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Quality and Installation of the Plextor PX-708A |
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It's
as clear as black and white |
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The first package to
arrive in the labs was the beige model, and while we were
quite interested in its capabilities, we were otherwise
dismayed at the idea of taking pictures of yet another drive
of the same color. True, the glossy black striping
under the tray broke up the monotony, but we were hoping to
add this to a customized case. Anybody who has tried
painting an optical drive to match their case can attest
that they just don't look the same when the new coat of
paint has dried. So, it was to our pleasant surprise
that a black bezel model was added to Plextor's product list
as we were preparing this review. On a completely
aesthetic level, when comparing the two drives, we just
loved the look of black on black, with the silver decals.
Both drives utilize a black disc tray, which Plextor claims
minimizes jitter and reduces C1 error rates by reducing
optical distortion of the laser beam.
The front panel
is fully populated, with an Eject button, LED indicator,
headphone jack and associated volume control wheel knob.
The eject button has an obvious effect in that it ejects the
tray, but it also has an additional purpose. Holding
the button down for 3 seconds when inserting a DVD-Video
disc that has CSS (Content Scrambling System copy
protection) will allow the drive to SpeedRead the disc.
The LED indicator uses various methods for relaying the
drive's state to the user. For example, solid yellow
is shown when reading a disc, blinking amber when writing
(with the blinking rate indicative of the writing speed),
and green when the drive is at standby or when utilizing the
Buffer Underrun Proof technology. Unlike some past
Plextor drives, the tray slides in and out quickly, and
feels firm when a disc is placed into it. Also, a
small emergency eject hole is placed above and to the left
of the eject button. Using the provided tool, the tray
can be manually pulled out to remove discs that are not
being read properly or are otherwise jammed. In
general, one should only use this as a last resort, and care
should be taken when pulling the drive tray out.
The back of the
PX-708A has exactly the same layout that just about all
optical drives use. On the left side, there are two
sets of pins. A two-pin set used to output a digital
stereo signal for audio cards with S/PDIF or Digital-in
connections, and a more common four-pin set for analog
stereo signals. The jumper cap on the mode jumper pins
is used to designate the drive as master or slave, or to use
cable select. Master is set as the default, and it's
recommended to leave this configuration. The final two
connectors are used for attaching an IDE cable from and
4-pin MOLEX power plug. Also of note were four slots
cut into the metal casing. These are used for
ventilation of the inner components of the drive, preventing
unwanted build-up of heat and possibly condensation on the
lens.
The drive can be
mounted either horizontally or vertically, although most
cases will have the setup shown above. In a typical
case, the drive would be mounted into an open 5 1/4" bay,
using the four mounting screws to attach the drive to the
chassis. The user's manual covers a number of
scenarios depending on the number and type of drives already
in the system. In our example, we have the hard drive
as the Master on IDE channel 1, and the Plextor PX-708A as
the Master on IDE channel 2, using the ribbon cable in the
package. As we mentioned earlier, the jumper cap is
already set to Master, so this can be left as is. The
bundled audio cable should be suitable for most users, and
should be run from the drive to an audio-in or CD-in
connector on a sound card or a motherboard with built-in
audio. Finally, find an unused Molex connector from
the power supply, and plug this into the power connector,
aligning the shape of the plug with the connector. Out
of all the hardware upgrades you could perform, adding or
replacing an optical drive is one of the quickest and
simplest jobs to do.
HotHardware's Testing Setup
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