Hi! Today I bought TEAC DV-W516D DVD-Recorder (16X DVD±R). I was about to buy PLEXTOR 712A (8X -R, 12X +R), but finally I was persuaded to buy the first due to the higher speeds. As soon I installed it, I put a DVD+R 4X disc, and the possible speed was up to 4X (NO OVERSPEEDING). My "old" Plextor PX-708, could easily procude nice 8X burns on 4X discs. This was the first disappointment. Then I tried to use Nero CD-DVD Speed to calculate the PI/PO errors. Second disappointment! Error reporting (for determination of quality of burning) was not supported. And this TEAC DV-W516D is actually a Pioneer OEM, and is also the latest technology... Tomorrow I'll go and replace it with a PLEXTOR PX-712A. I now know why Plextor is the KING... You forget the word "problems"... (OK, this might not be problem for some, but I just wanted to share this info, for anyone that is about to buy the TEAC DV-W516D, so that being aware of the above issues)
Hi Nephilim. I am glad you agree But to be honest yesterday I had a look at the Plextor forum at cdfreaks, and there are a lot of people complaining about bad batches of PX-712A... If this is true, this is gonna be one of the first big letdowns by Plextor uptodate. I read that Plextor might be not brave enough to recall/replace the bad burners and try to "fix" this by new firmwares that do not fix anything at all in reality. I was very sad to read this, as its a pity for such a company to ruin its reputation because of such a silly mistake. Personally, I took into consideration these comments, and though a Plextor fan, I am not willing to risk it (I might be on the unlucky ones side and buy of the defective plextors), so I'll go for the NEC 3500A (although I have never been a fan of NEC) because I hear the best for this drive...
For some kprobe scans of this drive with several media you can check out the pages below - the text is in greek but you will get the picture. DVD+R Tests: http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/vb/article.php?a=40 DVD-R Tests: http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/vb/article.php?a=39 DVD+R 9 Double Layer Tests: http://www.pctechnology.gr/vbull/vb/article.php?a=38 My impression of the drive is somewhat bizarre. Yes its a Pioneer alright (checked with dvrflash), but with different fw which somewhat differentiates it. I got bad scans/burns on TY media, but on crappy media i got excellent results. The DL media scans were very good, which was a pleasant surprise i guess.
