Finally, our master has arrived.

[cfitz]

Too bad the HD-Burn never caught on

Sanyo probably wouldn’t be too happy with you for already writing off their new technology. After all, it was formally introduced just this past September (2002) with initial volume production scheduled for the first quarter of this year. But I agree that it probably is too little too late, and will never beat out the competition from the various recordable DVD media. Still, they are trying. You might get a kick out of this little cartoon Sanyo has distributed:


(from http://www.digital-sanyo.com/BURN-Proof/HD-BURN/)


You have to give them points for trying... Who knew CD-R’s were such emotionally sensitive creatures?

I wonder if Plextor's GigaRec technology will reenergize technology such as HD-BURN or if they will all fold under the pressure of recordable DVD technologies?

cfitz

[hoxlund]

thats very true spazmogen (forgive me if i mispelled), i specificaly remember plextor saying that

so i hope plextor dies from the cd-rw market, i don't care about there dvd burning, cause they finally realized they don't make the greatest burners and just refurbed someone elses

[CDRecorder]

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

Why was the 12101B a bad drive? I have this drive (rebadged as Creative, of course), and it has been great! Many of my optical drives have died after about 1 year, but this one still works as well as the day I bought it after almost 2! The writing quality (measured with WSES on an LTR-32123S) is very good. The only problem I ever had with it was when I converted it to Lite-On, it didn't work well with the FW on Lite-On's web site. It works perfectly well with LS38 firmware, though, and it has support for more software. So, why was it a bad drive?

[Scour]

so i hope plextor dies from the cd-rw market,

What a bad opinion!

Are you a little fanatic Lite-On-Fan?

[hoxlund]

yes i confess that plextor does suck in the way that they over-charge for their products, when you get nothing in return, again, not counting stupid black try or useless 8mb buffer

i'll stick with my EFM encoding capable litey 52x, and paid $12 for it brand new from staples

[Halc]

hoxlund,

if you don't like them, don't buy them.

I'm very pleased with Plextor and I think they serve their purpose, although they are not anymore the quality king they used to be.

Unfortunately another quality king (Yamaha) has exited the business as well.

Now I'm pretty happy with an old Plextor 12x10x32 SCSI + current Sony DDU1621 (BTC OEM) + LG 4480B + LiteON 48246s + Yamaha CRW3200E combination.

Those together do most of what I need, but not a single one can do everything each one of them can do alone.

I'd like to cut down the number of drives down to two or three and I'm very tempted by the unique features (jitter testing) of the new Plextor Premium as well as the performance of the upcoming LiteOn 54x using the news 7S Mediatek chipset.

regards,
Halcyon

[eliminator]

I don't think that 8mb buffer is useless, it's sexy! (Samsung 52x)

[Scour]

Hello!

I think, that poision-gas gonna comes from the LiteOn-drives and hoxlund has it breath to often.

I don´t like guys like him, those fanatics can go somewhere

@eliminator:

I think 8MB-buffer is good, when i see my 2MB-buffer at 48xwriting jumps wild

[dolphinius_rex]

My mother had to have her creative 12x10x32x drive (a rebadged LiteON) replaced twice before the drive actually worked properly. Had I known it was really a LiteON at the time, I probably would have lost a LOT of faith in LiteON years before I learned to love it! The writing quality of her drive still leaves a little to be desired though, but the C2 accuracy is HORRIBLE!

I agree that fanaticism is not a good thing, but remember that it goes both ways Scour...

Plextor has made a lot of mistakes in the past too, and I really don't believe that their prices are justified (with the possible exception of the Premium drive).

Regarding an 8MB buffer, I don't think it's neccissary. I think a 4MB buffer would be perfectly fine, however there is no problem with having a larger buffer in this case either... so why not

[hoxlund]

skip the seriously rebadged, like the ones that are kinda liteys but not, where you actually have to jump bios manufacturers, like using memorex for instance, those are kinda liteys but not true liteys

[Scour]

I agree that fanaticism is not a good thing, but remember that it goes both ways Scour...

