Plextor PX-712A DVD±RW

May 23, 2004

Review: Plextor PX-712A (IDE)
Reviewer:
Dennis
Provided by: Plextor Europe
Firmware: version
1.01
Manufactured: April 2004
TLA:
#0001

The Plextor brand name is a well known name in the optical storage industry.
The company has been active in this industry for years and has built up a good
reputation with their CD-ROM and CD-RW drives. Since January of last year
Plextor has begun to produce DVD writers too. Their first drive was the Plextor PX-504A, a drive that supported the DVD+R/RW format
only.

About seven months later Plextor launched their second DVD recorder, the PX-708A, which supported both DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW. This
drive was and still is a big success, partially because it was the world's first
DVD recorder to support 8x DVD+R recording.

Last month Plextor launched their third DVD recorder, the Plextor PX-712A, at
which we're going to take a look at in this review. As the model number of the
drive suggests, it supports 12x DVD+R recording speeds, a world's first. Besides
this high recording speed for DVD+R the Plextor PX-712A supports other high
recording speeds such as 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD±RW, 48x CD-R (which is another world's
first for a DVD recorder) and 24x CD-RW. The drive can of course also be used to
read media with and it does so at up to 16x for DVD-ROM media and up to 48x for
CD-ROM media.

These specifications sound impressive, especially when you keep in mind that
the Plextor PX-712A is Plextor's second drive (besides the PlexWriter Premium) to support advanced technologies such as
SecuRec (create password protected CDs), GigaRec (record up to 1GB on a standard
700MB CD-R) and Q-Check (advanced error measurement tests). We'll of course get
back to these technologies later on in this review. But first, let's start with
some general information of our review system.

Test Machine:

For the tests we'll be using the following configuration:

Hardware:

System set-up:

The Plextor DVD recorder was hooked up as Master to the secondary
IDE-controller and identifies itself as "PLEXTOR DVDR PX-712A". DMA
(Direct Memory Access) and autorun were enabled for every
device.

Used Software:

The Dutch Windows XP Professional SP1 operating system is installed on our
test machine. We'll be using the following software to perform the various
tests:

On the next page of our review we'll take a
look at the drive's package, the drive itself and its specifications and
features.

As always we're going to start our review by checking out the contents of the retail package Plextor Europe send to us. Notice that we're taking a look at the European retail package here. The American retail package of the Plextor PX-712A may be different. In the box of the PX-712A DVD recorder we can find the following items:

Plextor PX-712A drive
Quick installation guide
Warranty RMA procedure manual
"Plextor Presents" leaflet with product information
IDE flatcable, 40 pins
Mounting screws, emergency eject pin, extra jumper cap
Application CD-ROM 1 containing;
- Nero 6
- InCD 4
- PowerDVD v5.0
- PlexTools Professional v2.12
- Manual
Application CD-ROM 2 containing;
- Pinnacle Studio 9SE

As we are used from Plextor they have put together an excellent package. The PX-712A drive is shipped with a great selection of software, which includes Ahead's Nero 6 software, Plextor's own PlexTools Professional software and Pinnacle's Studio software. In the Plextor PX-712A retail box we of course also find everything we need to install the drive into a computer. One thing that we would have liked to see in the package as well is some 12x DVD+R media. I hear some of you thinking, "12x media is not available yet anyway". True, but the Plextor PX-712A can write certain 8x media at 12x and it will come as no surprise that the PX-712A can write Plextor's own 8x DVD+R media at 12x.

On the application CD-ROM we can also find the manual of the drive, available in 16 different languages. As always, the manuals are very clear and easy to understand. A final thing we should mention about the Plextor PX-712A is that for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa Plextor offers a two year warranty period on the drive with on-site collect & return service.

The Drive:

The Plextor PX-712A has the same look and feel as Plextor's previous DVD recorders, the PX-504A and the PX-708A. The main difference between the drives is that the headphone jack and volume control button have disappeared from the PX-712A. Personally I don't mind this at all since in all the years I have been using optical drives, I never used either the headphone jack or the volume control buttons. The PX-712A drive does have the same white colour as the PX-504A and PX-708A drives and it also has the same black plastic strip on its tray:

On the front of the Plextor PX-712A drive we can find the Plextor logo (in full colour), the model number (PX-712A), a 'DVD+ReWriteable' logo, a 'DVD-R/RW' logo and an 'Ultra-Speed ReWriteable' logo. Besides that we have the usual busy/write LED, emergency eject hole and an eject button.

One the back of the drive, from right to left, we find the power connector, the 40-pin IDE connector, the Master/Slave/CableSelect jumpers, a 4-pin analog audio connector and a 2-pin SPDIF (Digital Audio Out) connector. On the back of the drive we can also find a fourth jumper setting with which you can set the drive to DMA mode 2 (MultiWord) instead of UDMA33 it normally uses. We of course left this jumper alone since UDMA33 is by far the best interface.

When we look at the label on the drive we can see that we have a Plextor PX-712A drive that was manufactured in Japan in April of this year. We're reviewing the first revision of this drive with firmware 1.01 installed (which can be seen from the TLA number #0001 of which the first two digits indicate the hardware revision and the second two digits the installed firmware version).

Software:

Plextor's PlexTools Professional software is a well known program and is delivered with European Plextor drives (in America the PlexTools software is shipped with the Plextor Premium and the PX-712A drives only). With the PlexTools Professional software you can control every feature of your Plextor drive and the software also has some advanced error measurement options that can only be used with the Plextor Premium and PX-712A drives. With the PlexTools Professional software you can also extract audio discs and create CD and DVD compilations.

As we're used from European Plextor drives they're shipped with a copy of Ahead's CD/DVD mastering software, Nero Burning Rom. The Plextor PX-712A drive is, to our knowledge, the first Plextor drive that is shipped with Ahead's Nero 6 software. With the Nero 6 software you of course get the Nero Burning Rom software but also other tools like Nero BackItUp, Nero CoverDesigner, Nero ImageDrive and more. For more information on Nero 6 you can read our Nero 6 preview. Ahead's packet writing software InCD 4 is also located on the Plextor Application CD-ROM. With InCD you can format a CD-RW or DVD±RW disc and use it as a large floppy disc. InCD also supports the 'Mount Rainier' (CD-MRW) format.

To play your DVD movies on the PX-712A drive, Plextor has included a copy of Cyberlink's PowerDVD software. PowerDVD is a completely solution for viewing DVD movies on your computer. More information can be found at the CyberLink website.

Last but not least Plextor has included Pinnacle's Studio 9 software. The Studio software is a video-editing software for your computer. Simply capture your video footage and then use the professional editing features like scene transitions, title effects, and fast/slow motion to create compelling movies. After you've edited your video, you can output to tape or burn your movies to a CD or DVD that will play on most living room DVD players. For more information on Pinnacle's Studio 9 software you can visit their website.

