Plextor 716A +-R DL 6x Via Firmware Upgrade

by **Noua** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:50 am

Big news from plextor. Seems that in conjunction with Buffalo, Plextor will offer big improvments ont his 716 drive via firmware upgrade. =D>

Within the next 3 moths they will release 2 new firmwares. [-o<

V 1.04 to be released mid January

write speeds:
DVD+R DL 6x (only on MKM001);
DVD-R DL 2x;
DVD+RW in 8 time fast entry to media correspondence ;
High-speed media correspondence of AUTOSTRATGY * DVD-R/+R entry grade of media improvement;

V 1.05 to be released mid March

write speeds
DVD-R DL 6x

I used google to translate the page
_________________________________
[url=http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fbuffalo.melcoinc.co.jp%2Fproducts%2Fnew%2F2004%2F074_1.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=pt-PT&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools]ridiculously long URL. messes up my screen formatting.
don't do that again. use BBCode
dodecahedron[/url]
_________________________________
and here's the original web page
http://buffalo.melcoinc.co.jp/products/new/2004/074_1.html

What about that?Plextor offering free write speeds improvment?!?! #-o

I'm wondering if Pionner with A09 and the initial problems with 716 had anything to do with it... [-o<

by **Ian** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:14 am

That's great news.. btw here's another announcement from MT&A. It's in English:

http://www.mta.co.jp/firmware/img/PX-71 ... ade%20(MTA).pdf

by **alexnoe** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:16 am

Can someone make a write quality test? Writing MKM 2.4x discs at 6x sounds hackish

by **Ian** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:22 am

It's not too far fetched the Toshiba SD-R5372 does it at 5x.

I wonder if Plextor is using CAV or Z-CLV or what at that speed.

by **alexnoe** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:24 am

by **Ian** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:42 am

alexnoe wrote:CLV

Duh.. yeah it says it on that page.

by **RJW** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:01 am

Why do you think that the next generation of MCC dual layer +R disc's will be 8x ?
The first disc's of MCC were of much higher quality then they needed to be however it seems that the quality of todays disc's have a much wider variation the media is still quite good unlike the pathetic dual layer attempt from Ritek

by **Noua** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:51 am

alexnoe wrote:Can someone make a write quality test? Writing MKM 2.4x discs at 6x sounds hackish

The firmware isn't out yet!

by **alexnoe** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 10:55 am

The Beta is

by **Noua** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:45 am

You're right! But I haven't seen many reports of people using this firmware. It disables a lot of good features and it still has some bugs so maybe we should wait until the release of the final firmware in order to seem some tests.

by **Ian** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 11:52 am

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the 6x DL writing is in the current beta firmware.. just the DVD-R DL support.

by **Noua** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 12:15 pm

You are wrong. The firmware not only add DVD-R dl at 2x but also adds 6x writing speeds on DVD+R DL.
I'll try to post a picture.

by **Noua** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 1:06 pm

Ian, i have the picture but i can't seem to uploaded it. Maybe if i sent you an email with it.[/img]

by **tazdevl** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 7:52 pm

Now all they need to do is improve write quality and media compatibility.

Has anyone checked to see if hell is freezing over? Plex used to say they would never give customers added functionality with a firmware upgrade.

by **dolphinius_rex** on Fri Jan 07, 2005 9:06 pm

tazdevl wrote:Now all they need to do is improve write quality and media compatibility.

Has anyone checked to see if hell is freezing over? Plex used to say they would never give customers added functionality with a firmware upgrade.

Plextor says a lot of things.... :roll:

by **RJW** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:24 am

The answer I got was that it was not very likely that customers got such a free upgrade but it may be possible in the future if a drive needs it.
Guess the PX-716 is really that lame that it needs a lot of extra's Plextor normally wouldn't give.

About media compatability and writeing quality.
Well if your willing to screw up 5-6 disc's and use media that works with autostrategy and are taken the effect of not burning faster as 8x in account then the Plextor can allready burn very high quality.
However at 16x the drive becomes pathetic and because it was marketed as a 16x burner Plextor still has a lot of work to do.

I have to say that I have quite some critic on cdfreaks review.
1 Why only 1 sort of 16x media (MCC). Now some people will say other 16x media is hard to get. Ehh the reviewer is liveing in Holland in other words he should be able to get FUJI 16x DVD+R (PHILIPS) and TRAXDATA 16x DVD+R (RITEK) of Memorex 16 DVD+R (PHILIPS/CMC) at least I can get.
2 Why only PI tests. The drive can do more.
3 Autostrategy not really tested !
4 Verbatim as CD-R atip. Please correct it as Mitsubishi. If I would knock on Verbatims door to ask if I could licens the atip I would get a no. Because they can not do it.
5 No 16x DVD-R media. If you have access to Verbatim/MCC 8x DVD+RW/6x DVD-RW then why no 16x DVD-R ?
Also contacing TDK luxembourg might have given the option for 16x dvd-r/dvd+R media. Since why do some japanese TDK spindles state made in Luxembourg according to my sources. Also with the right contacts they could have had SONY 16x DVD-R/DVD+R media.
6 99 minutes test. The used manufacturer/atip is not named. I have seen drives being able of only burning 99 minutes on one specific atip so please state it.

