Plextor Cebit 2001 Booth

Plextor's Cebit 2001 booth wasn't as much interesting you might think since nothing new was there. Or not? Actually Plextor introduced a new portable 8x recorder (8x re-writing and 24x reading) with BURN-Proof technology, without any model code. The drive was prototype and was turning around in a glass chamber:

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The second interesting model was the internal slim line solution for portable CDs. The drive supports 8x writing, 8x re-writing, 24x reading and BURN-Proof. Plextor will not ship a drive with their name upon it since the drive is sold OEM to other manufacturers... Of course the firmware is developing from Plextor so the lucky users who would buy a portable PC with this CDR-W drive inside would not be disappointed :)

------------------- Future plans --------------------

Yes i know what you are thinking. When Plextor will release:

1) The next SCSI CD-Rom/DVD-Rom drive...As it seems never! We had posted that the next SCSI DVD-ROM from Plextor would come in summer but.. Newer information seems to want that unlucky to happen. Possibly the plans about SCSI DVD-ROM are abandoned since already cheap SCSI DVD-ROM solutions, from various manufacturers, are out. A Plextor SCSI DVD-ROM would cost a fortune, for the retail user, compared to the existing solutions. So there

2) The PX-W1610S.As it seems never! I know that most of you waited to buy this drive...Don't. Plextor will NOT release a 16x SCSI CDR-W drive. Those were shocking news for us too :(.

3) A faster than 16x writing recorder. The competition (Ricoh, Yamaha, Sanyo) has already announced/showed faster, than 16x, writing solutions but Plextor hasn't... If you also remember previous Plextor drives never had been announced before the official press release. So even a Plextor 24x/10x/40x recorder with "DVD-options" comes out in June 2001 you will find it from the official press release. :)

Viewer: Hey did you say "DVD options"? What this mean?

CDRINFO: No further comments. Wait till summer 2001 to find out ;)

4) A faster than 12x writing SCSI recorder. Wait till the next generation of Plextor recorders hits the market. Possibly (?) SCSI interface will be supported.

5) A Multi-Level (ML) recorder. Yes we know that Plextor's name was in the official press release for the new format but...Nothing has been announced or mentioned from Plextor in Cebit. Very weird silence we must note.

6) A recorder capable of making working backups for SD2 protected CDs in all CD-ROM/DVD-ROMs...The problem is in the Sanyo chipsets, which Plextor and many other manufacturers uses. So there isn't much that Plextor engineers can do about until a newer Sanyo chipset fix it... Desperate users look for a Philips based solution.

------------------- FAQ --------------------

1) What will happen finally with Plextor PX-40TS? Will it stop selling this summer?

Yes. As we "first" posted, the decision is final. The drive will stop selling this summer in Europe and in bigger timeframe in USA (and Japan).

The real question is: "If I decide to buy the drive NOW will Plextor honour the 2 years guarantee?". Plextor's answer was clear: "Even we decide to stop selling a product we will continue supporting it. This mean service (repair or exchange with a new one), firmware updates etc."

2) Why Plextor USA said that there will be a PX-W1610S? Maybe they know better than you...

The answer is quite simple and can be assumed in few words "..engineers knows better than sales person(s)..".

3) Why Plextor seems to drop the SCSI interface? I want my Plex SCSI recorder now!

Yes we also would like more companies to keep shipping SCSI CDR-W drives. However keep in mind that the development of a certain product takes several months and lot of investment. Since most users are not buying SCSI solutions why one company should continue a long tradition in SCSI models?

We think that it's up to users showing companies if they want SCSI models by buying them! Bigger sales for the SCSI recorders will give companies something to think about changing in their roadmap.