Plextor BLACK INTERNAL PLEXWRITER ( PX-W5224TA/SW-BL )

Rating:
Summary: Slow CD-Writer
Review: I'm running this unit on a Dell Dimension 4300, P4 at 1.6 Mhz.

It reads pretty fast, quite consistently at max speed (close to rated speed of 52X)

BUT - I have been trying to get it to write CD's and have never gotten it to burn at anything over 16X. Often, audio cd's will sound scratchy. Some won't be readable in most CD players at all.

I've tried lots of different media, including Taiyo Yuden, all with the same result. I get slightly better results with the higher quality media, but never better than 16x speed.

For software, I've tried Plextools Professional, which was terribly, horribly slow - taking over 15 minutes to burn a single audio disk. I've tried Fuerio and Roxio CD Creator 6. These both gave similar results.

The screwy thing is that using Nero CD-Speed I seem to be able to burn a test data disk very quickly - at 49X with no errors. But writing an actual disk, like a VCD, a data disk with jpg's on it, or any audio CD must be done at 16x or slower, or I get another coaster. I have quite a pile of coasters already.

I gave it 2 stars because it does read fast and perfectly.

From everything I've seen, the Plextor Premium, or the Lite-On 52326S might have been better choices for the money. Sigh.

Rating:
Summary: High End CD Burner
Review: This is a great CD burner. I am sorry that the reviewer below did not get optimum results. Plextor is THE name to look for when shopping for CD and DVD recorders. The BL in the titles means that it is black. I have burned a lot of CD's with it over the past few weeks and it has not even hiccupped. If you have had problems with it, check the firmware update.