Plextor PX-716A - DVDRW (Dual Layer) Drive - IDE (PX-716A/SW)

Used this DVD buirner for years, then upgraded to a new version. When the new unit wore out, I but this one back in. It's still burning along without problem. Plextor stopped making this type of product years ago because they couldn't sell a $120 unit in competition with current cheaper build units at $30.

Nice Burner,Works like a charm can deal with all mediai burn 4.2GB to my HP DVD in 8 min so fast and quitethe software that came with it so nice alsoyou can do many profesional thingsrely plextor king of quality

Works very well.

I got this drive because I had used another Plextor cd-rw drive and I had been very satisfied with it.This DVD drive started giving me problems less than two months after purchase. I kept calling customer service and they seemed to think it was a software problem or a computer configuration issue.Finally, the drive stopped working altogether --- I had had it for maybe 3 months. Plextor customer service made me do extensive diagnostics on it, which took over an hour and then they finally gave me a return authorization. It cost me about $20 to return it with insurance.They returned the drive to me in a few days, and they refused to fix it. The reason they gave was a tiny paper seal on the bottom of the drive was broken, which they claimed "voided the warranty". I spoke to several of their representatives saying I had no reason to open the drive and that this flimsy seal must have torn when I tried to remove it from the computer bay. After all, why would I have removed the seal myself if the drive was still under warranty?They were unmoved.I am sure they could have determined if the drive had been opened or tampered with but they refused to budge. I even wrote to the HQ in California but I never received the courtesy of a reply.As a result, I will never again use a Plextor product. I bought a Sony drive as a replacement. I was cheaper, came with better software and in 4 months I have had no problems with it.Check out the seal on the bottom of any new drive and take steps to protect it from being broken or you may end up having similar problems.I gave it two stars because if the drive worked as advertised it would be a very good product, even if a bit more expensive than other brands.

As others have mentioned this was also not my first plextor drive, and I have always had great luck with plextor, Until now. I actually had this drive for a few months and used it moderately, about 30-40 dvds/cds burned with it before it stoped reading or writing cd's. It would still read and write DVD's(looking back on this I should have left well enough alone, but silly me I thought it should be able to do both since that is what I paid for. I called plextor, jumped through the flaming hoops like a good circus monkey, received an RMA number and paid my $8.00 to ship it back to them. 4 and 1/2 weeks later I received my replacement drive. Due to their quick **cough** turn around time I had put my old 8x dvd burner back into my computer, and since I was feeling lazy, and didn't feel like unhooking all those cables from my computer right away to put it back in when I received the replacement drive, I put it on a shelf in the Den and resolved to get to it soon. That was probably my mistake, however it is the next part that made me decide I would never buy anything else with the plextor name on it as long as I live, and I encourage everyone I know and sometimes even random strangers walking down the street to do the same. I finally got around to putting in the replacement drive about 3 weeks after I received it back from them, then I had to go out of town for a few days and didn't have a chance to use it before I left. When I got back into town I decided to copy some home movies to dvd and got everything set up and going, made the first dvd and was happy, for a few more minutes. Started making another copy of the same dvd I had just burned for a family member when halfway through the second dvd the burn process failed and I got a lovely drink coaster. I wasn't happy but tried to put another disk in to try it again, and it didn't recognize the disk, so I tried a different disk and again nothing. This time the drive would not read or burn either cds or dvds. I unhappily called plextor and went through the flaming hoops routine again however with a bit of an attitude this time, got another RMA number and explained that this was the second time this drive had failed and complained about having to pay shipping back yet again. THe nice **cough** gentleman on the phone told me if hadn't been more than 30 days since I received the replacement they would pay for shipping both ways. This made me happy for a moment until I remembered not installing it right away. I had to go back to an email and check the tracking number to see when I had receive dhte replacent drive. Turned out it had been delivered 32 days before. Guess what? Sucks to be me, I had to pay shipping back yet again, so now this drive has cost me $16 more than the original purchase price and my guess is I'll get the replacent for the replacent the day after the warranty expires.

I recently bought a plextor 716a online (not amazon) back in march of this year. It worked beautifully.. when most of my friends were burning at 4x or even 8x mine was blazing at 10x-16x. Then all good things come to an end. Mine messed up, it wouldn't read write nothing. I called plextor support (they were very nice and helpful) but i had to do this unbelievable self test to let them know how many blinks and what color to determine what was wrong with it. After that i waited about 2 weeks to get the other one (last night to be exact). Man, was i excited to get the "new" one. I say "new" because the date on the thing was nov. 2004 and the original was oct. 2004. You would have thought it would have said june or july 2005. Well installed it. Burned beautifully and now today (one day later actually about 16 hours later) i am calling them up again because it gave out. This time the gentleman told me that the blinks (2 amber ones) meant something that only they know and that it wasn't published in the manual. Why wouldn't it be in the manual. Anyhow, he has arranged for the UPS man (because they only use UPS and this time i dont have to pay) to come by the house and pick it up in the original box (too bad i threw out all the packaging). I should get my "new"/ third one in about 1 1/2 weeks. Man, talk about a waiting game.If you are interested in buying one be prepared for things to happen... nothing is perfect not even this drive