Plextor Introduces Their First Blu-ray Drive

Posted by John Goulden Categories: Corporate News, Rumors, Storage

Before there was Benq, before there was Lite-On, there was Texel.  Ummm, who?  Texel America was the name Plextor went by before they changed in back in the mid 90’s.  They’ve been manufacturing and selling optical drives since 1990, and I even remember owning one of their first 1x CD-ROM drives.  Yes, I realize that dates me somewhat.  Anyway, Plextor is introducing their first Blu-ray drive, the PX-B900A.  The PX-B900A is an internal ATAPI drive that features dual-layer burning and supports writing and re-writing at 2x speeds.  A large 8MB buffer ensures a constant flow of data, and support for a wide range of formats offers up great versatility.

The PX-B900A not only uses the latest Blu-ray technology, but is also a highly versatile dual-layer DVD drive that combines multiple formats – DVD+/-R/RW and RAM - into one.  It can accept both 12cm and 8cm discs (in the horizontal position) and has a large 8MB buffer to ensure there is no data interruption. Write speeds: 2x BD-R/BD-RE, 8x DVD+R/-R/+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 4x DVD+R/-R DL, 5x DVD-RAM, 24x CD-R and 16x CD-RW.

One thing that has changed over the years is the manufacturer of Plextor’s drives.  Once upon a time, Plextor ruled the roost so to speak and their drives were arguably second to none, and priced to match.  As time has progressed, Plextor seems slower off the line in regards to innovation, and they’ve developed a habit of simply rebadging another manufacturer’s drive as their own.  Rebadging is a common practice in the industry, but it does detract from the main reason to own a Plextor drive - because it was a Plextor and you knew you were getting a cutting edge piece of hardware with few peers.  For what it’s worth, rumor has it that the PX-B900A is a rebadged Panasonic.

The PX-B900A will be availble in the September/October 2006 time frame, for an as of yet undisclosed amount.

Read More | Plextor via CD Freaks