Exclusive: Sony DRU-700A Dual Layer Recorder

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• MysticMan1 - Thursday, May 6, 2004 - link

  I have the Sony DRU700A drive deals posted in the Anandtech "hot deal" forum here: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=...
  
  FYI: Here's a quote from Philips, who created the DL format. Quote: (According to Philips it will not be possible to upgrade existing 8x DVD recorders to DL layer recorders, contrary to what some rumours are saying. In theory the laser power of an 8x drive is strong enough to handle DL but the problem is, is that the OPU (Optical Pickup Unit) of the drive is often not good enough. This will lead to quality problems. However, some drives with good OPUs could, in theory, be upgraded although they’d have to be handpicked)

• Adul - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  mmm looks up his dvd burner model :D

• KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  hahher:
  
  fairly likely. As we mentioned in the review we firmware upgraded our GO-W0808A to DL.
  
  Kristopher

• Ian@CDRlabs - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  According to Sony, its $199.99 right now.

• hahher - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  what about price of this burner? price of other burnes (lite-on)?
  
  since components are similar to other current burners, how likely is it to see firmware upgrades to DL?
  

• Ian@CDRlabs - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  Hmm.. maybe you should ask the author Karr.

• KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  Ian@CDRlabs: Not officially.
  
  Kristopher

• Ian@CDRlabs - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  KProbe2 does support PI/PO error testing (or BLER as you call them) for DVD+R DL.

• LoneWolf15 - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  First of all, finding Dual Layer DVD media will likely take some time. Even though it isn't hard to find DVD+R/DVD-R media now, finding quality media for a reasonable price is still a gamble, much like CD-R media was in its earlier days.
  Secondly, if this drive has different pickups then it isn't "essentially the same as the Gigabyte" DVD writer. To write to the second layer of a dual layer DVD, more sensitive mechanisms are needed, and obviously this was done. Just because two DVD writers have the same chipset does not mean they will burn the same; if they have a different pickup mechanism, the drives will likely differ in performance. This has already been proven by the NEC 2500A and Pioneer 107D, which both use the same chipset but do not have exactly the same performance.
  
  

• Gromis - Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - link

  My feeling while reading ths: "poor those who bought DVD-RAM drives..."