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Words by Bill Troop
February 2005
No sooner had we congratulated Plextor for coming out with the industry's first shipping
8x DVD recorder (MacDirectory Spring 2004), than Plextor upped the ante again, with the world's first shipping 12x DVD recorder.
This is a coup even for a company whose leadership in the CD/DVD recording market has never been in dispute. With 12x DVD+R, you can now record a 4.7 GB DVD in six and a half minutes, a remarkable achievement in bandwidth.
We reviewed three different 12x models from Plextor. The PX-712A ($90 street) is an internal IDE, the PX-712SA ($140 street) is an internal for serial ATA, and the PX-712UF ($180 street) is an external in a beautifully designed case, with USB 2.0 and Firewire interfaces, and the same innovative colors as the PX-708, which fit nicely into style-conscious Mac environments.
Given that 8x, 12x and 16x media are in short supply, these drives are practical, too: they can burn most 4x media at 8x, and most 8x media at 12x. Check the Plextor web site for a list of approved media: www.plextor.com.
We expect performance from Plextor: top quality burns, at significantly higher speeds than the competition. The Plextor burns DVD+R at 12x, DVD-R at 8x, RW+ and RW- at 4x, CD at 48x (that high a CD-R speed is also a first in a DVD burner) and CD-RW at 24x. At the time of writing, the PX-712's 6.5-minute time for a full 4.7GB DVD was the fastest DVD burn you could get, but faster times will soon be available -- see below.
Most interestingly, the 12x PX-712 outperforms the earliest shipping 16x DVD recorders with DVD+R media, such as the Pioneer DVR-108. And although its rated speed for DVD-R media is only 8x, it holds up to the latest 16x drives with DVD-R as well. I guess there is a difference between what Plextor means by “x” and what the other manufacturers mean by “x”.
Next:16x DVD and 4x dual layer
Great as the Plextor PX-712 is, a phenomenal 16x dual layer model is just around the corner. By the time you read this, the Plextor PX-716 should be available. This will not only write DVDs at 16x, but it will also write 8.4 GB dual-layer DVDs at 4x, compared to everyone else's slowpoke 2.4x for dual layer.
Although Plextor was the first to announce and deliver 8x and 12x DVD, it was the last to announce its dual layer strategy. There were two main reasons for this: (1) Plextor felt the 2.4x recording speed in first generation dual layer was too slow (48 minutes to record 8.5GB at 2.4x, versus 28 minutes at 4x) and (2) dual layer media were too expensive for all but early adopters. Plextor also felt that there were too many compatibility problems to iron out. So it didn't rush out a release until it was ready.
We will review the Plextor PX-716 as soon as a production
model is available, probably in the next issue of MacDirectory.
But based on our preliminary look, we have no hesitation in
recommending either the new PX-716, which should just be coming
out when you read this, or the tried and tested PX-712. Plextor
drives cost a few dollars more than the competition. But they
are the best value in optical storage today.
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Software
Plextor includes standard lite CD/DVD apps from Roxio in
both Mac and Windows versions, and a trial version of Dantz
Retrospect for Windows. We especially appreciate that firmware
upgrades are now available for OS X users.
Special Features
The PX-712 also includes all Plextor's top-level special
features: PoweRec, VariRec, GigaRec and SecuriRec. These features
are described in detail on Plextor's website (www.plextor.com)
and on the best of the independent optical storage review
sites, www.cdrfreaks.com.
Media
We usually recommend Verbatim media because it is excellent
and available everywhere. But Verbatim couldn't supply us
with true 8x DVD+R media that would work at 12x. So we turned
to Taiyo Yuden, the legendary supplier of optical media. The
only reason we hesitate to recommend it is that it is difficult
to find, and isn't branded in the US. But we have found a
good supplier: www.tapes.com (800-538-2336 or 718-369-8273)
from which you can order online or by phone. Taiyo Yuden's
8x media performed perfectly at 12x. After more than a decade's
experience with optical media of every kind, we know that
Taiyo Yuden is the best and longest lasting. We can't repeat
too often that if you want your CDs or DVDs to last, you must
use good media.
Summary
Earlier this year, we wrote that the Plextor PX-708 was
the ultimate DVD/CD recorder for 2004. Now we think the PX-712
is the ultimate DVD/CD recorder for 2004. Apparently, before
the year is out, we'll have to revise our opinion yet again,
for the PX-716. This has been a good year for Plextor.
Buy it now!
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