Plextor PX-810SA DVD±RW / DVD-RAM drive - Serial ATA

Editors' rating

Very good

7.3

out of 10

The good: This great performing CD/DVD burner has fast rip/burn speeds and comes with Roxio software.
The bad: No support for Macs.
The bottom line: The Plextor PX-810SA internal CD/DVD burner is quick for both ripping and burning. We like it.

Reviewed by:
Ryan Belonga
Edited by:
Felisa Yang
Review date: 8/9/07

The Plextor PX-810SA DVD Super Multi Drive is a great performing CD/DVD burner. Its SATA connection opens up bandwidth to allow greater data throughput than EIDE/ATA. It doesn't support HD burning (Blu-ray or HD DVD), but it makes fast work of DVD and CD ripping and burning. At $90, it's not unreasonably priced either, so we're happy to recommend it.

Drive type	Internal CD/DVD multidrive burner
Supported media types	DVD+/-R DL; DVD+/-R; DVD+/-RW; CD-R; CD-RW; DVD-ROM; DVD-RAM; DVD-Video; CD-DA; Video CD; Photo CD; CD Text; CD Extra
Maximum write speeds	10x DVD+/-R DL; 18x DVD+/-R; 8x DVD+RW; 6x DVD-RW; 12x DVD-RAM; 40x CD-R; 32x CD-RW
Buffer memory	2MB
Dimensions (width by depth by height)	5.8x7.1x1.6 inches
Notable design features	Changeable face plate (beige or black)
Interface	Serial ATA (SATA)
Supported operating systems	Windows 2000; Windows XP; Windows Vista
System requirements	Pentium 4 1.6GHz or faster (or equivalent); 256MB RAM (XP) or 512MB RAM (Vista); 10GB hard drive
Software included	Roxio Easy Media Creator 8
Any additional features	Supports 8cm or 12cm discs
Service and support	One-year limited warranty; toll-free phone support available 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. PT; Web site includes e-mail to tech support, FAQs, self-help guides, and downloads.

CNET Labs' test results revealed great read and write speeds for the Plextor PX-810SA. Ripping a commercial DVD (8.46GB) to the hard drive took 11 minutes, 29 seconds. Burning that image to a DVD+R DL disc took 21 minutes, 32 seconds. Burning a 4.48GB mixed data file to a DVD+R disc took 7 minutes, 59 seconds. Ripping a commercial CD (746MB) took 2 minutes, 33 seconds. Burning that image to a CD-R disc took 4 minutes, 8 seconds. All the speeds are on a par with the less expensive Sony DRU-830A (EIDE) except for the DVD rip process. The Plextor PX-810SA cuts the rip time by 51 percent--more than twice the speed of the Sony. No doubt, this is due to the SATA interface on the Plextor burner.

Rip tests (min:sec)
(Shorter bars indicate faster performance)

Commercial CD rip (746MB)

Commercial DVD rip (8.46GB)

Plextor PX-810SA

02:33

11:29

Sony DRU-830A

02:40

22:43

Burn tests (min:sec)
(Shorter bars indicate faster performance)

CD-R burn (746MB)

DVD+R data burn (4.48GB)