Review: Plextor PX-LB950SA Reviewed by: Vroom Provided by: Plextor Europe Firmware: 1.02 Manufactured: October 2010

Plextor was kind enough to send us the PX-LB950SA
external Blu-Ray writer for a review. The Drive supports 8x reading and 12x
burning on SL Blu-ray, and it supports writing and reading of DVD±R/RW, DVD-RAM
and CD-RW media.

Drive
Specifications

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Here are the specifications off the PX-LB950SA
that we found on the Plextor site.

Packaging

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Let’s take a look at the packaging.

Front
side.

Back
side.

Top side.

Both
rear sides.

What’s
inside the box

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Now it’s time to take a look at the drive
itself and what the drive came shipped with.

Our retail package contained the PX-LB950SA
drive, two software CD’s, SATA cable and four screws.

Now let’s take a closer look at the drive.

A
general view of the drive.

The
front side of the drive is very stylish, as we can see it has the Plextor &
Blu-Ray Disc logo and the name of the drive. On the bottom we can see the
Lightscribe logo, the blue led, the emergency eject hole and the eject button.

Drive
top.

Drive
bottom

The label indicates that the drive was
manufactured in October 2010 in China.

On the rear side we have the SATA power
connector and the data connector.

Now let’s head on to the next page were
we can take a look at the features of the drive….

Test
machine

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For this review we will be using a computer
with the following configuration:

Hardware:

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4 (Intel P55 chipset)
• Processor: Intel i7 750
• RAM: 4 GB Corsair dual channel kit DDR3 
• GFX: ATI HD 5670 (512 Megabytes GDDR5 HDCP compliant)
• Hard disk OS: Western Digital RE2 50GB
• Hard disk storage: 500GB Western Digital Blue
• PSU: Chieftec 500W
• Display: FujitsuSiemens 22”
• Operating System: Windows 7 Premium (64 bit)

System
setup:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was connected to one
of the main-board's SATA ports and reports as a PLEXTOR BD-R PX-LB950SA Device.

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool
above, we can see the Plextor PX-LB950SA supports burning BD-R, BD-R DL, BD-RE,
BD-RE DL and BD-ROM –R/RE DL reading. The drive came shipped with firmware
version 1.02 and no updates were available at the time of writing this review.

Installed
software:

• Nero Multimedia Suite
  10
• Nero disc
  speed
• Nero Info
  Tool
• DVDFab 7
• Opti Drive
  Control
• Exact Audio
  Copy

 

Features
and techniques

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Software Bundle:

Now let’s take a brief look at the supplied
software bundle. Please note that we may not use any of this software in this
review.

The first disc of the Plextor PX-LB950SA is
the Plex UTILITIES Ver. 1.3.0

The second disc that the Plextor PX-LB950SA
is supplied with CyberLink’s BD Suite and includes the following applications.

• Power Producer
• Power Director
• Power DVD
• Instant Burn
• Power2Go
• BD Advisor
• Power Backup
• Label Print

The
first screen of the Plextor BD Suite cd.

Software
install screen

BookType
(BitSetting):

The Plextor PX-LB950SA can  only set  BitSetting
manually, and is capable of writing DVD+R/RW and +R DL media with DVD-ROM book
type.

Here is how you could check if your discs
are really written with DVD-ROM book type:

Start Opti Drive Control and click
the Disc info button and you should get something like this:

DVD+R
with book type DVD-ROM

Another quick test is to start Nero
CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

Writing technique

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Now it’s time to take a closer look at the
writing technology used by the Plextor PX-LB950SA.

For these tests we used Nero Disc Speed and
Opti Drive Control, and wrote a full disc at the drive’s maximum speed.

CD Recordable:

According to the specifications of the Plextor
PX-LB950SA, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 48x.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA uses CAV, (Constant
Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 48X. This
gives an average speed of 35.58x and a total writing time of 2 minutes and 48
seconds.

For comparison we have made the following
table: 

As we can see, the Plextor PX-LB950SA is among
the fastest drives when writing CD-R media.

