Sony DVDRW DOUBLE-LAYER 8.5GB DRIVE ( DRU700A )

Rating:
Summary: An ineffectual drive - coasters aplenty
Review: Bought this drive locally - it is completely ineffective as a drive and in fact is a hazard. I used it to replace an old LiteEon (Spl?) DVD drive (after uninstalling all the related drivers and software) and it refused to burn a single disk (12 coasters!). Tried burning three different types of media (+R, -R, +RW) at various speeds, and not a single disk of any type would burn! When it was attempting to burn, I could not get over x2 speed - the drive simply would not even attempt it. It also would not burn CD media successfully. When I installed the included Nero software (6.2 I think), it was completely incompatible with my LiteEon (Spl?) CD burner. Not only could I no longer burn CDs with it, I could not even get it to read disks after installing the included Nero software. The DVD drive then promptly decided to quit reading disks altogether! I now had a destroyed system. Even uninstalling the Nero drivers and the related other drivers the install puts on did not restore the use of my CD burner nor did it resolve the DVD burner issues. Six hours and a complete reformat and repartition of my HD later, I still could not get it to work as the only drive in my system on a brand new install of XP (2gh proc; 512 ram; 120gb HD).

Also please be aware of the very limited selection of double layered DVD disks. I have only found them available in multi-media packs, which usually include a single double layered DVD disk along with various other formats - most of which no one would use - as most people find a format that suits their needs and they tend to stick with that format only. These packs are comparatively very expensive and make for a very poor purchase for just one high capacity disk.

As a genral warning, I am telling everyone that when I attempted to contact Sony for help, new drivers, firmware updates or some manor of fixing the issue, I did not get a response. I finally took the drive back to the local store and I am now without a DVD drive, and I have an expensive pack of coasters I cannot take back. Beware of the poor quality of the Nero software itself (the bundled pack seems to be poorly integrated with the drive) and the drive's speed (only x2 max - not the much higher advertised speed). - Thanks

Rating:
Summary: Where are the DVD's?
Review: Check out the price (expensive) and the availability (almost none) of blank dual-layer DVD's before buying this.

Rating:
Summary: Worked flawlessly with Linux.
Review: I bought the 710 model to burn my wedding dvd. I don't have Windows so I used Linux and it worked perfectly. Burned ten copies so far and tested them. So, guys update your drivers or switch to Linux !

Rating:
Summary: I have had no bad burns
Review: I have had no bad burns. This is the first DVD burner I have ever used. I thought it would be harder to use but it is so easy! As for the bad reviews I don't know what could make this happen. I do know the burner needs to be set to a landcode the first time you use it to view a DVD. Other then that there is nothing to set or do. I am so glad I have this burner.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of Coasters so Far
Review: I've had this drive for about 4 days and already it made 6 coasters and 1 good disk (I am hoping). I made a mistake of backing up 4.5 GB of data to a DVD and then deleting the data from the hard drive. A couple of hours later I realized that I still needed some of the information on my computer. When I tried to copy from the DVD, the DVD drive reported that the disk was defective. You can imagine how I felt! I was glad that I hadn't archived some of my most valuable image work yet.

I'd like to note that I was using an up-to-date firmware and an updated version of Nero recording software, which is one of the best on the market and still got "coasters" (no errors from Nero, but the drive refused to read the information afterwards). I also tried backing a couple of my movie DVDs with DVD X Copy Platinum, and again two coasters and one disk that worked yesterday, but produced garbled output today (go figure) -- DVD X Rescue reported logical errors in the DVD.

I had gone through much software uninstall/update/try again, before I read on the net that lots of other people were having similar problems with the drive. No solution is available as of yet. Apparently, Sony's tech support is subpar as well.

Rating:
Summary: Do not buy this product; I will attest to it's FLAWS
Review: Let's make a short, succinct, and scientific comparison.

My Pioneer DVR-100 drive (old, but reliable nonetheless) burns me a copy of "Hagane no Renkinjutsushii" on Princo media on a certain computer with nothing open on it.
My Pioneer DOES burn:
Up to 2x
With a vierty of media
In my PC and Mac
My choice of software
My choice of movies and data

I change out the drive to Sony DRU-700A and reboot. Under the same conditions, the Sony DRU-700A will not make me the disc. Disappointing.

Sony does NOT burn:
Not at 4x or 2x or any x
Not with Memorex, Princo, or Sony media in any format
Not in my Mac or my other PCs
Not with fresh firmware, or Nero/DVD Decrypter burner/TMPGEnc
Not with different image or compilation, fresh reboots every step

Clearly, do not purchase this drive. It's going back in short time.

Rating:
Summary: Great burner but not cheap
Review: This burner is grat it works flawlessly but it is more expensive than other burners. The only downside is the price. Also double layer and 16x media are impossible to find.

Rating:
Summary: Works Great for comp noob.
Review: This is my first DVD burner I have ever used. Installed myself with out ever seeing the inside of a computer.. No problems with install.. Loaded comp and recognized the drive, loaded software and nero.. Burned my first Dvd 4.7 gb DATA disk with no problems. Burned a movie on 4.7 disk and it worked great except there was no dvd menu, normal or not I dont know, But still played the movie on all my 3 home dvd player, dvd-rom and my dvd player in my car.

Did a MP3 data 8gb disk and it worked fine in the comp, dvd players and my car still..

Next step was the Home movie converted from vhs and making it to dvd.. Had to save all data to harddrive then burn it.. worked flawlessly..

I say this is a great burner minus the price and the current availability of the media but we all know that in time it will be available..

As for all the bad reviews.. I dont know why people are having problems.. I, with no comp exp and just reading the user manuels and faqs on-line, was able to figure this out with no problems and only one coaster which was my fault based on the fact I accidently hit the cancel in the mid of a dvd..