This makes burning DVD's a snap: Sony dual layer, external DVD burner
Written: Aug 16 '04 (Updated Nov 25 '04)
Product Rating:
Ease of Use:
Pros: External, uses USB 2.0, Dual layer, Reads all major formats, plays DVD movies.
Cons: Software provided isn’t good and can be difficult to use. Sound cannot be captured
The Bottom Line: A great drive if you need an external DVD burner. But the provided software is a poor substitute. Be prepared to buy additional software.
yakkowarner's Full Review: Sony DRX-700UL DVD±RW Dual Layer Burner
This is an external DVD burner by Sony. It can burn every common media type out there including the dual layer format. Dual layer can record 4 hours of mpeg-2. The unit hooks up via USB 2.0 or i.link. It is relatively light and portable but no substitute for a build in laptop DVD burner.
I got this to replace my aging Sony USB CD burner. It has served me well and still works like new. But 700 megs just is not enough for my needs. So I bought this because I needed a DVD burner to replace this CD burner.
I also did not want an internal drive because I may be replacing my desktop with a laptop in a year or so. An internal would be useless for a laptop, but this drive is perfect.
Setup
Setup is simple because it is USB. In fact Best Buy had a sticker that said “let us install it for you.” What a joke.
First, turn on the computer. Do not plug in the drive yet.
Just plug in the power cord, which is in 2 parts into the power strip and the drive.
After the computer is in windows plug in the USB cable. Your computer should automatically detect it, mine did.
Load the software on your computer. This does not load drivers, just the software for burning DVD’s and CD’s.
Reboot the computer, start up the quick launch program, and follow the directions.
I got home at 8:15 pm with my box and I finished my first burn at 9:00. Very quick considering everything involved. But it will take much longer to really get to know the system.
If you do not have USB 2.0 setup on your computer then it will let you know.
Other Setup Options
First off the USB 2 is rated at 480 Mbps max (bits not bytes). I suspect that this will be the most common format people use.
But the unit does come with an i.link adapter and it can use either the 4 pin or the 6 pin cable. i.link is rated at 400 Mbps max.
My first attempts at using the software
I first burned a copy of a move I have on VHS that is currently not on DVD (an avi file) onto my DVD-RW disk. After it burned I tested it out on my other computer, copied the avi file on to the other computer’s hard drive, and it ran with some problems freezing. BTW, this computer is an older technology computer with a DVD reader.
My second attempt
I than burned the previously mentioned movie onto a DVD-RW. . It worked perfectly on my computer I burned it on. My oldest DVD player did not recognize the disk. My two year old DVD player recognized it but the movie did not play correctly, it just jumped around and was not easily viewed, but the sound was ok. My other computer was not able to recognize the disk at all (one of the first DVD players on the market). Another failure.
My third attempt
I then burned a series of AVI and MPG movies I downloaded from the net onto a DVD movie formatted disk. It was a success. The menus worked perfectly and the movies could be played. Basically the files were of goofs and outtakes you can find on the net. They could not be read on my old DVD player. (As a note, some files were not recognized by the software even if the extension was .avi or .mpg.)
My fourth attempt
I went ahead and burned 3 gb of documents and pictures. This is where the real value of this drive comes in, backing up precious documents. It took 23 minutes to burn over 1000 files. Worked perfectly.
My fifth attempt and a huge problem with capturing video.
I have now owned this unit for a week and after figuring out the features, getting USB 2.0 working, and making a backup; I needed to make some home movies off my analog camcorder. I was using the Dazzle DVC 80 (which I need to write a negative review on sometime) to capture the analog signal. Well I captured information and began to play it back, low and behold there was no sound. I was baffled because I knew the capture device worked properly. I spent hours trying to figure out what was wrong.
In summary, I replugged it into another source, plugged sound into the sound card instead of the DVC 80, Changed cables, went through every setting in the software and in Windows system that I knew of, downloaded new drivers…..and nothing worked. I was really frustrated at this point. Finally I booted up Windows Movie Maker and tried that. It worked. So until they come up with a patch or I get an answer somewhere, I currently have to save all my analog signals through Windows Movie Maker then burn them with the Nero software.
Once I got the analog signal recorded through Windows Movie Maker, I was able to run the saved files through Nero and get a menu based DVD burned. This also took over 3 hours to burn.
This was also a success but I had to use two programs to get the desired results.
My sixth attempt
I went ahead and tried to record some shows off my TIVO. It only worked by using the previously mentioned method of using Windows Movie Maker and the Nero program. The programs came out fine but I needed to record them at a high quality. There are still imperfections in the TIVO captured pictures and this is further degraded (just ever so slightly) when recorded onto my hard drive. But once it was recorded I made the scenes and recorded the DVD with no problem. It once again took a few hours to format and burn.
