Plextor
Encyclopedia
is a brand
best known for its optical disc recorder
s. The brand name is used for all products manufactured by the Electronic Equipment Division and Printing Equipment Division of Shinano Kenshi
. The brand was formerly known as TEXEL by which name it introduced its first CD-ROM
optical disk drive in 1989. The brand is used for CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc burners, CD/DVD media, network
hard disk
s, portable
hard disk
s, digital video recorder
, floppy disk
drives, and USB
flash memory
products.
standard for the highest quality optical drives (mainly CD-R/RW) in the 1990's. Their success and notoriety was due to the outstanding durability of their in-house early products and the reliability of the discs created with their drives. The consensus among early optical media burning adopters was that a Plextor drive practically guaranteed that burned media created during the early times of burned optical media (late '89 - early '90s) would result in a fewer number of 'coasters' (improperly burned optical media). This quality was reflected in their prices, which were some of the highest in the marketplace ($250-350USD for a 4x CD-R burner in 1995). In recent years Plextor seems to have dropped development and manufacturing of their own DVD burner drives and is now rebranding average-quality drives of other manufacturers. Despite its price, Plextor was late in DVD-RAM support (ironically, in later models such as PX-760, PX-755, PX-716, such support is removed, although the Sanyo chipset supports DVD-RAM). Its product line also included PX-OE100E PlexEraser, a disc erasing drive. The current price difference between a Plextor branded product and its OEM equivalent is about threefold.
Software products include PlexTools.
In 2007 Plextor was rumored to be abandoning the consumer CD and DVD optical disk drives (ODDs) business to concentrate on other product lines. As a part of the reorganization, the production of optical disk drives would be reduced to 10% of the peak production levels and the company would concentrate its business on industrial equipment and the Plextalk digital sound recording playback equipment for the blind. In response to the rumors, Plextor issued a press release reaffirming their commitment to remain a leading manufacturer of optical disc drives for business customers as well as consumers.
In drives which have been rebranded, the original outstanding functions of PlexTools are not supported. Examples below:
Recent drives such as PX-880SA can be used with PlexUTILITIES instead, which allows for drive and disc control and quality check functionality.
In May 2005, Alexander Noé and Eric Fernandez (under the name zeb), the author of PxLinux, received a letter from a legal firm based in Brussels on behalf of Shinano Kenshi, the Japanese company that develops PlexTools and PlexTools Pro, for removing the software. The letter said that Noé and zeb were:
When using PX-755/760 firmware versions 1.0.4 or above, third party tools could no longer detect the result of using bitsetting commands.
Brand
The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
best known for its optical disc recorder
Optical disc recorder
In computing, an optical disc drive is a disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves near the light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some drives can only read from discs, but recent drives are commonly both readers and recorders,...
s. The brand name is used for all products manufactured by the Electronic Equipment Division and Printing Equipment Division of Shinano Kenshi
Shinano Kenshi
was founded in 1918 to manufacture Spun Silk Yarn, which at the time, was one of the most "high-tech" industries in the world. At that time the company name was Shinano Spun Silk Spinning Co., Ltd. As the years passed, the company embarked on other industrial markets that would grow more...
. The brand was formerly known as TEXEL by which name it introduced its first CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
optical disk drive in 1989. The brand is used for CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disc burners, CD/DVD media, network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
s, portable
Portable
Portable may refer to:* Portable building, a manufactured structure that is built off site and moved in upon completion of site and utility work...
hard disk
Hard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
s, digital video recorder
Digital video recorder
A digital video recorder , sometimes referred to by the merchandising term personal video recorder , is a consumer electronics device or application software that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card or other local or networked mass storage device...
, floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
drives, and USB
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
flash memory
Flash memory
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
products.
