DailyTech - Plextor Denies Rumor of Optical Storage Pullout

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Hardware Plextor Denies Rumor of Optical Storage Pullout
Anh Tuan Huynh (Blog) - January 23, 2007 10:05 PM

21 comment(s) - last by Oregonian2.. on Jan 24 at 3:07 PM

North and South American optical disc drive business unaffected by parent company corporate reorganization plans

Plextor LLC today announced it would not exit the optical drive market despite earlier confusion with a press release issued by its parent company, Shinano Kenshi. While Shinano Kenshi announced a new corporate reorganization plan, Plextor optical drives will continually be available in North and South American markets.

Toru Nakazawa, president of Plextor LLC’s USA operations stated, “This announcement by Shinano Kenshi will have no material affect on the operations of Plextor LLC, as we already completed a corporate reorganization in North and South America last year. Our business will continue as usual.”

Nakazawa also went on to clear up the confusion with the press release issued yesterday by Shinano Kenshi. According to Nakazawa, “It is unfortunate that an incorrect translation of a Japanese article, which contained some errors, has led to the rumor that Plextor is somehow quitting the optical disc drive business. This is completely false. In fact, Plextor plans to continue to lead the market with innovative, exciting products that solve real world problems for our consumer and business customers. We deeply appreciate the loyalty of our customers and valued business partners. And we look forward to many years of future success.”

Plextor recently released products such as its 10x DVD+R DL burner and its PlexEraser PX-OE100E.

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Liteon.... Check Newegg

By pillagenburn on 1/24/2007 12:19:34 AM , Rating: 5

Liteon makes a SATA dvd burner drive... check Newegg, it's less than half the price of a Plextor drive. I like Plextor, but their prices are generally pretty unrealistic given today's market.

RE: Liteon.... Check Newegg

By Pirks on 1/24/2007 4:44:09 AM , Rating: 2

shit, out of stock :(

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82...

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RE: Liteon.... Check Newegg

By CrasHxxx on 1/24/2007 1:08:38 PM , Rating: 2

Is it native SATA, or IDE/SATA adapter built in?

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RE: Liteon.... Check Newegg

By Oregonian2 on 1/24/2007 3:07:55 PM , Rating: 2

I think I bought my Plextor from newegg. Plextor price was between two and three times that of other brands (which I have bought over the years, including Pioneer). However if it ever breaks, I plan to get another Plextor.

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Screw Plextor

By afkrotch on 1/24/2007 12:26:26 AM , Rating: 3

I have a 12x Plextor SATA DVD Burner. Cost me $130 and didn't last a year. It no longer reads dvds. I've bought Lite-On drives before that, but during the time only Plextor made SATA burners. Anyways, my Lite-Ons never seem to last more than 2 years.

So I'm trying out IO-DATA now. It's a pretty big brand here in Japan, so I figured I'd give them a shot.

RE: Screw Plextor

By cane on 1/24/2007 1:44:38 AM , Rating: 2

You must have got one of dose rare bad ones, it can happen with all types of products. However Plextor is famous for producing optical drives that work forever... Normally you don't get a new Plextor drive because they brake but because it is to outdated and you want a better model from the same company.

I myself have had 3 Plextor units and currently still have 2 of dem. The other one was a DVD-player that I sold because I didn't need both a player and burner. I have had them all for years without any problems what so ever.

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RE: Screw Plextor

By cozappz on 1/24/2007 5:37:19 AM , Rating: 2

I'm sorry to find a Plextor died. But I hold in my hands several HP, Mitsumi, LiteOn drives which were identical except front panel. So, my guess is that yours was not a true Plextor but a drive made by others for Plextor. Still the blame is for Plextor for doing this kind of thing. I own several made-by-Plextor genuine drives and they did not dissapointed me. But the time invested on searching forums for finding which ones are genuine took me about a month before buy. Conclusion: shame the manufacturers which trade the name for money, they'll lose it afterwards.

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RE: Screw Plextor

By Samus on 1/24/2007 10:42:32 AM , Rating: 2

Why don't you use BenQ, NEC or Samsung? After all, Plextor uses BenQ drives for most of its models anymore.

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RE: Screw Plextor

By Oregonian2 on 1/24/2007 3:04:22 PM , Rating: 2

Interesting to hear that seeing as how Plextor models usually seem to be very uniquely built. For instance, they've had the ONLY drive with a SATA interface for the longest of time.

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let me clear things up a bit

By slickr on 1/24/2007 3:28:53 AM , Rating: 1

from my huge knowledge about hardware and optical drives i have to say that top 2 posts are worng. Plextor is the second best company in it's CD/DVD drives! The best company world-wide is Pioneer and let me tell you any Pionerr DVD burner will last more than 5 years!

RE: let me clear things up a bit

By stmok on 1/24/2007 3:49:31 AM , Rating: 2

My Plextor SCSI CD-ROM and CD-burner drives lasted me 7 yrs before they stopped reading media. (I think the lenses are dirty).

