Sony Optiarc AD-7240S 24x DVD Writer - Lite-On or NEC Design

[Ian]

Yes, a LightScribe version is coming. The AD-7241S is listed in the datasheet for the AD-7240S.

http://www.sony-optiarc.us/upload/pdfs/ ... asheet.pdf

PATA versions (AD-7240A and AD-7241A) are just general speculation at this point. Considering how prevalent SATA is these days, I would not be surprised if they didn't bother with them.

[Scour]

Any idea what chipset the 7241 have? MTK or NEC?

BTW, LabelFlash isn´t on the way?

[Dartman]

should be a NEC same as before, they have made LS drives in the past. Label flash would be cool, still have some crappy media I burned pics to that looked cool. Was the best use for some of that coaster factory media anyways.

[Ian]

If history repeats itself, the AD-7241S and AD-7240S will have the same NEC chipset.

I haven't heard anything about an AD-7243S yet.. which would be the Labelflash version. Does anyone actually use LabelFlash?

[Dartman]

I have, it was cool to waste crappy media making pictures of the parrot tasting a Fuji DVDR back in the day. Was a better use of the media then burning with it.
It's kinda neat for a few tries then you give up but nice to have the ability.
I just read it's all firmware based so we might be able to crossflash to it down the road just because if they do release a version with it. I'd really like to do a drive with both versions myself, I still have 30 LS blanks I've never used.

[SithTracy]

Mine arrived today... just hope I have time to burn some Verbatim MCC 03RG20 before it's vacation time.

[Scour]

http://www.alternate.de/html/product/DV ... Serial+ATA

Looks like a 7243 is on the way

[stix]

I ordered the AD-7240S Monday, when the price was $24.99 with free shipping at Newegg. Could not resist. I have since received it and tried it out. I had been waiting a long time to find a good SATA burner for a new build, and this sounded like a better candidate than some others recently available. I read the discussion about it here and over at CDFreaks. So far I like it. I'm primarily interested in burn quality over speed. It does seem odd the way the tray does a brief pause just as it starts to open, when ejecting a disk. Does everyone else who bought one notice this? And the tray opening and closing is a bit clanky/noisy, compared to my Benq DW1640s. Is this typical of Optiarc drives? Seems like it would add wear and tear. I decided that this drive's issue with lack of bitsetting ability on single layer DVD+R media would not be critical for me right now, but I hope a firmware update will change that at some point, or another drive will come along.

I wouldn't have know a thing about this drive if i hadn't read about it here first.

[SithTracy]

Bittsetting will come when Liggy and Dee dump the firmware and hack it. That said, using that firmware will void your warranty... but it's only a $25 dollar drive. I can live with that. I notice a delay when ejecting, but no strange noises. Mine is pretty quiet overall (ejecting and burning.. or I guess it meets my expectations).

[SithTracy]

Firmware 1.01 was released for the Sony Optiarc AD-7240S....

http://www.sony-optiarc.us/uploads/My/p ... 010200.zip

[Dartman]

Well at least they seem to update much faster then NEC ever did with their own drives. The burn quality is still OK and they have added speed to a few mids now.

[Ian]

Hmm.. I wonder if that firmware will fix the problems I've been having with TY +R media.

[Ian]

It's on sale for $23.99 now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827118030

[callous]

Just a heads up - the Sony Optiarc AD-7240S does not pass the Nero CD-DVD Speed 's Advanced DAE tests for Random Read testing with firmware 1.01. The 7240 was used as both the cd burner and the cd ripper in that test.

I dont even recall in recent memory another burner that failed this test with tens of thousands of errors.

[Ian]

Hmm.. I'll have to give that a try. Thanks callous.

[callous]

Did you manage to confirm my findings?

[Dartman]

Yeah, we have a big thread on results at CDFreaks and it showed up almost exactly the same on mine when I tried it as well so we think it's a feature for now. I haven't actually burned any music or data CD's yet to see if it affects any real world burns but most of the dvd's I've burned with it look nice on scans and play perfectly.

[Scour]

Well, I think the quality of DAE isn´t a big reason to buy a drive now.

[Ian]

Do people still buy CD's?

No, I haven't gotten a chance to try this. My AD-7240S developed some issues so I pulled it and moved on to something else. Once Optiarc sends me a replacement, I'll give it a go.

[Scour]

Do people still buy CD's?

Some do

But 2day more ppl want a fast DVD-Ripper and don´t care aout CD-Audio-Extraktion

[callous]

I sometimes forget the audience Im speaking to

Not everyone has more than 1 optical drive like most of yoru signatures. Some like me, only own 1 drive and that one drive has to burn cds, dvds and do DAE. DAE does matter to me, because i rely on that one drive for it all.

[callous]

Do people still buy CD's?

No, I haven't gotten a chance to try this. My AD-7240S developed some issues so I pulled it and moved on to something else. Once Optiarc sends me a replacement, I'll give it a go.

What type of issue developed for your AD-7240S?

[SithTracy]

I still buy/rip CD's on occasion and keep my Plextor on hand for that need. Shame to hear that Sony crippled the product. Oh well, it was only 25 bucks.... I really should not have expected much out of it since it is under the Sony name now. Never owned a Sony product that I had any luck with at all.

[Ian]

What type of issue developed for your AD-7240S?

The writing quality has progressively gotten worse when writing at 24x. It's gone from what I initially posted to this:

BenQ.TY.16x.DVD+R.2.png (20.14 KiB) Viewed 9875 times

Initially it was just TY +R media but I started seeing similar results with their -R media as well.

[callous]

Was the drive dropped or banged on the case by accident?

How was the drive at writing 20x if 24x was messed up? Was 20x ok despite 24x being messed up?