Finally, our master has arrived.

[Harrier]

http://www.plextor.be/english/products/premium.html

[dodecahedron]

PlexWriter Premium Benefits


52X write
32X rewrite
52X read through SpeedRead function
ATAPI Interface (PIO Mode 4, Multiword DMA Mode 2, UDMA/33 Mode 2)
GigaRec Technology
SecuRec Technology
Silent Mode
Q-Check
Buffer Underrun Proof Technology
PoweRec Technology (Plextor Optimised Writing Error Reduction Control)
VariRec Technology (Variable Recording)
Access Time <65 ms
8MB Buffer
Mount Rainier Ready
Capable of reading and writing CD TEXT information
Compatible with:
Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP
MultiRead Compatible
Supports SPDIF (Digital Audio Output)
High Quality Digital Audio Extraction
A black tray, to reduce the jitter and to increase the quality of the burned CD
An optimised PCB circuit to reduce noise to get a higher quality of CD
Two year* full-warranty (parts, labor and replacement) with On-Site Collect & Return** service
Writes CD-ROM Modes 1 and 2, CD-XA Form 1 and 2, CD-DA, CD-I, Video CD & Photo CD.
Creates Audio CD, CD Extra, Enhanced CD, Photo CD, CD-I & Video CD Titles.
Supports Disk-At-Once, Track-At-Once, Multisession, Packet Writing modes.
Wide CD-R and CD-RW media compatibility (74min and Type80 - 79min)
Includes PlexTools Professional


Specifications Premium
Disc
Usable Formats Write/ReWrite Read Play
-- CD-DA * * *
-- CD-ROM * *
-- CD-ROM + CD-DA * * *
-- CD-ROM XA * *
-- CD-I * *
-- PHOTO-CD * *
-- VIDEO-CD * *
-- CD-Extra * * *
-- CD+G * * *
-- CD-TEXT * *


Writing Modes Track at once
Session at once
Disc at once
Multisession
Packet writing


Performance
Data Transfer Rate
-- Burst (UDMA/33) 33MB/s
-- Write CD-R
52X: 7800KB/s CAV
40X: 6000KB/s P-CAV
32X: 4800KB/s P-CAV
24X: 3600KB/s P-CAV
20X: 3000KB/s CLV
16X: 2400KB/s CLV
10X: 1500KB/s CLV
8X: 1200KB/s CLV
4X: 600KB/s CLV
1X: 150KB/s CLV
CD-DA
52X: 7800KB/s CAV
40X: 6000KB/s P-CAV
32X: 4800KB/s P-CAV
24X: 3600KB/s P-CAV
20X: 3000KB/s CLV
16X: 2400KB/s CLV
10X: 1500KB/s CLV
8X: 1200KB/s CLV
4X: 600KB/s CLV
1X: 150KB/s CLV
-- ReWrite 32X: 4800KB/s P-CAV
24X: 3600KB/s P-CAV
20X: 3000KB/s P-CAV
10X: 1500KB/s CLV
4X: 600KB/s CLV
-- Read 22X-52X: 3300-7800KB/s CAV
18X-40X: 2710-6000KB/s CAV
14X-32X: 2170-4800KB/s CAV
10X-24X: 1600-3600KB/s CAV
8X: 1200KB/s CLV
4X: 600KB/s CLV
Access Time <65ms
Data Buffer 8MB
Error Rate Mode1: less than 10-12bits
Mode2: less than 10-9bits

Front Panel
Eject Auto Eject/Manual Emergency
Lights Indication ON - DISC IN
Disc Loading Tray, Auto load/auto eject
Headphone Jack Stereo mini-jack, 0.8V at 32 Ohms

Rear Panel
Power Supply DC +5V and DC +12V
Audio Connector Analog output (Molex Connector)
Digital SPDIF output

Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions 146 x 41.3 x 190 mm
Weight 1 kg

Reliability
MTBF 60.000 POH (12% 8H/day)
Tray Loading Eject 50.000 times


i'm wondering about the GigaRec, SecuRec, Silent Mode, Q-Check and PlexTools Professional

[Harrier]

I'm wondering about the lack of 48X writing.
Guess it's Plextors maneuver purposed of keeping the PX48 in the race.

[Ian]

Will be available here in the US by the end of April for $129.

[Harrier]

In Europe it'll be obtainable from May at 119 EUR.

[Scour]

Hello!

52x32x52 is not so faster than my 48x24x48, but it has great features like the Error-Check for CD

I hope, it´s soon reviewed by Ian

[Ian]

I hope, it´s soon reviewed by Ian

Me too!

[tlotz]

I got burned by Plextor with their 48/24/48A drive. I think many have read my short summary of the 3 Plextor 48X drives I had. For those who *must* have this drive, I would wait until 8 months have passed after its release. Most importantly, reading reviews about this drive which will be posted in the months to come is crucial. I read lots of reviews about the Plextor 48X before it came out, and I still got burned. I would recommend staying away from Plextor ATAPI drives for now, unless you absolutely cannot resist. Given the impressive specs of the Plextor Premium drive, I think many people will be unable to resist and to those people I say: do your research and wait until Plextor fixes the bugs before you buy!