Products
Plextor were the producers of the consumer perceived De factoDe facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
standard for the highest quality optical drives (mainly CD-R/RW) in the 1990's. Their success and notoriety was due to the outstanding durability of their in-house early products and the reliability of the discs created with their drives. The consensus among early optical media burning adopters was that a Plextor drive practically guaranteed that burned media created during the early times of burned optical media (late '89 - early '90s) would result in a fewer number of 'coasters' (improperly burned optical media). This quality was reflected in their prices, which were some of the highest in the marketplace ($250-350USD for a 4x CD-R burner in 1995). In recent years Plextor seems to have dropped development and manufacturing of their own DVD burner drives and is now rebranding average-quality drives of other manufacturers. Despite its price, Plextor was late in DVD-RAM support (ironically, in later models such as PX-760, PX-755, PX-716, such support is removed, although the Sanyo chipset supports DVD-RAM). Its product line also included PX-OE100E PlexEraser, a disc erasing drive. The current price difference between a Plextor branded product and its OEM equivalent is about threefold.
Software products include PlexTools.
In 2007 Plextor was rumored to be abandoning the consumer CD and DVD optical disk drives (ODDs) business to concentrate on other product lines. As a part of the reorganization, the production of optical disk drives would be reduced to 10% of the peak production levels and the company would concentrate its business on industrial equipment and the Plextalk digital sound recording playback equipment for the blind. In response to the rumors, Plextor issued a press release reaffirming their commitment to remain a leading manufacturer of optical disc drives for business customers as well as consumers.
In drives which have been rebranded, the original outstanding functions of PlexTools are not supported. Examples below:
- Plextor PX-750A is a TEAC DV-W516E.
- Plextor PX-800A is a SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
NECNEC, a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government....
Optiarc AD-7170A. - Plextor PX-880SA is a LiteOn iHAS424-A.
- Plextor PX-B300SA is a LGLG GroupLG Corp. is the second-largest South Korean conglomerate company following Samsung, and it is headquartered in the LG Twin Towers in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. LG produces electronics, chemicals, and telecommunications products and operates subsidiaries like LG Electronics, LG Display,...
GGC-H20L.
Recent drives such as PX-880SA can be used with PlexUTILITIES instead, which allows for drive and disc control and quality check functionality.
Threats to Open Source Software authors
Plextor has introduced 'protected commands' (Q-Check functions) in PX-755 and PX-760, which control features such as GigaREC and SilentMode quality checks. According to Alexander Noé, developer of PxScan and PxView, the commands were designed to prevent these features from being used on alternative operating systems and applications. The commands in question are implemented in the standard MultiMedia Command Set - 3 (MMC-3) command set, so they are not really secret. However, the drives require retrieving a code, then sending another one, calculated from the received one, back to the drive; otherwise, those commands are rejected by the drive.In May 2005, Alexander Noé and Eric Fernandez (under the name zeb), the author of PxLinux, received a letter from a legal firm based in Brussels on behalf of Shinano Kenshi, the Japanese company that develops PlexTools and PlexTools Pro, for removing the software. The letter said that Noé and zeb were:
- Using "unfair commercial practices" because they allegedly compared and announced that their software is an alternative for PlexTools.
- Harming the company's "good name and fame" because of the alleged comparisons between PxScan and PlexTools.
- Infringing various intellectual rights of the company, including "The right of reproduction, translation, adaptation, arrangement and any other alteration of a computer program and the reproduction of the results thereof as well as the right to control all and any form of distribution and dissemination. Infringement of the author rights (and where applicable, copyright) in relation with protected interfaces. The trademark of the company".
When using PX-755/760 firmware versions 1.0.4 or above, third party tools could no longer detect the result of using bitsetting commands.
External links
- Plextor Worldwide Plextor Co., Ltd. (Japan)
- Plextor, Inc. (United States)
- Plextor Europe
- Thread about Plextor's legal threats to software volunteers
- PxScan/PxView: Again fun with Plextor
- Features list for individual drives with link to latest firmware http://cdr.cz/dvd_rekordery/index.html#Plextor