pay a premium for plextor?

[jtan]

would you pay a premium price for plextor? are they really much better than lower priced cd-writers?

[Halc]

If I only wanted to burn CDS (damn the quality), then I probably wouldn't.

Now that I want to rip original cds with Cactus Data shield and because I want to measure the burn quality in more than one way, I'm extremely willing to pay the asking price for Plextor Premium model in particular. To me, it's not even a premium price, but decent price for features that other manufacturers don't offer.

YMMV, of course.

regards,
Halc

[jtan]

what does plextor has that other manufacturers don't have?

[burninfool]

High quality writing and Plextools:
http://www.plextor.be/english/technical/downld_util.html

[aviationwiz]

I highly recomend the Plextor Premium. While it isn't the fastest 52x Burner around, it is near the fastest and is the highest quality.

It has Q-Check, which is nice for checking the C1/C2 Errors on CD's.

It has VariRec for reducing Jitter.

It has GigaRec to get a gigabyte on a 700MB disk.

It also has PoweRec which helps keep the CD at top notch quality.

It has SecuRec for securely burning your CD's, it requires a password to read the contents of the CD.

It also has a Silent Mode which is great if you have really quiet fans in your computer, you can cap the read and write speeds of the drive.

[Alexandrus]

would you pay a premium price for plextor? are they really much better than lower priced cd-writers?

Yes, I would pay extra, and yes, they are better than lower priced models.

[jtan]

reason why i ask this is because i'm curious whether it's worth it, we know lots of companies out there who don't have premium stuffs but want to be priced premium, especially HP...

[Alexandrus]

Well, Plextor is not one of those companies, they sell the good stuff, maybe the best stuff.

[dodecahedron]

Plextor drives have a reputation for being very well built, and excellent workhorses, burning many CDs without fail.
since you burn a lot, this might appeal to you.

i don't know if this reputation has remained deserved of the newer drives, but it's something to consider.

[aviationwiz]

reason why i ask this is because i'm curious whether it's worth it, we know lots of companies out there who don't have premium stuffs but want to be priced premium, especially HP...

HP made very good CD Burners back when top speeds were 8, 10, and 12 times.

[Ian]

HP made very good CD Burners back when top speeds were 8, 10, and 12 times.

I have to disagree. Those were some of the worst drives I've ever used.

[aviationwiz]

Those were some of the very best I have ever used. Remember, back when there was 10x4x32 and 4x4x16 and such, there was no Buffer Under-run protection.

Every reviewing site I looked at years ago said that HP was the very best.

[Ian]

Every reviewing site I looked at years ago said that HP was the very best.

Yeah, those are the same review places giving drives perfect 10's for including Easy CD Creator in their bundle.

I just remember sitting in #cdr hearing people complain about them not supporting 80 minute discs and the lack of firmware updates. I don't think some of those drives even supported DAO.

[rdgrimes]

High quality writing

and is the highest quality.

We have yet to see any conclusive evidence that the Plextor drives produce higher quality burns than anything else. In fact, the plex Premium is pruducing as much as 2x the C1 error rate on typical media than the LiteOn 52x, (hovever this may be related to differing error-reporting and measurement tools). No question that the Plex has a great package of gimmick features and software, so obviously there is some added value. As to durability, the Plex drives have been around long enough to earn that reputation, but so may the others, in time. But with current advances in technology, how long does a drive really need to last? will it outlast 2 or 3 LiteOn drives? What Plex has, more than anything else, is a reputation. And that reputation costs money. You have to decide for yourself if that's worth the extra price.

[aviationwiz]

Every reviewing site I looked at years ago said that HP was the very best.

Yeah, those are the same review places giving drives perfect 10's for including Easy CD Creator in their bundle.

I just remember sitting in #cdr hearing people complain about them not supporting 80 minute discs and the lack of firmware updates. I don't think some of those drives even supported DAO.

1. Remember, these are old drivs.
2. Why do you need a firmware update. Would you rather have a bad drive come packaged and make it good by a firmware update, or have it come packaged good?

[Ian]

Just because they're old doesn't give them an excuse to suck. TEAC, Plextor and Yamaha were making kick ass drives at the same time.

Anyway, I'm not going to debate you over these drives based on a few reviews that are probably a good 4-5 years old.

[jtan]

reason why i ask this is because i'm curious whether it's worth it, we know lots of companies out there who don't have premium stuffs but want to be priced premium, especially HP...

HP made very good CD Burners back when top speeds were 8, 10, and 12 times.

i disagree, i have my worst nightmare with HP...

[chiphead]

I just replaced a Plextor 8/20 SCSI burner from 12/98. Since then I've gone through 2 or 3 cd/dvd drives. The Sony 24x cdrw my sister has is starting to create coasters after only a year.

[Halc]

Chiphead,

I know what you mean. My wife's Ricoh (that I bought for her, heaven forbid) make really awful burns and has started to fail after 1,5 of duty.

I'm terrified to think all of her original artwork she's burnt with the Ricoh. I have now replaced her burner with an LG and suitable media, but need to start measuring her older burns. The first (the very last ones burned with Ricoh) measure really awful.

As to the Plextor drive, there is still no drive that can bypass the CDS200 9 second gap and measure jitter (+ some other variables), except the Plextor Premium. To me these are not gimmick features.

If you don't like/need them, don't buy the drive :)

regards,
Halc