CD Re-writable:

According to the specifications of the
Plextor PX-LB950SA, it should be able to write CD-RW media at a maximum speed of
24x.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA uses Z-CLV, (Zoned
Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed
of 24X. This gives an average speed of 20.09x and a total writing time of 4
minutes and 16 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following
table: 

As we can see, the Plextor PX-LB950SA was
about average when compared to our other drives when writing CD-RW media.

16x DVD+R writing speed:

According to the specifications of the
Plextor PX-LB950SA, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum
speed of 16x.

DVD+R

The Plextor PX-LB950SA uses CAV, (Constant
Angular Velocity) to write at its maximum speed of 16X. This
gives an average speed of 11.16x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 33
seconds.

16x DVD-R writing speed:

DVD-R

The Plextor PX-LB950SA uses CAV, (Constant
Angular Velocity) to write at its maximum speed of 16X. This
gives an average speed of 11.16x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 52
seconds.

For comparison we have made the following
table: 

The PX-LB950SA is average when writing
DVD±R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the
Plextor PX-LB950SA, it should be able to write DVD+RW at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA uses Z-CLV, (Zoned
Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed
of 8X. This gives an average speed of 7.38x and a total writing time of 7
minutes and 43 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following
table: 

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was about average
regarding speed when writing our test DVD+RW media.

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the
Plextor PX-LB950SA, it should be able to write DVD-RW at a maximum speed of 6x.

The Plextor PX-LB9550SA uses Z-CLV, (Zoned
Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed
of 6X. This gives an average speed of 5.53x and a total writing time of 10
minutes and 52 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following
table: 

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was one of the
slowest drives when writing DVD-RW media.

8x DVD+R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the
Plextor PX-LB950SA, it should be able to write DVD+R DL at a maximum speed of
8x.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA uses Z-CLV, (Zoned
Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed
of 8X. This gives an average speed of 5.68x and a total writing time of 19
minutes and 08 seconds.

8x DVD-R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the
Plextor PX-LB950SA, it should be able to write DVD-R DL at a maximum speed of
8x, unfortunately the media could only be burned at 4x.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA uses CLV, (Constant
Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 4X, our write was
completed in 27 minutes and 50 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following
table: 

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was a slow drive
when writing DVD+R DL media

Summary:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA is good performer
across all media groups, returning some fast burns, but it’s a slow drive,
especially on dual layer media.

Let’s head on to the next page where we
will check reading performance….

Reading performance

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For these tests we will use Opti Drive
Control to read various BD’s, CD’s and DVD’s, including audio discs and
DVD-media.

CD reading performance:

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CD-ROM:

For this test we used a pressed CD-ROM, the
CD is close to 75 minutes in length. Below you will see the produced result:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA reached 47.40x read
speed. Let’s compare it with some other drives below.

The Plextor PX-LB950U was one of the
fastest drives when reading our test CD-ROM with excellent Seek times.

CD Recordable discs:

For this test we made a copy of the CD. The
disc we used was a TDK 52X certified CD-R disc manufactured by CMC Magnetics
Corp..

The Plextor PX-LB950SA reached 48.42x read
speed. Let’s compare it with some other drives below.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was again one of the
fastest drives we tested when reading our test CD-R

CD Re-writable discs:

Again, we made a copy of the CD, this time
we used a Verbatim Ultra Speed (24X) CD-RW disc made by Mitsubishi Chemicals
Corporation.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA reached 40.15x read
speed. Let’s compare it with some other drives below.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was one fastest
drive when reading our test CD-RW.

Audio – Digital Audio Extraction:

To test the digital audio extraction
performance of the Plextor PX-LB950SA, again we used Opti Drive Control to
measure the transfer rate. The audio disc we used is slightly larger than the
disc used for the other tests, to be exact it’s nearly 79 minutes in length
(78:56:45).

The Plextor PX-LB950SA reached 48.74x when
reading our test audio disc. Let’s compare it with some drives below.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was one of the fastest
drives we tested when reading our test CD-Audio disc.

DVD reading performance:

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Again, we will use Nero CD-Speed and Opti
Drive Control to measure the reading performance, this time for various types
of DVD discs. The drive should read pressed single layer DVD-discs at 16X.

Pressed DVD Video:

For our DVD reading performance tests we
are going to start with single and Double Layer DVD video discs. While only 1X
speed is required to watch DVD movies, it’s useful to be able to read the discs
at higher speeds if you’re going to extract (rip) the content of the disc to
your hard drive.

