Since new firmware(s) is out, let see how the drive performs on 16x capable media. Currently, I only own 4 MIDs so if you have more feel free to share your findings and post your scans in this thread.
PS: I’m too lazy to do 3 pass quality scan with Plextools so I’m going to post quality scan with Nero CD Speed on BenQ 1620.
MCC004 16x DVD+R burned @16x
Plextor PX-716A TLA0202 FW1.06. Media sold as Verbatim 25 pack.
PR ON. No slowdowns at the end. Good start.
Burns fine.
YUDEN000T02 8x DVD+R burned @16x
Plextor PX-716A TLA0202 FW1.06. Media sold as Fuji 50 pack (Made in Japan).
PR ON. (Almost) No slowdowns.
Burns fine.
Let see another T02 burn.
YUDEN000T02 8x DVD+R burned @16x
Plextor PX-716A TLA0202 FW1.06. Media sold as Sony 50 pack (Made in Japan).
PR ON. Slowdowns. 
Burns fine though.
TYG02 8x DVD-R burned @16x
Plextor PX-716A TLA0202 FW1.06. Media sold as Fuji 50 pack (Made in Japan).
PR ON.
burns fine.
MCC03RG20 16x DVD-R burned @16x
Plextor PX-716A TLA0202 FW1.06. Media sold as Verbatim 25pack (Made in Taiwan).
PR ON. Burns 4x at the end.
I thought the new FW 1.06 fixed the PR sensitivity… apparently not. Overall, it burns very well @16x. But I need speed too. 
It looks like FW 1.06 ist a improvement for Sony DVD -R 16x (Sony16D1). All results are from a TLA#0202 drive with PR and AS on.
First a little history:
With FW 1.04 PR would kick in at 3.2 GB. The burn was slowed to 12x. Never mind the slowndown, the resulting burn was good or even very good. The result can be seen here:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=874214&postcount=414
The fourth picture is a Beta/Jitter scan of a burn with FW 1.05. As the Jitter-graph shows PR kicked in at 3.3 GB. The burn was slowed to 4x! The result was a coaster. The drive reports a read error at this position. Side note: A burn with FW 1.05 at a speed of 12x resulted in a burn with no slowdown and a very good result.
Pictures 1, 2 and 3 are Sum8, Sum1 and Beta/Jitter scans of a burn with FW 1.06 (PR on AS on). This time, the media was burned in a clean 6.7-16x CAV with no slowdown. In comparison to FW 1.04, notice the disappearance of the “U-turn” in the Beta-graph at 3.6 GB.
Edit: TA-Test: Very Good; Good; Good
This is of course only a single media that has been checked. But it sure looks if the strategy for Sony DVD -R 16x has been perfected. So what of Zevias question if PR ist still too sensitive? I guess the answer ist “not anymore for some media”.
Further testing will reveal more. Meanwhile i’m eagerly awaiting the changelog for 1.06.
A downside on FW 1.06: For Sony DVD +R 16x (Sony D21 00) that silly Z-CAV strategy ist still being used.
MCC004 16X DVD+R burned @16X
PX-716SA TLA#0304 Firmware 1.06. Media sold as Verbatim 16X.
PR ON - AS OFF
A FE/TE test indicated that this disc should not be burned at maximum speed.
Results like this really make me wonder what is the deciding factor for Powerec to slow down or not. It can’t be PIF can it? Just compare this with Zevias result in posting #2. I mean a peak of 16 max. ist still exellent.
Zevia: Could you do a Sum8-scan with Plextools at 2x speed so we can compare it to
rjihs scan? Your scan shows highter PIF but scan speed was 8x.
Forgot to tell for those of you who is not familiar with BenQ/CDSpeed, the PIF limit for a good scan in BenQ/CDSpeed scan is 16. So you need to read PIF as 4:1 to Plextools.
Here’s sum8/sum1 scans for post #2 and I posted again the write/quality scans for easy comparison. Both plextools and cdspeed show very good scans.
MCC004 @16x FW1.06
Nice job.
But I can hardly get real 16X media around me.
So 16X writing speed is not that important for me.
Btw,many guys in cdbest forum(a Chinese site) overburn 4X marked YUDEN000T0200
media to 16X and post excellent scans with 716A and PR on.
The forum is down this moment, so I can’t post the link.
But they didn’t keep the writing speed log.
The scan is also done by 716A in High Accuracy with PlexTools.
Plextor-716A 1.06 F/W. TLA#0304
Verbatim +R MCC 004, A/Son P/R on
===> Burn process completed successfully at 16x (22,160 KB/s)
Disc successfully recorded!
==> Recording time: 00:05:20 <==
Logfile saved at: Thu Mar 31 17:32:33 2005
T/A Test, Inner: Good. Middle: Not Good and Outer: Not Good.
This is the Disc I got with the Plextor and don’t have any more, looks like it made it to 16x, Can’t really comment as I have only burned this MID once. Maybe P/R kicked in a little late?? 
Zevia, agree that the Plex takes too long scanning to get the same info that you can get with one scan on the BENQ. Think I’ll get one just for it’s scanning ability. $79.00 Can.
Wow! So fast!
Is there anyway you can waste a disk and burn “create data disk” from Nero CD Speed, and post the scan here? My fastest time was only 5:56 or so.
Thanks crossg.
“Create data disk” is from pull down menu “Run Test”, or simply press F9.
After the test completed, press the small disk button on the top right to save the pics in PNG format… and post here. Of course Sum1/8 scans on the newly created disk is also welcome.
