Anyone ever heard of the Plextor PX-708A Internal E-IDE drive? If so what have you heard? Is it any good, and what if any are the downsides of it. Thanks in advance for all of your expert opinions.
I believe its the new 8x +R writer isnt it?? Im not sure where you can get 8x media though to go with it. Im sure its a decent drive, PLextor are a good make.
I was looking at purchasing the Plextor PX-708A. It seems to be pretty good drive. I do have one question. I have a pioneer burner but I had to set the system up to work as PIO mode. It wouldn't burn as DMA. Will the Plextor or the newer drives work as DMA or is it just my motherboard??
Ritek is going to start offering 8X supposedly by October. http://www.afterdawn.com/news/archive/4506.cfm I'll be buying a 708 in a couple weeks. Finally get this Sony DRU-500A outta my comp!
Well I just got one, and it looks cool. I haven't tried 8x since I can find no media but the Plextor has better CD-R speed and DVD-Rip speed than Pioneer A06 which I thought was the best. Anyway I must agree with Oriphus that it's a decent drive since except that you can't find 8x media, I believe the new pioneer drives will support 8x speed for both + and - while Plextor offers just for +.
Well they say that most media brands that are 4X DVD+R will support the 8X speed. Brands like Memorex,Ritec,Verbatim and so on. It was actually tested on :http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.html?i=1864
I've had the plextor708a for over a week now and had no problems.They are selling there 8x dvd-r now which can only be purchased online now. Before that I had the memeorex dual format4x which is also good,the plextor is faster. Debating should I upgrade to dvdx platinum.
What I was wondering was if the drive works fine on the IDE channel? I have the old pioneer A04 and had to change my IDE channel to PIO mode. It wouldn't work with the DMA mode. Do all the Drives run PIO. Or is it just my motherboard most likely??
If you have to run with in PIO mode, you've f*cked something up or something is wrong with your hardware. No drives should run in anything other than UDMA, except the 1G drive in my P100 machine (NAT'd port 80 on IP 62.3.226.96 ;^) ). Seriously, sort it out. Use decent cabling and find out what Cable Select means
Actually in another part in the forums they have said that it may need to be in PIO mode to work. THat was how I got my DVD burner to work. It is a Cendyne <Pioneer 104>. I figure it is my motherboard that is having problems. It is a bit out of date.
I have the PX-708A and it will run dma. Might be time to upgrade your mb. This drive smokes on 4X media, can't wait for 8X.
I have been using Plextor drives for as long as I can remember. Now I'm eagerly anticipating the delivery of the new PX-708UF which is the external 8X DVD+R, 40X CDR-W using a Firewire or USB connection. I called up Plextor on Friday with concerns about media. They said "Anything you pick up at BestBuy will work". That said, I purchased 50 Matrix DVD-R 4X Plus DVD Movie Case Combo by shop4tech (matcombo-4x) at $1.19/unit: $59.5 If someone will remind in a couple of weeks, I'll let you know Good or Bad. Shop4tech seems like a good as any place to purchase quality branded and non-brand recognized media. Much of it is shipped no charge! I liked that idea. Plus this combo was a perfect fit. Now lets pray it all works fine together! -QAguy
I appreciate the offer. I decided to go ahead and upgrade my motherboard, which meant new memory. And see how that turns out. If not, the Plextor is my next purchase. Woo Hooo!.. That and I'm that other kind of processor guy. <amd>
Do not use Matrix DVD-R 4X sold by shop4tech on the Plextor PX-708A drive. It will not know what to do in order to burn the disc. The Matrix are not on their compatiblilty chart. However: the DVD+R (DVDplusR) 2.4X Media Bulk by shop4tech is. These are Optodisc OEM and sell for just $49.50 per 50 pieces with free shipping included! http://www.shop4tech.com/item1503.html
Finally got the external version of this drive. It is so sweet! The casing is beautiful and the drive is quiet despite other posts I've read around the net about it having a loud fan. This must have been already addressed by Plextor because it is quiet. The speed of burning will depend on several criteria as most of you already know. But it is fast!
What is the model number of the Plextor external drive? Is there any downside to the external version? Thank you.
