Plextor PX-750A DVD Burner Review


 




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Review:
Plextor PX-750A
Reviewed by: Dee-27
Provided by: Plextor SA/NV
(B)

Firmware: 1.01 - 1.02
TLA #:
0000
Manufactured: November
2005

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Plextor
SA/NV (B) was kind enough to send us their latest DVD Multi Burner, the PX-750A
for review. In this review we will be testing how the PX-750A performs with
different media types. We will also be running some advanced tests in this
review.


The Plextor
PX-750A supports 16x DVD
±R, 8x
DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW
and 8x/4x DVD+R DL/DVD-R DL
writing technology, allowing Double/Dual Layer discs of 8.5GB to be
written.
 A future firmware upgrade will allow 6x/8x writing speeds
for DVD-R DL media. The Plextor PX-750A also supports DVD-RAM reading and
writing technology, at up to 5x read/write speeds.

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Company
information:
 


Let us take a
look at some of the company information found at Plextor Europe's website


Corporate Profile:
























Company
Name


Plextor
Europe


Established


1994


Paid in
Capital


EUR
2.478.935,25


President


Motoaki
Kaneko


Number of
Employees


30


Sales
Amount


EUR 83.665.000 (FY
2003)


Business
Outline


Plextor is a
leading international manufacturer of extremely reliable, high quality
recording equipment and is also one of the pioneers in the field of CD
technology. From its parent company, Shinano Kenshi Co. Japan, Plextor has
a built up tradition in the development and manufacture of advanced
hardware and electronic precision equipment going back to 1918. With head
offices in Japan, Europe and the United States the company mainly sells
its products through a network of specialised computer dealers. Plextor
Europe, established in Brussels, takes responsibility for sales, marketing
and technical support in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Since opening
its Brussels office in 1994, Plextor has introduced a number of award
winning products, including CD/DVD-ROM drives, CD/DVD recordable drives,
CD/DVD media and USB Flash Memory Drives (PlexFlash) and digital video
converters.


Corporate Highlights:

































1985


Founded TEXEL
Corporation in Tokyo, as a subsidiary of Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd., started
with export business of background music equipment.


1986


Small offset
printing press machines are introduced in domestic and overseas
market.


1988


Osaka Branch is
opened.


1989


Extended time
recorders for phone conversation are introduced. CD-I audio and encording
systems are introduced. CD-Background Music Players are
introduced.


1990


CD-ROM drives are
introduced. TEXEL America is established in Sunny Vale, California,
USA.


1992


TEXEL America is
relocated in Santa Clara.


1993


Printing Press
Division is established. Plextor S.A. is established in Brussels,
Belgium.


1994


TEXEL Co., Ltd., is
renamed as Plextor Co., Ltd. TEXEL America is renamed as Plextor
Corporation.


1997


Plextor Co., Ltd.
office is relocated from Ueno to
Yaesuguchi, Tokyo
Station.


1998


CD Talking Book for
people with visual impairments is
introduced.


There
are three Plextor companies in the world. Mission of each company is marketing
and sales of:



  1. Plextor Co., Ltd.
    (Plextor Japan)


    • Business Audio
      Equipment, including Professional CD Players for background
      music, etc.

    • Digital talking book
      for people with visual impairments

    • Computer
      Peripherals, including CD-ROM, CD-RW drives, and CD-Tower Systems

    • Printing Press
      Equipment, including IC Card Offset Printing Systems

  2. Plextor Corporation
    (Plextor USA):
    Computer Peripherals, including CD-ROM, CD-RW drives, and
    CD-Tower Systems

  3. Plextor S.A. (Plextor
    Europe):
    Computer Peripherals, including CD-ROM, CD-RW drives



SHINANO
KENSHI
is a global leader in providing
integrated motion control solutions, multi-media solutions, printing solution
and textile solutions. The company is organized into four divisions, each
dedicated to a specific market. They are:



  • Electrical Division -
    Small precision motors.

  • Electronic Equipment
    Division - CD-ROM, and CD-R/RW optical disk drives, and Professional Audio
    Equipment.

  • Printing Equipment
    Division - Offset printing presses.

  • Textile Division -
    Spun silk yarn.