by **alexnoe** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 12:32 pm

Posted on cdfreaks for MKM-001-00 (2.4x DL) @ 6x:

by **Bhairav** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 1:12 pm

Not bad at all.

by **dolphinius_rex** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 3:26 pm

I really hate it when reviewers cheap out on 99min recording tests, and use the CD Speed test record... since it doesn't work! I used to have a Mini CD-R (I believe it was Prodisc) in combination with my LiteON 40125S CD Speed would report it capable of recording up to 99min of data!! We're talking a 3"/8cm disc here... it's not PHYSICALLY capable (and yes, I *DID* try just for the heck of it... :roll:

).

Well, I suppose the test probably will tell you if you drive is capable of 99min recording... but that's only in theory! I'd like to see it put in to practice personally.

As for 16x DVD-Rs.... if I can have 16x DVD-Rs in CANADA, then *anyone* can get them :wink:

by **alexnoe** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 3:43 pm

The test tells you when the drive reports a write error. If the drive is b0rked and simulates writing onto air, then no one can do anything about it.

You can only blame the reviewers here

by **RJW** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:24 pm

As for 16x DVD-Rs.... if I can have 16x DVD-Rs in CANADA, then *anyone* can get them.

Well I can't buy them at any stores. Still I do have connections that can give me them.
In Holland/ Germanny 16x DVD-R's seem to be still rare. But if you can get your hands on Verbatim 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW then you should be able to get Verbatim 16x DVD-R. He probally forgot to ask or didn't wanted to stress things out. So I'm willing to forgive him if he wouldn't have tested any other 16x media since there hard to get.
But still with a bit of work and with some good lobying it was possible to get some of this media.
We can get however Ricohjpn dual layer disc's for arround 5 euro a piece which at this time is quite nice.

by **alexnoe** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:28 pm

Neither disc type is existing in germany atm. We had Verbatim DL media much earlier than you, but this time, Verbatim doesn't like us :oops:

by **RJW** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 5:35 pm

Well verbatim germany has sended out some samples of 16x DVD-R media.
I know a few compannies who got them from verbatim Germany.

by **alexnoe** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:04 pm

Another test: http://home.arcor.de/escalator/6xdl/6xd.html

by **OC-Freak** on Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:28 pm

RJW wrote:The answer I got was that it was not very likely that customers got such a free upgrade but it may be possible in the future if a drive needs it.
Guess the PX-716 is really that lame that it needs a lot of extra's Plextor normally wouldn't give.

About media compatability and writeing quality.
Well if your willing to screw up 5-6 disc's and use media that works with autostrategy and are taken the effect of not burning faster as 8x in account then the Plextor can allready burn very high quality.
However at 16x the drive becomes pathetic and because it was marketed as a 16x burner Plextor still has a lot of work to do.

I have to say that I have quite some critic on cdfreaks review.
1 Why only 1 sort of 16x media (MCC). Now some people will say other 16x media is hard to get. Ehh the reviewer is liveing in Holland in other words he should be able to get FUJI 16x DVD+R (PHILIPS) and TRAXDATA 16x DVD+R (RITEK) of Memorex 16 DVD+R (PHILIPS/CMC) at least I can get.
2 Why only PI tests. The drive can do more.
3 Autostrategy not really tested !
4 Verbatim as CD-R atip. Please correct it as Mitsubishi. If I would knock on Verbatims door to ask if I could licens the atip I would get a no. Because they can not do it.
5 No 16x DVD-R media. If you have access to Verbatim/MCC 8x DVD+RW/6x DVD-RW then why no 16x DVD-R ?
Also contacing TDK luxembourg might have given the option for 16x dvd-r/dvd+R media. Since why do some japanese TDK spindles state made in Luxembourg according to my sources. Also with the right contacts they could have had SONY 16x DVD-R/DVD+R media.
6 99 minutes test. The used manufacturer/atip is not named. I have seen drives being able of only burning 99 minutes on one specific atip so please state it.

1: Well - only 1 of the mentioned types works at 16x..... I guess Dennis did write a note about ritek, cmc and philips 16x not working at 16x?
2: True it can - could use 3 weeks more to get all features covered and tests finished since it takes DAMN long time to test everything at 2x speed.... I guess it would not be worth the extra wait-
3: True, don't know why Dennis did not test that.
4: Shame on Dennis!
5: Um, maybe we got one 16x +R, one 16x -R, one 8x +RW and one 6x -RW bundlet with another drive for use in the review of that drive? :wink:

And maybe only the RW discs could be used more than one time? :roll:

And yes - it's all about contacts

6: ok - point taken #-o

After all - it was dennis that got the review sample, so most tests is done by him

Plextor 716A +-R DL 6x Via Firmware Upgrade

Plextor 716A +-R DL 6x Via Firmware Upgrade

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