Drive Specifications:

Let's begin with a listing of the drive's specifications as listed on the Plextor website:

Write Speeds:

DVD+R
12x PCAV
6x~8x PCAV
6x CLV
4x CLV
2.4x CLV

DVD-R
6x~8x PCAV
6x CLV
4x CLV
2.4x CLV

CD-R
48x PCAV
32x PCAV
16x CLV
8x CLV
4x CLV

Re-Write Speeds:

DVD+RW
4x CLV
2.4x CLV

DVD-RW
4x CLV
2x CLV
1x CLV

CD-RW
24x PCAV
10x CLV
4x CLV

Read Speeds (max):

DVD
6-16x CAV

CD
20-48x CAV

Buffer Size:

8MB

Interface:

Atapi/E-IDE

Read Speeds (max):

DVD
<150ms

CD
<100ms

Supported Formats:

CD (read/write):
CD-DA, CD-Extra, CD-ROM Mode-1, CD-ROM Mode-2, CD-ROM XA, Photo-CD, Video-CD, Multisession, CD TEXT, CD-I, CD+G, Mixed CD

CD-R/RW (write):
Track at Once, Disc at Once, Packet Write (variable and fixed), Multisession, Session at Once, CD-MRW (Mt. Rainier)

DVD (read/write):
DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, Multiborder, Multisession, DVD+VR, DVD-VR

DVD+R/RW (write):
DVD+R:
Disc at Once, Multisession, Incremental Recording, DVD+RW: Sequential Write, Random Access Write

DVD-R/RW (write):
DVD-R: Disc at Once, Multiborder recording, Incremental recording, DVD-RW: Disc at Once, Multiborder recording, Incremental recording, Restricted Overwriting, DRT-DM

Recording Modes:
(detected with Nero InfoTool)

Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO, RAW DAO, RAW SAO 16, RAW SAO 96, RAW DAO 16, RAW DAO 96

System Requirements:

Pentium III 700Mhz or higher, 128MB Memory, 1GB of free disk space, Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP

Disc Loading:

Tray, Auto load/auto eject

Dimensions WxHxD:

146 x 41,3 x 190 mm

Weight:

1.0 kg

Extra's:

Buffer Underrun Proof Technology, GigaRec Technology, SecuRec Technology, Silent Mode, Q-Check, VariRec Technology, PoweRec Technology, Supports Lossless Linking (DVD+R/RW), Zero Link (DVD-R/RW), Supports Background Formatting, Black Tray (to reduce the jitter and to increase the quality of the burned CD), two year* full-warranty (parts, labor and replacement) with On-Site Collect & Return service**.

*only valid in Europe, Middle-East and Africa
**(EU-Countries +
Norway and Switzerland)

From the table above we can see that the Plextor PX-712A drive supports a lot of technologies, to which we'll get back to later in this review. The drive comes with an 8MB buffer which is a welcome change after seeing many DVD recorders with only a 2MB buffer. Here's a screenshot of the PX-712A's specifications as detected with Nero InfoTool:

Nero InfoTool reports us that the Plextor PX-712A drive can read and write all kinds of media, except for DVD-RAM and dual layer media (DVD+R DL). The drive has a 8MB buffer and firmware 1.01 is installed. From the screenshot we can also see that the drive is a RPC II (Regional Playback Control) DVD reader. This means that the drive has been set to play region 2 DVDs (Europe) and has four region changes left. After the last change the drive will be locked to the last used region. This was done by motion picture studios to control the release of movie titles in each world region. This lock can then be reset four times by the manufacturer of the drive.

In the PlexTools Professional screenshot above we can see a confirmation on some of the information we got from Nero InfoTool. Besides that PlexTools also reports us the drive's access times (<100ms for CD and <150ms for DVD). Now, let's take a closer look at some of the features that the drive supports.

Drive Features:

Buffer Underrun Protection:

Nero reports us that, as with almost all Plextor drives, the PX-712A drive supports the BURN-Proof (Buffer UnderRuN-Proof) technique. When the, in this case 8MB, buffer of the recorder falls beneath a certain level, it will stop recording as of a specific location on the CD. The recorder then continues attempting to receive data from the PC to refill the buffer. As soon as the buffer has been refilled, the recorder will start recording again.

Mount Rainier:

As we already saw in previous screenshots and in the Nero screenshot above the Plextor PX-712A drive supports the Mount Rainier format. Mount Rainier enables native operating system support of data storage on CD-ReWriteable and DVD+ReWriteable discs. This makes the technology far easier to use and allows the replacement of the floppy. Key features include:

Defect management by the drive itself
Logical write-addressing at 2k
Background formatting
Command set implementation
Compatibility and standards-compliance

For more information you can visit www.mt-rainier.org.

PoweRec:

As with all new Plextor drives, the PX-712A supports the PoweRec technology to ensure a quality back-up. PoweRec (Plextor Optimised Writing Error Reduction Control) monitors the quality of the disc while burning and will adjust the speed if necessary. Via the Nero Burning Rom or PlexTools Professional software, PoweRec can be disabled to force the drive to write media at a selected speed instead of the speed the recorder would normally use when its quality checks (PoweRec) are enabled. A small benefit of this option is that when you disable PoweRec you can see at which speed your media would normally be written.

VariRec:

The VariRec technology allows you to change the drive's laser power when writing an audio disc. With VariRec enabled you should be able to improve the quality of the recorded disc and make the recorded disc more compatible with picky CD-players like a car stereo. Since the Plextor Premium drive the VariRec function has been improved since it now allows 8x writing (previously limited to 4x) and allows you to select the dye type of your CD-R disc in order to select the best write strategy. VariRec can also be used to burn DVD media with. You can modify the laser power of the PX-712A in order to achieve higher compatibility and playability. When recording DVDs with VariRec the write speed will be limited to 4x.

GigaRec:

GigaRec was introduced with the Plextor Premium recorder and it's an interesting new technique. GigaRec allows you to decrease or increase the capacity of a normal 80 minute (700MB) CD-R disc up to 113 minutes (or almost 1GB of data). By compressing the pits and lands that are written on the disc, it is possible to increase the capacity of the disc by 40%. At the rate of 1.4x, failure free playback can be achieved on most modern equipment:

The maximum capacity of a disc is dependant on the type of disc and the GigaRec rate. When activated the recording speed will be limited to 4x and 8x in DAO (Disc At Once) mode on CD-R media without BURN-Proof.

SecuRec:

The SecuRec technique is another technique that was first introduced with the Plextor Premium recorder. This technique allows you to password protect a CD-R disc when recording in DAO mode. When SecuRec is activated, the data on the written disc can only be retrieved by supplying the password you entered when the disc was written. When you or someone else wants to access the recorded disc from a different drive or computer you can use the PlexTools software or the free SecuViewer software, and of course the original password.

