My experience with the Plextor 708A

[firefoxx]

Just wanted to share my experiences with my Plextor. Other peoples experiences may vary.

I got a Plextor 708A (retail) from Newegg in December. I have been using it with Nero 6, and have burned about 400 CDRs, 10 DVD+R's and 10DVD-R's with it. Using the latest firmware.

It seems to burn recommended 4x DVD+R quite well, at pseudo 8x, using about 9-12 minutes. I've tried the included Plextor media and Taiyo Yuden 4x. I use these for archiving important files, and so stick to media made in Japan. Haven't tried any other +R media. Lately, however, it had some problems with a couple of the Taiyo Yudens. With one, Nero simply hung at 99% and wouldn't respond. Coaster. With two others, the memory buffer (not the drive buffer) simply emptied about 1/3 of the way into the write, twice, but the write continued and the disc came out OK.

DVD-R writing on cheap media has not been good. Dismal, to be frank. I've tried five different cheap DVD-R discs. They all successfully write with no errors. The caveat is that only two of them can be read. I test them on a Pioneer DVD player (bought last year), an old Pioneer slot-in DVD-Rom (103), and the 708A itself. Only two of the discs work, and it's an all-or-nothing deal. Either it works with all drives, or no drives. For the bad discs, the player will read a portion, 30-80%. The DVD-Rom is the most choosy and will not read them at all, and the Plextor is not far behind.
These are the discs that failed:
PRINCO Princo 4x ($1.50 each)
OPTODISCR004 Noname 4x ($.60 each, cheap so tried 5 of em, same result)
FORNEX101 Noname 4x ($.80 each)
These worked
GSC001 Melody 4x ($1.60 each, settled on this one, bought a 10pack)
RITEKG03 2x Noname ($1.25 each but only 2x)
I have no doubt that name brand (read: expensive) DVD-R discs will have no problem, but I want to use -R for "general" writing. The cheapest name-brand, individually boxed (no other way) media is $4.

I've tried only 1 DVD-RW disc, a TDK. It worked. Problem is, it's only 1x (it didn't state the speed on the cover).

CD-R writing has been good. Only 2 coasters, 1 user error and another from bad media. Used Princo 52x and Taiyo Yuden 40x. Less than 3 minutes for each full CDR. Big speed increase over my old Plextor 12x. One thing to note: I used to be in the habit of inserting the CD just before write with my old Plextor CD-R drive, but now Nero will say that there was some read error when checking the disc (before writing). Re-inserting the disc or inserting it before pressing "write" solves the problem. (I did it since I didn't like the pause when the disc was initiating).

One weird thing occurred last week. For some unknown reason, the plextor changed to PIO mode in WinXP. Of course, any burns with PIO meant buffer underrun protection every few seconds. The bios still showed it as DMA, but XP wouldn't acknowledge the fact. No amount of uninstalling, fiddling, coaxing, cursing, or praying would change its mind. I finally ended up switching the DMA jumper in the back to multiword DMA (as oppsed to ultra DMA). XP recognized it as such (multiword). I changed back the jumper, and voila, it's now ultra DMA as usual.

I haven't done any DVD movie playing/ripping, CD playing/ripping. I simply don't have any interest in doing those things.

FYI, I live in Thailand and asked a friend to get the Plextor for me. At that time, it was $400 here from the local dealer, and $215 at Newegg. That's the typical price difference for anything that isn't imported in vast quantities/very new/luxury items. Media selection is also limited, and most shops don't even sell DVD+/-R media. Places that do sell pretty much the same 4-5 brands (they all get it from the same dealers).

[johnclark]

I really wish i read your review on the Plextor 708A. I recently purchase a slew of cheap 4X media - which cost me a fortune - and none had work coherently. Each took me about an hour to burn, which is dreadful. Do you know of any cheap media that will actually burn at 4X besides the expensive media.

I have a question for you. How can i tell if Nero is burning in PIO mode or DMA mode. Also, is there a way to increase the read and encoding speed when ripping a movie with dvd Shrink. I am a novice at this, as you can now tell. My computer spec is 2.8 G.hetz, 1G. memory, dvd drive 8X, and of course i have a plextor 708A. I really appreciate all the help you can supply.

[normando]

The trick to all successful DVD burners is to find a brand of media that works and is affordable and then stick with it until the drive dies.

I have had excellent results using the Ritek 4X -R media from www.rima.com on my Plextor 708A drive. I think they cost $89 for a 100pk.

Don't get too bummed out... things will improve if you follow my advice.

[firefoxx]

Hmm, an hour means burning at 1x, which is not good.

I really can't recommend anything, other than to buy only 1 disc of various types/brands of media, write standard DVD-movie that fills the disc, and test it out on various readers. Then stick to that type/brand, like normando says. I did that, and now I'm sticking to Melody brand. If I find a new brand, I'll buy one disc and test it.

It seems that people have had different experiences with this drive, since some have said that Optodisc DVD-Rs do work, which is not my experience.

Nero always will burn with DMA if it is available on the drive. To check if the drive has DMA turned on, use Nero infotool (should have been installed with Nero, in the toolkit). Look at the configuration tab. It should say "DMA on" for the plextor.

A symptom of PIO mode is that the buffer (usually the bottom, smaller buffer indicator in Nero) will keep cycling between 0% and 99%. When using DMA, it will remain in the 80-99% area.

[johnclark]

Thanks Firefoxx and Normando. I'll try out different media.

[Stas]

Hey guys!

