Plextor's PX-708A DVD±RW - The Drive, Bundle and Software
Saturday, 11 September 2004 00:05
Last Updated on Saturday, 19 April 2008 16:24
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| The Drive: | |
| The box arrived slightly banged up, and about a month late (thanks to UPS), but the drive seemed to be in alright. A quick inspection of all the goodies showed no damage. So, let's take a look at it. | |
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I was quite happy to see that this drive has a volume control and a headphone jack on the front. Granted, most people will never use these to listen to a CD, but my personal opinion is that a drive looks cheap without it. Also on the front is the DVD-ReWritable, DVD R/RW, Compact Disk UltraSpeed, and Plextor model number and logo. Kind'a gives you the feeling of NASCAR doesn't it?
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| The back of the drive holds the usual connectors. From left to right: Digital Audio (SPIDF) connector, Analog Audio connector, Jump Block, IDE, and power connector. Nothing unusual or funky. | |
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Here's a quick look at the label. It's been made a little while. Gotta' love the fact that BCC is listed on every drive they make!! |
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| The Bundle: | |
| Well, you've seen a bit of the drive itself, but for a suggested retail of $400 CAD, it should come with more than just the drive. Here's a shot of what's in the box. Plextor does include a blank DVD+R that will burn at 8X, as well as an IDE cable, screws, emergency eject tool, a quick start guide, a great manual, and some software. I was a bit disappointed to discover that it doesn't include Plextools. Instead it included the ageing Plextor Manager. More on that below. | |
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| The software disk that comes with this drive is in fact a DVD-ROM. It contains a fair bit of software to get you going. You get Easy CD&DVD Creator 6, Abobe's PhoteSuite 5 SE, and Roxio DVD Max (aka Cyberlink PowerDVD 4). Also included, but not listed on the main installer is the Plextor Manager 2000, and a download to a 30 day trial of Retrospect Backup. Nice little bundle. | |
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| Here are some shots of the utilities/goodies that come with Plextor Manager. | |
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(Plextor's Audio Player)
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(Plextor's Audio Capture / CD Ripper)
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(Settings Tab in Plextor Manager)
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(More Plextor Manager Goodies)
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| That pretty much sums up the drive, the bundle and the software. One last thing we have to do before we head on over to the testing, is to take a look at the bench setup and testing information. On with the show!! |
