What's in the box?:
- Plextor PX-608CU 8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW/RAM Drive
- Drive Installation Guide
- Plextor DVD Writing Software - Revision 15.01
- USB 2.0 Cable
- USB Power Cable
- AC Power Adapter
Physical Features:
The drive we received from Plextor came with firmware version 1.44.At the time of this review, this is the only firmware available for the PX-608CU.
The Plextor PX-608CU is one of the smallest DVD writers we've tested. Measuring 5.43 in x 6.38 in x 0.87 in (137.1 mm x 143.1 mm x 15.9 mm), it's not much bigger than a couple of CD cases stacked on top of each other. Made of a silver colored plastic, the PX-608CU is also very lightweight. According to Plextor, the drive weighs in at only 0.55lb (250g).
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Aside from the large "Plextor" logo, the top of the PX-608CU is fairly plain. In the upper right hand corner you can see the drive's LED and eject button. This LED lights up an amber color when both reading and writing. To keep the PX-608CU from sliding around, the bottom of the drive has five small rubber feet. If you look carefully you can also see a manual eject switch. This is a nice feature to have, especially if you're somewhere without power and you need to get the disc out of the drive.
The rear of the PX-608CU is pretty straight forward. Starting from the left, you can see its USB 2.0 interface and power jack. As Plextor is quick to point out, the PX-608CU can be powered off the USB bus. To do so, you must use a special USB cable that plugs into the drive's power jack.
Technical Specs:
Most of the specs below have been taken from Plextor's website and the manual that came with the drive.
| Plextor PX-608CU 8x USB 2.0 DVD±RW |
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| CD Write Speeds | 24x, 20x, 16x (Z-CLV) 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 24x, 20x, 16x (Z-CLV) 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 8x, 6x, 4x (Z-CLV) 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x, 6x, 4x, 3.3x (Z-CLV) 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 8x, 6x, 4x (Z-CLV) 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x, 4x (Z-CLV) 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 4x (Z-CLV) 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 4x (Z-CLV) 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 5x (Z-CLV) 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| CD Read Speed | 24x Max |
| DAE Speed | 24x Max |
| DVD Read Speeds | 8x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 6x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 8x Max (DVD±R) 8x Max (DVD±RW) 6x Max (DVD±R DL) 5x Max (DVD-RAM) |
| Buffer Size | 2MB |
| Access Times |
150 ms (CD-ROM) 160 ms (DVD-ROM) |
| CD Formats | CD-DA CD-ROM Mode-1 CD-ROM Mode-2 CD-ROM XA Photo CD Video CD CD-Extra Mixed CD CD-R CD-RW |
| 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 | Track At Once Session At Once Disc At Once Variable and Fixed Packet Writing |
| DVD+R Recording Modes | Disc At Once Multi-Session |
| DVD+RW Recording Modes | Sequential Write |
| DVD+R DL Recording Modes | Disc At Once Multi-Session |
| DVD-R Recording Modes | Disc At Once Multi-Border |
| DVD-RW Recording Modes | Disc At Once Multi-Border Restricted Overwrite |
| DVD-R DL Recording Modes | Sequential Write |
| DVD-RAM Recording Modes | Random Access Write |
More Features:
I must admit that I was a little surprised to see that Plextor's portable DVD writer was identified as a "PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-K16". While this isn't the first time Plextor has used a drive design from another company, they usually change the ID string.
The Nero screenshot also shows that the PX-608CU has a maximum CD writing speed of 24x and a 2000KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by some form of buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the drive can write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity I found that it was able to overburn up to 94:27with CompUSA's 99 minute CD-R media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the PX-608CU is a "two sheep" burner. This means that the PX-608CU 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-608CU's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the PX-608CU 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 the PX-608CU.
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the PX-608CU'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 Plextor's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media.
The PX-608CU doesn't let you set the book type of single layer DVD+R or DVD+RW media. However, the drive automatically sets the book type for DVD+R DL discs to "DVD-ROM". This greatly reduces compatibility problems, especially with older DVD players.
