New! Plextor Firmware For PX-716A.

by **alchip80** on Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:37 pm

New Firmware out. Who knows... Maybe this will help.

Just to let you know

http://www.plextor.com/english/support/ ... rm_716.htm

by **Ian** on Thu Nov 04, 2004 8:56 pm

Thanks alchip80! Now we just need someone to test it.

by **KenW** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 12:43 am

I posted all my scans on cd freaks but they're forums are down.

So here goes, first look and testing with 1.01 fw and mcc004 16x at 16x and 12x both burns went full disk at speed set no slow downs or speed cutbacks.

pi/po scans on 16x burn with px drive were horrible having pie level on right side over 1000 , 12x burn had pie level on right side over 500.

scan of these disk with BenQ and speed3.42 showed pie levels never went past 60 on 16x burn and 30 on 12x. px pi/po scanning with px tools seems to still be iffy with 1.01 fw, i would not say more.

transfer rate scans with speed3.42 using 716a set to scan to 12x graph blows up after 10x with both 16x and 12x burns. till 10x its linear and smooth.

transfer rate scan with nec 3500 blows up after about 9x and looks pretty poor.

by **Ian** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 1:45 am

So essentially its not much better... #-o

by **dolphinius_rex** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 5:33 am

this does not bode well at all.... and to think I was *THIS* close to buying one!

by **Noua** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 6:30 am

On one hand i'm glad that things don't look good (means that i'm not buying one soon) on the other hand i wish i had a replacement for my A06 now...

Nevertheless this doesn't look like plextor... guess they shoul get back to cds... #-o

by **pchilson** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 10:08 am

Noua wrote:Nevertheless this doesn't look like plextor... guess they shoul get back to cds...

Actually I think they should go back to "rebadging"...

by **KenW** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 6:21 pm

pchilson

I think we should look at the benQ 1600@1620 first fw was horrible , -R would not burn past 4x and then level looked bad, but now on 4th fw and 5th fw on way its very good drive. It could be that USA plextor can fix this with fw. And maybe the EU and SG plextor are waiting for new fw before they release. I cant see 1000 of drives leaving factory not working. not even plextor's QA is that bad. I also cant see plextor design making a mistake and still building 1000 of drive before noticing let alone shiping those 1000 of drives to USA

by **pchilson** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 6:51 pm

KenW,
I hope you are right. We shall see.

by **KenW** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 8:13 pm

Have look at this scan its pretty nice, ignore the px scan we know there is a problem with pi/po on 716 for now.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p ... stcount=62

by **Gen-An** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 10:58 pm

KenW any chance of scanning that disc using Plextools and your PX-712A?

by **spookyone** on Fri Nov 05, 2004 11:46 pm

Well, I bought three of them at my local BestBuy for $139 ea. less $30 rebate.
Since the Plextor site said delivery was delayed to Nov 8., I was a bit surprised to be alerted on Nov. 2 Anandtech Forum that they have been avail already for a week. As it turns out, according to link that follows, Plextor delivered drives they apparently knew were not functioning perfectly to US vendors only - due to an obligation to deliver by a cetain date.

I automatically assumed that since the Plextor 712a was the reference drive of most sites (even tho it doesnt do DL), that the 716a would even be better. Needless to say, I am pissed, since the drives faults are not correctable by FW updates. I guess I will have to ship all three back to Plextor for replacement.

In the meantime, I have updated the FW to 1.01 on the drive I started to use. I have been burning Fuji DVD+R (Japan) 8X @ 8X since I am scared to burn at 12X or higher - with any media.

Also noticed in Nero 6.6.0.1 that booktype is auto set to DVD-ROM when burning. Since this is a new vers. I havent had a chance to play around with options yet. I assume I will be able to alter booktype.

by **Ian** on Sat Nov 06, 2004 12:05 am

Nero automatically sets the booktype to DVD-ROM.. the drive doesn't automatically do it like the 3500A or 108.

by **spookyone** on Sat Nov 06, 2004 2:26 am

O.K Thnx for info
I thought setting booktype to DVD-ROM was to make -R +R compatible for standalone DVD player. Dont really need to do it for late model PC DVD players???

by **KenW** on Sat Nov 06, 2004 4:00 am

KenW any chance of scanning that disc using Plextools and your PX-712A?

I dont have 712a sorry cant scan with a drive I dont have

by **dolphinius_rex** on Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:06 am

KenW wrote:
KenW any chance of scanning that disc using Plextools and your PX-712A?

I dont have 712a sorry cant scan with a drive I dont have

Personally, I've found the BenQ DW1620's results at 8x to be "fairly" similar in many cases, to the results done on the PX-712a at 2x.

by **alexnoe** on Sat Nov 06, 2004 8:39 am

Interesting that people discuss the PX716 scans away just because Benq scans look better.

If you look at the cdfreaks threads, you'll see that the PX716 does not at all report high error rates for proper burns (like MCC 8x +R @ 12x, written in Pioneer A08).

Yes, the PX716 is a crappy reader, even crappier than the PX712, but you cannot discuss the scans away. The drive is b0rked, in both reading and writing.

New! Plextor Firmware For PX-716A.

New! Plextor Firmware For PX-716A.

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