DVD Video
(Single Layer)

DVD
Video (double layer OTP)

The Plextor PX-LB950SA is not riplocked and
is able to read our single layer disc at 16x and our double layer test discs at
12x

We present the table below for comparison
with other Blu-ray drives.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was one of the
fastest drives when reading pressed DVD-Video discs.

DVD+R/RW:

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For this test we used a Verbatim 16X DVD+R
and a Verbatim 8X DVD+RW with about 4.4GB of data. Below are the results:

DVD+R

DVD+RW

We present the table below for comparison
with other Blu-ray drives.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was above average
when reading DVD+RW and DVD+R.          

DVD-R/RW:

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For this test we used a Maxell 16X DVD-R
disc and a Verbatim 6X DVD-RW disc filled with about 4.4GB of data. Our test
results are found below:

DVD-R

DVD-RW

There are hardly any differences in the
speed, compared to reading the DVD+R/RW discs.

We present the table below for comparison
with other Blu-ray drives.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was again above
average when reading DVD-R and DVD-RW.

DVD±R DL discs:

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DVD+R DL:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA read our DVD+R DL
test disc at 12x reading speed.

DVD-R DL:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA read our DVD-R DL
test disc at 8x reading speed.

We present the table below for comparison
with other Blu-ray drives.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA was the slowest
drive we have tested when reading our test DVD±DL media.

Blu-ray reading performance:

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BD-ROM SL

We selected a BD-ROM SL disc containing a
movie, Underworld.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA read our BD-ROM DL
media at 8x reading speed (15minutes & 33seconds).

BD-ROM DL:

We selected a BD-ROM DL disc containing the
movie, Quantum of solace.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA read our DL BD-ROM
media at 8x reading speed (31 Minutes & 13 seconds).

BD-R:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA read our BD-R disc
at 8x reading speed (15minutes & 33Seconds).

BD-RE:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA read our BD-RE at 8x
reading speed (15minutes & 33seconds).

Summary:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA is a fast reader for
all BD media, it could reach 8x on single layer and dual layer media
BD-ROM/-R/-RE.

Now let’s head over to the next page
where we will test CD-R/RW writing performance……

The specifications of the Plextor PX-LB950SA
state that the drive is able to write CD-R/RW discs at 48x/24x. Let us find out
how the drive really performs in speed and quality.

Writing Data CD-R discs:

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For our data writing tests, we simply
burned a full disc using CD-Speed (create data disc) function and burned the
discs at the maximum speed allowed.

Write quality:

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We will test CD-R discs from many different
CD-R manufacturers. To really measure the write speed, we used the “create data
CD” function in Nero Disc Speed. The discs were written at the maximum speed
that the drive supports. For the quality test, we used nero disc speed, Disc
Quality Scan and combined this with a Transfer Rate
Test to test if the resulting disc was readable. Also note that
different drives and different reading speeds may affect the results obtained
when scanning the discs. We used an Optiarc AD-7240S with 1.04 firmware and
scanned the discs at 48X speed.

There is more than one way to handle C1
and C2 error detection/correction, but a simple and common way is to detect and
correct up to two errors per frame in each stage and detect three or more
errors:

• E11: 1 error
  detected and corrected by C1 layer
• E21: 2 errors
  detected and corrected by C1 layer
• E31: 3 or more
  errors detected but not corrected by C1 layer

The sum of these (per second) is called
the Block Error Rate: BLER=E11+E21+E31

• E32: 3 or more
  errors detected but not corrected by C2 layer

Any E31 is un-correctable by the C1 layer
and will result in the bytes in that frame being redistributed into multiple
frames which are passed to the C2 layer.

Any E32 is un-correctable by the C2 layer
and will result in interpolation being used for Audio CDs or will result in
third layer error correction being used for Data CDs.

Different drives have different ways of
reporting these errors in a Disc Quality scan.  Lite-On CD-RW drives
will report C1 and C2 errors this way:

• C1=BLER=E11+E21+E31
• C2=E32

Here is an easier way to look at Disc
Quality Scanning:

A written CD-R disc will always have some
C1 errors; C1 errors are easily corrected by the drive’s error correction
capabilities. The next level of errors is C2, while C2 errors could also be
corrected by most drive’s error correction capabilities; they are not wanted on
a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and
preferably have an average C1 error amount of below 2.0 for the best discs, or
at least below 10.0 averages for good quality discs. After C2 errors, there are
only un-correctable errors that will make a disc unusable.

