Verdict: SPEEDY AND PACKED WITH FEATURES
Even before we opened the box, we knew that Plextor's new DVD writer was going to be good. It's the successor to the speedy PX-708A, which we reviewed back in March. The main difference between that and the PX-712SA, is the S-ATA interface, making this the first DVD burner we've seen to ditch the ageing EIDE bus.
It's also one of the first drives to support 12x writing to DVD+R media - that's 16.5MB/sec in real money. Plus, it can write to DVD-RW media at 4x. The rest of the write speeds are pretty much what you'd expect (4x DVD+RW and 8x DVD-R). DVD-ROMs can be read at 16x and CD-ROMs at 48x. Writing to CD-Rs is at 48x and the CD-RW write speed is a respectable 24x.
The drive benefits from an 8MB buffer and has all the buffer under-run, variable laser power and variable write speed technologies that we've come to know and love on Plextor drives. Other features that until now were only available on Plextor's CD-RW drives are GigaRec, SecuRec and Q-Check, a benchmarking utility. GigaRec lets you burn up to 1GB of data or 111 minutes of audio onto a 700MB (80-minute) CD-R. The drive also supports 90- and 99-minute CD-Rs, but as with all proprietary standards, playing recorded discs back on any other CD or DVD players will be a trial-and-error process. SecuRec allows you to password protect data you've burned.
Another bonus is the two-year on-site collect and return warranty. The software bundle is also one of the most comprehensive around and includes our favoured Nero Burning ROM 6. InCD is also included, should you want to drag and drop files in Windows. There's also a Nero backup utility, PowerDVD 5, and Pinnacle Studio 9 SE for editing videos before burning them to CD or DVD.
The drive looks pretty basic, with no controls other than an eject button and an emergency eject hole (a pin is provided). Round the back is where it gets interesting. There are just two connectors: S-ATA power and S-ATA data. As S-ATA is a point-to-point bus, you don't have to worry about setting any master/slave jumpers.
One slightly disappointing aspect is that when you turn the drive upside down, you realise why it's longer than most. The EIDE and standard Molex power sockets are clearly visible through a small hole. This is simply a PX-712A with a S-ATA bridge interface bolted onto the back.
Our test PC is based on an Asus P4P800 board, and this had no problems with the drive, although we did have to set a DVD Region before it would perform properly. We'd also recommend disabling the silent mode, as we found that performance was noticeably better with the drive running at its maximum speed.
We used Verbatim media for all the testing, and were able to source some highly elusive 8x DVD-R and 4x DVD-RW discs, although they're still very difficult to find in shops. As we couldn't find any 12x DVD+R media, we used an 8x disc instead.
The results show that the PX-712SA is a blisteringly fast drive. We were worried that the S-ATA bridge might cripple performance, but this wasn't the case. Writing 4.2GB of files to the DVD+R took seven minutes and 24 seconds - the fastest we've seen, while a DVD-R took only 20 seconds longer. Burning the same files to a DVD+RW disc took 14 minutes and 17 seconds, exactly the same time as the PX-708A. The DVD-RW took 14 minutes and 36 seconds, again the fastest we've seen, partly due to the new 4x DVD-RW media.
CD writing was another record-breaking result at just two minutes and 44 seconds. Reading is no slouch either; our new CD ripping test was completed in eight minutes and three seconds. By contrast, the PX-708A took eight minutes and 11 seconds. Ripping the 4.3GB DVD video took just over five minutes.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately, with the currently available media, there's little to beat the PX-712SA. Although it's pricey, if you're desperate to remove the bulky EIDE cables from your PC and want discs burned in the quickest time possible, the PX-712SA is a great choice.
