I have to agree with crossg: it seems you have done a lot of testing, and with all those less-than-desirable results you got, we understand your venting; however, as much as possible, post some disk quality scans of the burns you made with MCC mid. It is so true that MCC mids are so variable in quality that you either get a very good spindle or at least a below-average spindle. Again, please post some burn scans if you'd be so inclined.

I understand it, because while my Plextor 716a performed fine on its own, its performance in burning was not superior to my BenQ 1640--especially not considering the price I paid for my 716--based on its true former reputation of being unparalleled. Its write strategies weren't as well-developed as they should have been, and the f/w updates continue being very slow, if not completely haphazard and incomplete at times. That said, I don't hate Plextor, just the unsubstantiated claims Plextor made about that burner, when I could have gotten another (a Liteon 1693s) that clearly is superior in many cases, and writes many lower grade media with good or even close-to-excellent quality (especially most things MCC from all the scans I've seen at the 1693s scan thread); the Liteon would have also been 1/3 the price.