In short, our analysis will be based on
this guideline to determine the quality of the burned disc:

CD-R/RW
quality scans guideline

Below are the obtained results:

A poor results for this media.

The result is again poor.

The result is again poor.

Writing Quality with Re-Writable discs:

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The result is good for rewritable media.

Summary:

The quality on CD-R media was poor and on
CD-RW media the quality is better, but we have to say that work is required for
all this to be fixed.

Now let’s head on to the next page where
we will test DVD recordable performance….

The specifications of this drive tell us
that it should write DVD±R at 16x and DVD+RW/-RW at 8x/6x. In this part, we
will measure the writing times for various types of DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW
discs. We will also focus on write quality and media compatibility.

Write quality:

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Disc Quality
Scanning - PI/PO:

DVDs use an error detection and correction
system (ECC) which is usually transparent to the end-user, but we can get an
idea of the "quality" of a disc by performing Disc Quality Scanning,
which shows how many errors the drive is detecting and correcting behind the
scenes.

There are two layers or stages of error
detection and correction on all DVD media; these are called Parity Inner (PI)
and Parity Outer (PO). Data is arranged in ECC blocks containing rows and
columns of user data with additional columns of PI error correction and rows of
PO error correction.

An ECC block contains 32 KByte of user data
with some added control data, scrambled and arranged in 192 rows and 172
columns with an additional 10 columns of PI error correction and 16 rows of PO
error correction.

The Parity Inner stage is performed first,
and up to 5 bytes in a row can be corrected. Any row with one or more errors is
counted as a Parity Inner Error (PIE). Any row with more than 5 errors is
considered un-correctable and is counted as a Parity Inner Failure (PIF).

The Parity Outer stage is performed next
and will detect and attempt to correct any errors that are still left after the
PI stage. Any column that has errors is counted as a Parity Outer Error (POE),
and any column that has un-correctable errors is counted as a Parity Outer
Failure (POF). If a POF occurs the drive can sometimes re-read the problematic
spot and correct the problem; this happens only during normal reading and not
during scanning, however.

Disc Quality scanning is influenced by the
drive performing the test, and that's why different drives report different
results and even the same drive will report (slightly) different results when
scanning the same disc again. Please note that PI/PO and Jitter scans only test
some aspects of disc quality and that other important aspects are not revealed.

But what is a good scan? That is a
discussion that we don’t think will end soon, as different drives report
different amounts of errors, some players are pickier about media than others,
and so on. But as a comparison we present you with scans from two pressed DVD
discs:

The scan above shows the results from a
pressed, Single Layer DVD-Video disc (Golden eye).

The above scan shows the result from a
pressed Double Layer DVD-Video disc (The Green Mile).

The Lite-On DVD burners used in this
review report errors as follows:

·        
PIE per 8 ECC blocks (rows with 1 or more bytes
in error)

·        
PIF per 1 ECC block (rows with 6 or more bytes
in error)

We want to see as low error numbers as
possible.
PIE per 8 ECC blocks should be no higher than 280.
PIF per 1 ECC block should be no higher than 4.

Both the pressed DVD-discs above are well
within the standards if we ignore the single PIF spike in the DL scan.

If you want to look at the standards for
yourself, download the ECMA 267 Standard for DVD-ROM, the ECMA 337 Standard for
DVD+R/RW and the ECMA 338 Standard for DVD-R/RW at http://www.ecma-international.org.

Notice that there are other aspects such as disc
reflectivity, tracking errors and so on that also will affect the readability
of a DVD disc – but for this we do not have measuring equipment available.

Also, another note is that we have scanned
the discs at 4X speed, by lowering the speed to 2X (DVD-R/RW)/2.4X (DVD+R/RW)
or 1X the amount of reported errors may drop on some discs. We scanned at 4X
CLV due to lower speeds taking too much time.

