x on the very last bit of data we write on the DVD.
A quick scan of the disc using Nero CD-DVD shows nothing but 100% quality.
While the new CD-DVD gives us positive results, don't be fooled. The only real way to check the quality of the burn is to use a drive with Error Checking, and in this case we'll introduce the LiteOn SOHW-1213S. Also using Nero CD-DVD speed, we get totally different results.
While on the average we were pretty low, there was a huge increase in PI errors as we entered the 2.5GB to 4GB region. Lucky for us, the PI failures were pretty low; a spike at the start, but it eventually calmed down to an average of 1.18 failures.
Switching gears to our DVD-R counterpart, The RiData performed much like the Verbatim disc.
Despite the odd spikes in error, the RiData 16X DVD-R performed a lot better than the Verbatim 16X DVD+R disc. However, since we're limited to the number of samples, one disc really can't tell the story of an entire brand.
Let's move onto the CD benchmarks.
Page 8 : CD-R Benchmarks
Our CD benchmarks are completed using the Maxell 48X discs.
Branded by Maxell but really made by Ritek.
These CDs also have no problems reaching the 48X barrier. Once again we see that the PX-740A is hindered by some quality issues when it comes to burning.
The burn looks really jittery, and the Scan Disc makes this CD look like a coaster! For some very bizarre reason, no matter how many times I ran ScanDisc, Nero reported to me that this was a 100% failure.
However
, the Disc Quality test really shows a great burn. Only a few C1 errors, 0.04 average, and no C2 Errors.
This must be an issue with how Plextor's lack of formal quality checking hardware deals with CDs. As the results from the LiteOn drive show, it's a picture perfect disc!
Let's move onto the re-writeable media.
Page 9 : DVD+/-RW Benchmarks
Our DVD Re-writable benchmarks will consist of tests done on a DVD+RW and a DVD-RW. Both are rated for 4X and we were not fortunate enough to find a sample of the 8X DVD+RW's.
Both samples were produced my RiData. We'll begin with the +RW and finish with the -RW.
The media had absolutely no problems with working at 4X. It started and finished at the rated speed. I'd have no doubts that Plextor wouldn't be able to meet their rated 8X DVD+Rw.
Once again, scan disk reports a perfect DVD, but it's not so perfect with the LiteOn disc quality check.
LiteOn's Nero CD-DVD Speed Error Check gives us a pretty good recording.
The averages are slightly higher and consistently higher throughout the DVD. However, this is pretty normal with re-writeable media. I won't worry about these DVDs not being able to retain their data.
Jumping over to our DVD-RW sample, here are the specs:
We again have no problems writing at 4X. There are the odd dips in the burn speed, but nothing significant and nothing that would add a lot of time to the burn process.
The ScanDisc check with the PX-740A showed a perfect burn…
and our LiteOn drive confirms a pretty good write. The average PI Errors were slightly higher, but nothing out of the ordinary. The PI failures were particularly low, with just a single spike and a few more errors at the end.
Page 10 : CD-RW Benchmarks
While The PX-740A is rated for 32X CD-RW, 8X higher than the PX-716A, there aren't too many CD-RW's that support that speed. We're going to go back and take a look at the CD-RW performance with a 24X Verbatim CD-RW.
I've used this disc a few times and, as we can see from its performance, it works just like new. By the twelve minute mark, we meet the 24X maximum write speed. It continues to do a bit of spiking, going up and down until the end of the CD.
For some very bizarre reason, no matter how many times I ran ScanDisc, Nero reported to me that this was a 100% failure. This is exactly what happened with the CD-R media.
Yet things look picture perfect when we pop the disc into the LiteOn drive.
Again, this must be an issue with how Plextor's lack of formal quality checking hardware deals with CDs. As the results from the LiteOn drive show, it's a picture perfect disc!
Page 11 : DVD+R DL Benchmarks
This is the section most of you have come to see. The PX-740A sports an 8X DVD+R DL write speed but only a 4X DVD-R DL write speed. I searched high and low to find a decently priced DVD-R DL, but nothing was available. So in this section, we'll be forced to only look at the DVD+R DL performance. I selected A Verbatim 2X disc.
I was quite pleased to see the 8X support write speed, despite only claiming to be a 2X disc. This piece of media went straight into the drive and under the laser.
In just over 15 minutes, I had wrote 7.96GB of media! I would have to say that was quite impressive. Despite the burn being a bit bumpy with a lot of jitter, there's nothing negative to report.
The ScanDisc test came up positive.
Since we were writing on two different layers, I had expected the Error Check to be a bit bumpy. While the first layer was pretty clean, there was a huge spike in PI Failures at the midpoint and a slightly higher PI error output past that point. The PI failures were more frequent on the second layer but not to any degree of concern.
So apart from the disc ‘issue’ we had with the CD and CD-RW, it looks like the PX-740A passed all the tests.
Page 12 : Conclusion
So where exactly do we sit with the Plextor PX-740A? The drive certainly does amazingly well. The speed was a bit jittery but in the end the Plextor PX-740A got the job done by meeting its specifications and writing a perfect disc. While the Scan Disc did report the odd problem, it's nothing to be concerned about as our LiteOn Error Checks came back negative. Even with ‘only’ 2MB of buffer, Plextor is a brand you can associate with coaster free burning. You can be assured that they won't be cutting corners on the quality of writing.
The PX-740A comes in at 40 dollars cheaper than the PX-716A, and for the most part the two units are almost identical. Still though, many users will question: is 100 dollars for a DVD-Writer acceptable when you can find units for less than half that? For those who are brand loyal, this unit will actually come as a pleasant surprise, allowing you to stick with Plextor and keep an extra 40 dollars in your pocket!
Advantages
⢠Blazing fast with 8X DVD+R DL
⢠Achieves high speed write performance on media not issued for that speed
⢠More affordable than other Plextor models
Disadvantages
⢠Still more expensive than competitors
⢠Scan Disc reports incorrect results
⢠Hard to find media that supports all speeds
Overclockers Online would like to thank Plextor for making this review possible!
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