You have a perfect burner. There are much problems with WinXP, we all know this! OK, the good advice is to find the best media for your burner. One of the reasons to buy 708 is that it work with most of the media on the market (even cheapest). I had some problems with Plextor 4X +R media (Tayo Yuden) and asked for the support from www.plextor.com. The answer was quick. I have a post with the answer on DVD Writers comments:

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=120&Search=Search&list=0#comments

Look at my post from February 06, 2004.

Now I'm working with Ritek G04 4x -R from Meritline.com and
with Memorex 4x +R from Amazon.com but earlier I've tried Princo 4x -R and all of this media worked great.

I think you have to resolve some problems with WinXP and ... Nero! Use your Nero release supplied with the drive - what you need more from Nero 6?

[johnclark]

Firefoxx, i found out that my drive is on PIO mode and i tried deleting the IDE Channel from Device Manger and rebooted the computer nevertheless, it was still in PIO mode. Can you tell me how you changed it to multiword DMA.

[fmctm1sw]

Firefoxx, i found out that my drive is on PIO mode and i tried deleting the IDE Channel from Device Manger and rebooted the computer nevertheless, it was still in PIO mode. Can you tell me how you changed it to multiword DMA.

Isn't there a jumper on the drive itself as well? Make sure that is in the right place...

[Pop's]

???????????????????

[Kolosus]

If you have not installed SP1 yet, you should do so. Beware however, that you may have to reinstall a program or two afterward. And a few older programs may refuse to work with it. If you have already done this, try updating your Nero to 6.3. This has made a difference on some machines with problems similar to yours. Next might be to set the plex as the master on the secondary ide port, and cd/dvd-rom as slave on the same port. And last but not least, as these fine gentleman have stated, stick with the media that works in your burner. For my 708, it seems that TY's work the best, followed by some Riteks(not all).

Hope that helps.

[johnclark]

Pop, the arrow to click to change from PIO to DMA mode wasn't there. PIO was the default. I went to Dell and downloaded a patch and it switched it to DAM, however now it is on DMA 2, when i know it can go up to 5. Now i'm not too computer savy, thus i really don't know what any of this means. Anyway, it still take me an hour to burn with a 4X disc. And to ne honest, i just fliped through the manual, i'll try holding the edject button as you have mention. Hope it works.

- - and fmctm1sw, what do you mean by "Jumper" i'm clueless here buddy. Please elaborate. And thank you guys for sharing your 2 cents.

[Pop's]

??????????????

[firefoxx]

Windows XP defaults CD/DVD drives to PIO mode (which is stupid). You can't change it from within Nero's tool. The correct place to change it is:

Right click on My Computer
Choose Properties
Hardware Tab
Device Manager
Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
Double Click Secondary IDE Channel
Advanced Settings Tab
Transfer Mode (Set to "DMA if Available" for everything)

[budz]

I have the plextor 708A and have had only 1 coaster which was a MEMOREX DVD+R 4X spd. I have used cheap PRINCO DVD-R media which burned perfectly fine and played well on my stand alone dvd players. MEMOREX DVD+R media sucks because it's manufactured by CMC. I would recommend you use the dvd media that Plextor supports & the brands that are compatible.
http://www.plextor.com/english/support/media_708.html
http://www.plextor.com/english/support/media_708Compatible.htm

Visit cdfreaks PLEXTOR FORUM.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?s=ed0843767e459c8ffd3544f0293b894f&forumid=43

I use IMATION (RICOH)DVD+R 4x speed that burns @ 8x speed, MAXELL DVD-R 4x speed, RITEK DVD-R 4 x speed, VERBATIM (RICOH) DVD-R 2x speed, & TDK 2x speed DVD-R. They all play fine on my standalone dvd players. I'm so glad I didn't purchase XP PRO with all the problems I've read about it. I purchased WINDOWS 2000 PRO W/SP 4.

[Pop's]

??????????????????????????

[firefoxx]

Just so that nobody gets the wrong idea:
I'm not trashing the Plextor 708A. I'm satisfied with what it does, but a bit disappointed at its ability to write cheap media. Yes, there is the media list, but like I said, I live in Thailand, where media is hard to find (At least, good+cheap media. It's either one or the other, not both, here.) I've settled on one cheap media, but would have liked it more if the optodisc media (which is really cheap) worked, since the store selling them used some no-name drive to burn them and it worked.

I'm also not trashing WinXP (home or pro). It does its job. It has failings just like any other OS, but I'm a computer professional, and I know how to take care of (or live with) those failings. I choose it over ME/2K. But I use linux for cheap servers.

Again, experiences vary. Read other people's experiences to get a full idea of what this drive can/can't do.

[fmctm1sw]

- - and fmctm1sw, what do you mean by "Jumper" i'm clueless here buddy. Please elaborate. And thank you guys for sharing your 2 cents.

I thought there was another jumper on the back of it (not master/Slave/CS). Come to think of it it might have been multiword DMA and something else. I can't remember, it would have been a long shot though...

[johnclark]

Aren't these forums great! Thanks to everyone who gave me thier 2 cents on what approach i should take to fix my Plextor 708A. Maily, FireFoxx. I went in manually into my BIOS and discerned that my Secondary IDE was turned off. All i had to do was put it on. As i mentioned before, I am a novice when i comes to computers. Now I can burn dvds in less than 20 minutes and it feels great. I don't want to throw it out my window anymore. So, once again, i would like to thank everyone who help me. Without your help, i would be down to my last hair. Thanks!!!!!!!!