To see if there is a connection between the
reported amount of errors and readability of the discs we also include the
reading curve from an Optiarc AD-7200A DVD-Writer which by default is able to
read DVD±R media at 16x speed. A small speed reduction near the end is still
accepted on good discs, but serious reading problems or reading failures is a
bad sign.

Jitter:

Jitter
is a very complex subject and even more difficult to explain when we start to
use optical drives designed for the home market to measure jitter values.

Let’s
first look at the DVD specification for pressed DVD discs (in the bold part courtesy
of Pioneer Electronics).

“The
DVD design target is that when the worst-case disc allowed by the
specification, considering the economics of production, is played using the
worst-case pickup that can be produced in volume economically, the byte error
rate after error correction will still be 1 x 10-^-20, which is good
enough to be acceptable for computer applications.

Since
the above target is for "after error correction," the error
correction capability must be calculated. Considering the trade-off between
error correction capability and the overhead of the added redundancy, the DVD
format was set to one ECC block per 32 KB. This requires a byte error rate before
correction of 1 x 10^-2.
In order to achieve good economy on both the part of the discs and the playback
mechanisms. The current disc tilt specification was determined as a result of
the efforts on both sides.

As
will be explained hereafter, it is difficult to make the error rate a
specification of the disc itself. Therefore, a jitter standard is set by the
DVD specifications. A simple calculation based on a normal distribution
requires that the jitter rate be under 15.4%, and experimental results indicate
that jitter must be under 16%, to achieve the required error rate. Since the
disc tilt varies within a revolution, it was decided to adopt the design
concept that jitter must remain within 16% at the instantaneous peak value of
tilt. Since it is actually very difficult to measure the peak value, the
concept became to measure the average jitter at under 15%, and the byte error
rate at under 5 x 10-3.”

What
is Jitter?

In basic terms, we could say jitter is a
product of “pit and land distortion” In other words, when the drive reading the
disc has to compensate by means of a “tilt servo” which constantly tries to
move and refocus the PUH lens for optimum tracking and tries to compensate for
the imperfections of pits and lands on the pressed or recordable media. This is
further compounded by the hardware used for recording and playback. Not only is the record and replay process limited by the resolution
of the optical pickup, it is also horribly non-linear. In addition, the
playback of the pits is subject to non-linear crosstalk from nearby pits in the
same track, and also from pits in nearby tracks.

The things that causes jitter divide into three main
types.

• Variation in pit length
  and width.
• Crosstalk from nearby pits
  in the same track.
• Crosstalk from pits in
  adjacent tracks.

 

Variation in pit length and width.

The recorded pits themselves are not perfectly
accurate. Anything which causes variations in the sizes of the pits will
produce jitter. A prime culprit of this is sudden variations in laser power
(laser noise). If laser power varies, then the laser beam itself changes and
will vary in intensity and possibly focus. This will cause the pit length and
width to also vary and we now have jitter.

Crosstalk from nearby pits in the same track.

If the pits are not totally accurate, then the laser
beam spot may overrun a pit and gather data from the adjacent pit in the same
track, or if the “land” is to short, then the laser beam spot can be influenced
by the adjacent pit and this is called inter-symbol interference. Inter-symbol
interference is worse at low recording velocities, because the pits are shorter
and closer together. And it is the cause of "deviation" of the pit
lengths.

Crosstalk from pits in adjacent tracks.

Crosstalk between pits in adjacent tracks is caused by
the laser beam spot being larger than the width of the track. It is a largely
random contribution and is worse at lower recorded velocities, because the
highest frequency components of the readout signal in the wanted track, with
which the crosstalk is competing, are weaker.

Some
other factors to consider

There
are many aspects to consider when we add Recordable DVD media into the mix. We
are now dealing with an organic dye, which is inherently unstable. We must also
consider the equipment we are using to measure jitter is aimed at the home
market. So we must also take into account variations between drives that we are
unable to calibrate for such tests.

Now
let’s look at some of the hardware limitations of the drives we are using to
measure jitter.

If
there is no tilt, then the jitter value includes components from light source
noise, circuit noise, disc noise, standard interference between symbols (inter
-symbol interference), and some small amount of crosstalk from the neighbouring
tracks.