Silent Mode:

The Silent Mode option in the PlexTools software allows you to change various settings of your PX-712A drive in order to get a noise-free or silent operation:

Q-Check:

The PlexTools Professional software also allows us to do some more advanced tests using the PX-712A drive. We are already familiar with the C1/C2 Tests, the FE/TE Tests and the Beta/Jitter Tests, but with the Plextor PX-712A you can now also measure the quality of your recorded DVDs! We'll of course take a look at error measurement (write quality) later on in this review.

Write Methods:

Let's take a look at the PX-712A's write performance when using the PlexTools software. Normally we use Nero CD-DVD Speed here but PlexTools can simulate DVD recording (Plextor exclusive?) while Nero CD-DVD Speed requires the DVDR disc to be actually written. This is quite welcome as it saves us some DVDR discs 😉

DVD+R:

The first test we did was of course the DVD+R test. As you can see from the produced graph the PX-712A starts the recording process at 6x and then gradually increases the write speed to 12x. The average recording speed of the PX-712A was 10.46x. When looking at the produced graph you can see three spikes in the recording speed. This is where the laser of the drive is re-calibrated.

DVD-R:

When writing DVD-R media at 8x the Plextor PX-712A also started the write process at 6x and gradually increases it to 8x. The average recording speed was 7.97x. In the produced graph you can again see a re-calibration spike.

DVD±RW:

There isn't much to tell about the Plextor PX-712A's DVD+RW and DVD-RW recording performance. The drive uses the CLV write method which means that the recording speed is the same throughout the entire recording process.

CD-R:

The Plextor PX-712A is the world's first DVD recorder to support 48x CD-R recording speeds. The drive started the write process at 21.04x and had an average write speed of 36.30x (compared to 33.36x for the Plextor PX-708A drive).

CD-RW:

The last thing we've taken a look at is the PX-712A's CD-RW performance. As expected the drive again showed some impressive speeds. The average recording speeds according to the PlexTools software was 23.96x.

On the next page we'll take a look at the Plextor PX-712A's read performance with all types of media.

We're, as always, going to start our review with the read tests using various
media. As we already mentioned the Plextor PX-712A supports some impressive read
speeds of 16x for DVD-ROM media and 48x for CD-ROM media. On this page we're of
course going to check if this is indeed the case. But, before we're going to
start the tests, let's take a look at some screenshots from PlexTools confirming
the read speeds that the PX-712A drive supports:

From both screenshots we can summarize that the Plextor PX-712A drive can
read CD-ROM media at 48x but by default it's limited to 40x to keep the noise of
the drive down. Via the PlexTools software the SpeedRead option can be activated
to enable full speed reading. When it comes to DVD media the drive is by default
also limited to 2x for DVD-Video discs, which is the same thing as we saw with
the PX-708A drive. The Plextor PX-712A drive can be unlocked though to enable
full speed reading (16x for single layer DVD media, 12x for dual layer DVD
media) of DVD-Video discs, which is very helpful when you want to rip a
DVD-Video disc to your hard disk. Last but not least PlexTools reports us that
the drive can read recordable and rewriteable DVD media at a maximum speed of
12x CAV.

DVD-Video Ripping:

We mentioned that the Plextor PX-712A drive is by default limited to 2x
reading for DVD-Video discs. Luckily the drive can be unlocked to enable full
speed reading. You can unlock the drive by making sure the drive is empty and
closed. Then press and hold the drive's eject button for about three second
until the drive's LED flashes green three times. Release the eject button so
that the drive's tray will open. Now insert a DVD-Video disc and voila the drive
reads faster. When you eject the disc or when you cut the drive's power, the
drive will be reset to 2x reading again.

To make things easier for us the Plextor PX-712A drive can also be unlocked
via the PlexTools software. When you enable the SpeedRead DVD option the drive
will read DVD-Video discs at maximum speed. We suggest to Plextor though that
they change the name of this option since by default the option is called
SpeedRead CD, which doesn't sound like it has anything to do with the drive's
DVD read speeds. The name of the option changes to SpeedRead DVD when you insert
a DVD disc into the drive and we can imagine that many people will not notice
this. Anyway, here's a screenshot of a DVD ripping session of a dual layer
DVD-Video disc, using DVD Decrypter:

DVD-Video:

For our DVD reading tests we're going to start with a DVD-Video read test of
a single-layered and double-layered DVD disc. Keep in mind that a low read speed
has no effect on the drive's performance when playing a DVD. The drive's read
speed is only important when you, for example, want to rip a DVD disc to your
hard disk. Note that we enabled the SpeedRead DVD option via the PlexTools
software.

From both graphs you can see that the Plextor PX-712A showed a very good
performance here although it did slow down at the end of reading each DVD. The
slow downs at the end of the read session did not have a great impact on the
drive's overall performance though. Compared to other drives we've reviewed, the
Plextor PX-712A is by far the fastest DVD reader. When looking at the seek times
we can see that they are well within the Plextor's specifications (>150ms
random stroke).

DVD Video	Average Read Speed (SL)	Start Read Speed (SL)	End Read Speed (SL)	Average Read Speed (DL)	Start Read Speed (DL)	End Read Speed (DL)
Plextor PX-504A	3.73x	2.07x	4.98x	3.43x	1.91x	1.96x
Plextor PX-708A	9.01x	5.00x	12.04x	6.03x	3.37x	8.03x
Plextor PX-712A	11.85x	6.64x	15.76x	8.97x	5.03x	11.98x
Ridata RDA-08041	3.10x	1.72x	4.14x	2.84x	1.58x	3.78x
Sanyo CRD-BPDV2	8.77x	4.15x	11.70x	4.28x	3.45x	3.88x

DVD+R(W):

To test the Plextor's read performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media we simply
copied 4.4GB to an empty DVD+R and DVD+RW disc. Below you can see the
results:

When it came to reading DVD+R(W) media the Plextor PX-712A drive showed an
excellent performance. The drive had no problems reaching 12x with both the
DVD+R and DVD+RW media. In the table below we've compared the achieved results
again, and as you can see, it was by far the fastest drive:

DVD +R(W)	Average Read Speed (+R)	Start Read Speed (+R)	End Read Speed (+R)	Average Read Speed (+RW)	Start Read Speed (+RW)	End Read Speed (+RW)
Plextor PX-504A	3.77x	2.08x	5.04x	3.37x	1.88x	1.72x
Plextor PX-708A	6.05x	3.33x	8.10x	6.07x	3.34x	8.11x
Plextor PX-712A	9.02x	4.96x	12.06x	9.07x	5.00x	12.13x
Ridata RDA-08041	6.24x	3.43x	8.36x	6.24x	3.43x	8.36x
Sanyo CRD-BPDV2	4.01x	2.64x	4.02x	4.02x	2.65x	5.77x

DVD-R(W):

To test the Plextor's read performance with DVD-R and DVD-RW media we again
copied roughly 4.4GB to an empty DVD-R and DVD-RW disc. Below you can see the
results again:

And once again an excellent result! The Plextor PX-712A drive had no problems
reading both the DVD-R and DVD-RW media at 12x. And, just as we saw with the
previous read tests, the seek times of the drive are well within the
specifications. Below we've compared our results again where we can see that the
Plextor PX-712A is again by far the fastest drive.

