Why are plextor drives so damn expensive?

[PhoenixOrion]

Originally posted by: DGath
Plextor might be top quality for the most part, but so are a lot of other drives at prices far less. For the educated, Plextor is a horrible deal.

Well said. For the educated, an NEC or Lite-On are comparable buys at better price.

Same or better reliability, statistically speaking.

Not to mention, these two are the biggest optical manufacturers and companies rebadge them with their brand.

Same scenario with any computer parts, now that I'm thinking about it.
For example are psu's. You can pay good $$ for Antec when you can have same reliability and strong rails at lower $ with Enermax, Fortron, etc.

 

[curtisbouvier]

I have the 48/28/28 plexWriter, its LOUD, has a grinding sound some times, and it doesnt read 1/3 the music cd's i GIVE IT. maybe i just got a faulty plxwriter but thats the truth with mine. i was pretty disapointed that 10/10 music cd's will work in my 5 year old 16X Pioneed DVD rom and only about 6/10 will work in the plextor burner.

 

[Xatrix]

I use a lite-on. It hasnt failed once.

 

[Neptune3000]

Lite on SUCKS! I thought they were so cool when i bought my 16x dvd rom from them and my 24x cd burner but i have had nothign but problems, esp with the DVD. The drive does'nt spinup and i have to hit it and it makes weirds sounds, As for teh CD burner is sucks at reading CDs with even teh slightest scratch and makes all types of weird noise that break your heart.

Personally, I was looking at plextor for my DVD burner solution seeing as the Lite On drives i have a C-R-A-PP. Either plextor or Nec. But i'm not familiar with how nec products perform.

From my experiences "value" sucks. Just go ahead and pay the cash and get something quality. "Value" is liek playing sussiin rullet. Everything "value" I've bought has BROKEN(lite on drives, Enermax PSU w/ Case, Chaintech Vnf3-250, IBM deathstars, crucial ddr266 ram, and the list goes on)

Having to RMA/replace these items cost more than just buying a QUALITY item. I'm aware this does not apply to everyone because some people DO luck out, but liek I said; It's liek playing russian rullet.

 

[Ghost]

Originally posted by: Neptune3000
Lite on SUCKS! I thought they were so cool when i bought my 16x dvd rom from them and my 24x cd burner but i have had nothign but problems, esp with the DVD. The drive does'nt spinup and i have to hit it and it makes weirds sounds, As for teh CD burner is sucks at reading CDs with even teh slightest scratch and makes all types of weird noise that break your heart.

Personally, I was looking at plextor for my DVD burner solution seeing as the Lite On drives i have a C-R-A-PP. Either plextor or Nec. But i'm not familiar with how nec products perform.

From my experiences "value" sucks. Just go ahead and pay the cash and get something quality. "Value" is liek playing sussiin rullet. Everything "value" I've bought has BROKEN(lite on drives, Enermax PSU w/ Case, Chaintech Vnf3-250, IBM deathstars, crucial ddr266 ram, and the list goes on)

Having to RMA/replace these items cost more than just buying a QUALITY item. I'm aware this does not apply to everyone because some people DO luck out, but liek I said; It's liek playing russian rullet.

Spellcheck?

 

[Zepper]

Curtis,
. When's the last time you checked for a firmware update? The last time you cleaned your laser lenses and generally vacuumed or blew the gorp out? Can't expect optical drives to run forever without at least some maintenance.
.bh.

 

[Neptune3000]

Originally posted by: Ghost

Originally posted by: Neptune3000
Lite on SUCKS! I thought they were so cool when i bought my 16x dvd rom from them and my 24x cd burner but i have had nothign but problems, esp with the DVD. The drive does'nt spinup and i have to hit it and it makes weirds sounds, As for teh CD burner is sucks at reading CDs with even teh slightest scratch and makes all types of weird noise that break your heart.

Personally, I was looking at plextor for my DVD burner solution seeing as the Lite On drives i have a C-R-A-PP. Either plextor or Nec. But i'm not familiar with how nec products perform.

From my experiences "value" sucks. Just go ahead and pay the cash and get something quality. "Value" is liek playing sussiin rullet. Everything "value" I've bought has BROKEN(lite on drives, Enermax PSU w/ Case, Chaintech Vnf3-250, IBM deathstars, crucial ddr266 ram, and the list goes on)

Having to RMA/replace these items cost more than just buying a QUALITY item. I'm aware this does not apply to everyone because some people DO luck out, but liek I said; It's liek playing russian rullet.

