Date: April 17th, 2004
Article by: Roger (Hardware Reviewer)
Edited by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor)
Product was donated by: Plextor

<--CLICK FOR DEALS ON AN EXTERNAL DVD BURNER IN THE UNITED STATES
<--CLICK FOR DEALS ON AN EXTERNAL DVD BURNER IN CANADA

PRODUCT COMPOSITION & PICTORIAL (cont'd)

The front of the unit shows off this super fly cool clear bezel. The power light is blue, which will please the modders out there. There's also a headphone jack, volume control, green activity LED, manual eject hole and eject button.

From this angle, you can see the writing at the back of the unit. I really don't like this, but it's not a huge problem. I understand that it helps users find the connection they need quickly if looking at the unit from the top or front, but I still think it's ugly.

There's the power input and switch, USB and Firewire ports (and switch), as well as audio outs. Sadly, there isn't an s-video out like on the Phillips Jack Rabbit external DVD burner. I feel that would have greatly increased the value of this unit. It would be great to hook this baby up to a TV and stereo wherever you please… say in a hotel room during a business trip.

The PX-708UF has a black tray. What this does is absorb any laser info that is reflected during a burn, which helps reduce errors.

Finally, there's the clear plastic stand. Some people will want to set this burner up vertically, depending on the space available on their desk. Last time around (with the PX-504UF), I didn't trust the vertical setup as any kind of vibration can have an adverse affect on a recording session. However, for this review, I set the unit up in the stand next to my monitor and am pleased to say I didn't experience any problems.