DVD -R(W)	Average Read Speed (-R)	Start Read Speed (-R)	End Read Speed (-R)	Average Read Speed (-RW)	Start Read Speed (-RW)	End Read Speed (-RW)
Plextor PX-504A	3.76x	1.89x	5.04x	-	-	-
Plextor PX-708A	6.00x	3.37x	8.04x	6.06x	3.34x	8.11x
Plextor PX-708A	9.05x	5.00x	12.10x	9.06x	5.00x	12.11x
Ridata RDA-08041	6.23x	3.42x	8.34x	4.64x	2.57x	6.22x
Sanyo CRD-BPDV2	4.02x	3.06x	4.02x	4.02x	3.20x	4.02x

CD-ROM:

For the transfer rate tests we used a pressed CD-ROM that was shipped with
the PX-712A drive (Application CD-ROM 1).The disc was just over 80 minutes long.
Below you can see the produced Nero CD-DVD Speed graph:

The graph shows us that the Plextor PX-712A had no problems reaching its
rated read speed of 48x. Its seek times were a little higher than specified
though (>100ms random stroke). When we compare the achieved results to other
drives we've reviewed we can see that the Plextor PX-712A has the highest
average read speed:

Pressed Discs	Average Read Speed	Start Read Speed	End Read Speed	Seek Times Random	Seek Times 1/3	Seek Times Full
Plextor PX-504A	31.77x	17.93.x	42.22x	112ms	113ms	175ms
Plextor PX-708A	32.28x	18.48x	43.12x	95ms	104ms	176ms
Plextor PX-712A	36.70x	20.91x	48.76x	112ms	118ms	201ms

CD-R:

For the transfer rate tests with CD-Recordable Media we used a back-up (CD-R)
of a PlexTools software disc. The used disc was a 'That's Write' CD-R certified
up to 16x writing and manufactured by Gigastorage. Here are the results:

The CD-R disc that we used for this test was slightly smaller in size than
the CD-ROM we used in our previous read test. As you can see from the produced
graph the Plextor PX-712A didn't reach its maximum read speed with this disc but
it was still able to beat all of the previous drives we've reviewed:

CD-R Discs	Average Read Speed	Start Read Speed	End Read Speed	Seek Times Random	Seek Times 1/3	Seek Times Full
Plextor PX-504A	30.67x	18.35x	40.31x	116ms	119ms	174ms
Plextor PX-708A	31.48x	18.83x	41.37x	95ms	111ms	164ms
Plextor PX-712A	35.61x	20.76x	46.98x	100ms	112ms	164ms
Ridata RDA-08041	32.32x	18.50x	42.94x	101ms	112ms	158ms
Sanyo CRD-BPDV2	30.31x	16.20x	39.92x	114ms	115ms	204ms

CD-RW:

To test the transfer rate with CD-RW discs we once again used a "PlexTools
v1.05" disc only this time we read from a CD-ReWriteable disc. The used disc was
a 'Plextor High Speed CD-RW' disc. Below you can see the produced graphs with
Nero CD-DVD Speed again:

In the PlexTools screenshot we posted at the beginning of this page we could
already see that the Plextor PX-712A has a limited read speed for CD-RW media.
From the produced graph we can see that the drive can read CD-RW media at a
maximum speed of 40x (41.62x to be exact) which is not bad at all for a DVD
recorder:

CD-RW Discs	Average Read Speed	Start Read Speed	End Read Speed	Seek Times Random	Seek Times 1/3	Seek Times Full
Plextor PX-504A	26.08x	15.34x	34.45x	113ms	124ms	178ms
Plextor PX-708A	31.46x	18.47x	41.55x	109ms	116ms	183ms
Plextor PX-712A	31.39x	17.85x	41.62x	99ms	105ms	172ms
Ridata RDA-08041	20.47x	11.56x	27.23x	103ms	112ms	169ms
Sanyo CRD-BPDV2	30.59x	16.97x	40.44x	84ms	103ms	175ms

Audio - Digital Audio Extraction:

To test the Plextor's digital audio extraction performance we again used Nero
CD-DVD Speed to do a transfer rate test. In the graph below you can see the
performance of the DVD-recorder:

The Plextor PX-712A disappointed us here since it was limited to a maximum
read speed of around 34x when reading our audio disc. This is strange since
PlexTools reported us that the drive could read audio discs at 40x. We tried two
different discs, both produced the same result. We also tried reading audio from
a CD-Recordable disc but then the read speed even dropped to 24x maximum.

Audio Discs	Average Read Speed	Start Read Speed	End Read Speed	Seek Times Random	Seek Times 1/3	Seek Times Full
Plextor PX-504A	25.87x	15.35x	34.09x	110ms	119ms	177ms
Plextor PX-708A	31.84x	18.90x	41.98x	97ms	117ms	181ms
Plextor PX-712A	25.67x	14.66x	33.97x	96ms	113ms	171ms
Ridata RDA-08041	32.94x	18.62x	43.61x	100ms	112ms	166ms
Sanyo CRD-BPDV2	30.72x	18.24x	40.21x	84ms	103ms	208ms

As a final test we used the PlexTools Professional software to extract the
audio disc to our hard disk. As you can see from the screenshot below, the
complete disc was extracted in 3 minutes and 14 seconds with a maximum speed of
32.8x.

We contacted Plextor about this issue and they told us that they are aware of
it. The firmware of the PX-712A drive has been constructed so that it will
always look for a way to get the highest quality during reading or writing a
disc. When the drive thinks that the inserted disc is not optimal, it will
reduce the speed.

Audio - Advanced DAE Quality Test:

As always, to conclude our CD media read tests we did an 'Advanced DAE
Quality Test' with Nero CD-DVD Speed. We already mentioned that in our previous
DAE test the Plextor PX-712A limited its read speed to 24x when reading audio
from a CD-Recordable disc and as expected, we saw the same thing in the advanced
tests:

Although the Plextor PX-712A achieved a perfect quality score of 100% and was
able to read everything from the audio disc, it only reached an average read
speed of 17.87x.

So far for the reading part. Now let's see how the drive
performs when writing recordable DVDs and CDs...

The most important thing about a DVD recorder is of course its DVD recording
performance. As we already mentioned the Plextor drive is the world's first
drive to support 12x DVD+R recording. Besides that is supports 8x DVD-R, 4x
DVD+RW and 4x DVD-RW recording speeds. The DVD recorder can of course also be
used to record CD-R and CD-RW media with and can do so at 48x for CD-R, another
world's first for a DVD recorder, and at 24x for CD-RW media.