Spellcheck?

eat shit?

 

[Zepper]

Another $2. off on the Plextor PX-712A black - $70. AR. Newegg one-day sale! Wonder why they aren't doing the beige one too?
.bh.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Neptune3000
From my experiences "value" sucks. Just go ahead and pay the cash and get something quality.

That's part of the problem. "Quality" doesn't sell, anymore. Making only "quality" drives, prices you right out of the market. Look at what happened to Yamaha's CD-RW drive line. They refused to compromise on build-quality, and instead exited the market completely rather than soil their name. Plextor went the other way, and sold-out their name, substituting cheap chinese-made, belt-driven-tray drives, still with their label on them, and even re-badging taiwanese drives with their logo (Lite-On, ironically, whom used to be one of their fierce new competitors in the CD-RW days). No longer were they built based on custom-engineered, Japanese-based mechnisms. (Older plextors used Sanyo parts, mostly, along with good, solid, heavy, gear-driven mechanisms. Much like my Yamaha 6416S did as well.)

I don't think that there really are any truely "quality" drives left on the market. The closest ones that I could see, would be NEC and Pioneer DVD writers. (Both still made in Japan, I believe.)

The Taiwanese, and now the Chinese, have flooded the market with "value" (or worse - look at BTC) drives, and then prices that the market is willing to pay for the devices has dropped as well, and doesn't allow for covering the build costs of a quality drive, and still allow the mfg to make any money, unfortunately.

It's the "Wal-Mart phenomenon", applied to the global optical drive market.

PS. I left out Sony, because I don't know if they still make their own drives or not. Their 8x SCSI CD-RW drives were in-house designs, and pretty solid, but later 32X IDE and up drives were just re-badged Lite-Ons (I own one), and likewise, some of their DVD burners have been Lite-Ons too. I think that as a largely Japanese mfg, Sony could produce their own quality optical drives in-house, but they see a way to make more money simply re-selling Taiwanese-made products into the market with their brand instead.

 

[Texun]

I've had about 7 LiteOn drives in various computers over the past few years and most of them have been fine. You get what you pay for, but for about $30 I can replace one every year without b!tching too much.
I went with NEC and Pioneer for my DVD Rs and like the NEC better.

 

[Zepper]

Sony has been all rebadged LiteOn for quite a while. I just saw a review of the new 16x LiteOn DVD drive on either CDRInfo.com or CDRLabs.com and it shows the circuit board with a big Sony logo on it... So I guess Sony is doing some of the assembly and/or design work on them too. That sort of industrial "cooperation" would be illegal here...
.bh.

:moon:

 

[Zepper]

Neptune 3000,
. Watch the language - this is a civilized forum (except for OT and P&N ) viewed by all ages ...
.bh.

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
Same reason why Macs are more expensive. Quality.

Macs are more expensive due to the economics of scale. PCs enjoyed the same high prices before they became household appliances.

FWIW my Asus 52x32x52x has burned over 500 CDs without a coaster. My only experience with Lite-on was a dvd-rom not recognized by the bios, loud as a jet engine, and with a penchant for scratching CDs... the RMA'd one's only difference is that the bios recognizes it

 

[mauiblue]

Originally posted by: Neptune3000

Originally posted by: Ghost

Originally posted by: Neptune3000
Lite on SUCKS! I thought they were so cool when i bought my 16x dvd rom from them and my 24x cd burner but i have had nothign but problems, esp with the DVD. The drive does'nt spinup and i have to hit it and it makes weirds sounds, As for teh CD burner is sucks at reading CDs with even teh slightest scratch and makes all types of weird noise that break your heart.

Personally, I was looking at plextor for my DVD burner solution seeing as the Lite On drives i have a C-R-A-PP. Either plextor or Nec. But i'm not familiar with how nec products perform.

From my experiences "value" sucks. Just go ahead and pay the cash and get something quality. "Value" is liek playing sussiin rullet. Everything "value" I've bought has BROKEN(lite on drives, Enermax PSU w/ Case, Chaintech Vnf3-250, IBM deathstars, crucial ddr266 ram, and the list goes on)

Having to RMA/replace these items cost more than just buying a QUALITY item. I'm aware this does not apply to everyone because some people DO luck out, but liek I said; It's liek playing russian rullet.

