Sony Announces Two New Dual RW Drives - 4x DVD+RW Support!

[Ian]

SONY EXTENDS LEAD IN MULTI FORMAT DVD BURNING MARKET WITH NEW 4X DVD+RW CAPABLE DRIVES

Users Can Burn a Full Rewriteable DVD in about 15 Minutes with New Dual RW Drives

LAS VEGAS (NAB, Booth #SU-4015), April 7, 2003 - Sony Electronics is extending its leadership in the DVD drive market with two new Dual RW drives that support 4X DVD+RW recording. Sony's award-winning Dual RW drives are the first combination drives for the PC to support the DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD-R formats.

Sony's next-generation Dual RW drives, the internal DRU-510A and the external DRX-510UL, are the first DVD+R/DVD+RW drives in the industry capable of recording to compatible 4X DVD+RW discs at up to 4X speeds, which enables users to burn a full 4X DVD+RW certified disc in about 15 minutes.

The drives also support up to 4X DVD+R and DVD-R recording, as well as 2X DVD-R, 24X CD-R and 16X CD-RW recording, making them among the fastest and most proficient on the market.

The recordable DVD format can store up to 4.7 gigabytes of digital video, images or data. Equivalent to that of seven CD discs, this robust capacity allows users to store thousands of digital photographs or more than two hours of DVD quality digital video footage.

Like their predecessors, the DRU-510A and DRX-510UL combine the DVD-rewriteable (DVD+RW/-RW) formats with the DVD write-once (DVD+R/-R) formats for the utmost in recording functionality and playback compatibility. By allowing consumers to write to all of the popular DVD and CD standards, Sony's Dual RW drives eliminate the confusion and risk traditionally associated with DVD recording.

Already generating high demand, IDC predicts the DVD recorder market will grow to almost 90 million units in 2006.

"We expect that mainstream PC users will adopt the technology this year," said Wolfgang Schlichting, research director, removable storage for IDC. "Multi-format drives will appeal to users who want a safe bet in a market confused by competing formats, and they also let users take advantage of the lowest media price independent of media type."

"The DRU-510A and DRX-510UL drives offer users the best in DVD recording speeds and playback compatibility, and pack in a comprehensive software bundle," said Robert DeMoulin, marketing manager for branded storage products in Sony Electronics' IT Products Division. "Whether users are looking to create write-once discs to inexpensively share home movies with relatives, or rewritable discs to quickly back up a year's worth of work, our Dual RW drives offer an all-in-one solution for digital recording."

Testament to their solid performance, awards for Sony's dual format drives continue to mount. The first-generation internal DRU-500A drive earned PC Magazine's Best of the Year honor in January, the CNET Editors' Choice award in February, and PC World's Best Buy distinction in the April issue of this year.

The internal DRU-510A drive comes with an ATAPI interface for easy installation inside a PC, while the external DRX-510UL drive features both an i.LINK® (IEEE 1394) and a hi-speed USB (USB 2.0) interface for simple set-up and maximum flexibility.

DVD & CD Software Suite
Both Dual RW drives come with DVD/CD burning and video editing, authoring and mastering software. The full-featured software suite also includes backup and packet-writing software for users to easily create custom backup discs of up to 4.7 gigabytes of audio, video and data, along with software to organize music files on a PC and record them onto a CD or DVD. The software suite includes:

· VERITAS RecordNow* DX mastering software that allows users to create custom CDs and DVDs, in addition to creating backup copies of CDs or DVD-ROMs;

· VERITAS Simple Backup* which is full-featured backup and data recovery software that provides users instant backup and disaster recovery capabilities;

· VERITAS DLA* packet-writing software that enables users to format, drag-and-drop or delete files similar to a hard drive or floppy disk;

· Sonic Solutions MyDVD® authoring software that allows users to quickly and easily transfer home videos to customized DVD-video and Video CD discs;

· Arcsoft ShowBiz® video editing software for customizing video footage with easy import/export to and from the Sonic Solutions MyDVD software;

· CyberLink PowerDVD® DVD-Video playing software that enables interactive viewing of both DVD-Video and Video CD discs on a PC; and

· MUSICMATCH® Jukebox personal music system to play, record, organize and discover new music with a guide to thousands of streams of personalized music programming.

Availability, Pricing and Warranty
The internal DRU-510A Dual RW drive will be available in early May for an estimated retail price of under $350, and the external DRX-510UL model will be available in June for less than $430. Sony DVD/CD rewritable drives are sold through resellers and retailers nationwide, mail order catalogs, and select online shopping sites, including SonyStyle.com.

Sony supports what it calls "worry-free" installation and easy operation with toll-free customer and technical service, Monday through Saturday, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CST, along with a one-year limited warranty from the original date of purchase.