SHINANO
KENSHI was founded in 1918 to manufacture Spun Silk Yarn, which at the time, was
one of the most "High-Tech" industries in the world. As the years passed,
SHINANO KENSHI embarked on other industrial markets that would grow more
progressively, while maintaining its proud history in the Silk Industry. These
ventures insights led to the successful expansion into technology-driven,
knowledge-intensive fields, such as Electrical Division, Electronic Equipment
Division, and Printing Equipment Division. While maintaining and strengthening
its core competencies, Shinano Kenshi has continued its global expansion by
establishing subsidiary companies and promoting its products on a worldwide
basis. These subsidiaries are chartered with the continual growth of Resellers
and OEM's in their respective territories, who have come to rely upon Shinano
Kenshi for performance, quality oriented and technically superior optical
peripheral products. Marketing base toward abroad.


PLEXTOR is the worldwide brand for all
products manufactured by the Electronic Equipment Division and Printing
Equipment Division of SHINANO KENSHI.


The Electronic Equipment
Division introduced its first CD-ROM optical disk drive under the TEXEL brand
name in 1989. Faced with the prospects of a healthy and ever-increasing demand
for its products, Shinano Kenshi identified the importance of this segment with
the Professional and IT markets demanding performance-oriented products. Through
every generation of optical disk drive, Plextor has continually sought ways in
which its CD-ROM's and CD-RW's could stimulate market demand by offering higher
speed and higher reliability devices, while winning numerous awards worldwide.


PLEXTOR CD-R/RW drives
were introduced in 1998 with technologies developed by the corporation in
support of the market growing demand for CD-ROM's. High performance drives
enable our users to write and re-write data on a stable platform that has
evolved throughout the years. Plextor has also invested heavily on the
certification of CD-RW media to give our users a wide range of compatibility
between the various manufacturers.


Plextor's CD-R &
CD-RW optical disk drives have been tested worldwide and evaluated as the
"Professional Choice" to satisfy even the most discerning customers.
Plextor products have been adopted by financial institutions and government
agencies, which require highly reliable data storage technology. Recording
studios have come to regard the Plextor products as the "drive of choice", which
they can rely upon for the accurate extraction and creation of Digital Audio.


PLEXTOR background music
systems have achieved the number 1 position in the worldwide market. Unique data
compression technologies help to achieve long playback times, while maintaining
high quality sound in professional background music systems for restaurants and
stores. Technology leadership has been maintained based on high performance,
superior electro-mechanical technology of Plextor's in-house motor technology,
robust structure and audio orientation are the distinct signs of a market
leader. PLEXTALK is a CD-ROM based talking book developed by Plextor for users
that are visually impaired. Over fifty hours of audio information can be
recorded on a single CD by Plextor's DAISY operating system. PLEXTALK offers a
bookmark function that allows the user to search for the spot where a reader
wants to begin.
Plextor's Printing Equipment Division manufactures compact
offset printing machines with a combination of sophisticated mechanical and
electronic technology. It enables the user to achieve the same quality of
printing that was formally available only with the craftsmanship of highly
skilled workers. CARD PLEX printing systems provide IC card and single card
printing solutions, while maintaining only the highest quality possible.


Plextor's subsidiary
companies are responsible for maintaining the customer database, while
simultaneously adding more value-add products than ever before.


* DAISY: Digital
Audio-based Information System. A set of hardware and software to record, store,
transfer and read digital audio books.


If you are interested in reading more company
information, please visit: Plextor


Drive
specifications:






The specifications
of the Plextor PX-750A were found at Plextor Europe's website.


Write & Read
speed
































 

Write


DVD+R


16x


DVD+R
DL


8x


DVD-R


16x


DVD-R
DL


4x (6 & 8x
-R by Firmware Upgrade)


DVD+RW


8x


DVD-RW


6x


DVD-RAM


5x


CD-R


40x


CD-RW


24x











 

Read


DVD-ROM


16x


CD-ROM


40x


Technical
Specifications

































Interface


IDE/ATAPI


Data
buffer


2
MB


Access
Time


<130ms (CD);
<140ms (DVD)


MTBF


60
000h


Disc
Loading


Tray (50.000
times)


Bezel
replaceable


Yes, black bezel
included in retail version for FREE!