Next
we consider manufacturing variation in the circuitry.
Variation due to the circuitry have noise-like characteristics, and increase
the minimum jitter level, but are thought to have a very small effect on tilt
margin. Factors such as offset in the servo circuit, however, both increase the
jitter level and decrease tilt margin.

How
we will measure jitter.

We
will be using a Lite-On DVD writer to conduct these tests along with Nero
DiscSpeed and Opti Drive Control at 4x scanning speed. In the screen shot
below we can see a PI/PIF scan including a jitter test (the purple graph in the
lower window) we carried out on a single layer DVD+R media.

Now,
let's find a reasonable average jitter level. Experimental results indicate
that 8% average value or less is a desirable figure, based on the DVD
specification. That does not mean that jitter average values above 8% are bad.
In fact, many optical drives will quite happily read recordable DVD media with
jitter values of more than 14% average without any problems. Other drives,
including standalone DVD players may begin to struggle reading discs with
average jitter values above 10%. So there is a fairly wide range of acceptable
values. One must test their own playback devices to see what they can cope
with.

However,
for the purpose of having a basic guideline we can use in our reviews, we
present a rating system for average jitter values.

·        
Less than 8% (average) = Very good

·        
8% - 9% (average) = good

·        
9% - 12% (average) = average

·        
Above 12% (average) = poor

Here is an easier explanation on how to read the test
results

Maybe this got too technical, and you are
wondering what to look for in your Opti Drive Control Quality Scans?

Use this as a guideline
for good discs:

·        
PI (Parity Inner): No larger areas on the disc
should exceed 280 PI-8 errors, do not worry too much about high single spikes
that exceed 280.

·        
PIF (Parity Inner Failures): No larger areas on
the disc should exceed 4 PIF-1 errors, do not worry too much about high single
spikes that exceed 4.

·        
Jitter: An average jitter value of 8% or less is
considered very good. You should not worry too much if the average value is
slightly above this figure.

And as always; lower is better

DVD+R media compatibility and write
quality:

DVD+R media compatibility and write quality:

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In these tests we will be using a Lite-On IHAS624
with firmware GL24 along with Nero DiscSpeed to measure the disc quality. We
will also be using the Optiarc AD-7240S with firmware 1.04 along with Nero
DiscSpeed for our read-back tests.

An excellent result to start our tests.

The disc quality show that the disc is
excellent, but we had some issues with the TRT, over all this bur is good.

An excellent result for this media.

The result is very good for this media.

Again we can see a slowdown in TRT test,
but the scan result is once again very good.

DVD+RW media compatibility and write quality:

---

We used the same test procedures as in our
DVD+R tests.

Below are our obtained results.

Considering this a re-writable disc, the
result is excellent.

Summary:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA writes DVD+R with very
good/excellent writing quality, the only thing that caught our attention was
the bad TRT test on the JVC media, we hope that with a firmware update the burn
quality will be improved and hopefully solve the TRT problem.

On our tested DVD+RW media, writing quality
was excellent.

Now let’s look at DVD-R/RW performance
and quality on the next page….

DVD-R media compatibility and write quality:

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In these tests we will be using a Lite-On iHAS624
with firmware GL24 along with Nero Disc Speed to measure the disc quality. We
will also be using the Optiarc AD-7240S with firmware 1.04 along with Nero Disc
Speed for our read-back tests.

The result is very good, PIE & PIF
errors are a little high, but the disc read back was perfect and Jitter level
is low.

The result is again very good, the high PIE
errors don’t have any effect on the TRT as we can see.

The result is good, PIF & PIE levels are high, and again the Jitter is low.
Also we can see that the read back was perfect.

The result is excellent for this media.

The result here is excellent, everything is
low, especially the jitter is the best result we had so far with this drive,
and all this finish with a perfect TRT.

DVD-RW media compatibility and write quality:

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For this test we used the same testing
procedures as in our DVD-R tests.

Considering this a re-writable disc, the
result is once again excellent, followed with a perfect Transfer Rate Test.

Summary:

The DVD-R/RW writing quality was very good,
zero issues with all of our test media.

 

Let’s head on to the next page where we
will test DVD R DL writing performance and quality……

DVD+R/-R Double Layer writing performance and quality:

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The Plextor PX-LB950SA supports the DVD+R
DL/-R DL standard for writing Double Layer/Dual Layer discs with a size around
8.5 GB at a writing speed of 8x.

