Plextor Europe announced the new PX-712A internal DVD-recorder. The drive supports 12x for DVD plus and 8x for DVD minus recording. The PX-712A reads DVD-ROMs at 16x. In addition to DVDs, the drives can obviously work with CDs, at a read and write speed of 48x and a rewrite speed of 24x. The drive will be demonstrated at CeBIT from 18 to 24 March in Hall 21 (Stand A12). The PX-712A can handle both the DVD plus and the DVD minus format. As the fastest drive on the market, the PX-712A burns a 4.7GB DVD-disk in around 6 minutes. DVD plus disks can be written at a top speed of no less than 12x, and re-writing at 4x. For DVD minus, these speeds are 8x and 4x respectively. DVD-ROMs are read at 16x and the drives also handle CDs. These disks are written and read at 48x and rewritten at 24x.

To prevent Buffer Underruns the PX-712A uses Buffer Underrun Proof technology (for CD), Lossless Linking (for DVD+R/RW) and Zero Link technology (for DVD-R/RW). Using the "Background formatting" function and a buffer memory of 8 MB, this drive can also format during writing.

The PX-712A is also equipped with Plextor’s "PoweRec" technology (Plextor Optimised Writing Error Reduction Control) which, depending on the quality of the DVD/CDs used, determines the optimum speed during burning, and thus helps to prevent writing errors. Plextor's "VariRec" technology enables the user to choose from eight tone settings to improve and personalise sound recordings. Furthermore, the drive also supports the "Mount Rainier" technology that converts a CD into a universal storage disk.

In addition, the drive supports the "GigaRec" function, where up to 1 GB of data can be recorded onto a standard CD disk (99 minutes).

Data security is guaranteed by the "SecuRec" hardware password protection. This key burns an inscription directly onto the CD.

To improve the working life of your drive and make the whole process operate really quietly, you can set the read and write speed and the eject time yourself via Silent Mode. A "Q-Check" or quality control (C1/C2 error test, PI/PO error test, FE/TE test and Beta/Jitter test) before or after the burning process provides you with the necessary information about the quality of your DVD/CD. The internal PX-712A has an E-IDE (ATAPI) interface and is available with a white or black front and a comprehensive manual in 16 languages. A comprehensive software package is supplied as standard, enabling you to handle videos, photos, audio and data. Ahead Nero (CD/DVD Mastering software), Ahead InCD (Packet Writing software), Pinnacle Studio 9 (Video Editing and Authoring software), Cyberlink PowerDVD (DVD Player software) and PlexTools Professional (CD/DVD Utility software).

The new Plextor media have a write speed of no less than 8x, offer optimum writing quality, superior reliability and register with extreme precision. Better still, in combination with the PX-712A the write speed is even 12x (DVD+R); at present, that performance is unrivalled on the market.Plextor DVD+R disks are not only suitable for Plextor DVD recorders, but can also be used in devices from all other manufacturers. The 8x DVD+R media are available as a 5 -pack or per 25 in a cakebox; the 8X DVD-R discs only come in a 5-pack.

The PX-712A is available from the beginning of May through Plextor's sales channels for a recommended retail price of 179 EUR* (excl. VAT). The external and Serial-ATA version will be announced later. The DVD+R media will be available commercially from April, and the DVD-R media from May.

Performance:

- Write
DVD+R
12x: 16.620KB/s (PCAV)
6-8x: 8.310-11.080KB/s (PCAV)
6x: 8.310KB/s (CLV)
4x: 5.540KB/s (CLV)
2.4x: 3.324KB/s (CLV)

DVD-R
6-8x: 8.310-11.080KB/s (PCAV)
6x: 8.310KB/s (CLV)
4x: 5.540KB/s (CLV)
2x: 2.770KB/s (CLV)

CD-R
48x: 7.200KB/s (PCAV)
32x: 4.800KB/s (PCAV)
16x: 2.400KB/s (CLV)
8x: 1.200KB/s (CLV)

- ReWrite
DVD+RW
4x: 5.540KB/s (CLV)
2.4x: 3.324KB/s (CLV)

DVD-RW
4x: 5.540KB/s (CLV)
2x: 2.770KB/s (CLV)
1x: 1.385KB/s (CLV)

CD-RW
24x: 3.600KB/s (PCAV)
10x: 1.500KB/s (CLV)
4x: 600KB/s (CLV)

- Read
DVD-ROM
6-16x CAV
5-12x CAV
3-8x CAV
2-5x CAV
2x CLV

CD-ROM
20-48x CAV
17-40x CAV
14-32x CAV
10-24x CAV

Access Time Data Buffer 8MB