Plextor Chooses BenQ's Solution for the PX-740A DVD

Japanese manufacturer Plextor uses BenQ's design and hardware implementation for the Plextor PX-740A dual-layer DVD-burner.
Priced at US$109 (MSRP), the internal PX-740A DVD±R/RW drive offers fast performance but lacks the advanced recording features found in Plextor's PX-716 Series DVD burners. The PX-740A delivers high recording speeds of 8X DVD+R Double-Layer (DL) and 4X DVD-R Dual Layer (DL) DVD (8.5 GB), as well as 16X DVD±R on single-layer DVD media. On the other hand, PlexTools Professional software is not bundled in the retail package. This means that features such as Q-Check for CD/DVD disc quality, or GigaRec will not be available with this drive.

Such features could not be implemented in the new Plextor drive, at least not for now, since the drive is based on BenQ's design, powered by the Philips Nexperia PNX7860E chipset and reference design.

OEM drives coming from Taiwan are currently sold US$40-45 to various manufacturers, forcing most Japanese second-tier makers out of the market. This time, Plextor decided to launch an OEM drive from BenQ, in order to deliver a more affordable recorder, as a Plextor spokeperson says.

CDRinfo
 
After Plextor's assault on the faithful, with their attack on the developers of alternative tools, now they come up with a drive that won't even support Plextools - though it should work with any other toolkit that supports BENQ.

Personally, I would try to avoid buying rebranded drives - if I wanted a Benq, I'd buy one, or the better know Benq rebrand (in current drives), Philips - if it worked out cheaper.

Sony, rebranded Liteon - unless you want the fancy front panel (retail only), might as well go with the Liteon instead - rebrands usually leave you miles behind the original brand firmware updates, and OEM rebrands are even worse in that respect, you can be lucky to find an update at all, even if it desperately needs it (and Liteon-based drives most certainly do - only now are the "experimental" 3S chipset models reaching a degree of acceptable performance).
 
After all the drives I have owned in the past, including Sony, Plextor, & LiteOn, I must say NEC is probably my fav of all. Plextor has always been the most expensive, and in the past I didnt mind paying for them as they in mho were the tops in quality and most of the time performance. Seems they have fallen off the proverbial "band wagon" and have slipped quite a bit. I just read a good roundup over at TechSpot, see here:

http://www.techspot.com/reviews/hardware/dvdburner_roundup3
 

dx

1
Hmmm... I can buy Plextor's rebranded BenQ for $109 that had no support for Plextools (one of the major reasons you buy a Plex drive) or I can purchase a real BenQ for $50ish. Hmmm... difficult choice that is. :rolleyes:
 
So let me get this right, if U buy a offical Benq drive it about $50/£40 odd notes, if U buy the exact same drive from Plextor they charge over double for the same drive??

Fools & their money are soon parted springs to mind lol :p

BaNzI :D
 
banzibaby said:
So let me get this right, if U buy a offical Benq drive it about $50/£40 odd notes, if U buy the exact same drive from Plextor they charge over double for the same drive??

Fools & their money are soon parted springs to mind lol :p

BaNzI :D
But thats always the case when it comes to buying a plextor DVD burner compared to any other.:confused:
 

dx

1
roadworker said:
After reading all this,I'm glad I ordered a NEC 3540 last saturday.... :D
And so far its getting great reviews too. My NEC 3500 still works great, but the 3540 just might be a good one to replace it. :)
 
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