I don´t like LiteOn, but i never said what hoxlund said about Plextor

I´m no a fanatic fan of a manufacturer, i have/had drives from LiteOn, LG, Cyberdrive, Teac and Yamaha

I never say "This is the best", because every manufacturer has good and bad things.

But I know (many frinds have Plextor-drives, also old SCSI-drives that works over 4 years) that Plextor is much better than hoxlund thinks (and i´m sure he never had a Plextor and know nothing about it).

Plextor isn´t cheap as LiteOn, but they drives offers better reability and Plextor has better service.

And i´m really wait for the new Plextor with new features

[hoxlund]

owner of a plextor 16x, so STFU, i know what im talking about, id like to see a plextor do something useful that a lite-on doesn't do

[Dartman]

Well my Plex would read protected audio cd's that all of my LiteOn burners wouldn't even try to read. The 166s dvd can do it now but it's not a true burner or really a Liteon anymore.
I have shelved all my Plex products now however becuase I have many burners and readers that are faster, cheaper, and do more. The Sony 500a can read some protected audio cd's also

[Halc]

owner of a plextor 16x, so STFU, i know what im talking about, id like to see a plextor do something useful that a lite-on doesn't do

1. PlexTools for superior scratched DAE and circumventing CDS200.

2. Jitter measurements with the new Premium drive

Those two are VERY important to me and LiteOn manages neither.

Now, would you please all calm down :)

All drives have their failings and most have some good features.

There is no single manufacturer or drive that is "the best" for everybody.

regards,
Halcyon

[dhc014]

skip the seriously rebadged, like the ones that are kinda liteys but not, where you actually have to jump bios manufacturers, like using memorex for instance, those are kinda liteys but not true liteys

LO still writes all of the firmwares even if they are different for the OEM drives... OME drives just may not get the updates that real LO drives get to fix the problems.

Hmmm, quite off-topic now...

[Scour]

Hmmm, quite off-topic now...

Yeah, let´s write us only for the old topic-title, the Plextor Premium

In Germany it´s not on the sale for now, but i hope, it will be soon

[Harrier]

hoxlund,

if you don't like them, don't buy them.

I'm very pleased with Plextor and I think they serve their purpose, although they are not anymore the quality king they used to be.

Unfortunately another quality king (Yamaha) has exited the business as well.

Now I'm pretty happy with an old Plextor 12x10x32 SCSI + current Sony DDU1621 (BTC OEM) + LG 4480B + LiteON 48246s + Yamaha CRW3200E combination.

Those together do most of what I need, but not a single one can do everything each one of them can do alone.

I'd like to cut down the number of drives down to two or three and I'm very tempted by the unique features (jitter testing) of the new Plextor Premium as well as the performance of the upcoming LiteOn 54x using the news 7S Mediatek chipset.

regards,
Halcyon

What are the advantages of this chip?
And how did you conclude that there will be a 54X LiteOn?

[hoxlund]

there is a coming soon on the litey 54x and yes i can admit burners have their pifalls and great points too, but in my personal opinion, litey's are at the top of my list, this coming from a person who owns all the major brands

[JesusFreak]

I got an email, and then a phone call from Plextor on Thursday, asking me if I'd mind reviewing this drive. . . I thought about for about 63ms, and said heck-sure!

I have read a lot of the debate on Plextor sucks/Plextor rocks, so I honestly have no idea what to expect as far as performance goes. I dare say that if you read Ian's review of this drive, or mine that you will get an unbiased opinion.

Stay tuned, I should be getting the drive in the next two weeks!

Harrier, the AOpen 5224 didn't initially support 48x writing, but with the latest firmware - 1.07, it now does. . . I think it's safe to say that the Plextor will be forced to add 48x writing to their Premium drive sooner or later (hopefully sooner) to compete. There is a whackload of speed difference between 40x and 52x.

And yes, Spazmogen, the drive does support 99min CDR's.

[Harrier]

i wonder how did they get your phone number.
Anyways, love to read your review of the drive.
And one more thing: i'm rather sure Plextor won't add 48X since the purpose of this paucity is simply to reserve their 48X writer around the market. You know, a good reason to buy or such excuse.

[JesusFreak]

They got my phone number from my website. . . They've read some of my other reviews. . .