As we saw with the Plextor PX-708A recorder, the Plextor PX-712A can write
certain DVD media at higher speeds than certified for. This means that the drive
can record some 4x DVD-R and DVD+R media at 8x while some 8x DVD+R media can be
written at 12x. You can find a complete list of supported media and the
supported write speeds over at the Plextor website.

Before starting our tests we should mention a new option that can be found in
the PlexTools software. With PlexTools you can now check at which speed the
inserted media can be recorded. This information is not based on the software
but comes from the drive itself. This way you can check what the certified write
speed of a disc is and at which speed the drive will actually record it. Here's
a screenshot from PlexTools Professional which shows that the inserted DVD+R
disc is manufactured by Taiyo Yuden, is certified for 8x and can be written at
12x by the PX-712A drive:

Another option in the PlexTools Professional software is that you can right
click on your Plextor drive and check its status. It will show you which options
are enabled and will give you details about the current write and read speed
settings of the drive:

Writing DVDR:

To test the Plextor PX-712A's performance when writing DVD media we set up a
new DVD-Video compilation of roughly 4400MB in Nero Burning ROM 6 and started
the recording process. For the 12x DVD+R recording test we used a Plextor 8x
DVD+R disc, which works at 12x in the PX-712A drive (this information is also
mentioned on the jewel cases of the Plextor 8x DVD+R media). The ADIP
information from the disc we used can be viewed here.

The screenshot shows us that the complete compilation was written in 6
minutes and 21 seconds, almost 2 minutes faster than when
recording at 8x. Let's continue with a screenshot of another burn session, only
this time we're using 8x DVD-R media. The DVD-R disc was also manufactured by
Taiyo Yuden, the ADIP information of this disc can be viewed here.

As you can see the complete disc was written in exactly 8 minutes.
We'll take a look at the write quality of the written discs on the next page of
this review.

Writing CD-R:

For our CD-R data writing tests we simply set up a new compilation of 700MB
using the Nero Burning Rom software. We used the DAO (Disc At
Once) writing method. The disc was finalized and set-up as a
non-multisession disc. In the screenshot below you can see the burn process
completed successfully:

As you can see from the screenshot, the burn process was completed in
2 minutes and 45 seconds. This is the fastest recording time we've
seen on a DVD burner, although the difference with for instance the Plextor
PX-708A drive, which supports 40x CD-R recording, is not that big (13 seconds).
As usual we also tested if the PX-712A drive could write audio discs at maximum
speed and if it could read and write CD-Text. As expected, this was no
problem.

VariRec:

As we mentioned on page two of our review, the Plextor PX-712A drive supports
the VariRec technology. All the new Plextor drives support this technology.
Simply said VariRec gives you control over the drive's laser power settings and
can help you to make more compatible audio discs. We of course tested the
PX-712A's VariRec setting and, as usual, we cannot tell the difference between a
VariRec recorded disc and an audio disc recorded at full speed. This doesn't
mean that the technology isn't useful since people who own a picky audio player
or who are into audio quality will definitely like VariRec.

The VariRec technology also works with DVD media. This means that you can
control the drive's laser power to create a disc with higher
compatibility/playability. When recording DVD media with VariRec enabled the
write speed will be limited to 4x.

GigaRec:

The GigaRec technology was first introduced with the Plextor Premium drive.
GigaRec allows you to change the capacity of a CD-R disc by increasing or
decreasing the lengths of the recorded pits and lands on the disc. This means
you can either record less or more data onto a standard CD-R disc. If you
increase the length of the pits and lands you can burn less data to a disc. This
can help you to make a more compatible disc, especially when dealing with audio.
By decreasing the length of the pits and lands you can of course add more data
to a CD-R disc, up to 998MB for standard 700MB disc. To test the Plextor
PX-712A's GigaRec performance we used a standard 80 minute Memorex CD-R disc and
recorded 103 minutes of audio to it. In the PlexTools screenshot below you can
see that the process was completed successfully:

To test if the disc was recorded without any errors we used the PlexTools
software to do a C1/C2 error scan. In the screenshot below you can see that the
disc was perfectly readable (the average C1 count was 15.2 per second which is
of course higher than normal but not too high to cause any read errors):

SecuRec:

The last thing we're going to take a look at it the SecuRec technology. This
technology was also first introduced with the Plextor Premium drive and allows
you to password protect a CD-R disc. You can use the PlexTools software to
activate SecuRec and when you set-up a CD-R recording session you can see that
it has been enabled.

Once the disc has been written you can retrieve its contents via the
PlexTools software or the free SecuViewer software which can be downloaded from
the Plextor website. If you want to retrieve the contents of the disc via
Windows Explorer for example you simply won't see anything. If you enter the
correct password into the PlexTools software you can see the disc's contents
again.

Now that we've finished the write tests, let's check the write
quality...

One of the most important things about a DVD recorder (and a CD-RW recorder too) is probably the write quality. A recorder is completely useless when it cannot reliably record data to a disc. On this page of our Plextor PX-712A review we're going to check how well the drive can write both DVD and CD media. For our DVD error measurement tests we used the PX-712A drive in combination with the PlexTools Professional software. For our CD error measurement tests we used a Plextor Premium drive. You can also use the DVD recorder for the CD error measurement tests but we preferred to use the Premium drive to save some time.

All the discs we tested were created with the Nero CD-DVD Speed software. In the tests below you can see a screenshot of the recording process using this software and below that you can see a screenshot of the error measurement test using the PlexTools software. PlexTools offers three test options for DVD error measurement. Here's the explanation from PlexTools itself:

As you can see PlexTools Professional offers us three different tests, SUM8, SUM1 and a basic test. The SUM8 test is very interesting because it shows us the PI errors before error correction while SUM1 will show us the uncorrectable errors (after correction). This way you will get a very reliable result. The Plextor PX-712A drive will test the DVD discs at 2x CLV.

How to look at the errors:

It's hard to give you an easy explanation on how to look at the produced errors. Tor Magne has tried to explain it in his reviews and in this thread on Club CD Freaks but it's still very hard to understand. What you basically need to keep in mind is the following:

PIE (Parity Inner Errors ): No larger areas on the disc should exceed 280 PI-8 errors.
PIF (Parity Inner Fail): No larger areas on
the disc should exceed 4 PO-1 (actually PI uncorrectable) errors.
POF (Parity Outer Fail): Should be 0 since they indicate
uncorrectable errors.

The lower the amount of errors, the better of course.

DVD+R Write Quality:

Note: The Nero CD-DVD Speed screenshots were all took while the test were being performed. We had to do this because Nero CD-DVD Speed would shut down after each test which made it impossible for us to take a screenshot of the finished test...

