USING THE DRIVE
Connecting the drive to my Windows 7 computer was simple and it picked it up straight away.
It then showed the drive as BD-ROM (which is correct).
There is also a CD with PlexUTILITIES on it which you can install if you wish.
PlexUTILITIES includes:
Viewing Basic and Advanced Drive Information which lists the drive’s hardware, including serial number, firmware version and jumper settings, and shows the capabilities of the drive. Concurrently, it reveals extensive information about the inserted disc— like format, sessions and tracks, manufacturer, and CD TEXT.
Permitting Drive Identification and Control which allows you to control different features of your Plextor drive.
Measure Disc Burning Quality which tests the quality of a written or pressed disc by counting the number of errors, measures the mechanical characteristics of blank media, shows the write quality by checking the jitter rate and the beta value of written media, and measures the quality of the written DVD media by checking the pits and lands for compliance with the DVD specifications.
A new icon is placed on the desktop for you.
You can then use the PlexUTILITIES to provide you with information on the drive, the disk, do updates and more. You don’t need to install or use the PlexUTILITIES in order to play movies, so bear that in mind if you want to use the drive on different machines.
There was also an update to the software the first time I ran it.
You also get a copy of the CyberLink BD Suite, which is easily installed.
Launching the Blu-ray Disk Suite is as easy as double-clicking on the new desktop icon.
Then you get all the various choices, such as writing audio CDs and actually watching a Blu-ray movie.
There are often security updates and bug fixes with CyberLink software so if you are offered a patch update, take it.
It’s a welcome addition to have the suite of software included.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The drive is very easy to use and worked flawlessly on all the computers I tested it on, along with various types of media, audio CDs and of course Blu-ray movies.
Its a little bulky so it’s not the sort of thing you just throw in your laptop bag and carry around with you all the time, but for use at home it’s perfect.
The PX-B310U is available now and retails for around £190, so it’s not exactly cheap for a reader, but if you are happy with just the Blu-ray reading capabilities then this drive might be just what you are looking for.
You can learn more about the PX-B310U from the Plextor website.