Specifications for the New Dual RW Drives

Sony DRU-510A DVD/CD Rewritable Drive
· ATAPI (EIDE) internal interface
· DVD+R/-R: 4X (max.) writing, 4X (max.) readingDVD-RW: 2X (max.) rewriting, 4X (max.) readingDVD+RW: 4X (max.) rewriting (DVD+RW) 4X (max.) readingDVD-ROM (single layer): 12X (max.) reading CD-R: 24X (max.) writing, 32X (max.) readingCD-RW: 16X (max.) rewriting, 32X (max.) readingCD-ROM: 32x (max)
· Dimensions: 5.75 x 1.63 x 7.56 inches (W x H x L)
· Platform support: Windows 98SE/2000/Me/XP
· Burst data transfer rate: 33.3 Mbit/s max.
· Random access time: 160 ms (CD-ROM), 200 ms (DVD-ROM)
· Buffer memory: 8 MB
· Buffer under-run error protection technology: Sony Power-Burn*
· Recording method (CD): disc at once, track at once, session at once, packet writing(DVD): Random Access Write (DVD+RW/DVD-RW/CD-RW), Sequential Write (DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW/CD-R/RW)
· Compatible disc format: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD-R, CD-ROM, CD-DA, Video CD, Photo CD (multi-session), CD TEXT, CD Extra, and others
· Availability - May 2003
· Estimated Selling Price - Under $350

Sony DRX-510UL DVD/CD Rewritable Drive
· Hi-Speed USB (USB2.0) and i.LINK external interfaces
· Full Speed USB (USB1.1) compatible with sustained read speed of up to 6X and write speed up to 4X
· DVD+R/-R: 4X (max.) writing, 4X (max.) readingDVD-RW: 2X (max.) rewriting, 4X (max.) readingDVD+RW: 4X (max.) rewriting (DVD+RW) 4X (max.) readingDVD-ROM (single layer): 12X (max.) reading CD-R: 24X (max.) writing, 32X (max.) readingCD-RW: 16X (max.) rewriting, 32X (max.) readingCD-ROM: 32x (max)
· Dimensions: 6.46 x 2.09x 9.71 inches (W x H x L)
· Platform support: Windows 98SE/2000/Me/XP
· Burst data transfer rate: USB: 480 Mbit/s max, i. LINK: 400 Mbit/s max.
· Random access time: 160 ms (CD-ROM), 200 ms (DVD-ROM)
· Buffer memory: 8 MB
· Buffer under-run error protection technology: Sony Power-Burn
· Recording method (CD): disc at once, track at once, session at once, packet writing(DVD): Random Access Write (DVD+RW/DVD-RW/CD-RW), Sequential Write (DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW/CD-R/RW)
· Compatible disc format: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD+RW, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD-R, CD-ROM, CD-DA, Video CD, Photo CD (multi-session), CD TEXT, CD Extra, and others
· Availability - June 2003
· Estimated Selling Price - Under $430

[BuddhaTB]

Thanks for the info Ian.

The DRU-510A sounds really nice.

[Ian]

Yeah, I want one.

New stuff on the DRU-510A:
4x DVD+RW writing speeds
16x CD-RW writing speeds

And yes, I've already asked if you can upgrade from the DRU-500A to the DRU-510AX. No answer yet.

[MikeTR]

That raises the bar yet again. Too bad the Sony's are still way too expensive.

Judging from a recent LG/Hitachi press release (forgot where) and the hints dropped in the thread on Lite-On's new scanning tool, their respective drives won't be here untill the end of june. Too bad, I might settle for a DVD+R drive (NEC-1100A) in the meantime. Heard that's pretty good for the money ($200).

[Ian]

I might be wrong, but LG's goes into mass production in June. If thats the case, you probably won't see it on store shelves until the end of summer or the fall.

[Funkstar]

The big question is: will this drive solve some of the glitches of the original 500? and will sony be able to get enough of these out the door to satisfy demand?

They are still very hard to find in the UK. NEC said their multiformat drive should be available in May sometime over here. I'd really like to got a DVD burner of some description. Tempted with the A05 which are available here without too much problems....but the multi format would be nice

[MikeTR]

I might be wrong, but LG's goes into mass production in June. If thats the case, you probably won't see it on store shelves until the end of summer or the fall.

Even worse.

[Ian]

Here's a few pictures of Sony's new drives.





Sony also told me that "previous-generation Dual RW drives will not be upgradeable to support the new 4X DVD+RW specification".

[MikeTR]

Sony also told me that "previous-generation Dual RW drives will not be upgradeable to support the new 4X DVD+RW specification".

That figures. Would be bad for (their) business if it were that easy.