DVD+R DL:

For these tests we used Opti Drive Control
to burn our test disc. We then used a Lite-On iHAS624 along with Opti Drive
Control to test the disc’s quality; we then finally ran a read-back test on our
Optiarc AD-7240S.

The result is good, jitter is excellent,
and there is also a perfect TRT to complete the test.

DVD-R DL:

The result is excellent for this media and
Jitter levels are low and it has a perfect TRT.

Summary:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA writing quality on
our tested DVD+R DL media was generally very good, and excellent on DVD-R DL
media.

Let’s head on to the next page, where we test BD-R/RE writing
performance....

An Introduction to Blu-Ray

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Until recently, optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R,
DVD±RW and DVD-RAM relied on a red laser to read and write data, the Blu-Ray
format uses a blue-violet laser, which explains the name Blu-ray.

A blue-violet laser (405nm) has a shorter wavelength than a red
laser (650nm); this makes it possible to focus the laser with even greater
accuracy. This will allow data to be packed more tightly, so it's possible to
squeeze more data on the disc even though it's the same size as a CD/DVD. This
together with the change of numerical aperture to 0.85 enables Blu-ray discs to
hold 25GB/50GB.

Blu-ray drives can also be made backwards compatible with CDs and
DVDs through the use of a BD/DVD/CD compatible optical pickup unit.

Now let’s take a look at the track pitch and compare them with
that of DVD

As
we can see in the above screenshots, the storage density of Blu-ray is much
higher than DVD. The Blu-ray laser beam spot is also much narrower than that of
DVD.

Blu-Ray Error specification:

In
the above table we present some of the specifications for reported errors on
Blu-ray media. At present we have no equipment or software available for
measuring these errors.

BD-R writing tests

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The
specifications of the Plextor PX-LB950SA state that the drive is able to
write BD-R at 12x. Let us find out how the drive really performs with out media.

For
this tests we will be using the Plextor PX-LB950SA for the Transfer rate
tests, and the Liteon iHBS112 for the disc quality scan. Since there is
no standard speed to measure the quality of the burn, we will be selecting the
8x speed of the drive.

 

Verbatim BD-R 25GB

For
this test we used Nero Disc Speed to create our test disc.

The
drive completed the burn in 22 minutes and 57 seconds, however we would like to
see some higher speeds for this media.

As we can see the PX-LB950SA has no
problems reading back the disc at 8x, also disc quality scan looks very good.

Maxell BD-R 4x Printable 25GB

This is the only media that we had, and
could be burned at 12x.  Unfortunately the drive slowed down to 6x. Burn time
was 15 minutes and 38 seconds.

We
can see why the drive slowed down, the high errors on our scan shows that 12x
is too much for this media and the Transfer Rate Test it’s not as smooth
as we would like.

BD-R LTH Type 2x

 

It
took 45minutes to burn this Verbatim LTH media at 2x.

We can say that the result is very good for
this media, and come with a perfect Transfer Rate Test at 8x

BD-RE:

The
specifications of the Plextor PX-LB950SA state
that the drive is able to write BD-RE discs at 2x. Let us find out how the
drive really performs.

BD-RE 25GB

The PX-LB950SA burned our test BD-RE media
from VERBATIM in 44 minutes and 49 seconds.

Now let’s see how the PX-LB950SA read’s and
scans our test disc.

The result is very good for this Verbatim
2x BD-RE media, and come with a perfect Transfer Rate Test at 8x.

BD-RE 25GB

The PX-LB950SA burned our test BD-RE 25GB
media from TDK in 44:49 minutes.

Now let’s see how the PX-LB950SA read’s and
scans our test disc.

Overall we can say that this is a very good
result for RE media

Summary:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA had no problems in
creating and reading our test discs. The disc quality results are generally
very good, with the exception of the Maxell media that didn’t have a
very smooth read back curve.

However we feel that the Verbatim BD-R
4x could be burned at higher speeds.

Let’s round off this review with the
Authors page, with some real world and advanced tests....

