Plextor officially announces the Serial 716SA drive

[DVD_ADDICT]

you can read about it at cdrlabs.com
http://www.cdrlabs.com/#1

Wonders if there will be problems with that drive as well? Only time will tell.

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PLEXTOR 708A DVDRW
PIONEER 107D DVDRW
LITEON 811 DVDRW
TOSHIBA (2)1612 DVD-ROM
PLEXTOR 48X24X48 CDRW
PENT 4 HT 3.00C, 800 FSB, PENT 4 2.40 533 FSB
1GB CRUCIAL PC3200 MEMORY, 1GB CRUCIAL PC2700
WESTERN DIGITAL 36GB RAPTOR HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 200 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 250 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 200 GB SATA HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR (2)120 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 60 GB HARD DRIVE
ANTEC TRUE POWER430 WATT
ANTEC SLK2650 CASE, ANTEC SLK2600AMB CASE
CANOPUS ADVC-100 ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER
MAXTOR ATA -133 PCI CONTROLLER CARD

[G11]

They will probably use drives with TLA#01xx for these models. Or at least, I would hope so. Thanks for letting us know DVD_ADDICT.

[Arrow]

Is there any proof besides the one drive we ve seen that TLA 01xx will is really better than TLA 00xx?

[G11]

No not really but it does indicate that there has been a hardware change which is something we need. Also, the quote below seems to confirm that. I just hope that the new TLA does indeed fix the problems… I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I returned my 716A to Best Buy on Sat. (TLA 000) because of high errors on test burns - and emailed Plextorshop to ask about preorders. This is what they told me:

Dear Customer;

Thank you for contacting Plextor Sales and for choosing our products. We are expecting to start shipping this drive by first week of December. These drives will have a different TLA on them so they are not from the same batch as the one you purchased from Best Buy. Best Buy should also receive more units in shortly with a new TLA on them (Second Batch). Please stay tuned.

Thank you very much and we’re sorry for the inconvenience.

Regards,

Plextor Sales

[DrewDT]

Anyone know of any real advantages to owning the 716SA over the 716A?

[Seanxxxz]

I guess there should be no real advantage, at least in term of speed. ATA motherboard is able to support up to 133MBps, SATA I believe 150MBps or more (?), HOWEVER the maximum transfer rate of DVD at 16X is only 22160Kbps (2.77MBps).

I think SATA is only useful for hard drive which can require more bandwidth, or a computer with many drives.

[DrewDT]

Interesting, it seems like releasing a SATA version is more for marketing than actual benefit to the end user.

[Arrow]

Correct. Moreover most SATA controllers don’t really support optical drives.

[Pac]

Correct. Moreover most SATA controllers don’t really support optical drives.

Oh really? Didnt know that and I was planning to buy such a SATA PX716 - if they solve the problems with a new TLA#

I own a PCI Card with Silicon Image Chip, do you know more about which SATA controllers support optical drives?

[Kenshin]

Serial ATA works well for those connecting and disconnecting drives very often. If you plan to use a Plextor DVD writer just like everyone else, it’s not worth it to spend too much over standard P-ATA 716A or 712A. For myself, SATA drives are worth spending US$30 or US$40 more because of long cables, easy plugging, etc. Most motherboards being produced nowadays have MORE SATA channels than PATA channels because of Intel’s latest ICH6® have 4 SATA channels natively. I haven’t seen anyone reporting about ICH6® compatibility with SATA optical drives. Anyone?

[Ska]

Someone have tested SATA optical drives with Linux? For example SuSe 9.1 personal or the new 9.2 personal edition, and try to burn WITH K3b (any version)…?
Does it work properly?

[DrewDT]

I wrote Howard Wing and Plextor tech support regarding my question of whether or not there are any advantages of waiting for the PX-716SA instead of just using the PX-716A, here were there responses: (I guess I’m still on the fence).
Response1:
You might want to use a SATA device if your space in your computer is limited or runs extremely hot. Performance-wise, the PX-716A is equal to the PX-716SA. So you are correct in your assessment that the device does not offer any advantages in a conventional tower system. Now if you intended to build a duplicator tower with 7 drives or more, the PX-716SA would be a much getter choice.

Thank you for your interest in Plextor and its products.

Response2:
Well if your hard drives are SATA then the data transfers will be better matched if you use the SATA drive, if your hard drives are not SATA then the A (IDE) version will work just fine. Regardless of which unit you decide to use the will both perform fine and at the proper speeds, good luck

[AmigaBoy]

I own a PCI Card with Silicon Image Chip, do you know more about which SATA controllers support optical drives?

Hi.

There is a list of supported controllers and motherboards on Plextor’s USA site HERE.

Kenshin, you can have a look there too. There are some ICH6 motherboards there too.

This is just a small selection of controllers and you have to test it yourself or ask if someone has tested it.

HTH.

[Kenshin]

Hi.

There is a list of supported controllers and motherboards on Plextor’s USA site HERE.

Kenshin, you can have a look there too. There are some ICH6 motherboards there too.

This is just a small selection of controllers and you have to test it yourself or ask if someone has tested it.

HTH.

Great. Thank you.

[Ska]

PlextorShop have included the PX-716SA in the shop, but is not yet available in stock…
Anyway this is the link http://www.plextorshop.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=9

The price is: $159.00