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The
Box:::...
The
box! who cares about the box? Well I do actually.
Call me petty but when I lay out the best part of
a month's pay I want the packaging set the mood ready
for the grand unveiling. Melodramatic? Me? No way!
I
actually rather like the DiViD's box. It comes in
a kind of cool, sensible blue scheme with the odd
splash of marketing hype to get you hurrying home.
The sales pitch on the back is simple and to the point
and sets out what you're getting in plain, easy to
understand terms. Yup, you can create, copy and burn
and let's face it, that's why you bought it!
The
DiViD:::...
Out
of the box, the first thing you'll probably notice
is the size. Unless you're used to external drives
you may well be surprised at how large these units
are, particularly their length, but this is fairly
standard form.
Once
you get past this it's time to pay attention to the
fact that the DiViD 8x is one very classy looking
piece of kit. The silver insert and the black casing
look, and I'm trying not to get too "male"
here, but, well, it just looks pretty damned slick
and sexy to me. The unit feel extremely sturdy and
the casing is undoubtedly well put together with a
very high quality of fit and finish.
The
four rubber feet on the underside stop the unit from
skidding all over your desktop while also raising
it a little to allow air to circulate underneath.
And
the curved sides feature a nice styling detail that
just adds that little bit extra class to the whole
appearance. Unfortunately it seems the DiViD can only
be mounted horizontally which might come as a blow
to those of you with limited desk acreage.
Black
casing...black drive! Makes perfect sense to me! It's
a shame the the burner that DiViD chose to fit isn't
a fraction less bland and more in keeping with the
rest of the design but, as we'll see later, the choice
remains a good one in spite of this.
Meanwhile the back is
where it's all at. Dual IEEE1394 Firewire ports compliment
the single USB2.0 port. There's also a pair of stereo
phono outputs, a connector for the power supply and
a power rocker switch.
Plextor
were the first that I heard of making a big deal out
of the use of black loading trays and the DiViD features
one too. Apparently this reduces the risk of accidental
stray light being reflected about inside and thus
improves recording quality.
Externally
the DiViD is a classy affair that should grace any
working environment. It's funky enough to keep pace
with that pimped and preened show-PC while being austere
and sensible enough to look good on the managing director's
desk. It's a tough balance to achieve.
The
power adaptor is a neat affair and has its bulk mid-cable
rather than the traditional wall-wart, so routing
the cable should be easier. The power plug, from necessity,
is a non-standard affair and should the adaptor die
a death you'll be forced to replace like with like.
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