Plextor 8x:

The first disc we tested was a Plextor 8x DVD+R disc which works at 12x in the PX-712A drive. Here's the ADIP information from the disc:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc  Identifier : [DVD+R:  YUDEN000-T02-000]
----------------------------------------------------------------
Disc  Type : [DVD+R]
Manufacturer ID : [YUDEN000]
Media Type ID :  [T02]
Product Revision : [Not Specified]
Disc Application Code : [General  Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [2.4x - 4x - 8x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors =     4,482.6 MB =    4.38  GB]
----------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD  Identifier -  http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
----------------------------------------------------------------

PI/PO Test (SUM8) - PIE: 0.30 avg. | 20 max. | 43199 total - POF: 0 total

PI/PO Test (SUM1) - PIF: 0.00 avg. | 4 max. | 670 total - POF: 0 total

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 55986 total - POF: 0 total

For our first DVD error measurement test we have used all three modes PlexTools has to offer us. In the first screenshot you can see the errors on the DVD disc before any error correction by the drive. As you can see, the amount of errors is very low throughout the entire disc. In the next screenshot (SUM1) you can see the same disc only this time after error correction by the drive. The amount of errors is again low making this disc perfectly readable. The last screenshot shows us a basic test. This gives us about the same information as the other two tests. This 8x Plextor DVD+R disc was perfectly written at 12x!

Plextor 4x:

The next disc we tested was another Plextor DVD+R disc only this time a 4x disc which worked at 8x in the PX-712A drive. Here's the ADIP information from the Plextor 4x DVD+R disc:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc  Identifier : [DVD+R:  YUDEN000-T01-001]
----------------------------------------------------------------
Disc  Type : [DVD+R]
Manufacturer ID : [YUDEN000]
Media Type ID :  [T01]
Product Revision : [001]
Disc Application Code : [General  Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [2.4x - 4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors =              4,482.6 MB = 4.38  GB]
----------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD  Identifier -  http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
----------------------------------------------------------------

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 50169 total - POF: 0 total

The 4x Plextor DVD+R disc was perfectly written at 8x. We can see this from the low amount of errors on the disc and the POF count of 0. This time we have only included a basic error measurement test since it gives us about the same information as the other two tests and besides that, a single test takes around 30 minutes to complete, so three tests take 1Â½ hours to complete.

Ritek 4x:

After looking at Plextor's own brand of DVD+R media it's time to check out some other brands. The next disc we tested was a Ritek 4x DVD+R disc which the PX-712A drive wrote at 8x. Here's the ADIP information from the Ritek 4x DVD+R disc:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc  Identifier : [DVD+R:  RITEK-R02-001]
----------------------------------------------------------------
Disc  Type : [DVD+R]
Manufacturer ID : [RITEK]
Media Type ID : [R02]
Product  Revision : [001]
Disc Application Code : [General Purpose]
Recording  Speeds : [2.4x - 4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors =             4,482.6 MB =  4.38  GB]
----------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD  Identifier -  http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
----------------------------------------------------------------

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 14163998 total - POF: 8 total

As you can see the Ritek disc had a lot more errors than we saw on both the Plextor discs. The amount of errors is still within the limits of what can be corrected and the PX-712A could completely read the disc, although at a limited speed:

Samsung 4x:

The next disc we tested was a Samsung 4x DVD+R disc manufactured by BeAll. The Plextor PX-712A wrote the disc a 8x but lowered the write speed to 6x and 4x at the end of the write process. Here's the ADIP information from the disc:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc  Identifier : [DVD+R:  BeAll000-P40-000]
----------------------------------------------------------------
Disc  Type : [DVD+R]
Manufacturer ID : [BeAll000]
Media Type ID :  [P40]
Product Revision : [Not Specified]
Disc Application Code : [General  Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [2.4x - 4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors =    4,482.6  MB =    4.38  GB]
----------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD  Identifier -  http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
----------------------------------------------------------------

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 63325 total - POF: 0 total

The Samsung/BeAll 4x DVD+R media was written a lot better than the previous Ritek media. The error count on the disc was very low and there were no PO errors. An excellent result this time.

Memorex 4x:

The final DVD+R disc we tested was a Memorex 4x disc which the Plextor PX-712A again wrote at 8x. The ADIP information of the disc we used:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc  Identifier : [DVD+R:  RICOHJPN-R01-002]
----------------------------------------------------------------
Disc  Type : [DVD+R]
Manufacturer ID : [RICOHJPN]
Media Type ID :  [R01]
Product Revision : [002]
Disc Application Code : [General  Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [2.4x - 4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors =              4,482.6 MB = 4.38  GB]
----------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD  Identifier -  http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
----------------------------------------------------------------

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 15826 total - POF: 0 total

The Memorex/Ricoh DVD+R disc was perfectly written at 8x as the error count on the disc was even lower than we saw on the Plextor 4x DVD+R disc. Let's continue with DVD-R media.

DVD-R Write Quality:

That's 8x:

The first DVD-R disc we're going to check is a That's 8x DVD-R disc manufactured by Taiyo Yuden. Here's the ADIP information from the disc:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc  Identifier : [DVD-R:  TYG02]
----------------------------------------------------------------
Disc  Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [TYG02]
Disc Application Code :  [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - 2x -  4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors =    4,489.3 MB =    4.38  GB]
----------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD  Identifier -  http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
----------------------------------------------------------------

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 31928 total - POF: 0 total

As expected, the That's DVD-R disc was perfectly written at 8x.

MMORE 4x:

The next DVD-R disc we tested was an MMORE disc, certified for 4x recording, at which the Plextor PX-712A also write the disc. Here's the ADIP information from the disc we used:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc  Identifier : [DVD-R: MBI  01RG20]
----------------------------------------------------------------
Disc  Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [MBI 01RG20]
Disc Application Code :  [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - 2x -  4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors =    4,489.3 MB =    4.38  GB]
----------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD  Identifier -  http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
----------------------------------------------------------------

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 40990 total - POF: 0 total

As you can see from the produced graph the MMORE disc was perfectly written. The amount of errors is very low throughout the disc and there are no PO errors.

Memorex 4x:

The last DVD we're going to use for our DVD write quality tests is a Memorex DVD-R disc. The disc was certified for 4x recording and the Plextor drive also write the disc at this speed. Here's the ADIP information:

----------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc  Identifier : [DVD-R: MBI  01RG20]
----------------------------------------------------------------
Disc  Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [MBI 01RG20]
Disc Application Code :  [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - 2x -  4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors =    4,489.3 MB =    4.38  GB]
----------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD  Identifier -  http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
----------------------------------------------------------------

PI/PO Test (Basic) - PIE: 22521 total - POF: 0 total

And once again we have a perfect result. Overall we can say that the Plextor PX-712A drive performed very well during our DVD write quality tests. It wrote almost all discs at perfect quality. We saw the highest error rate with the Ritek discs but the amount of errors was still within the standards. The Plextor PX-712A was also able to record all of the 4x DVD+R discs we tested at 8x. Let's continue with CD-R write quality.

