CDRInfo.com Illiteracy?

[Matt]

Didn't I post a news item a while back stating that the VP of plextors marketing department confirmed that they will be persuing scsi? Last I recalled, engineers take orders from the executives not vice versa. Maybe they don't do it that way in europe. Good luck with the foot and mouth disease.
<A HREF="http://www.cdrinfo.com/cebit2001/plextor.shtml" TARGET=_blank>http://www.cdrinfo.com/cebit2001/plextor.shtml</A>

1) What will happen finally with Plextor PX-40TS? Will it stop selling this summer?

Yes. As we "first" posted, the decision is final. The drive will stop selling this summer in Europe and in bigger timeframe in USA (and Japan).

The real question is: "If I decide to buy the drive NOW will Plextor honour the 2 years guarantee?". Plextor's answer was clear: "Even we decide to stop selling a product we will continue supporting it. This mean service (repair or exchange with a new one), firmware updates etc."


2) Why Plextor USA said that there will be a PX-W1610S? Maybe they know better than you...

The answer is quite simple and can be assumed in few words "..engineers knows better than sales person(s)..".

3) Why Plextor seems to drop the SCSI interface? I want my Plex SCSI recorder now!

Yes we also would like more companies to keep shipping SCSI CDR-W drives. However keep in mind that the development of a certain product takes several months and lot of investment. Since most users are not buying SCSI solutions why one company should continue a long tradition in SCSI models?

We think that it's up to users showing companies if they want SCSI models by buying them! Bigger sales for the SCSI recorders will give companies something to think about changing in their roadmap.

[Ian]

Well.. not to get in a pissing match with CDR-Info I just want to mention that there are differences between Plextor America, Plextor Europe and Plextor Japan.

Just like many other companies each division of the company decides what they are going to market in their area. You have to take all these reports with a grain of salt. Many of these sales/marketing people like to get the press all excited.. hey free press right?

While Plextor Europes marketing people (yes thats usually who goes to these things.. usually not the engineers) at CeBit might be planning on doing away with the SCSI CD-ROMs in Europe, the popularity of these drives has not gone down at all in the US. Why stop selling a popular product?

As far as the PX-1610S.. I've never heard of Plextor US announcing that ever.. unless it was another email in some forum somewhere again. But hey it could happen. There wasn't supposed to be a PX-1210S.. but a year after the ATAPI model it appeared thanks to demand.

As far as SCSI goes.. SCSI sales really are in the toilet. The demand is no longer there from the masses. Yes as hardcore CD-RW users we might want that but we make up a small percentage of the over all sales. Other companies like TEAC aren't even selling them in America because of low sales else where in the world. Remember Ricoh? Their overall sales were so bad in the US they ran back to Japan.

[Han]

If SCSI drives were cheaper than ATAPI or at least priced the same, then people would consider them more likely. Especially if they were familiar about SCSI advantages etc.

Since ATAPI drives started to appear, there were always minor or bigger problems with them. Today, when the speeds are approaching physical limits, even DMA doesn't guarantee error-free record. That's why all the drives must be burn-proof compliant. But, what about buggy bus master drivers or bad chipsets? Did anyone mention multitasking while burning? Well, EIDE interface sure isn't the way to go...

That's my humble opinion. <IMG SRC="http://www.cdrlabs.com/ubb/static/wink.gif">

[Ian]

I totally agree.. ATAPI drives don't want to work with half of the VIA chipsets/busmastering drivers. But as long as they are cheap, work well and don't need to buy an extra SCSI card (or have fun with SCSI ID's and termination) people will continue to buy ATAPI.. and then whine how they can't check their email at the same time because they get coasters. <IMG SRC="http://www.cdrlabs.com/ubb/static/smile.gif">

I've gone back to all IDE in one of my boxes. Why? Because it was cheap. It has been a struggle though. Problems with chipsets, crap with PIO Mode 4 and UDMA.. and running out of room are just a few. I've already used up all 4 of my IDE connections. Buy another IDE controller? Pfft.. might as well buy a SCSI controller then.

But anyway.. I digress..

[wobble]

Agreed, the current IDE implementation is inadequete. I too have gone to IDE due to cost issues, but it remains an inferior topology. The devices may benchmark well, but in the real world the burners require workarounds and hard drives feel like they've been kicked in the groin when hit with anything more than the lightest transaction load.

[CDRecorder]

I've used several CD-RW drives on my Via chipset (ABIT KT7A 1.3) without any problems of any kind. The only IDE problem (besides large drive support on old boards) that I've ever had on any computer has been operating system related.