- CD Format

For our CD transfer rate tests, we used Nero CD-Speed utility and a set of Pressed and CDR media. Let's take a look at how the drive performed when compared to the other two drives.

The Plextor PX-750A supports up to 40X max reading speed with both Pressed and CD-R media, while the two other drives, offer a max reading speed of 48X for both formats.

Good reading speed was reported with USRW media, with the Plextor drive reporting an average speed of 30X and a max speed of 40X.

- AudioCD

For these tests, we used a pressed AudioCD and its copy on CD-R media.

Low DAE speed was reported with both Pressed and CDR media, with an average of 29,08 and 29.6 respectively. As CD-Speed Advanced DAE Quality Test reported, the Quality Score awarded was 100 with an average speed of 27.96X. No Data and Sync Errors were reported, while the drive can Read CD Text and Subchannel Data, but it does not support Leadin and Leadout.

- 90mins Audio disc

- 99mins Audio disc

Unfortunately, the drive could not recognize the 99min Audio disc.

- DVD Format

Now let's have a look at how the drive performs with DVD media. Again, a set of DVD media was used, both SL and DL.

Similar performance from all three drives, where the max reading speed with Pressed SL media is 16X.

The two layers of a PTP DVD-ROM disc are read sequentially with the drive starting reading from the inner part of the disc, which is the beginning of each layer, progressing towards its outer range. The reviewed drive supports up to 8X max reading speed for these media formats.

The first layer of an OTP dual layer DVD-ROM is read exactly the same way as the first layer of the PTP disc we tested previously, the main difference being the reading strategy of the second layer on the disc. The beginning of the second layer is located in the outer part of the disc, so the drive starts reading from the outer tracks towards the inner part of the disc. Similar performance to that of PTP media.

As reported in the reading tests with Write Once and RW media, the drive supports up to 8X reading speed with +R, -R and RW media. These are not fast speeds for a drive manufactured by Plextor, from whom we have come to expect the fastest available speeds.

Again, we expected faster ripping from this drive. We are used to much highest ripping speeds with previous Plextor drives, which were also the fastest available on the market.

As with most market drives that support DVD-RAM reading, the Plextor drive can read DVD-RAM media at up to 5X max speed, as confirmed by the reading test with Mitsubishi DVD-RAM media.

-Appendix

Nero CD-DVD Speed Graphs

CD Pressed / CD-R / US-RW / AudioCD / AudioCD-R

DVD Pressed SL / DVD Pressed DL PTP / DVD Pressed DL OTP / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+R / DVD+RW / DVD-RAM