Plextor was first to market with an 8x DVD+R, so it o­nly makes sense that they are also first to market with 12x. Just like last (8x) time, it shouldn't be long now before we see the first 12x DVD-R, etc.. o­ne of these drives is even Serial ATA.

Plextor Corporation announced o­n the 10th three different DVD±R drives capable of writing DVD+R discs at 12x. There is the ATAPI internal "PX-712A/JP" (White model), "PX-712A/JPB" (Black model), and finally the Serial ATA internal "PX-712SA/JP." Plextor has said that this is the world's first optical drive supporting the Serial ATA interface.



Apart from the colors and interfaces, the drives have the same specifications and handling software. The supported OSes are Windows ME, 2000, and XP. The PX-712A/JP and PX-712A/JPB will be available in the first part of May, and the PX-712SA/JP will be available in the first part of June. The price is Open Price, but indicators suggest the PX-712A/JP and PX-712A/JPB will cost around 22,000 yen each, and the PX-712SA/JP will cost around 25,000 yen.

Now that the maximum writing speed of DVD+R has been increased to 12x, and discs took 8 minutes to write at 8x, this means the writing time for 12x will be approximately 6 minutes. This is the first 12x writing speed in the world. Also, since there is currently not any 12x write supporting media currently available, Plextor recommends media from Taiyou Yuuden, Ricoh, and Maxell.

Write speeds beside DVD+R are 8x for DVD-R, and 4x for DVD±RW. DVD read speed is 16x, and 12x for dual layered media. Also, the write speed to CD-R is relatively high for a DVD±R/RW drive, at 48x.

Finally, the included independently developed software "PlexTools Professional" includes a CD and DVD media quality checking function, as well as "GigaRec" function which allows for up to 910MB of data to be written o­n a standard CD-R. It also features the "PoweRec" function that will choose the write speed according to the condition of the media.

Included software is "PowerProducer 2 Gold" DVD authoring software, "PowerDVD5" DVD playback software, "B's Recorder Gold" and "Nero Burning Rom 6 SE" writing software, and finally "B's CLIP" packet writing software.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20040310/plextor.htm

News Release (PX-712A) (PDF):
http://www.plextor.co.jp/news/nr/px712a.pdf

News Release (PX-712SA) (PDF):
http://www.plextor.co.jp/news/nr/px712sa.pdf