Real world tests

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Introduction:

On this page, the author of the review has
the freedom to run tests that she/he thinks will enhance the review. These
tests are unlike our standard tests, which we try to keep consistent throughout
the whole review team, so that our reviews are as consistent as possible. This
page gives the reviewer the opportunity to show some advanced and real world
tests that other review team members may not be able to run.

Audio Extraction:

For this test we used Exact Audio Copy
(EAC) to extract the audio to our hard drive. According to EAC the Plextor PX-LB950SA
support caching, accurate streams, audio cache and C2 error,

Below are the results produced by EAC:

Burst
Mode

Secure
mode

The Plextor PX-LB950SA has an average
performance, in both tests as we can see.

Nero Burning Rom:

In the following tests we will burn discs
from the main media groups with Nero Burning Rom.

CD-R:

For our data writing tests, we simply set
up a new compilation of 693MB using Nero Burning ROM software. Writing method
used is DAO (Disc At Once), and the disc is set up as a non-multisession disc
with “finalize disc” enabled. The screenshot below shows how long it takes to
write a disc at the highest speed. (48x)

The Plextor PX-LB950SA burned our test CD-R
at 48x in 2 minutes and 52 seconds.

DVD R:

In this test we will measure the time for
writing to DVD R discs. We used Nero Burning Rom to burn a backup disc
containing 4293MB of data. We used the Disc-At-Once write method, selected
speed was 16x.

1

The Plextor PX-LB950SA burned our test DVD
R at 8x in 5 minutes and 33 seconds.

DVD DL:

In this test we will measure the time for
writing to DVD R DL discs. We used Nero Burning Rom to burn an mp3 disc compilation
containing 7.891MB of data. We used the Disc-At-Once write method.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA burned our test DVD
R DL at 8x in 17 minutes and 27 seconds.

CSS Encrypted DVD-Video ripping tests:

Most modern DVD burners don’t have Video
riplock and in most cases will read a pressed DVD-Video SL disc at 16x speed.
However, some drives use a CSS riplock when it comes to extracting data from
the disc. If you attempt to rip a pressed DVD-Video with CSS encryption to your
hard drive, then the ripping speed may be locked at a much lower speed than
16x.

We should point out, that ripping and
compressing a DL DVD-Video disc to DVD 5 format is quite CPU intensive. The
more power your system has, the less likely your system power will affect the
results. The PC used in this review is equipped with a fast Intel processor and
fast hard drives. We checked to make sure our review PC was not having an
impact on the results.

For this test we will use Fengtao software
DVDFab.

DVD-Video
single layer “Dario Argento's Phantom of the opera”

DVD-Video
double layer “Iron Man”

Blue-Ray
SL movie, “Underworld”

Blu-Ray
DL movie, “Quantum of solace”.

Thanks
to Fengtao software – For providing a full DVD Fab license.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA isn’t riplocked, the
results are very good.

This concludes our Plextor PX-LB950SA review.
To read the conclusion, click on the link below

Positive:

• Very good write quality with DVD±R/RW media.
• Stylish design.
• Excellent reading performance.
• PlexUTILITES.
• Very good build quality.
• Supports BitSetting (BookType DVD-ROM) on
  DVD+R/DVD+RW/DVD+R DL.
• Excellent software bundle.
• Good warranty, Collect and return.
• A blue led instead of the typical green one.

Negative:

• Poor CD-R burn quality.
• You need to manually set the booktype from
  PlextUTILITIES.

Conclusion:

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Let us summarize the most important
positive and negative points below:

The main positive points:

The Plextor PX-LB950SA is a well build
drive, offers a lot of extra features in the Plex UTILITIES suite, it also
comes with a good software package that will cover all your burning and viewing
needs.

It has very good write quality in DVD±R/RW
media, reading performance is also very good.

It can change the booktype on all +R/RW
media.

The Plextor PX-LB950SA has a stylish design,
a blue led for reading and writing on all media.

The main negative points:

The main negative of the PX-LB950SA is the
poor CD-R quality.

To sum up, this is what we would say:

“The Plextor PX-LB950SA is a good drive,
stylish and reliable, comes with a two year warranty, and the performance
overall is very good, both reading and writing”.

Because of the good feature set and
generally good reading/writing quality, we decided to rate this as “Good”,
although we hope that some of the issues will be fixed via a firmware.

 

Thanks to:

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