Can I backup my DVD?
You can with the right software. This software will not let you copy from a copy protected DVD for backup purposes, or any purpose for that matter. I also have not looked for a hack to get around this (and I do not plan to).
Some notes about burning DVD’s
When the DVD is burning you can set the priority. If it is low priority then other programs can run and it will burn in the background (this will take longer to burn). A high priority will not allow other programs to run smoothly but the burn process will not be interrupted. You have a total of 5 priority settings.
You can load the files or drag and drop them. The DVD creation program comes with a lot of graphics and you can add your own. There does not seem to be a limit on the number of scenes or graphics you can use. The scenes can even be in motion while in the select screen (as well as a whole slew of other options that makes it fun to play around.)
It does take a while to burn the menu driven DVD’s but one nice feature is the computer can shut down when it is done burning.
Media it can burn or read
-DVD Double layer (positive only) 2.4X
-DVD R (plus and negative) up to 8X
-DVD RW (plus and negative) up to 4 X
-DVD-ROM 12x
-CD-R 40X max
-CD-RW 24x max
-CD-ROM40x
How do normal DVD movies play?
Great. Finally I can access all those computer only features. Some DVD’s, like Pirates of the Caribbean and T3, have their own control scheme and visuals. There are more interactive features available when played on a computer. It is also easier to control using a mouse than by a remote control.
The problem I have encountered is slower load times. There is also a need to use quicktime, internet explorer, flash, etc which may slow down performance. I even encountered a popup advertisement on one DVD, pretty pathetic.
Does it recognize Xbox and Gamecube?
It does not recognize the Gamecube disks. It only recognized a couple of video files on the Xbox DVD’s, but no game files. Sorry you’ll have to mod your Xbox if you want to do that.
Software provided
It comes with Nero software.
Basically you can do the following processes.
-Burn menu driven DVD’s
-Burn computer files on DVD’s
-Copy DVD videos
-Schedule backups
-Make bootable disks
-make udf or isoDisc’s
-Make mp3 or wma disks
-Burn DVD VR
-Video slide show
-Record TV shows
-And several other pieces of software the test your system and take care of your disks.
NOTE: You can do most of this to CD-R’s and you can save more information to your hard drive.
Capture properties in the Nero software
ntsc or pal
4:3 or 16:9
352x480, 704x480x
lpcm or dolby digital
(like I said, this capture software did not work properly for me.)
System requirements
This is what is listed on the side of the box.
Windows PC
-Pentium III 800 Mhz (1.6 recommended.)
-Windows 2k or XP.
-128 MB ram.
-1 GB hard disk space.
-USB 2.0 or i.LINK port.
You can use USB 1.0 but it will be very slow. I used 1.0 for the first burn until I realized how to update the drivers.
Problems with getting USB2 running
Even the Sony website did not support this device yet (August 3, 2004)
I finally went into device manager, right clicked on usb devices, selected properties, and did a search for updated drivers. The search found and installed the appropriate drivers. These can be found on windows service pack 1 but I have no idea why it did not automatically install them for me.
My opinion on Sony
I love most Sony gear. We have a PalmPilot, CD USB burner, Camera, HD-Sat receiver, DVD player, and game systems. All of those components were well made and work to this day. I try to buy Sony whenever possible because I have had such good luck with their equipment.
Sometimes Sony will lease someone else’s equipment and stamp their name on it. I have heard of this happening with some Directv receivers and computers. When I suspect this I generally go for the cheaper brand since the equipment is essentially the same. In Sony’s defense, all large companies do this to some degree so it is a good idea to do a little research before you buy.
Who (or what) is this for?
-Great addition to a laptop.
-A desktop that ran out of spare bays.
-Someone that needs to take their drive to and from work
-For sharing between family members and friends.
About the Rating
I gave the drive itself a 5 because I am very impressed with how easy it was to set up and how easily it worked with the different types of software I used. It also came with all of the cables you will need. I gave the software it came with a 2 because of the previously mentioned problems. So I felt a 4 was fair. I was disappointed that Sony did not write their own program and instead relied on a third party to write it for them.
Summary:
This is a great drive from a company with high standards. It reads and writes almost all optical formats including the new Dual layer format. It can be hooked up via USB 2.0 or i.link. Burning straight data will take less than an hour on the largest format but if you create your own DVD’s then expect it to take quite a bit longer. The software provided is not well written and you may encounter problems using it with other hardware. In addition the software is not as intuitive as it could be. But with the right third party software this is the best burner on the market.
Store up to 8.5 GB of data on a single sided, double layer DVD disc Burn up to 4 hours of MPEG-2 video or 8 hours of MPEG-1 video on double layer DVD ...More at Amazon Marketplace
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