CD-R Write Quality:

Memorex 48x:

The first CD-R disc we're going to test is a Memorex 48x disc which the Plextor PX-712A also wrote at this speed. Here's the ATIP information from the disc we used:

Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics
Code: 97m26s66f
Disc  Type: CD-R
Usage: General
Recording Layer: Dye Type 6: Short Strategy  (Phthalocyanine)
Recording Speed: n/a
Capacity: 79:59.73 (703  MB)
Additional Capacity: n/a
Overburn Capacity: not tested

C1: 3.2 Avg/Sec - Max/Sec 25.0 - Total 15163.0 | C2: 0 Total | CU: 0 Total

We achieved a good result with the Memorex discs. The amount of C1 errors is limited and there are no C2 or CU errors on the disc.

MAM-E 48x:

The next CD-R disc we tested was a MAM-E disc, certified for 48x recording. The Plextor PX-712A wrote the disc at maximum speed. Here's the ATIP information:

Manufacturer: Mitsui
Code: 97m27s58f
Disc Type:  CD-R
Usage: General
Recording Layer: Dye Type 8: Short Strategy  (Phthalocyanine)
Recording Speed: n/a
Capacity: 79:59.74 (703  MB)
Additional Capacity: n/a
Overburn Capacity: not tested

C1: 9.0 Avg/Sec - Max/Sec 76.0 - Total 43134.0 | C2: 0 Total | CU: 0 Total

The amount of errors on the MAM-E disc were higher than we saw on the previous Memorex discs. The achieved result is not bad at all though because the MAM-E discs are not the best quality discs we've seen.

Taiyo Yuden 24x:

Plextor drives are known to work well with Taiyo Yuden media. For our next test we wrote a 650MB Taiyo Yuden disc which was certified for 24x recording. The Plextor wrote the disc at 32x. Here's the ATIP information:

Manufacturer: Taiyo Yuden
Code: 97m24s01f
Disc Type:  CD-R
Usage: General
Recording Layer: Dye Type 1: Long Strategy (Cyanine,  AZO)
Recording Speed: n/a
Capacity: 74:43.01 (656 MB)
Additional  Capacity: n/a
Overburn Capacity: not tested

C1: 1.0 Avg/Sec - Max/Sec 41.0 - Total 4310.0 | C2: 0 Total | CU: 0 Total

As expected the Plextor PX-712A showed an excellent performance with the Taiyo Yuden disc. With an average C1 error count of only 1 per second this disc was perfectly written.

Maxell 40x:

The last disc we tested was a Maxell 40x CD-R disc which the Plextor PX-712A drive wrote at 48x. Here's the ATIP information again:

Manufacturer:  Hitachi Maxell
Code: 97m25s29f
Disc Type: CD-R
Usage:  General
Recording Layer: Dye Type 9: Short Strategy  (Phthalocyanine)
Recording Speed: n/a
Capacity: 79:59.74 (703  MB)
Additional Capacity: n/a
Overburn Capacity: not tested

C1: 2.1 Avg/Sec - Max/Sec 21.0 - Total 10229.0 | C2: 0 Total | CU: 0 Total

And once again a good result; a low amount of C1 errors and no C2 or CU errors.

Overall we can say that we were very pleased with the Plextor PX-712A's performance with CD-R media. The drive wrote all media at their certified speed or faster and every disc was written well.

Now that we've finished our quality tests, it's time to check the drive's re-write performance...

The Plextor PX-712A recorder supports 4x DVD±RW and 24x CD-RW re-writing
speeds. On this page of our review we'll see how well the Plextor drive can
re-write data, how it performs with packet writing and last but not least, we'll
take a look at the drive's Mount Rainier performance.

Note: The Plextor PX-712A drive supports 4x for DVD-RW discs but
for our review we only had 2x DVD-RW media available. Therefore we have focussed
on DVD+RW performance only.

Re-Writing Data:

For our first test we're going to record a DVD-Video compilation to 4x DVD+RW
media using the Nero Burning Rom software. In the screenshot below you can see
the burn process completed successfully in 14 minutes and 19
seconds:

The Plextor PX-712A performed as expected. The drive was a little faster than
some of the other drives we've reviewed (the Plextor PX-708A needed 14m:40s for
example). Let's continue with CD-RW performance:

The Plextor's CD-RW performance was also as one would expect. The PX-712A
needed 3 minutes and 31 seconds to write the compilation. Once
again the drive was a few seconds faster than other drives we've reviewed (the
Ridata 8X needed 3m:34s and the Plextor PX-708A needed 3m:40s for example).

Packet Writing:

For our packet writing tests we used Ahead's InCD 4 software and tested both
the Plextor's CD-RW and DVD+RW performance. For our first DVD+RW test we set-up
a test folder with random data measuring roughly 4.35GB in size. After
formatting was complete we measured the time it took for the drive to write the
test data. In the table below we've summed up our results:

DVD+RW Packet Writing	InCD Formatting 4.4GB	InCD Copying 4.4GB	Average Write Speed
Plextor PX-708A	0m:26s	14m:50s	3.8x
Plextor PX-712A	0m:30s	14m:03s	4.0x
Ridata RDA-08041	0m:23s	14m:56s	3.8x

The Plextor PX-712A's DVD+RW packet writing performance was excellent. It was
around 50 seconds faster than the Ridata and Plextor PX-708A drives and achieved
an average write speed of exactly 4x.

For our next CD-RW tests we set-up a test folder with random data measuring
400MB in size. We then inserted an empty disc and measured the time it took for
the drive to format the disc after which the test data was dragged and dropped
to the disc via the Windows Explorer. In the table below you can see the results
again:

CD-RW Packet Writing	InCD Formatting 650MB	InCD Copying 400MB	Average Write Speed
Plextor PX-708A	4m:03s	2m:34s	17.9x
Plextor PX-712A	3m:56s	2m:25s	18.4x
Ridata RDA-08041	3m:47s	2m:33s	17.9x

And once again an excellent result as the Plextor PX-712A was able to beat
the previous drives we've reviewed. The average packet writing speed of the
Plextor was 18.4x compared to 17.9x for the other two drives we reviewed
before.

