In House Review - Sony DRU-810A 16x DVD±RW

[Ian]

CDRLabs has taken an in depth look at Sony's new 16x DVD±RW, the DRU-810A. Offering some pretty impressive specs, this BenQ based drive is capable of 16x DVD±R, 8x DVD+RW, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R DL and 4x DVD-R DL writing speeds and a maximum DVD read speed of 16x. The DRU-810A also includes features like 48x CD reading and writing speeds, 24x rewriting speeds, Power-Burn buffer underrun protection and an impressive software bundle from Nero.

In this review we'll take a look at the features found on the DRU-810A and then see how it compares to some of the 16x DVD±RW drives from the competition. Does Sony's new drive have what it takes? You'll have to read the review to find out.

[url=http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.php?reviewid=273]
Sony DRU-810A 16x DVD±RW[/url]

As usual, if you have any comments or questions about this review or the Sony DRU-810A, please post them in the forum using the link provided below.

[Justin42]

good review, looks like Sony's finally repackaging pretty decent drives.

One question about your reviews that has always popped up is how, during the DAE tests, the wording always implies it's a good thing that the drive caches audio data. I always thought that was a *bad* thing, at least for EAC and recovering bad sectors and the like..?? I'm just curious if it's really good or bad if the drive caches.

[dolphinius_rex]

Even if the drive is a bit dumbed down from the original OEM, it's really hard to find problems with something based off of the DW1640

Good on Sony for finally kicking LiteON out of the picture (frankly, I would have been happy if they had ONLY done this... but choosing a good replacement OEM is even better )

[Ian]

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like a good thing. Just laying out the drive's capabilities.

You are right though. With the audio data cached, its harder for programs like EAC to determine if a sector is damaged. EAC can try to get around this by resetting the cache between reads.

[eric93se]

Looks like the drive has the WOPC feature enabled by default. A bunch of those scans showed the characteristic median wave of PIF failures in the last 1/3 of the scan. The 1640 is still better, too many tweaks and toys on that bad boy

[Ian]

Yeah, its hard to beat the DW1640. More features for less money. Sony and Plextor don't seem to realize this.

[dolphinius_rex]

Yeah, its hard to beat the DW1640. More features for less money. Sony and Plextor don't seem to realize this.

It's not that they don't realize this, it's that they're focusing on a different customer type then BenQ themselves are. They're marketing drives at people who are (usually in corporations) who want to purchase name brand products for a better sense of security, usually with the expectation of better service in the case of hardware failure. I'm not personally in a position to say whether or not Sony and Plextor actually OFFER superior service to BenQ, but that's the kind of person they sell to. However, there are less and less of these kind of people all the time, since every day expenses are raising on an almost hourly basis it seems sometimes.

[pchilson]

Yeah, its hard to beat the DW1640. More features for less money. Sony and Plextor don't seem to realize this.

It's not that they don't realize this, it's that they're focusing on a different customer type then BenQ themselves are. They're marketing drives at people who are (usually in corporations) who want to purchase name brand products for a better sense of security, usually with the expectation of better service in the case of hardware failure. I'm not personally in a position to say whether or not Sony and Plextor actually OFFER superior service to BenQ, but that's the kind of person they sell to. However, there are less and less of these kind of people all the time, since every day expenses are raising on an almost hourly basis it seems sometimes.

So, in other words, they see their targeted audience as "suckers"...

[Ian]

So, in other words, they see their targeted audience as "suckers"...

They're just every day consumers. They're the same people that buy a $2500 computer from Best Buy when they could build a better one for half the price. It's all what you're confortable with.

[dolphinius_rex]

So, in other words, they see their targeted audience as "suckers"...

No, more so people with very little time on their hands. Businesses mostly.

[RJW]

there is a small typeing error:

Verbatim 8x DVD+R DL @ 8x
(MKM 001)

Should be MKM003
K-probe also says it.

Oh and you know the other thing which can be improved but I think that one has be named with each review by know so I don't mention it by name.


Decent review like expected. Some more 8x media would have been nice but then again the market is switching and people probally want to use the full capabilities of there 16x writer. But with the current price difference scrooged people like Dutch folks ans Scotchmen will probally still use 8x media.

[dolphinius_rex]

It's just so much more FUN to burn 16x media.... and even more fun to rag on drives that can't burn it at 16x.... but I'm sure Ian was dissapointed he couldn't get angry at Sony because their drive burns 16x media at the proper speed

[Ian]

I'm sure Ian was dissapointed he couldn't get angry at Sony because their drive burns 16x media at the proper speed

Actually, I ragged on them about the Verbatim 16x DVD-R media. They even sent me some media that they guaranteed would work at 16x. I think one out of the 5 did.

[dolphinius_rex]

I'm sure Ian was dissapointed he couldn't get angry at Sony because their drive burns 16x media at the proper speed

Actually, I ragged on them about the Verbatim 16x DVD-R media. They even sent me some media that they guaranteed would work at 16x. I think one out of the 5 did.

I guess BenQ is more interested in supporting the smaller "indie" manufacturers instead of selling out to "da man"

[Scour]

Hello!

Great review again, Ian

Sony´s design looks a little ..... different

But again I must smile about the Turbo-Boost from Sony, will they never learn that most users want to use the maximum speed?

[Ian]

But again I must smile about the Turbo-Boost from Sony, will they never learn that most users want to use the maximum speed?

I really don't mind it so much when reading but its a pain when you have to enable it every time you want to write at 48x. Having a way to enable it all the time (utility?) would be nice.

In theory, shouldn't they make you enable the Turbo-Boost when reading/writing DVD's at 16x?

[Scour]

In theory, shouldn't they make you enable the Turbo-Boost when reading/writing DVD's at 16x?

I don´t really know that the FW-programmer from Sony thinking about that

[Gabe]

Good Job, man

But I don´t know why someone prefer the Sony, the Benq is cheaper and have more features

[Ian]

New firmware:

http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/do ... A_1.0d.zip

According to Sony it has "Writing performance and reliability improvements."

[Gen-An]

Good Job, man

But I don´t know why someone prefer the Sony, the Benq is cheaper and have more features

If you buy a retail DW1640, there really isn't much if any difference in price from the 810A.