I initially bought this DVD burner to backup my private DVD collections. But after I bought it I found out that I could not burn copyrighted DVD’s. Well I didn't return it then, just kept if for software, documents, and other backups.

Now there’s software called DVD X Copy Platinum and this baby burns everything, even copyrighted DVD’s. A couple months back, the court banned this software so, 321 Studios will no longer make/update this software. After lots and lots of searches, I found DVD Shrink which is totally free and copies anything. Now I use it to make my backups.


SPECIFICATIONS :
Write Speeds:
DVD-R: 1/2/4 X CLV
DVD-RW: 1/2 X CLV
DVD R: 2.4/4 X CLV
DVD RW: 2.4/4 X CLV
CD-R: 24x, 20x, 16x, 12x (Z-CLV), 4x (CLV)
CD-RW:10x, 16x (CLV)

Write Methods:
CD: Track At Once, Session At Once, Disc At Once, Packet Writing
DVD: Disc At Once, Random Recording, Restricted Overwriting, Incremental Recording, Multi-border Recording

Read Speeds (Max):
DVD-ROM: 12 X CAV
CD-ROM/R: 32 X CAV

Read Formats Supported:
DVD: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-R/RW, DVD R/RW
CD: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM (XA), CD-Extra, Video CD, Photo CD, CD-Text, Multi-session

Access Time (Random Average):
DVD: 200 Msec
CD: 160 Msec

Interface: ATAPI (EIDE)
Data buffer: 8 Mbytes
Installation: horizontal and vertical
Dimensions (W x H x D): 145.6 x 41.6 x 196.4 mm
Weight: 1 kg


INSTALLATION :
The installation caused no problems at all. The quick install guide tells you exactly what to do, like every other optical drive. The drive needs no special drivers. You can do just about anything with the Nero Burning Rom software which comes with the drive.


BURNING :
As usual, I recorded several types of brand-name and non-brand discs. No problems occurred; the drive successfully detects and records most disk (Nero software). Also recording of the discs of both formats was flawless at all speeds available.


READ SPEED :
The read speed of all media types is controlled in the auto mode which is not always convenient. Sony allows a user to adjust the read speed with a special utility available on their support website. Overall, the read speed is as fast as other drives.


PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
There is no much noise if the drive works with properly balanced disks, or not at the maximum speed. The system that automatically sets the maximum speed checks for badly readable discs and video disks. The drive's speed can be adjusted with a special utility which can be found at Sony’s support website.


VIBRATION IN CASE OF UNBALANCED CDS :
The drive vibrated when it worked with such disc but it managed to finish its reading without errors and at high speed.


SUMMARY/CONCLUSION :
Sony offers a pretty good drive that delivers high speed and good recording quality on almost all modern optical media types without much noise. However, the drive has quite a lot of errors when burning ULTRA SPEED CD-RW’s, but I hope this problem will be solved with a new firmware version.


Copyright vchand 2005, All rights reserved.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 299.99
Operating System: Windows