[Scour]

I got burned by Plextor with their 48/24/48A drive. I think many have read my short summary of the 3 Plextor 48X drives I had. For those who *must* have this drive, I would wait until 8 months have passed after its release. Most importantly, reading reviews about this drive which will be posted in the months to come is crucial. I read lots of reviews about the Plextor 48X before it came out, and I still got burned. I would recommend staying away from Plextor ATAPI drives for now, unless you absolutely cannot resist. Given the impressive specs of the Plextor Premium drive, I think many people will be unable to resist and to those people I say: do your research and wait until Plextor fixes the bugs before you buy!

... and there are many users, who are absoluty happy with their Plextor 4824A

[tlotz]

I got burned by Plextor with their 48/24/48A drive. I think many have read my short summary of the 3 Plextor 48X drives I had. For those who *must* have this drive, I would wait until 8 months have passed after its release. Most importantly, reading reviews about this drive which will be posted in the months to come is crucial. I read lots of reviews about the Plextor 48X before it came out, and I still got burned. I would recommend staying away from Plextor ATAPI drives for now, unless you absolutely cannot resist. Given the impressive specs of the Plextor Premium drive, I think many people will be unable to resist and to those people I say: do your research and wait until Plextor fixes the bugs before you buy!

... and there are many users, who are absoluty happy with their Plextor 4824A

I know there are many people who are happy with this drive, and I respect that. But, I have read many other complaints about the 4824A, so it is important to wait a while after a new Plextor drive is released before buying so you don't end up beta testing their hardware like I did. My problems with the 4824A were confirmed by others, including the Director of Engineering at Plextor America who confirmed that my second 4824A was defective. My first drive had the well known excessive noise issue, and my third drive had the same intermittent write/full erasure problem with Verbatim 24X CD-RW discs that the second drive had. Remember the second drive was officially declared defective by the Director of Engineering at Plextor America. I want people to know that Plextor appears to have a problem with how much they test their products before selling them to the public.

[eliminator]

overpriced (bet the 52x32x52 Lite-On will be @ 1/2 that price) but gotta LUV the buffer/access speed

[tlotz]

Not that I am interested in buying a Plextor Premium drive (definitely *not* interested), but I was looking at the specs of the drive at the URL:

http://www.plextor.com/english/products ... remium.pdf

and noticed that the Plextor Premium drive does not have the 20X CD-RW write speed listed above in this topic. The 20X write speed is CLV and for CD-Rs only.

[Spazmogen]

Still no 99 minute disc support?

[Scour]

I got burned by Plextor with their 48/24/48A drive. I think many have read my short summary of the 3 Plextor 48X drives I had. For those who *must* have this drive, I would wait until 8 months have passed after its release. Most importantly, reading reviews about this drive which will be posted in the months to come is crucial. I read lots of reviews about the Plextor 48X before it came out, and I still got burned. I would recommend staying away from Plextor ATAPI drives for now, unless you absolutely cannot resist. Given the impressive specs of the Plextor Premium drive, I think many people will be unable to resist and to those people I say: do your research and wait until Plextor fixes the bugs before you buy!

... and there are many users, who are absoluty happy with their Plextor 4824A

I know there are many people who are happy with this drive, and I respect that. But, I have read many other complaints about the 4824A, so it is important to wait a while after a new Plextor drive is released before buying so you don't end up beta testing their hardware like I did. My problems with the 4824A were confirmed by others, including the Director of Engineering at Plextor America who confirmed that my second 4824A was defective. My first drive had the well known excessive noise issue, and my third drive had the same intermittent write/full erasure problem with Verbatim 24X CD-RW discs that the second drive had. Remember the second drive was officially declared defective by the Director of Engineering at Plextor America. I want people to know that Plextor appears to have a problem with how much they test their products before selling them to the public.

And you really think, LiteOn-drives are perfect, when new drive released? LiteOn needs some new firmwares, before they can burn more than 2-3 different media in a good quality.

Some shops i´ve buying computers don´t sale LiteOn any longer, because too many LiteOn-drives are defect in a few weeks.

I had two LiteOn-drives, a LTD-122 and 12101B, these drives was so bad, i never buy a LiteOn again.

[dolphinius_rex]

Scour: I agree, the 12101B was a REALLY crappy drive. I believe that's why LiteON sold them all to Creative for re-branding

Personally, I love LiteON. They've made some mistakes in the past, but everything past the 24x burner has been pretty good! I do however agree that the writing quality of the 52246S is not what it should be... but's it's C2 error reporting accuracy is through the roof!!

The sad thing is, I do believe that LiteON is falling behind. They need to put more effort into their software support, like Plextor is now doing. I hate plextor for their cocky attitude and high prices, but I must admit that they seem to have finally put out product worth the outrageous prices they charge. If this new Premium drive lives up to all it's hype, I may even consider buying one.

