I have to admit that reviewing the DRU-800A gave me a certain sense of déjà vu. Aside from its support for the DVD-R DL format, the drive is very similar to Sony's previous 16x DVD writer, the DRU-720A. This is a mixed blessing though, as while the DRU-800A offers a good number of features and some pretty impressive specs, it also exhibited many of the same shortcomings as the DRU-720A.
Like most of the DVD writers we've looked at lately, the DRU-800A can write to both DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16x. At this speed it took the drive a little more than 6 minutes to write an entire 4.7GB DVD.Sony's new DVD writer also performed pretty well in our rewriting tests, turning in some impressive times with both DVD-RW and DVD+RW media. Writing to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media wasn't a problem for the DRU-800A either. While not as fast as the drives from ASUS and Plextor, it was able to write an entire 8.5GB DVD in about 27 minutes.
When it came to media compatibility and writing quality, the DRU-800A gave us some mixed results. The drive wrote to most of our test media at its rated speeds. However, like Sony's previous 16x DVD writers, it was not able to write to any 8x DVD±R discs at 16x. Of course, this is becoming less of an issue as more 16x media becomes available. A bigger concern was the DRU-800A's writing quality. While the results were acceptable at slower speeds, the PI/PIF rates increased considerably when writing at 16x. Hopefully, Sony can fix this in a future firmware update.
Sony's new drive did pretty well in our DVD read tests. The DRU-800A was able to read both single layer DVD-ROM's and DVD-Videos at 16x and had some relatively good seek times. It also read DVD±R and DVD±RW media at a respectable 8x, but slowed to only 5.7x when reading DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL discs.
Reading and writing CD's wasn't a problem for the DRU-800A either. With its Turbo Boost enabled, the drive had no problems reading pressed and CD-R media at 48x and read CD-RW discs at 31x. Sony's new DVD writer also did extremely well in our DAE tests, reaching speeds as high as 48x. This level of performance carried over to our writing and rewriting tests. The DRU-800A turned in some impressive times thanks to its 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds, and its writing quality was quite good.
The DRU-800A wouldn't be complete without a longlist of features. To prevent buffer underruns, the drive has a 2MB buffer that is backed up by Sony's Power Burn technology. While this buffer is a little smaller than what we'd like to see on a 16x DVD writer, this system worked flawlessly in our tests. The DRU-800A also has a good number of writing and rewriting speeds to choose from as well as the ability to set the book type of DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media. To top it off, Sony has included some pretty good documentation, a software bundle from Nero and a black replacement bezel.
Sony's new DVD writer is shipping now and can be purchased through some of the vendors listed on Pricegrabber.Prices vary depending on the seller, but the retail version of the DRU-800A can be picked up for as little as $110.
Editor's Note: Sony is currently offering a $30 rebate on the DRU-800A. This offer expires 9/01/2005 so take advantage of it now.
| Sony DRU-800A 16x DVD±RW |
|
| Features: Installation: Performance: |
9 9 7 |
| Overall: | 8 |
Highs:
- Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 16x
- Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
- Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
- Writes to DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL media at 4x
- Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 16x
- Reads DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW mediaat 8x
- Good transfer speeds with pressed and CD-R media
- Features 48x CD-R and 24x CD-RW writing speeds
- Excellent DAE speeds
- Good CD writing quality
- Features Sony's Power-Burn technology
- Supports 99 minute media
- Good selection of writing and rewriting speeds
- Includes software from Nero
- Supports bitsetting for DVD+R/RW and DVD+R DL media
- Includes extra bezel
- Nice looking design
Lows:
- Questionable writing quality with some DVD±R media
- Cannot write to 8x DVD±R media at 16x
- Reads DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL media at only 5.7x
- Reads CD-RW media at only 32x
- Has a 2048KB buffer
- Doesn't support the Mt. Rainier format