Digital
Audio


Yes, S/P DIF
output


Dimensions


146 x 42,5 x 170
mm


Weight


<
800g


Warranty


2 year Fast
Warranty Service (in EU, Norway and Switzerland: Collect &
Return)
1 year in other countries



































































































DVD+R


DVD-R


CD-R


16x: 22.160KB/s
(CAV)


16x: 22.160KB/s
(CAV)


40x: 6.000KB/s
(CAV)


8x: 11.080KB/s
(PCAV)


8x: 11.080KB/s
(PCAV)


32x: 4.800KB/s
(PCAV)


4x: 5.540KB/s
(CLV)


4x: 5.540KB/s
(CLV)


16x: 2.400KB/s
(ZCAV)


2.4x: 3.324KB/s
(CLV)


2x: 2.770KB/s
(CLV)

 
     

DVD+R
DL


DVD-R
DL


DVD-RAM


8x: 11.080KB/s
(ZCLV)


8x: 11.080KB/s
(ZCLV)


5x
(CLV)


6x: 8.310KB/s
(CLV)


6x: 8.310KB/s
(CLV)


3x
(CLV)


4x: 5.540KB/s
(CLV)


4x: 5.540KB/s
(CLV)


2x
(CLV)


2.4x: 3.324KB/s
(CLV)


2x: 2.770KB/s
(CLV)

 
     

DVD+RW


DVD-RW


CD-RW


8x: 11.080KB/s
(ZCLV)


6x: 8.310KB/s
(ZCAV)


24x: 3.600KB/s
(CAV)


6x: 8.310KB/s
(CLV)


4x: 5.540KB/s
(ZCAV)


10x: 1.500KB/s
(CLV)


4x: 5.540KB/s
(CLV)


2x: 2.770KB/s
(CLV)


4x: 600KB/s
(CLV)


2.4x: 3.324KB/s
(CLV)

   
     

DVD-ROM

 

CD-ROM


16x
(CAV)

 

40x
(CAV)


10x
(CAV)

 

24x
(CAV)


8x
(CAV)

 

16x
(CAV)


4x
(CAV)

 

4x
(CAV)


2x
(CAV)

   

System Requirements





 

  • PC/AT
    compatible

  • CPU: Pentium 4 -
    1.4 Ghz

  • RAM:
    256MB

  • HDD: 10GB free
    space

  • OS: Windows
    98SE/Me/2000/XP

What's inside the
box?






On this page
we will take a look at what the retail drive came shipped with and take a look
at the drive and its technology.




The drive
supplied was the retail version, and as we can see, we were supplied with the
Plextor PX-750A drive, black and beige bezels, 2 DVD-ROM discs, IDE cable,
fixing screws, and instruction booklet.



Box
front



Box rear


 
Box left and right



Box top


Now it's time
to take a look at the drive itself:



Beige bezel



Black bezel


The bezel of
the Plextor PX-750A is plainly styled. On the tray we can see the 'Plextor"
logo, and we can also see an emergency eject hole, a single green coloured LED
for read and write (we prefer a different LED colour though for writing) and an
eject button.



Top



Label


On the top of
the drive we found one label, and we can see that the drive was made in China,
dated November 2005. We can also read the drive is TLA#0000



On the rear of
the drive starting from the left, we can see a digital audio connector, analogue
audio connector, jumpers for cable select, slave, and master; IDE connector, and
finally the power connector.


Software Suite






Now it's time
to take a look at the bundled software suite and comment if needed. Please note:
we may not use the supplied software in this review.



The main support disc



Support disc splash screen


As we can see
from the above screenshot, the main support disc contains:


        PlexTools Professional
(full version)
        PlexTools Professional
XL (trial version)
        Pinnacle systems suite
version 8.3 LE (full version)


Reviewers
note:
Although PlexTools Professional
can be installed and used with the PX-750A. Most CD-R and DVD media diagnostic
functions, such as PI/PIF scanning will not work with the PX-750A



In the above
screenshot we can see some of the additional software included. Applications
include:


        Nero Express 6 SE (full
version)
       
CyberLink
(trial version)
        Sonic (trial
version)



In the
screenshot above we have a full list of the software included, and this also
lists which applications are full versions, and which are trial
versions.




On our Bonus
disc we find applications (full and trial versions) from the
following.


        
Ashampoo

        
Genie
Soft
        
interVideo.


But let us continue
this review and see how the PX-750A really performs.


There are many
applications to install and try out, although Plextor wisely suggests you should
not install them all at once.


On the next page we
will take a look at the test machine, the software, and the drive
features…………


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