After a while, I felt it was not economical for me to continue with the Plextor brand in the long run.

Reason being, you spend a certain price for a Plextor product, and it lasts you for a while. But if you get a cheaper solution (say a Pioneer DVD burner OEM), even if it breaks down after a period and you replace it, it will cost you far less compared to a Plextor.

Plextor also has those interesting utilities, but they're only for Windows. Completely useless for a Linux user.

I'm not saying the brand is crap or the hardware sucks, I'm just saying the price is not favourable given how the competition can do the same job for a fraction of the cost to the consumer.

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RE: let me clear things up a bit

By Nyu on 1/24/2007 7:59:45 AM , Rating: 2

I agree, I've been using Pioneer for the last 2 years and they are wonderful; can't justify the high price on plextor drives seeing how fast hardware advances today.

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RE: let me clear things up a bit

By kamel5547 on 1/24/2007 12:18:29 PM , Rating: 3

Uh.... am I the only one who doesn't care if my burner lasts more than 2 or 3 years? Given the speed improvements and rapid drop in prices for technology products, after that period I'd rather have to buy a new cheap Lite-On or other brand than pay 2-3 times as much for a burner that will last longer. Just an opinion... and I've never actually had a Lite-On (or plextor, or pioneer for that matter) fail on me. I've owned all three brands and can't really see a difference between them...

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RE: let me clear things up a bit

By CrasHxxx on 1/24/2007 1:07:43 PM , Rating: 2

I have a Pioneer CD burner. Around 5 years clocked on the guy with a lot of use too. Still kicking on my older machine.

The rest of my drive are pioneer as well and have had not trouble. (DVD slot-load & DVD tray burner)

Also have a Pioneer AMP powering my Kicker subs in the car! :)

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That's good, I suppose

By shaw on 1/24/2007 12:03:31 AM , Rating: 2

Plextor is one of the few companies that make SATA DVD burners although pricey. I've never purchased from them so I don't know how good their quality is with their products.

RE: That's good, I suppose

By fic2 on 1/24/2007 12:38:39 PM , Rating: 3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Subm...
Lists 3 LiteOn SATA dvd burners, 1 plextor, 1 samsung and 2 BluRay (LiteOn, Philips). Plextor is $105, LiteOns are $31 and $37, Samsung is $47.

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Plextor...ehhh

By Andrevas on 1/24/2007 6:36:28 AM , Rating: 2

Plextor drives as of late have lost all of their quality.

Have you ever been on Newegg recently and read the many DOAs and other short term failures of their latest drives?

My last Plextor was a 48X burner, and the drive door mechanism failed within 2 years.

Now, this really sucks because the SN25P Shuttle I built my little brother has an old school Plextor 24x CD-R/12x DVD-ROM combo drive (one of the first that had the black trays), and that thing is still kicking hard.

Come on Plextor, get your act together, start only selling Made by Plextor drives, and bring back your QC!

RE: Plextor...ehhh

By aos007 on 1/24/2007 12:38:43 PM , Rating: 2

Exactly. My old SCSI CDROM Plextor lasted many years - and still works, if I were to actually put it in a system. But my newer DVD burner lasted less than 2 years after which it gave up a ghost. I was stunned to learn that their warranty on retail drives is only 1 year (used to be longer). It was an excellent burner with great media support and features for testing the burn quality, but the longevity of hardware was not there. Their newer drives aren't even as good with basics anymore. Given 3X the price, buying a Plextor cannot be justified as you're just buying the brand name and a few scanning features. That's probably the reason they lost their lustre. I mean, if your selling point is quality, then that's one thing you can't skimp on. Too bad. I am always willing to pay more for good quality, but it seems others aren't - as price seems to be the only distinguishing factor between products in many industries nowdays.

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I'm glad.

By Sebec on 1/24/2007 3:41:40 AM , Rating: 2

When I think of Plextor, optical drives are the first thing that come to mind. I'm glad they're staying in the game.

Plextor are fine but SATA was their selling point

By jabber on 1/24/2007 4:35:29 AM , Rating: 2

I went Plextor two years ago only because they were the only ones with a SATA burner. Its not a dual layer burner but to be honest I havent seen dual layer blanks in the shops anyway (not that I've looked that hard). Its worked perfectly in the time I've had it but now that other brands are bringing out SATA burners I wouldnt bother paying the premium for a Plextor. Burners are so cheap they are a disposable item. If I got two years use out of one, that would be fine. However, in all the years of optical disk use, I have had to throw away several optical drives. Not due to failiure but due to pure obselescence. Who wants 12/16x CD burners?

By sprockkets on 1/24/2007 10:02:58 AM , Rating: 1

by the time you go through 5 lite on drives is when you make up for one plextor, and from the way things are with them, they are not lasting 5 times longer than them anymore.