PlexWriter Premium 2 review (by HWP)

Moser Baer India, Type 6, 700MB, 52x, as sold by Verbatim
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
52x writing speed selected, slowdowns as per writing graph

29018 total C1 errors, 9 C2 errors.

Below are writing, C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Moser Baer India, Type 6, 700MB, 52x, as sold by Verbatim
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: ON
4x writing speed (pre-)selected, no slowdowns

32591 total C1 errors, 13 C2 errors.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

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Last edited by hwp; 01-03-2007 at 19:34.

Moser Baer India, Type 6, 700MB, 52x, as sold by Verbatim
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
2x writing speed

29928 total C1 errors.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Sony, Type 6, 700MB, 48x, as sold by Sony
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
52x writing speed selected, slowdowns as per writing graph

5831 C1 errors.

Below are writing, C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Sony, Type 6, 700MB, 48x, as sold by Sony
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: ON
4x writing speed (pre-)selected, no slowdowns

5596 C1 errors.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Sony, Type 6, 700MB, 48x, as sold by Sony
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
2x writing speed

6317 C1 errors.

Below are writing, C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Ritek, Type 7, 700MB, 48x, as sold by TDK (Metallic)
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
52x writing speed selected, slowdowns as per writing graph

4683 C1 errors. The small mountain of C1 errors around the 70 minute mark is characteristical for this batch of media (probably an imperfection in the dye).

Below are writing, C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Ritek, Type 7, 700MB, 48x, as sold by TDK (Metallic)
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: ON
4x writing speed (pre-)selected

5024 C1 errors. The small mountain of C1 errors around the 60 minute mark is characteristical for this batch of media (probably an imperfection in the dye).

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Ritek, Type 7, 700MB, 48x, as sold by TDK (Metallic)
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
2x writing speed selected

6076 C1 errors, 11 C2 errors. The small mountain of C1 errors around the 70 minute mark is characteristical for this batch of media (probably an imperfection in the dye).

Below are writing, C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Prodisc Tech., Type 9, 700MB, 52x, as sold Samsung (Pleomax)
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
52x writing speed selected, slowdowns as per writing graph

15815 total C1 errors. The disc deformation shown by the FE/TE-Test earlier prevents faster writing speeds and together with that slowdown also limits the maximum possible readback speed.

Below are writing, C1/C2, Beta/Jitter and readback scans:

Prodisc Tech., Type 9, 700MB, 52x, as sold Samsung (Pleomax)
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: ON
4x writing speed (pre-)selected

14957 total C1 errors.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Prodisc Tech., Type 9, 700MB, 52x, as sold Samsung (Pleomax)
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
2x writing speed selected

16853 total C1 errors. Without the slowdown in writing speed as in the attempted 52x burn and the (assumedly) maximum writing quality at 2x speed the disc deformation as shown by the FE/TE-Test earlier remains perfectly readable in this case.

Below are C1/C2, Beta/Jitter and readback scans:

Sheep Test

Readback in Premium 2:
sd2old.dat: YES
sd251.dat: YES
sd290.dat: NO
Sheep3.dat: NO

Readback in Premium:
sd2old.dat: YES
sd251.dat: YES
sd290.dat: NO
Sheep3.dat: NO

Readback in PX-760a:
sd2old.dat: YES
sd251.dat: YES
sd290.dat: NO
Sheep3.dat: NO

Taiyo Yuden, Type 1, 700MB, 48x, as sold by Plextor
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
52x writing speed selected, slowdowns as per writing graph

5773 total C1 errors.

Below are writing, C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Taiyo Yuden, Type 1, 700MB, 48x, as sold by Plextor
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: ON
4x writing speed (pre-)selected

5145 total C1 errors.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Taiyo Yuden, Type 1, 700MB, 48x, as sold by Plextor
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
2x writing speed selected

6760 total C1 errors.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Prodisc Tech., Type 9, 700MB, 52x, as sold Samsung (Pleomax)
PoweRec: ON

Multisession burn with VariRec settings ranging from -4 to +4 in full steps (values of 1.0 per step). Burn speed 8x.

