Plextor PX-708A review at Anandtech.

by **Bhairav** on Fri Sep 12, 2003 11:45 pm

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.html?i=1864

Not very comprehensive, just using Nero CD/DVD speed. No mention of media compatibility and availability.

by **aviationwiz** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 12:27 am

OK, Ian, Press drives are rolling, when is your review coming? I also hear the guy over at CDFreaks got his drive in from Plextor. This is a great drive, but I'd be intrested in seeing what you have to say about it. To me, 8 minute DVD Burning is just to good to pass up, especially when coming from 25 minute DVD Burning.

by **Bhairav** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 6:08 am

Oh,IIRC, you had a Ricoh 2.4X drive earlier, right?MP5125 or something?

by **Matt** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 10:39 am

Plextor USA been a little slow sending us drives lately, but it's in the works.

by **VEFF** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 11:22 am

Interesting, thanks for the link.
Average 8X write time came in at 7.70X, which matches what we observed.

I looked at the review, and noticed they used InfoTool.

Well, I wanted to check it out myself, and found out (once again) that Nero InfoTool can cause a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) on Windows XP.
I recognized the interface and realized that I had used InfoTool on my other PC, where I had gotten a BSOD a year or so ago, so it is probably not just one version.
It might be a controller card issue (one PC has an Ultra 100 TX2 and the other has an Ultra 100).

I believe this is the first time this PC (owned since late February) has had a BSOD and rebooted itself.

by **Ian** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 12:00 pm

They had to have bought the drive. I just got my test unit yesterday.

btw.. I'm not a big fan of using CD Speed to test writing times. Actually, they don't give times, just average speeds.

Ah well.. its news worthy.

by **VEFF** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 12:21 pm

I look forward to seeing the "real" review (I know they only called it a "first look" anyway) from you Ian, despite already owning the drive!

by **Ian** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 12:49 pm

No, they called it a "First exclusive look".. :roll:

I really shouldn't give Anandtech too much crap. I really like their articles on motherboards, cpu's and such.

by **aviationwiz** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 1:29 pm

bhairavp wrote:Oh,IIRC, you had a Ricoh 2.4X drive earlier, right?MP5125 or something?

Yup, I had the MP5125 before.

by **tazdevl** on Sat Sep 13, 2003 2:59 pm

Pretty feeble review. Kind of funny how they included NEC in the "elite" category and forgot to include Sony... which last time I checked, led the way with dual format drives for quite some time and is still in the top 3.

Anand is starting to turn into a mirror image of Toms.

by **Bhairav** on Sun Sep 14, 2003 12:34 am

Heh, I respectfully disagree. Toms lost all credibility a while back, when that 1.13Ghz P3 fiasco occurred. At least Anand and his team try hard and do well at their core stuff, like CPUs, motherboards and videocards. Storage.. meh! That's why cdrlabs and cdfreaks are around!

by **tazdevl** on Sun Sep 14, 2003 5:36 pm

I posted a couple comments in the review, you should have a read.

The reviewer didn't include Sony because they don't manufacture their own drives. Pretty meaningless point since outsourcing is common in the tech industry. His comments hint that there might be some sort of big conspiracy. Last time I checked, Sony didn't rebrand someone else's drives, it was their own design.

B, need I get into Anand's bias towards nVIDIA and how he handled the FX?

by **Bhairav** on Mon Sep 15, 2003 12:07 am

tazdevl wrote:I posted a couple comments in the review, you should have a read.

The reviewer didn't include Sony because they don't manufacture their own drives. Pretty meaningless point since outsourcing is common in the tech industry. His comments hint that there might be some sort of big conspiracy. Last time I checked, Sony didn't rebrand someone else's drives, it was their own design.

B, need I get into Anand's bias towards nVIDIA and how he handled the FX?

Ah yeah, that FX fark-up. I read the responses in the forum there, those guys were really pissed off. DId they retest them?
Oh well, I still read their CPU + mobo+ vidcard reviews.. aside from the FX fiasco they do well. I do read Extremetech too, and the [H] of course.

by **Ian** on Mon Sep 15, 2003 7:50 am

tazdevl wrote:The reviewer didn't include Sony because they don't manufacture their own drives. Pretty meaningless point since outsourcing is common in the tech industry.

Pftt.. most manufacturing is outsourced these days. At least the drive is their own design.

by **tazdevl** on Mon Sep 15, 2003 11:06 am

Yup, you know that and I know that. He doesn't. Just added a link, looks like Sony has a 39% share according to NPD.

Plextor PX-708A review at Anandtech.

Plextor PX-708A review at Anandtech.

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