Sony DRU-720A: Speed Increases All Around
by Purav Sanghani on March 6, 2005 12:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Final Thoughts
The DRU-720A performed much better than the year-older DRU-710A in almost every area. It performed flawlessly with both the MCC 004 and Ritek R04 16x media, which is just a start, since it is a 16x DVD+R burner. We did not have any 16x DVD-R media on hand for this review, but we did test some 8x Ritek media. The Ritek R03 and G05 media burned at the full 8x speed by the P-CAV method. The DRU-710A that we had looked at in our 16x roundup did write to these media significantly quicker because it picked up to 8x faster at the beginning of the write process. We also tested the Philips C08 DVD+R media, which, when scanned with PlexTools, showed an extremely small amount of PI errors.The DRU-720A also handled our 4x Ritek DVD+RW media well and burned it at the full 4x speed, but the drive had some trouble with the DVD-RW flavor of the Ritek media, only getting as high as 2x speeds during the write process. PlexTools showed a close to flawless burn, however, which is what really matters in the end.
The most significant improvement, whether it be from an improved firmware version or chipset, was the ability to write to dual layer media successfully, let alone cleanly. The DRU-710A burned a few dual layer coasters, which really disappointed us considering what we would pay for the drive, but Sony has since then improved on their firmware, and with the DRU-720A, writing to dual layer media is not a problem. Our Verbatim brand 2.4x MKM 001 media had the least PI errors with the majority being on the first layer, and data was written at 4x speeds throughout the burn. The DRU-720A did, however, have issues writing to the Ritek D01 media. The drive could not hit speeds above about 2.4x and when read with PlexTools, we saw that the media had almost 2 million PI errors towards the end of the 1 st layer.
With the current firmware on the drive and a retail price of around $105 at certain online retailers, the DRU-720A seems a bit expensive for a drive with this type of performance. Both NEC and Pioneer, the winners of our Fall 2004 16x roundup, have newer versions of their drives out at this time and we’re assuming that they will perform just as well as the units which we had a chance to look at. Before we make any decisions, we’d like to wait until we look at those other drives to weigh their performance and price. But at this time, the DRU-720A still seems over-priced for the performance that we’re getting out of it. Hopefully, by the time that we have units from the other big name optical storage manufacturers, Sony will have an updated firmware out as well as a lower, more competitive price.
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semo - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link
#14"I used to make my own cdrw/dvdrw cases with custom inserts but after realizing how much time and ink I was waisting I finally went back to the sharpie route."
that's why i want lightscribe, so i don't have to waste too much time. it can burn the label all day, i don't care, i'm away most of the time anyway and i almost never use the cd/dvd after i burn it.
and "Take a art class or two and become more talented with a sharpie :)"
would you say something similar to this to someone who wants a printer?
PuravSanghani - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link
#15: Our next roundup should include all of the highest speed media supported by the competing drives.#16: Sometimes. Although, there are brands of media out there that just do not work well with certain drives/firmwares.
bjtag - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link
If you write at slower speeds are the errors less?Hemispasm - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link
Good review. Some more media scans would have been nice (and informative) though :)dgkulzer - Monday, March 7, 2005 - link
#2 - I was under the impression that all Sony drives are now made by LiteOn. At first it was just the cdrw drives but now the dvdrw are also.#3 - Take a art class or two and become more talented with a sharpie :) I used to make my own cdrw/dvdrw cases with custom inserts but after realizing how much time and ink I was waisting I finally went back to the sharpie route.
My first couple of dvdrw drives were Sony and I had great luck with them but when I got a new black case I decided to get a new drive and the dvr-108 was on sale so I got that. I don't care for DL much yet and will not be interested until the price of the media gets to about 1/10 its price now.
WooDaddy - Monday, March 7, 2005 - link
Is there a place that sells DL media for less than $7 yet? DL burner is a nice feature.. if you can use it and it's affordable. Personally, I still like my ND3500A with 2.18 modified FW. Burns TDK, Sony and Fuji DVD+/-R 8x media at 16x flawlessly. I'll need another burner soon so I'll be looking forward to Purav's next review.Keep up the good work guys!
KristopherKubicki - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
bofkentucky: we have a second 16x roundup in the next few weeks.Kristopher
bofkentucky - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
I would have liked to have seen the this up against the 8MB cache Plextor's. Are there plans for an optical shootout in the future.ND40oz - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
How about they test the 720 next to the old 710 with the latest firmware since it brings it up to the 720s specs.semo - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link
meant to say media are lagging behind as usual[rant]why the hell isn't there any edit button in here[/rant]