Plextor 708A: First exclusive look at 8X DVD+R
by Kristopher Kubicki on September 12, 2003 11:11 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Burning
Click to enlarge.
There you have it, 8X DVD+R — exactly 8 minutes to burn 4.38GB. CD Speed incorrectly identifies the 8X Z-CLV (zone constant linear velocity) mode as 6X CLV due to PoweRec. As you may have read on the previous page, PoweRec redefines the laser intensity and spin at its own discretion.
However, we do have a complaint or two about the tiny buffer on the drive. During the above burn, we did not touch the PC at all. Below is a graph of 4X DVD+R media while we had a Microsoft Office document open. The spikes are the points where we saved the sub-100kb document. We are happy that the burn did not under-run; but, has optical storage taken a step backward?
Click to enlarge.
Below are the CD-R, CD+RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW speed tests. We used CD Speed with the same configuration as the previous test.
| Average Transfer | Media Length | |
| Imation 52X CDR Data CD | 29.31X | 79.49.74 |
| PNY 52X CDR Data CD | 29.24X | 79.49.74 |
| Mitsubishi 32X CDRW Data CD | 23.78X | 73:43.00 |
| Mitsubishi 24X CDRW Data CD | 23.66X | 73:43.00 |
| FujiFilm 4X DVD-R Data CD | 4.01X | 4.38GB |
| TDK 4X DVD-R Data CD | 4.00X | 4.38GB |
| FujiFilm 4X DVD+R Data CD | 7.70X | 4.38GB |
| Imation 4X DVD+R Data CD | 7.69X | 4.38GB | FujiFilm 4X DVD-RW Data CD | 4.05X | 4.38GB | FujiFilm 2.4X DVD+RW Data CD | 2.41X | 4.38GB |
The drive had no problem at all burning other 4X DVD+R media at 8X. Perhaps because the 8X DVD-R format is not officially standard, the 708A does not have the proper strategy logic to burn 8X DVD-R. As future BIOS upgrade to enable 8X DVD-R certainly seems feasible, it is obvious that no one will know until the DVD dash R forum gets their ducks in a row.
Full erase of a DVD+RW takes 24:23 minutes. A similar time was recorded for DVD-RW.
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n0d3 - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link
Just one thing i'd like to say (half a year later he he he)Plextor burners always have been slow with their access times. There's a good reason for that aswell. Anyone who has ever owned any plextor knows this. Plextor makes high quality drives. You can 'feel' that when you pick them up. Quality components are heavier. The head and those moving parts, aswell as other parts I'm sure, are heavier then the other manufacturers drives. That's where the quality comes from. That's the price you pay.
And I don't blame them at all. Sure you can use your burner as reader aswell ... but why? I don't wanna wear out my laser for reads. I get a reader to do just that, read. That way, my laser will last me even longer.
I must say though, I got the PX116 DVD-Reader and it's not that great. I read that it's a pioneer drive internally, and allthough denied by plextor, it just doesn't seem to be of the same quality. For example, I burned a mp3 cd with my 24x plexwriter, and then the dvd-reader couln't read the cd fully. And no firmware upgrade or any firmware on their page what so ever. Oh well ...can't have them all I guess. I'll just e-mail them again.
hjstaruk - Thursday, October 23, 2003 - link
I entered coupon code "ANANDTECH10" at CompuHQ. No $10 off, only message "Sorry, we were unable to validate the Coupon Code you entered"KristopherKubicki - Saturday, September 20, 2003 - link
#32: Im not sure if you even read the review.The good thing about the burner is that it burns 8X on most 4X media. It also does a lot of things the A06 cannot, like 40X CDR, 4X DVD+RW, etc, etc.
Kristopher
Anonymous User - Saturday, September 20, 2003 - link
Hi,the guys at www.cdrinfo.com reviewed a newer revision of the Plextor 708A, hardware and software wise. You might enjoy reading their thoughts about this burner.
Regards,
Ron
- who has nothing to do with the mentioned website.
Anonymous User - Friday, September 19, 2003 - link
Any news on the TDK drive? Will you test just the internal version, or their combo USB2/1394a version as well?Anonymous User - Friday, September 19, 2003 - link
nice on paper i must say but if you check on forums for feedbacks it's not the same story, pionner stays the champs.and what is the utility of a x8 burner when there are no medias x8 and when your hard disk is too slow, and i'm not talking about compatibility problems when you play the video...
blackjack - Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - link
attn TIA (post no 29)In answer to your questions, I would recommend the 708A. Relatively it ejects quickly (much better than my previous plextor cd writer which was really slow (24/10/40a - see my last post).
I find the drive really quiet, infact just watching a dvd and its virtually silent, my cpu fan is much louder (although I do have my case temporarily open).
Finally, it is smooth operating and it seems pretty robust.
I don't think you will be disappointed, I'm not.
Thank god I held on for a bit longer and didn't buy the pioneer a06 (even though its not a bad drive) Hope that helps
tazdevl - Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - link
1) Who really cares. The difference when you eject a disc between the drives is literally less than a second.2) The AVR06, 708A and 510 are all very quiet drives. I've been very impressed with the lack of noise levels. I've got a case lined with Pax Mate and low speed papsts, the drives are very quiet, though I'd have to say the 708A and the 510 are the quietest of the bunch.
3) Trays are meant to be opened and closed and are tested as such for thousands of cycles. They break if you screw around with them. Don't screw around with them.
Anonymous User - Monday, September 15, 2003 - link
For those of you who have used the 708A (or the Sony 510 or Pioneer A06 as well), would you recommend any of these drives as a primary, all-purpose optical drive? Specifically:1) How fast to eject a disk (relatively speaking)?
2) How noisy is the drive (I have an older Plextor CD burner, and when it spins up is sounds like a freaking electric string trimmer its so loud!). If this 708A is this loud, you could never use it to play a DVD movie or CD music!
3) Smooth operating, substantial tray construction (not likely to break if used daily).
TIA
stanislav_kosev - Wednesday, October 17, 2012 - link
for the cd manufactured purpose we are using just plextor, check our web site for mote info: http://www.insightvision.biz/cd-manufacturing