What's in the box?:
- Plextor PX-810UF 18x DVD±RW/RAM Drive
- Drive Installation Guide
- Plextor Software Disc
- USB 2.0 Cable
- AC Adapter And Power Cord
Physical Features:
The drive Plextor sent us for this review was manufactured in June of 2007 and had firmware version 1.00.At the time of this review, this is the only firmware available for the PX-810UF.
While the names are similar, the PX-810UF is not based on the same drive design as the PX-810SA. Instead of using a Pioneer design, Plextor has based their new external drive on the LG GSA-H44N. As you can see, Plextor hasn't done much to disguise this fact either. Aside from the large "Plextor" and "PX-810UF" logos, the drive looks almost identical to its LG counterpart.
Measuring 6.73" x 2.40" x 10.55" (171mm x 61mm x 268mm) and weighing in at 3.53 lbs (1400 g), the PX-810UF is not the most compact or lightweight external drive we've tested. Nevertheless, the case is constructed of aluminum and a durable plastic and should stand up well to everyday use.
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While the top of the PX-810UF is relatively featureless, the bottom of the drive contains an active cooling system. To prevent the drive from overheating, a fan draws air in through two rows of vents. Unfortunately, this fan is far from quiet and can be clearly heard when the PX-810UF is idle.
The rear of the PX-810UF also has its share of connectors. Starting from the left, you can see the drive's on/off switch, USB 2.0 connector, FireWire ports and power connector. Unlike Plextor's previous external writers, there is no interface switch. The PX-810UF automatically detects whether USB 2.0 or FireWire is in use.
Technical Specs:
Most of the specs below have been taken from Plextor's website and the manual that came with the drive.
| Plextor PX-810UF 18x DVD±RW/RAM | |
| CD Write Speeds | 48x (CAV) 40x, 32x, 24x (P-CAV) 16x, 8x, 4x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 32x, 24x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 18x (CAV) 16x, 12x, 8x (P-CAV) 8x (Z-CLV) 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 18x (CAV) 16x (P-CAV) 8x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 10x, 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 10x, 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 12x, 8x, 5x (P-CAV) 6x, 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| CD Read Speeds | 48x Max (CD-ROM/CD-R) 40x Max (CD-RW) |
| DAE Speed | 40x Max |
| DVD Read Speeds | 16x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 12x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 16x Max (DVD±R) 13x Max (DVD±RW) 12x Max (DVD±R DL) 4.8x Max (DVD-Video) 12x Max (DVD-RAM) |
| Buffer Size | 2MB |
| Access Times |
125 ms (CD-ROM) 145 ms (DVD-ROM) 270 ms (DVD-RAM) |
| CD Formats | CD-ROM CD-ROM/XA CD-DA CD-R CD-RW Photo CD Video CD CD-Extra Multi-Session CD-I CD-Text |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-Video DVD-R/RW DVD+R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL DVD+VR DVD-VR DVD-RAM |
| CD Recording Modes | Disc At Once Session At Once Track At Once Packet Writing |
| DVD+R Recording Modes | Disc At Once Multi-Session Sequential Recording |
| DVD+RW Recording Modes | Random Write |
| DVD+R DL Recording Modes | Disc At Once Multi-Session Sequential Recording |
| DVD-R Recording Modes | Disc At Once Incremental Recording Multi-Border Recording |
| DVD-RW Recording Modes | Disc At Once Incremental Recording Multi-Border Recording Restricted Overwrite |
| DVD-R DL Recording Modes | Disc At Once Layer Jump Recording |
| DVD-RAM Recording Modes | Disc At Once Random Write |
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that Plextor's new DVD writer is identified as a "PLEXTOR DVDR PX-810UF".
The Nero screenshot also shows that the PX-810UF has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by Sanyo's BURN-Proof buffer underrun protection. Technically this isn't true, as the drive uses a chipset from Renesas, not Sanyo. According to Nero, the drive can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that the PX-810UF was able to overburn up to 95:05with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the PX-810UF is a "two sheep" burner. This means that Plextor's new drive is capable of backing up titles protected by SafeDisc 2, including version 2.51.
Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the PX-810UF's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the PX-810UF is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The drive's region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the PX-810UF's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that while Plextor's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media, it does not support the Mt. Rainier format.
The PX-810UF also supports a feature called "bitsetting." While this feature did not work with Nero nor CD Speed, I was able to set the book type of both DVD+R and DVD+R DL media to "DVD-ROM" using ImgBurn. Like most other LG-based drives, the PX-810UF cannot set the book type of DVD+RW discs.