Spellcheck?

eat shit?

Now, now, boys. Play nicely.

BTW, yes you do get what you pay for on the most part. Going on the cheap you do sometimes pay for it in the end. Quality means paying the price.

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
Same reason why Macs are more expensive. Quality.

Sorry to OT, but macs are more exspensive only because you cant build your own, not for any quality or performance. If you could build your own mac they would be as cheap as building a pc.

 

[cjard]

Originally posted by: Neptune3000
Lite on SUCKS! ... The drive does'nt spinup and i have to hit it ...

Oh yes, instantly all lite-on drives suck, purely because one drive fails to work after being consciously and deliberately battered by the user

Everything "value" I've bought has BROKEN

everything i've ever hit with a sledge hammer, has broken too.. does that mean everything sucks?

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: deathkoba
Same reason why Macs are more expensive. Quality.

Sorry to OT, but macs are more exspensive only because you cant build your own, not for any quality or performance. If you could build your own mac they would be as cheap as building a pc.

Parts which work on either platform (most drives, for instance) would be as cheap, since they'd be the same parts you'd buy to build a pc... drives are cheap though. The processors and mainboards would certainly be far more expensive than their PC cousins - as I mentioned, PCs and PC parts are cheaper because more people buy them. I'm not sure if Macs' ram and video cards are proprietary or not.

 

[Zepper]

Plextor PX-712A in black is another $2. cheaper - $70. AR. One-day sale at newegg.
.bh.

Here comes the :sun: !

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: Neptune3000
Lite on SUCKS! I thought they were so cool when i bought my 16x dvd rom from them and my 24x cd burner but i have had nothign but problems, esp with the DVD. The drive does'nt spinup and i have to hit it and it makes weirds sounds, As for teh CD burner is sucks at reading CDs with even teh slightest scratch and makes all types of weird noise that break your heart.

Personally, I was looking at plextor for my DVD burner solution seeing as the Lite On drives i have a C-R-A-PP. Either plextor or Nec. But i'm not familiar with how nec products perform.

From my experiences "value" sucks. Just go ahead and pay the cash and get something quality. "Value" is liek playing sussiin rullet. Everything "value" I've bought has BROKEN(lite on drives, Enermax PSU w/ Case, Chaintech Vnf3-250, IBM deathstars, crucial ddr266 ram, and the list goes on)

Having to RMA/replace these items cost more than just buying a QUALITY item. I'm aware this does not apply to everyone because some people DO luck out, but liek I said; It's liek playing russian rullet.

Yeah because everyone knows Crucial and Enermax are budget crap.
Maybe the problem lies elsewhere :roll:

 

[Mem]

I think they are are overpriced,as for paying for the name,the name means jack in my books,especially when you can get quality drives from other well known big companies at half the price.

From my experiences "value" sucks. Just go ahead and pay the cash and get something quality. "Value" is liek playing sussiin rullet. Everything "value" I've bought has BROKEN(lite on drives, Enermax PSU w/ Case,

My Lite-On drive is awesome going strong and still no dead coasters,as to Enermax ,I`ve two of them in my PCs and both are over 3 years old now and going strong,as to Crucial it`s the only ram I buy when I want compatibility,quality ,value for money and awesome customer support.

 

[Sideswipe001]

I've bought 3 Plextors for friends or work, and all of them stilll work fine. We got a Plextor DVD burner here at work that's made 1 coaster (with the 1.00 firmware - when I updated it to the 1.07 it fixed all the problems it had). Maybe they aren't as good as they once were, but I haven't had any fail yet.

Lite-on I've been hit or miss with. I have a CD/RW lite on that i've loved, but also have seen some other ones die.

Where did you get all your info at, Larry? About Plextor changing and rebadging?

 

[Arcanedeath]

I recently purshased a Asus 16X DVD rom drive it's a rebaged Pioneer 121, and I've got to say it's been one of the nicer drives I've owned, it replaced a Lite on LTD163D that bit the dust. I'm still using a liteon CD burner and although as loud as a jet engine it has yet to burn a coaster or failed to read anything I've thrown at it.

 

[Smbu]

I'm not sure how their quality is lately, but I have two Plextor 12x10x32 scsi cdrw(one external, one internal) drives still going fine. I'd probably buy a dvdrw drive from them if my laptop didn't have an 8x dvdrw(NEC drive) drive in it.