Hi all,
I just got a Plextor 716UF. Part of it is because of the Plextools quality scans (I don't have a drive that supports the scans), part of it is to get the Plextor DAE, and part is I just wanted a fairly decent DVD burner.
Well, I've been playing around with Plextools and scanning some old discs just to get a feel for what's going on and I'm seeing weird results.
Older discs that I've burned with my Sony DRU500a (the scourge of the earth, according to some) have been looking VERY good. There tends to be a bit high PIE error rate (~100ish) at the very beginning, but then settles down pretty low (<40) for the rest of the scan. No POF, PIF. Beta and Jitter both look excellent, and the TA tests are either "Very Good" or "Excellent" depending on the disc. Transfer rate tests look good, as well.
Strangely, the Plextor takes FOREVER to recognize a disc burned in the 500a -- like 30 to 40 seconds after putting a disc in I can finally access it in Windows. It takes under 15 seconds for Pioneer or LG discs.
In a few tests with discs from a Pioneer A07, the TA tests are coming back "bad" or "very bad", although PI/PO looks much better than the 500a (usually <30 PI). Jitter starts out pretty high.
Discs from an LG4163 look quite good, and get "Good" from TA tests, good PI/PO results, but jitter is high (~10%) at the start of the disc although it settles down the farther into the burn it gets. Again transfer rates are good.
Now, common wisdom (in my understanding) is the DRU500a is a dog of a writer, the Pioneer A07 should be stellar, and the LG 4163 is somewhere in the middle. But my 500A is showing to be the best writer, and the Pioneer A07 the worst (!).
This is ALL with good media-- TYG01/TYG02/MXLRG02 (whatever the Maxell 4X DVD-R code is, I don't remember off the top of my head)
How should I interpret these results? Obviously, I haven't scanned EVERY DISC but there seems to be an early pattern showing up here. Would posts of some scans help? (Which ones?) I think I am reading the charts correctly although this is fairly new to me.
(EDIT: I may have had the beta and jitter lines backwards in my head. Does it matter where on the scale Beta is as long as it's a mostly straight line? It looks like mine start out around +.10 on the PlexTools scale and drop towards 0. And Jitter you want as low as possible? Is there a guide for where jitter is "too high"? I am scanning an A07 disc right now and jitter starts at a 'peak' of -.25 and is steadily marching down to -.35/-.4)
Is my Plextor bad? Is my Pioneer bad? Can I RMA to Pioneer based on what PlexTools is telling me? (I do notice sometimes the burns don't play as well as I'd like from the Pioneer, so maybe it is defective).
Thanks for any tips about reading this stuff!
[edit again: Is there any way to directly post the scans, or do I need to host the images off-site?]