New firmware releases for PX-716AL/UFL?

CD, DVD and (Ultra HD) Blu-ray Writers Plextor Writer
#1

I have a question about the availability of new firmware releases on the Plextor PX-716 AL (internal) and UFL (external) DVD drives. After looking at the software download areas in Plextor America, Europe and Japan I believe that, after a year, there is only one firmware release (1.02) available for these drives.

There is nothing wrong with the availability of only one firmware upgrade: my PX-716 UFL is working just fine after upgrading it from 1.01 (not available on-line) to 1.02. But I am accustomed to see a lot of firmware upgrades for new Plextor drives at least on its first year of availability or so. It is certainly nice to have some improvements or bug fixes for any drive. At least, most fixes for the PX-716A should be reelevant for the slot loading mechanism drives.

What is the reason there are no updates for the slot loading mechanism drives? The new PX-755 and PX-760 drives have firmware upgrades with both improvements and bug fixes; even the firmware on the PX-716A has recently been updated to 1.10. I suppose that most Plextor customers are accustomed not only to bug fixes but also to important improvements in compatibility, formats and media supported.

Are there plans to release new firmware upgrades for the slot loading mechanism DVD drives?

Cheers,
Igor.

#2

That question would be better directed towards Plextor. Maybe there simply aren’t many problems with the slot-loading drives.

#3

Firmware for the AL variant bases on the regular tray loading A/SA/UF variant.

1.09 for A/SA/UF eqals 1.02 for the AL variant. There has not yet been a release of 1.03 for the AL which would equal 1.10 for the A/SA/UF. OTOH nothing seems wrong with 1.09/1.02. You’re pretty much up to date.

#4

Hi Two Degrees and hwp.

Thank you very much for your feedback on this matter. I am sure, the current firmware release is an excellent one. I have not known problems at this moment.

I agree, Plextor is the one to be asked about this question. They certainly know if there will be a new firmware release for this drive. Just asked because, after a year, there are no new firmware upgrades for that drive. Certainly any software project has bugs to be fixed. Sometimes these bugs are unknown, but real. It happened to me some months ago when I found a serious bug on the firmware of one of my computer. As it is an old pentium computer, manufactured in 1996, I have no hope it will be fixed. That is the reason I asked this question: it is better fixing as bugs as possible when the hardware device is under maintenance by its manufacturer than discovering latter than a bug exists but it is too late to fix it.

Agreed, before upgrading to 1.02 I read the changelog for the firmware update and compared it with the firmware updates for the classical drives (i.e., PX-716A series). It seems that both drives share most of the firmware (except, perhaps, the parts related with the loading mechanism used in these drives). This firmware is the “slot loading” flavour of 1.09.

Thanks a lot for your feedback. I will probably send an email to Plextor soon. If I get an useful answer from them I will post it here.

Cheers,
Igor.

#5

Hi again.

I have received an answer from a kindly technical support engineer at Plextor. He says that there is no information available regarding future firmware upgrades for the slot-loading flavours of the PX-716 series. He suggests looking at the download section of the website for new upgrades. Well, after reading the thread about problems related with the PX-716A firmware revision 1.10 I think that we are lucky for not having a 1.03 release available for the PX-716UFL drives.

I must admit that I cannot fully understand that thread; is it really an old (pre-1.5!) beta release of the firmware? After looking for the upgrade for PX-716A on the European website (http://www.plextor.be/technicalservices/downloads/firmw_716A.asp?choice=DVD-Recorders) there is nothing that shows that it is an experimental release.

A lesson learned right now: not installing a future PX-716UFL 1.03 firmware until there are reports on it. I will carefully re-read the thread about the firmware 1.10 for PX-716A. As I said, I cannot fully understand what happens with the firmware for the classical PX-716 drive and why it is not labeled as an experimental firmware if it really is.

Cheers,
Igor.

#6

The 1.10 firmware for 716 found on Plextor websites is perfectly ok. Look at the posting dates in that thread and you will see that the discussion is very old. It dealt with some faked firmware found somewhere before the official release of 1.10.

#7

Indeed, you are right. Most posts to that thread are from march, and the new firmware release is from august. Nice to know that all is right with the firmware. I just read the dates on the latest posts. :o

Thanks for this information!
Igor.

#8

NP, you are always welcome! :wink: