Hi,

I am finally gonna buy my first DVD-writer. Does the 716A work completely like it should (is it a safe buy) or does it still have bugs and is it better to get the 712A which hopefully doesn't have any bugs (which firmware should I get). Which bugs do the 716/712 still have?

Also, isn't it so that writing at 16x speed isn't recommended for backing up important data. I believe I read that in an article once. What about that?

Also, aren't most DVD media only 8x, so why risk 16x. Sorry for the newbie question, but can you choose the burning speed so it only burns at the recommended speed of the media?!

It's just that I read so many different opinions that I don't know what to believe and the 716 is still a rather new drive so maybe it still have some bugs that need to be worked out? Anybody can please clarify all this cause I am confused! Thanks very much!

And there are lots of opinions here, too ... some (recently) good, some bad. You should read through the threads here that have "716" in the title. CDFreaks will be releasing an official review very soon, if you prefer to wait for that.

One thing is certain: The PX716a will cost less after xmas than before!

If you want to burn mostly 8x DVD media only, SOHW-832S and ND-2500A are also good. I still believe 16x DVD writers are only good for those who want to beta-test 16x DVD recording. (Look at what Code65536 has.)

I fully agree. 16X DVD burning has not reached maturity, and 16X DVD+R and DVD-R media are not yet widespread, so more time is needed for improvements in both drives and media (though MCC004 appear to be well made).

However, this doesn't mean one cannot be conservative and go "underspeed". For example, limit burn speed to 8X on 16X-capable drives, or limit burn speed to 8X or 12X on 16X-rated media. It's always the state-of-the-art (16X DVD burning) technology that's on the "bleeding" edge with the most problems.

@Dance123,
I bought a PX-716A recently, despite having read all the postings of poor 16X burns, mainly because I highly value the analytical tests available with the PX-716A, such as Q-Check PI/PO, FE/TE, TA, etc. If you don't plan on doing much or any media scanning after burning, I believe the PX-716A is not your best choice, as there are many other lower cost burners that do very decent jobs with a wide variety of media at 4X and 8X.

712a does not have DL burning.

I wasn't aware Code65536 now has SOHW-1633S. (Wasn't it a 451S before?)