Mount-Rainier:

To test the Plextor's Mount Rainier performance we again used InCD to write
the same folder of test data we used for our CD-RW packet writing test. In the
table below you can see an overview of the achieved results:

CD-RW Mount Rainier	InCD Formatting 650MB	Manual Eject While Format in Progress	Copying 400MB Data while Format in Progress
Plextor PX-708A	0m:32s	0m:38s	15m:06s
Plextor PX-712A	0m:25s	0m:39s	9m:10s
Mount Rainier (continued)	Copying 400MB Data to Formatted Disc	Reading 400MB Data While Format in Progress	Reading 400MB Data from Formatted Disc
Plextor PX-708A	14m:51s	4m:23s	2m:06s
Plextor PX-712A	8m:42s	2m:35s	2m:13s

As you can see the difference between the two Plextor drives is quite big as
the PX-708A needed far more time to write the test data to the disc than the
PX-712A drive.

Now that we've finished our normal tests, it's time for
some advanced testing...

For our final (advanced) tests we're going to test how the Plextor PX-712A
drive performs with data and audio copy-protections. Besides that we'll also
check if the drive can overburn and if it can handle 8cm discs. Let's start with
the data copy-protections:

Copy-Protected Data:

For our copy-protected data tests we, as always, used CloneCD to read and
write several popular copy-protections. In the picture below you can see that
the Plextor PX-712A drive is fully supported by CloneCD:

The Plextor drive supports the DAO-RAW96 recording mode which basically means
that the drive can write uncorrected data and SubChannel Data. In the table
below we've summed up all of our results and after the table we will clarify our
results:

Protected Data	Game Title	Protection (version)	Read Time	Back-up Works
	Desperados	LaserLock	1h:40m:38s	Yes
	Serious Sam Second Encounter	SafeDisc v2.51.021	2m:29s	Yes
	C&C Generals	SafeDisc v2.80.010	2m:26s	Yes
	Neverwinter Nights	SecuRom v4.76.00.0051	2m:53s	Yes
	Tekken 3	PlayStation LibCrypt	2m:50s	Yes

The Plextor PX-712A showed a very good performance during our copy protected
data test. It read all of the protected discs at maximum speed, except for the
LaserLock disc which have always been a 'problem' for Plextor drives. More
importantly, the PX-712A was able to create a working back-up of all the
protections we tested without needing any software help (like Amplfy Weak
Sectors for the SafeDisc protection).

Copy-Protected Audio:

For the copy protected audio tests we used the PlexTools software with the
'Single Session' option enabled. We inserted the disc into the drive and waited
if the tracks would be recognized. If they were we extracted some tracks and
listened to them to hear if they were properly extracted:

Protected Audio	Audio Title	Protection (version)	Exact Audio Copy
Shakira - Laundry Service		Key2Audio version 2	Read the disc without problems
Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come		Key2Audio version 3	Read the disc without problems
Bitte Ein Beat! - Beat 5		Cactus Data Shield 200	Read the disc without problems
Yorin FM - Hitzone 21		Doc.loc	Read the disc without problems

The Plextor PX-712A drive could recognize all discs without any trouble
(although the drive did need some time to recognize the Doc.loc protected audio
disc). When reading the Key2Audio protections the drive performed excellent
since the discs were recognized almost instantly and the drive was able to rip
the tracks. The Plextor PX-712A drive also had no problems detecting the CDS200
protected disc but when we ripped the tracks PlexTools reported that there were
errors on the disc:

Start of extraction
Extracting track 13

(D:13_-_Unknown_Artist_Unknown_Title.wav - 06:59)
821 errors
Elapsed

time: 01:15
Extracting track 14 (D:14_-_Unknown_Artist_Unknown_Title.wav -

04:30)
631 errors
Elapsed time: 00:53
2 track(s) successfully

extracted
Total Elapsed Time : 02:08

When ripping a CDS200 protected audio disc it's quite common that errors are
generated during the extraction process. These errors can result in small pops
and clicks in the ripped tracks. We of course listened to the extracted tracks
but we couldn't hear any distortions.

Overburning:

We can be very brief with our overburning tests. As we already mentioned the
Plextor PX-712A drive supports the GigaRec technology. It will thus come as no
surprise the drive can fully overburn discs up to 99 minutes. The drive can, of
course, also perfectly read overburned discs.

8cm Discs:

For our final test we'll, as always, test if the Plextor drive can read and
write 8cm discs. For this test we set-up a 200MB data compilation in Nero 6 and
started the write process. As expected the write process was completed
successfully:

That concludes our Plextor PX-712A review! Let's go to our final words
and conclusions...

Positive:

Good package, includes great software such as Nero 6, Pinncale Studio 9SE, PowerDVD and PlexTools.
Two year warranty with on-site collect & return service (for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa).
World's fastest DVD recorder. Supports 12x DVD+R, 8x DVD-R, 4x DVD±RW, 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW. Drive has an 8MB buffer.
Excellent read performance with DVD media, read up to 12x for DVDR(W) media and up to 16x for single layer DVD media.
Supports many technologies such as BURN-Proof, Mount Rainier, PoweRec, VariRec, GigaRec, SecuRec and Q-Check (CD and DVD error measurement).
Good CD and DVD media compatibility. Good write quality.
Excellent performance with copy protected data and audio discs.
Supports overburning up to 99 minutes.
Supports DAO-RAW writing.
Supports reading and writing of 8cm discs.
Supports reading and writing of CD-Text information.
Supports reading and writing of full SubChannel Data.

Negative:

Has a tendency to limit read speed for audio discs.

Conclusion:

When Plextor first announced their PX-712A drive last month we saw a lot of reactions of people who were wondering why Plextor released a 12x drive while 16x burning is just around the corner. People were also wondering why Plextor didn't release a double layer burner and decided to release a single layer burner again. We cannot answer these questions but luckily we can say that Plextor has released a great drive which supports great technologies, making it a very interesting drive for many people.

The Plextor drive supports many technologies that we also found on the Plextor Premium drive. It comes with an 8MB buffer and a good selection of software, including Plextor's own PlexTools software. With PlexTools you can control every aspect of your Plextor drive and it allows you to thoroughly test your drives. The software can also be used to measure write quality using the PX-712A drive, another great feature.

The read performance of the PX-712A was great, especially with DVD media. The drive read all of our discs at 12x maximum and could read single layer DVD discs at 16x maximum. The drive also performed well with CD-ROM media although it did have some problems with audio discs. This was however the only problem we could find.

When it came to write performance we were very impressed by the drive. The Plextor PX-712A wrote all of our 4x DVD+R discs at 8x and, more importantly, it did so with good quality. The highest amount of errors were created with Ritek DVD+R discs but the amount of errors was still within the standards. All of the other discs we tested were perfectly written. You can also be sure that Plextor will often release new firmware versions that will improve the drive's media compatibility even more.

During our advanced tests the Plextor PX-712A again performed very well as it had no problems with or data and audio copy protections, with overburning discs and with burning 8cm discs.

The price of the Plextor PX-712A is around US$ 180. Plextor drives have always been known to be more expensive than other drives but when we look at how well the drive performed and the great technologies it supports we think this price is more than justified. Because the drive performed very well during all of our tests we can't do anything else than give it our Editor's Choice Award.