Conclusions

I have quite a bit to say about this drive after spending countless hours testing it and just trying to simply complete a majority of the tests.  I guess I'll start by saying that I went into this review with very high expectations.  After all, it is a Plextor!  However, there were many issues and personal dislikes with this drive that really did not meet my somewhat picky standards.  I guess I'll start with the bad...For one, the drive did not do well at all in the DAE tests.  Regardless of what media I used, I came up with some rather unacceptable results.  The other major issue was its performance with single layer DVD-Video discs.  This drive was quite finicky with these particular discs and it basically would slow down to a crawl at some point during its read transfer tests, affecting its overall performance.  

This drive also had some problems when writing to DVD+R media.  Regardless of what media I used, it struggled a bit with this format,  even with quality Verbatim 16x DVD+R media.  On top of that, Plextor was completely unresponsive to email inquiries regarding these concerns.  That alone is enough for me to not recommend this drive to a majority of users.  With the DVD-R format, things were quite different.  Its performance was much better, except it would still struggle a bit near the end of the writing process.  The other major issue with this drive was when it came down to reading DVD recordable media.  I wasted quite a bit of time just trying to complete the tests and provide you with results, all of which were quite poor and riddled with errors. 

What I particularly disliked the most though was the PlexTools application.  Now, this may be a matter of personal preference, but I honestly do not like the fact that you have to rely so deeply on the PlexTools software in order for the drive to perform at its best.  I like my DVD writer to perform at its maximum capability without any type of user intervention.  Unfortunately, I constantly had to go in PlexTools to check and adjust read rates after inserting certain types of media.  It just wouldn't save the previous settings I have made.  This is a bit of a hassle and honestly, not really necessary as it can be quite cumbersome to a majority of users who are not too knowledgeable on how these drives really work.  With that said, this drive is primarily for the advanced user who wants maximum flexibility and control on how it functions.  Sure, these features are designed to also keep noise levels to a minimum and provide a high level of quality, however, most advanced users would want the highest performance anyways.  Unfortunately, when enabling and adjusting certain features for maximum performance, this drive was very noisy.  In fact, it is much noisier than a majority of the 16x DVD writers I have looked at.  I guess it's all a matter of what's really most important to you, but in my opinion, one less unnecessary application loading at startup is certainly a good thing.

Now, on to the positive points regarding its performance.   This drive is, by far, the fastest dual layer DVD-Video ripper on the market.  It can rip both OTP and PTP discs faster than any of the other 16x drive I've looked at, and perhaps the fastest drive currently on the market.  For those who will use the drive primarily for ripping, this is certainly the drive for you!  On top of that, double layer writing was also quite impressive.  Its media compatibility is outstanding and can write to a majority of 2.4x double layer media at 4x.  You are no longer stuck with Verbatim as your only choice for faster DL writing.  On top of that, it's CDR media compatibility was also excellent.

Now, I don't want to give a majority the wrong impression on Plextor drives in general as they have a high reputation for being quality drives.  In fact, I've used them personally for many years.  However,  I can only provide you with my honest opinions based on my experiences with the drive. 

I'll conclude by saying that if only a select few of the drives I've looked at would only offer the ripping performance of the PX-716A on dual layer DVD-Video discs, as well as the high compatibility with DVD+R DL discs, they would have a top product on their hands!  One can only hope I guess and I eagerly await our next review.

More information on the Plextor PX-716A can be found on the Plextor Website.

Plextor drives are much more expensive than any of its competitors.  I've seen them as high as $160 plus shipping.  However, you can pick up the Plextor PX-716A at eWaggle.com for $131 with shipping included.  You should note that this is the retail version they offer, which includes the optional black bezel plus their particular retail packaging also includes a coupon for $25 worth of free CD or DVD discs. 

Questions?  Comments?  Discuss them here!

I've setup a poll in the thread and would like user feedback.  What's the most important feature you look for in a DVD Writer?  Share your thoughts here!