[Ian]

Here's the old DRU-500A for comparison. They look A LOT alike.

[Kennyshin]

I might be wrong, but LG's goes into mass production in June. If thats the case, you probably won't see it on store shelves until the end of summer or the fall.

LG and Hitachi will first produce them to OEM partners and later sell in the retail market as they have done with GMA-4020B.

Right now, Samsung optical storage people have some serious headache over this. They have had trouble with Ricoh, Philips, and others which is why they don't have any + writer yet.

[Ian]

LG and Hitachi will first produce them to OEM partners and later sell in the retail market as they have done with GMA-4020B.

Yeah, they took forever to get them to the retail market...

[Dartman]

Well I was on the cutting edge for about a week there We'll just have to see wether they are upgradable or not if one of us is feeling brave.
Now if they can go higher if they come out with 8x burners that would be worthwhile.

[MonteLDS]

4x +RW is nice but i am not trading my 500A. Also the blue instead of black is cool, but my cause is black... and my power light is blue so ya whatever. that bunk about not allowing our burner burn the 4x +RW *thumnbs down*

[tazdevl]

Bring 'em on. It'll be interesting to see if the 500's can be upgraded.

[Pradeep]

Is there 4x DVD+RW media available anywhere? It's hard enough finding 4x DVD+R.

[Kennyshin]

Is there 4x DVD+RW media available anywhere? It's hard enough finding 4x DVD+R.

It depends on where you look at.

Ritek's very busy shipping 4x DVD+R to some OEM partners and importers from many countries.

The DVD+R/DVD+RW media market is going to expand rapidly this year.

[SNYder]

1) Does this new Sony drive support the Mt. Rainer format?
2) Can drives be firmware updated to support the Mt. Rainer format?
3) If this Sony drive doesn't have Mt. Rainer support, are there any other DVD+RW drives that do?

[cfitz]

1. No -> http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.ph ... e=Features

2. It should be possible for Sony to update their firmware to support it, but I don't know of any impending releases that do. They just released 2.0f that does not support it.

3. http://www.dvdplusrw.org/pc/overview_next_gen.html
http://www.bychoice.com/dvd.htm

cfitz

[dodecahedron]

2) Can drives be firmware updated to support the Mt. Rainer format?

2. It should be possible for Sony to update their firmware to support it, but I don't know of any impending releases that do. They just released 2.0f that does not support it.

it depends if the capability is built into the drive at the hardware level. if it isn't, no firmware upgrade will give it Mt. Rainier capablitiy.

so does the drive's hardware have this capability?
who knows????

[Dartman]

I could care less about MT rainier. I have 3 other burners around here and 2 of them support it, I've never used it.
I'm more interested in wether the drive might be able to take the 510 firmware when it comes out, thats the big thing to me.

[cfitz]

it depends if the capability is built into the drive at the hardware level. if it isn't, no firmware upgrade will give it Mt. Rainier capablitiy.

Does Mt. Rainier impose hardware requirements? I don't have a complete specification, but as far as I know it is primarily an interface and format specification. With the possible exception of the 2-KiByte addressability requirement, I can't imagine anything that would impose a hardware requirement beyond the existing capabilities of any modern drive. And I believe that even the fine-grained addressability could be emulated if not natively supported.

I will concede that resource limitations may preclude a firmware update. For example, there might not be enough free space left in the EEPROM to add the code needed to support Mt. Rainier. So I guess I should have said it should be theoretically possible to add Mt. Rainier support with a firmware update, in the sense that there is nothing fundamentally incompatible about Mt. Rainier that would prevent it from being added (as opposed to, for example, adding support to record Blu-ray which requires a laser of a different wavelength).

cfitz

[Mistyk]

I could care less about MT rainier. I have 3 other burners around here and 2 of them support it, I've never used it.
I'm more interested in wether the drive might be able to take the 510 firmware when it comes out, thats the big thing to me.

May I ask why you don't like/need MT rainier? Is it because the technology is flawed or unnecessary? Or do you simply burn video-DVDs and such, which require specific burning-applications anyway?

What is the 510 firmware and what does it have, that is desirable?

Thanks.

[Dartman]

It's the firmware for the newest dvdrw drive Sony is about to release. It will support 4x writing on rewritable dvd media as well as regular media, the 500 only does 2x on that media so we hope we can OC the 500's to the newer firmware.
I just haven't ever tried the Mt Rainier, I don't know that it's bad or good but I think you have to have drivers and other drives need to support it to work I believe. So I just never really got into it but if you need to use the media like a big floppy it could be nice. I'm sure one of the other regulars can point you to sites describing it and how it works so you can decide for your self if you like or need it.

[Mistyk]

Thank you for the info Dartman!