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Plextor PX-740A

 by Purav Sanghani on August 2, 2005 12:05 AM EST
30 Comments | Add A Comment
30 Comments

About the PX-740A

Take a look at what Nero’s InfoTool shows about the PX-740A…

And here’s a snapshot of DVD Info Pro’s take on the PX-740A…


Click to enlarge.


Chipset Information

Plextor has changed chipsets for the PX-740A model from the Sanyo to Philips’ Nexperia PNX7860E chipset, which BenQ also used in their DW1640, which we included in our summer roundup.


Click to enlarge.

So, it seems like the PX-740A is just a re-badged DW1640. We can’t really say that “Plextor has stooped low”, since BenQ has made some pretty decent performing units in the past including the DW1640. With that said, the PX-740A obviously does not include any of the features that the PX-716A had, such as the GigaRec feature, which lets you burn larger amounts of media onto a standard CD.


Click to enlarge.

Take a look at what we should expect from the PX-740A…

Plextor PX-740A Feature List
DVD Write Performance DVD+R 16x: 22.16MB/s (CAV), 12x: 16.62MB/s (PCAV), 8x: 11.08MB/s, 4x: 5.54MB/s (ZCAV), 2.4x: 3.324MB/s
DVD+RW 8x: 11.08MB/s (ZCAV), 4x: 5.54MB/s (ZCAV), 2.4x: 3.324MB/s
DVD+R DL 8x: 11.08MB/s (PCAV), 4x: 5.54MB/s (ZCAV), 2.4x: 3.324MB/s
DVD-R 16x: 22.16MB/s (CAV), 12x: 16.62MB/s (PCAV), 8x: 11.08MB/s, 4x: 5.54MB/s (ZCAV), 2.4x: 3.324MB/s
DVD-RW 6x: 8.31MB/s (ZCAV), 4x: 5.54MB/s (ZCAV), 2.4x: 3.324MB/s
DVD-R DL 4x: 5.54MB/s (ZCAV), 2.4x: 3.324MB/s
CD Write Performance CD-R 48x: 7.2MB/s (CAV), 40x: 6.0MB/s (CAV), 32x: 4.8MB/s (PCAV), 24x: 3.6MB/s (PCAV), 16x: 2.4MB/s (ZCAV), 12x: 1.8MB/s (ZCAV)
CD-RW 32x: 4.8MB/s (PCAV), 24x: 3.6MB/s (PCAV), 16x: 2.4MB/s, 10x: 1.5MB/s, 4x: 600KB/s (ZCAV)
Media Read Performance DVD-ROM 16x CAV, 12x CAV, 8x CAV, 6x CAV, 4x CAV
CD-ROM 48x CAV, 40x CAV, 32x CAV, 24x CAV, 16x CAV, 10x CAV
Supported DVD Modes and Formats DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, Multiborder, Multisession, DVD+VR, DVD-VR
DVD+R: Disc at Once, Multisession, Incremental Recording
DVD+R DL: Disc at Once
DVD+RW: Sequential Write, Random Access Write, DVD-R: Disc at Once, Multiborder recording, Incremental recording
DVD-RW: Disc at Once, Multiborder recording, Incremental recording, Restricted Overwriting, DRT-DM
Supported CD Modes and Formats - CD-DA, CD-Extra, CD-ROM Mode-1, CD-ROM Mode-2, CD-ROM XA, Photo-CD, Video-CD, Multisession, CD TEXT, CD-I, CD+G, Mixed CD
- Track at Once, Disc at Once, Packet Write (variable and fixed), Session at Once
Access Time <150ms (CD/DVD)
Buffer 2MB
Interface EIDE/ATAPI

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  • n7 - Thursday, August 4, 2005 - link

    Moral of the story: The BenQ DW1640 still pwns :)

    Heck, it's good enough that Plextor (who is really quite a joke nowdays) is using the BenQ drive :)

  • quanta - Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - link

    The Mt.Rainier spec has been around for a while now, and it still doesn't support Mt.Rainier? So much for a manufacturer with 'high end' optical drives. But then again, what do you expect from someone ?http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?p=1000879#...">suing PxLinux developer with DMCA?

  • Den - Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - link

    Why is it that the drive being reviewed is not in most of the error rate graphs? And I think the headings are with the wrong graphs for some of the article too. This is pretty sloppy work even by web standards...

  • Den - Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - link

    Just to be more specific, no plextor on the error rate graph for MCC 03RG20 on page 5, or Ritek 008 (DVD+RW) on page 6, or c1 or c2 errors on page 8.

  • semo - Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - link

    that sentence does not sound right to me...
    quote:
    Our test unit ran us about $76.00 excluding shipping costs, which is not bad, but compared to some retailers offering BenQ's DW1640 for about $10 less, the PX-740A does give more bang for the buck.

    surely the dw1640 gives more bang for the buck if it is cheaper and since the plextools does not even work with the 740a (because of the dumb rebadging).

  • shabby - Wednesday, August 3, 2005 - link

    I bought the 1640 for $53 cdn, its impossible that it costs even more in the states.

  • LX - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link

    Since hardware-wise this drive is the same as the BenQ DW1640, it may make more sense to buy the BenQ (cheaper) and flash it with either the latest BenQ or latest Plextor firmware (yes, it works)

  • dmxlite - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link

    Flashing the 1640 with the 740 firmware works? Cool. I'll keep that in mind, since it looks like the 740 firmware is a bit better in some cases than the 1640's.

  • WooDaddy - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link

    Ok... I think we've been scammed yall. Dual layer media has been out for prolly 2yrs now and it is still $4-5 a pop. For the same amount of time, single layer has dropped almost 70%. I'm really tired of all these new burners that are expensive to actually use (for dual layer).

    It's like having a Ferrari for $20k but gas costs $5k a gallon.

  • andrep74 - Monday, August 8, 2005 - link

    Blame all the people that decided to steal DVDs using Netflix or Blockbuster, renting them as fast as they could for $15/mo and ripping the ones they _would_ have bought, burning them to DVD-(+)R instead.

    In reality the only (obvious?) use for DL-DVD is making exact copies of commercial DVDs, including the menus and extra features that were usually ignored during the above process; now DL carries an extra "tax" to help movie companies recover their "losses".

    So, yeah, some assholes won in the short term, but now we _all_ pay for their theft in the long term. Don't think others' actions don't affect you.
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