Plextor,
a well known brand for professional recording equipment has started shipping its low cost 16x DVD Burner, targeted at mainstream PC users with a suggested retail price of US$109. This drive offers high reliability and performance such as 16x DVD±R recording, 8x DVD+R DL recording and 8x DVD-R DL recording (up from 4x DVD-R DL previously announced) while sacrificing certain professional features of its PX-716 series, such as GigaRec (fitting more data to CD), VariRec (laser power adjustment) and SecuRec (disc encryption). If you copy, please show your appreciation by linking back to cdfreaks.
The Drive supports 16.7MB/s burst using PIO Mode 4 or DMA Mode 2 and 33.3MB/s using Ultra DMA 33. For recording, it features a 2MB buffer and uses Lossless Linking / Zero Link technology to protect against buffer under-runs. Its physical length is only 6.99" making it suitable for small form-factor PCs and comes with a choice of beige and black face.
Its software bundle includes the award-winning Nero 6 suite consisting of Nero Express 6 for general recording, NeroVision Express 2 SE for authoring video content, Nero PhotoShop Express for photo editing and InCD 4.2 for recording directly to rewritable media, like a removable disk. Other software packages include trial/full versions of its PlexTools Professional, PlexTools Professional XL, Cyberlink, Pinnacle and Sonic.
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The PX-740A delivers state-of-the-art recording speeds of 8X DVD+R Double-Layer (DL) and 4X* DVD-R Dual Layer (DL) DVD (8.5 GB), as well as 16X DVD+/-R on recommended single-layer DVD media. The internal drive features an ATA/ATAPI-5 (EIDE) interface for broad based PC-compatibility. Burst data transfer rates for the internal drive are 16.7 MB/sec for PIO Mode-4, 16.7 MB/sec for DMA-2, and 33.3 MB/sec for Ultra DMA33. A short drive length of 6.99-inches accommodates small form-factor PCs. The PX-740A will be available with either a beige or black bezel. "Analysis of end-user requirements reveals that a vast majority of customers simply want reliable DVD and CD recording at the fastest possible speed," said Howard Wing, vice president of sales and marketing for Plextor. "The PX-740A drive is an addition to our award-winning 16X DVD drive platform, without the advanced user-controlled features required by professionals. This makes the lower cost PX-740A an ideal solution for daily backup of data and other corporate IT and SOHO applications." Read the full press release here. * 8x DVD-R DL according to Plextor. |
It will be interesting to see whether the average consumer would go this particular drive as in my opinion, I would see consumers making more use of the GigaRec and VariRec features than in business use, although businesses would likely make more use of SecuRec for protecting their media against unauthorised use. If you copy, please give credit for our work by linking back to cdfreaks in your copy.
Despite DVD recorders reaching 16x, the one thing that I still find surprising is the tiny 2MB buffer that hasn't been increased since some of the very first CD recorders. At a DVD recording speed of 16x, the drive is burning at a rate of ~22MB/sec. All it takes is a 1/10s interruption for its buffer runs dry. While the drive does support Lossless Linking / Zero Link technology to prevent a coaster, some consumers still prefer to have a continuous recording from start to finish.
Feel free to discuss and find out more about Plextor DVD recorders on our Plextor DVD Recorder Subforum. For more information including specifications of the Plextor PX-740A, see Plextor's own press release here.
Source: Yahoo Financial News
