Just received an email from SVP and they now have the 8x Plextor DVD writer for sale.It's £195 including the dreaded and here's the spec list in case anyone's thinking of buying one: (I'm stickin with my trusty Pioneer 106 for now)

A bit of a con perhaps in the sense that it doesn't write -R at 8 speed,only +R at 8 speed!!! :(

Plextor 708A 8x DVD+R / 4x DVD-R writer
Writing DVD+R: 8x
DVD-R: 4x
CD-R: 40x
Rewriting DVD+RW: 4x
DVD-RW: 2x
CD-RW: 24x
Reading DVD-ROM: 12x
CD-ROM: 40x
Buffer Underrun Proof Technology: Stops buffer underrun errors
VariRec Technology
PoweRec Technology (Plextor Optimised Writing Error Reduction Control)
Supports Lossless Linking (DVD+R/RW)
Zero Link (DVD-R/RW)
Supports Background Formatting
2MB Buffer
High Quality Digital Audio Extraction
Two year full-warranty (parts, labour and replacement) with On-Site Collect & Return service

Customers may have noticed that there is no 8x media currently available, Plextor have announced that 4x DVD+R from Taiyo Yuden and Ricoh will write at 8x in this drive. Based on this information we recommend the following discs for 8x writing on this drive:

PLEX IS AN E-IDE DEVICE ONLY.

{DV 377} Arita 4X DVD+R in shrink wraps of 25

{DV 385} RICOH 4x branded 4.7g DVD+R disc in jewel case


Nick

[Edited by NickAdams - 10/10/2003 4:50:21 PM]

Interesting... I've held off buying a dvd-writer so far because I had problems with cd-writers other than plextor...

I think this might be the drive for me :D

Plextor are rock solid.

Never had a problem with a Plextor drive.

Have to get hold of this... now where did I leave my magic beans?

looks to me like they rushed to get an 8x out b4 others do. gonna flaw somewhere n most likely someone will release an 8x which does -r at 8x within a month or somat

all right apart from no 8x media yet

Lots of 4x +R media writes at 8x with the Plextor.

I'm thinking exactly the opposite - they've not rushed out a 4x +/- so they've gone a generation ahead?

It's not been rushed.
This drive has been in the final development stages for almost a year.

The question is, how big a back-hander do you think they took from 'Mr +r' to stop them burning 'Mr -r's disks at 8x? :D