Below are C1/C2, Beta/Jitter scans:

Prodisc Tech., Type 9, 700MB, 52x, as sold Samsung (Pleomax)
PoweRec: ON

Multisession burn with VariRec settings ranging from -1 to -0.2 in steps of 0.1. Burn speed 8x.

Below are C1/C2, Beta/Jitter scans:

Relations between Jitter and burning speed (Cyanine Dye)
Taiyo Yuden, Type 1, 700MB, 52x, as sold by Verbatim
Note: Burns with 32x and 40x speed where done with PoweRec OFF to avoid potential slowdowns in writing speed.

Burn 1: Multisession burn with 4 sessions at 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x speeds
Burn 2: Multisession burn with 5 sessions at 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x, 40x speeds

At low speeds 2x gives lower Jitter than 4x or 8x but is hard pressed by 16x, which seems to be the optimum as far as Jitter is concerned. While there is little difference between the lower speeds, Jitter raises by a larger value when going from 16x to 20x and 24x to 32x speeds. Interestingly there is almost no difference between 20x and 24x. The same is true between 32x and 40x.

Scan 1: C1/C2-scan Multisession burn 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x
Scan 2: C1/C2-scan Multisession burn 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x, 40x
Scan 3: Beta/Jitter-scan Multisession burn 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x
Scan 4: Beta/Jitter-scan Multisession burn 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x, 40x

Relations between Jitter and burning speed (Phthalocyanine Dye)
Ritek, Type 7, 700MB, 48x, as sold by TDK (Metallic)
Note: Burns with 32x and 40x speed where done with PoweRec OFF to avoid potential slowdowns in writing speed.

Burn 1: Multisession burn with 4 sessions at 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x speeds
Burn 2: Multisession burn with 5 sessions at 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x, 40x speeds

2x gives the lowest Jitter. Compared to Cyanine Dye higher speeds like 32x and 40x do not give higher Jitter than 20x/24x,

Scan 1: C1/C2-scan Multisession burn 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x
Scan 2: C1/C2-scan Multisession burn 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x, 40x
Scan 3: Beta/Jitter-scan Multisession burn 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x
Scan 4: Beta/Jitter-scan Multisession burn 16x, 20x, 24x, 32x, 40x

Mitsubishi Chemical, Type 4, 650MB, 24x USRW, Plextor branded
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
24x writing speed selected (no other speeds offered)

Burn done after a full erase of the media. 48659 total C1 errors.

Below are writing, C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Unknown Brand, 700MB, 10x HSRW, TDK branded
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
10x writing speed selected, no slowdowns.

Burn done after a full erase of the media. 3799 total C1 errors.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Unknown Brand, 700MB, 10x HSRW, TDK branded
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: OFF
AMQR: OFF
4x writing speed selected, no slowdowns.

Burn done after a full erase of the media. 2348 total C1 errors.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans:

Taiyo Yuden, Type 1, 700MB, 52x, as sold by Verbatim
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: 1.4x
AMQR: OFF
8x writing speed

GigaRec 1.4x pushing CD-R to it's capacity limits. Such discs will usually not play in the average stereo. 996861 total C1 errors, 183 C2 errors. 113min Audio content, 30 tracks. Disc plays in mini-stereo (Yamaha Pianocraft E600 MKII) with some problems (some seeking problems at the start causing a 2 to 3 second skip and the last two tracks are not accessible, rest plays ok and every track can accurately be jumped to).

Below are C1/C2, Beta/Jitter and readback scans:

Taiyo Yuden, Type 1, 700MB, 52x, as sold by Verbatim
PoweRec: ON
GigaRec: 1.3x
AMQR: OFF
8x writing speed

19659 total C1 errors, 2 C2 errors. 105min Audio content, 28 tracks. Disc plays in mini-stereo (Yamaha Pianocraft E600 MKII), only the last tracks seems to have some problems.

Below are C1/C2 and Beta/Jitter scans: