Plextor Premium CD-RW vs. DVD-R/CD-R

[mark4man]

Hey...

Not sure if this is the right forum...but here goes.

My mixing & mastering engineer friends tell me that the Plextor Premium is the CD-R/RW drive of choice for burning pre-master CD-A's to be used for replication. My replication house basically confirms this; & even uses Plextor drives in their OTA's (Optical Transport Assembly.)

Plextor no longer mfg.'s the Premium as an external unit, which is the unit I wanted. They're telling me that their newer DVD/CD combo units offer all the advantages of their legendary CD-RW drives.

To me (from what I know...which is somewhat limited), the lasers are implemented differently in a combo drive (in regard to the CD burn.)

Is this true? Should I go with a combi? If I do...does it burn as accurately as a purely CD-R/RW drive.

The reason I ask is...various ME's have tested the Plextor Premium's up against other drives; & the burned disks have a much lower error rate. In addition, the Plextor drives come packaged with PlexTools software, which is super accurate for error rates checking on a burned disk.

Should I get the combo drive, or look for a Premium on e-bay?

Thanks,

mark4man


BTW - Plextor still mfg.'s the internal Premium CD-RW...but I've always been a bit leery of burning in the box.

 

[reyneman]

I cannot talk to the Plextor, but I can say that CDRs made in my combi burner seem to be more problematic in my older CDPs.

Do not have any problems with newer equipment, but may be a sign of a slightly degraded burn.

Why do you have a problem with internal burners? Just a question, I'm not expert on the subject, would like to know your experience.

 

[mark4man]

Why do you have a problem with internal burners? Just a question, I'm not expert on the subject, would like to know your experience.

First (&...I apologize for this...since I'm not really sure), but I don't know if I have room in there or not.

2nd...it's the heat buildup. I don't want to cause any existing components to have a shorter lifespan as a result of the increased heat.

Thanks,

mark4man

 

[merrylander]

I have a Plextor CDR in the shop PC and it does not generate any significant heat and it is one hell of a good piece of equipment. My main system runs a Memorex DVD/CD burner, no heat problems.

Rob

 

[Rob Babcock]

I can't claim to be an expert, but while Plextor makes about as good a CD-R drive as you can get, I think Pioneer makes a better DVD burner. And I also have to agree with the guy that warned you against using a DVD burner for CD burning. I've had compatibility problems with CD-Rs burned on a DVD burner, too, with several brands of burner and a many types of media.