Regarding the LiteON's ability to burn Mitsubishi Chem. CD-Rs: LiteON drives have alwyas had a problem with AZO dye discs. They have made significant progress in the last several models, but it is still not a recommended disc type (at least in MY opinion). I have seen some VERY good scores from an AZO dye disc written by a LiteON 48246S however.

[Scour]

Hello!

@dolphinus:

Comtech had sold many LiteOn 12101B, not rebadged ones from Creative. And a little time later the German forums was full with problems from this drive.

I don´t like the 24102B. A friend had this writer, after 4 weeks it was defect. Now he has a LG 8320, it works great since 1 year.

The Super-azo-discs are totally other ones than the old Metal-Azo. And in the tests from c´t-magazine these are the only media, that the Lite 52246s burn with less than 220 errors.

You must understand me, with my LiteOn-experiences and this test i don´t want a LiteOn again. They´re cheap, but bad

[DOGSNOT]

How is it possible to put 1 gig of data on a 700 m disk. Is it just compressing it?

[dhc014]

Not really a data compression, but everything is squeezed together. These disks can only be read back on that Plextor drive because of this.

[dolphinius_rex]

How are things squeezed together?? remember, the disc already has the grooves premade where the data is burned, so the tracks cannot be "wound" tighter. Does anyone really understand how the giga-record function operates??

[cfitz]

Does anyone really understand how the giga-record function operates??

I believe they are reducing the length of the pits and lands, much like Sanyo's HD-BURN technology:

http://www.sanyo.co.jp/koho/hypertext4- ... 25-2e.html

http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial ... 3c01%2Easp

cfitz

[tlotz]

I got burned by Plextor with their 48/24/48A drive. I think many have read my short summary of the 3 Plextor 48X drives I had. For those who *must* have this drive, I would wait until 8 months have passed after its release. Most importantly, reading reviews about this drive which will be posted in the months to come is crucial. I read lots of reviews about the Plextor 48X before it came out, and I still got burned. I would recommend staying away from Plextor ATAPI drives for now, unless you absolutely cannot resist. Given the impressive specs of the Plextor Premium drive, I think many people will be unable to resist and to those people I say: do your research and wait until Plextor fixes the bugs before you buy!

... and there are many users, who are absoluty happy with their Plextor 4824A

I know there are many people who are happy with this drive, and I respect that. But, I have read many other complaints about the 4824A, so it is important to wait a while after a new Plextor drive is released before buying so you don't end up beta testing their hardware like I did. My problems with the 4824A were confirmed by others, including the Director of Engineering at Plextor America who confirmed that my second 4824A was defective. My first drive had the well known excessive noise issue, and my third drive had the same intermittent write/full erasure problem with Verbatim 24X CD-RW discs that the second drive had. Remember the second drive was officially declared defective by the Director of Engineering at Plextor America. I want people to know that Plextor appears to have a problem with how much they test their products before selling them to the public.

And you really think, LiteOn-drives are perfect, when new drive released? LiteOn needs some new firmwares, before they can burn more than 2-3 different media in a good quality.

Some shops i´ve buying computers don´t sale LiteOn any longer, because too many LiteOn-drives are defect in a few weeks.

I had two LiteOn-drives, a LTD-122 and 12101B, these drives was so bad, i never buy a LiteOn again.

No, I don't think LiteOn drives are perfect when they are released. However, my LiteOn drive works perfectly and has great write quality on all media I've tested it with, with the exception of the new Verbatim Ultra Speed CD-RW media. From what I've heard, LiteOn has optimized the write quality on this media already, and because I am not using LiteOn firmware currently, I don't have this firmware update. So my experience with LiteOn has not included major uncorrectable problems, like it did with my Plextor 48/24/48A. So I'm happy because my LiteOn drive works to my satisfaction even though it is not perfect, where as my 3 Plextor 48/24/48A had incorrectable problems that were not to my satisfaction.

[dolphinius_rex]

cfitz: Interesting! so in short they have written a new type of format for CD-Rs, which throws out the old rules, and improves on the original concept. Too bad the HD-Burn never caught on

[aviationwiz]

I'm getting this one. 8MB Buffer, 52x32x52, 1 gig on a 700MB disk. Need I say more?

Lite-On can't beat this.

[hoxlund]

well heres my pirated 2 cents worth, again, probably another plextor that doesn't support EFM and i would have to see that 1GB to believe it, another thing is that this thing is still called..... Plextor!

what makes it any better than a lite-on? cause i would like to prove you wrong, and don't tell me a black tray or 8mb buffer, cause my litey 52x's 2mb buffer still creates perfect 100% perfect sectors

[Spazmogen]

I'm getting this one. 8MB Buffer, 52x32x52, 1 gig on a 700MB disk. Need I say more?

Lite-On can't beat this.

lol.

Lite On doesn't have to. That feature will prove to be utterly useless to most users.

Plextor is going to be in serious financial trouble again shortly. They were a long time coming up with this drive. Didn't they just say 4 or 5 months ago that 48x was the fastest drive they would make?

Obviously, someone in Plextor must have woke up and discovered they lost a lot of market share. The question is: is this too little too late? Yamaha is out of the game...