What's in the box?:
- Sony DRU-840A 20x DVD±RW/RAM Drive
- Sony Software Disc v7.90W
- Product Information Guide
- Quick Start Guide (for ATAPI (EIDE) Interface Drive)
- Front Panel Replacement Guide
- Black Replacement Bezel
- Mounting Screws
- Warranty Information
Physical Features:
The drive Sony sent us for this review was manufactured in July of 2007 and had firmware version SS20. At the time of this review, this is the only official firmware available for the DRU-840A.
From the front, the DRU-840A looks very similar to Sony's 18x DVD writer, the DRU-830A. While there are a few slight cosmetic differences, the two drives share the same basic design, including the silver colored tray. The DRU-840A also has many of the same logos. Along with the Sony logo, you can see a few showing support for the DVD+ReWritable and DVD Multi specifications, as well as Ultra Speed CD-RW media.
Below the tray you can see the DRU-840A's single LED. Off by default, this LED lights up green when the drive is reading or writing.
If white and silver aren't exactly your colors, you're in luck. Sony also includes a black replacement bezel with the DRU-840A, but oddly enough, there is no hole for the LED to shine through.
The rear of the DRU-840A is fairly straight forward. By looking at the picture below you can see the drive's IDE interface, power connector and audio output connectors.
Starting from the left of the IDE connection you'll see the jumper switch for master, slave and cable select. Next to the jumper block is the analog audio connector. The connector on the far left is the digital audio output.
It's hard to see, but the label on the back of the drive shows that the DRU-840A is based on the Samsung TS-H652H, otherwise known as the SH-S202H.
Technical Specs:
The specs below have been taken from Sony's website and the documentation that came along with the drive.
| Sony DRU-840A 20x DVD±RW/RAM | |
| CD Write Speeds | 48x (CAV) 40x, 32x, 24x (P-CAV) 16x, 8x (CLV) |
| CD Rewrite Speeds | 32x, 24x (Z-CLV) 16x, 10x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+R Write Speeds | 20x, 18x, 16x, 12x (CAV) 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x (CLV) |
| DVD+RW Write Speeds | 8x (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R Write Speeds | 20x, 18x, 16x, 12x (CAV) 8x, (Z-CLV) 6x, 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RW Write Speeds | 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x, 1x (CLV) |
| DVD+R DL Write Speeds | 12x, 10x, 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2.4x (CLV) |
| DVD-R DL Write Speeds | 12x, 10x, 8x, 6x (Z-CLV) 4x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD-RAM Write Speeds | 12x (P-CAV) 5x, 3x, 2x (CLV) |
| DVD Read Speeds | 16x Max (DVD-ROM Single Layer) 12x Max (DVD-ROM Dual Layer) 16x Max (DVD±R) 12x Max (DVD±RW) 12x Max (DVD±R DL) 12x Max (DVD-RAM) |
| CD Read Speeds | 48x Max (CD-ROM) 40x Max (CD-R/CD-RW) |
| DAE Speed | 40x Max |
| Buffer Size | 2 MB |
| Random Access Times |
110 ms (CD) 130 ms (DVD) |
| CD Formats | CD-DA CD-ROM CD-ROM XA CD-R CD-RW CD+E(G) CD-MIDI Mixed Mode CD Photo CD Video CD CD-Extra CD-I CD-I Bridge Multisession CD CD-Text |
| DVD Formats | DVD-ROM DVD-R/RW DVD+R/RW DVD+R DL DVD-R DL DVD-RAM |
| CD Recording Modes | Track At Once Session At Once Disc At Once Packet Writing |
| DVD Recording Modes | Random Write Sequential Write |
More Features:
By looking at the picture below, you can see that Sony's new DVD writer is identified as a "SONY DVD RW DRU-840A."
Nero also shows that the DRU-840A has a maximum CD writing speed of 48x and a 2048KB buffer. This buffer is also backed up by Sony's Power-Burn buffer underrun protection. According to Nero, the DRU-840A can also write CD-Text and overburn. When testing the drive's capacity, it had no problems overburning up to 99 minutes with our CompUSA media.
Using Alex Noe's Weak Sector Utility we were able to determine that the DRU-840A is a "two sheep" burner and is capable of backing titles protected by SafeDisc 2.90. Like most drives, it did not pass the "three sheep" test.
Here is a screen shot from Nero's InfoTool. This program queries the drive to see what its reading and writing capabilities are. InfoTool had no problems detecting the DRU-840A's maximum reading and writing speeds, recording modes, buffer underrun protection and 2MB buffer.
InfoTool also shows that the DRU-840A is an RPC-2 DVD drive. This means that the drive's region is stored in the firmware. The region can be changed five times and after that it cannot be changed anymore. Unfortunately, a patched RPC-1 firmware is not yet available for this drive.
While InfoTool gives us a quick glance at the DRU-840A's features, DVDINFOpro provides a little more information on some of the drive's reading and writing capabilities. By looking at the screenshot above you can see that Sony's new drive can read and write to DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL and DVD-RAM media. Take note that unlike its Samsung counterpart, the DRU-840A does not support the Mt. Rainier format.
Sony's new DVD writer also supports a feature called "bitsetting".Using software like Nero, you can set the book type forDVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD+R DL media to "DVD-ROM". This feature comes in handy if you have an older DVD player that has problems playing recordable media.
