Available speed and recording tests
VSO Inspector from VSO Software was used for gathering my information about the available recording speeds the Plextor 16x DVD-R media on our review recording devices. This media information utility allows the user to easily see the rated speeds available for the Plextor 16x DVD-R media according to the hardware used during this review. It can also tell the user the full Media ID code for any given media. Once the maximum available recording speeds for each device had been discovered using VSO Inspector, Nero CD-DVD Speed from Ahead software was used to record a test DVD of maximum capacity to see if the review recording devices achieved their maximum recording speed.
The DVD's created here in this first test with CD Speed will be used later on during the Disc Quality, Transfer and Verification tests. Tests carried out included the recording of 5 pieces of media to each drive with some exceptions. The Plextor PX-760A Premium which had 5 pieces tested at its rated speed of 16x under the default setting of Auto Strategy set to Auto and Power Record on. As the Plextor PX-760A also boasts an impressive maximum recording speed of 18x with this media, 5 more pieces where tested at 18x again with Auto Strategy and Power Record enabled. Only results under default settings at the media's rated speed are shown in the main results tables as that is what I believe to be the best way to judge the quality of this media, but I will make a mention of the results of the 18x recording speed and post a link to the average results in blue under each table where applicable.
The 5 pcs of media per drive used in this review exclude 1 pc that was used beforehand to let the drive learn the media. The tests on the 5 pcs per drive began after this first 'learning burn'.
According to the information gained from VSO Inspector, all of the review recording devices where capable of offering 16x recording strategies with the Plextor 16x DVD-R media. I always hope to see a brand of media fully supported by all review recording devices and this was the case with the Plextor 16x DVD-R media.
All used review recording devices delivered 16x recording strategies for the Plextor 16x DVD-R media on a consistent basis under default settings although there was a marked difference in the total recording times dependant on the logic used in respective drives. The NEC, Pioneer and LG recording devices offered very consistent times disc after disc whereas both the Plextor and Philips recording devices took a few burns to get to an optimal recording speed. This inline with the fact that these drives under default settings use the most active types of logic to gain optimum results on a disc to disc basis.
Overview of recording times
These are the recordings that come closest to being the average recording times for each of the review drives used in this review.
| | Writer used: | Average recording time | | GSA-4166B [OEM] LG Electronics (firmware: 1.02) | 6:02 | | | ND-4570A [OEM] NEC (firmware: 1.02) | 6:03 | | | DVR 110 [OEM] Pioneer (firmware: 1.39) | 6:07 | | | PX-760A Premium Plextor (firmware: 1.01) | 6:20 | | | DVDR1660P1 [Retail] Philips (firmware: P1.4) | 6:33 | |
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At an overspeed of 18x, the Plextor PX-760A Premium under firmware revision 1.01 was able to record the Plextor 16x DVD-R media in an average recording time of 5 minutes and 44 seconds. This made it the fastest available recording time for this media ( result available Here ).
"Of course achieving the fastest recording speed does not always mean you achieve the best quality recording as I will be quick to point out to our readers. There is no point in having the fastest recording if the quality suffers! Hardware logic can sometimes slow media down in firmwares or limit the max speed for each particular piece of media recorded to achieve the best quality possible and prevent a bad recording."
Please read on to see what a more detailed examination discovered about the recorded media during the Disc Quality, Transfer and Playback tests.
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