OK... Should I do it?

[filmguy123]

I am considering buying my first DVD burner. I have borrowed one from my school and found it useful, now I'm getting ready to take the plunge... but is this a good time?
I would be buying the Sony DRU-500A Internal drive, retail, for $350 from a local store, and a 15-pack spindle of 2.4x Verbatim media for $35 to start. I would be using the program Ulead DVD Workshop Pro to put homemade movies to DVD w/menus, chapter selection, etc... for play in a large variety of home standalone DVD players.
With the newest firmware upgrade to 1.0e, should I be happy with my results using the specified media (and others, as well, such as TDK, Sony, etc... if I so choose?) What I mean is, will the drive work with the program, burn correctly (no coasters), and be widely compatible w/standalone players? Is this a good time to make the purchase? Or would i be advised to hold off for another drive, such as the NEC or some of the other new multi-format drives that have been announced? Also, is there any reason that I should NOT buy this particular drive or any drive at all right now?

Thanks for the advice,

Dan

[petec]

I have Sony DRU-500a on order pending arrival of stock and trying to decide whether the options the Sony DRU-500a has to offer versus problems that I am reading about are worth it or maybe getting the Pioneer DVR-A05 is a better choice (starting to see some media compatiblity reports on this new model).

A few problems/good things that I have read about regarding the Sony:

1 - it needs to be installed as the sole device on IDE 0/1 and it's functionality is questionable when paired up with another device. (bad) Is this true??
2 - picky about media brands used. (bad)
3 - Some software hasn't caught up to it yet. (bad)
3 - New firmware improves functionality (newer not released firmware will do more) (good)
4 - 8 megs memory / -r/-rw +r/+rw 2, 4x recording first of it's kind (good)
5 - Being the first to test out new technology (bad or good??)
6 - Sony's reputation (good?)

Regarding new Pioneer DVR-A05

1 - HX of DVR-A04 (good)
2 - A04 burns on just about everything (good)/A05 doesn't (bad)
3 - Solved the A04 Heating problems (good)
4 - Burns will play on just about anything (good)
5 - Pioneers reputation (good?)

I understand everyone one has opinions about both products and I believe I have summarized both drives ok. Looking to maybe purchase the DVR-A05 instead...not sure...

[g00kster]

15-pack spindle of 2.4x Verbatim media for $35 to start

I had my Sony DRU-500A for about 2 weeks now. Make sure that you upgrade the firmware 1.0d. 1.0e is not out til Dec. 9th.

Using Nero 5.9.9.17, DVD Decrypter, and IFOEdit to burn.

From my experience prior upgrading my firmware 1.0d, I wasted a 10 pk Verbatim DVD-R Ver. 2.0. Never try anymore Verbatim after the upgrade because I got cheaper media.

However, after the firmware upgrade, I been successfully burning DVD movies by using Ritek DVD-R 1X, Meritline DVD-R True 2X, Sony DVD-/+R, and Sony DVD+RW. BUT, Princo DVD-R 1X failure 5 out of 5.

[zap4]

1 - it needs to be installed as the sole device on IDE 0/1 and it's functionality is questionable when paired up with another device. (bad) Is this true??

I have mine set up as the slave. I have burned a DVD-R and a DVD+R so far without any problems. So for me that is not true, it may b true for others, I do not know.

[filmguy123]

Thank you for the responses, but no one really ever answered my question, which was, should I do it?
Is this a good time to buy or would it be wise to hold off and wait for things to stabalize a bit? Will the newer burners coming out over the next year be a better buy, more compatibility, better features, faster, cheaper, etc... that it would be better to wait? Or will it not really be that big of a deal and if I want one I should buy now?
Also, please refer to some of the other questions in my original post that I had.
Again, thanks for the responses, but I really am trying to decide what to do and need some opinions.

Dan

[solarfox]

Based on my experience, the DVD burner itself has little, if anything, to do with set-top-player compatibility. The inability of some set-top DVD players (and some DVD-ROM drives, too!) to read DVD-R(W)/+R(W) discs is a problem with the players themselves, not the burner; they either don't recognize the volume type, or the lower reflectivity fools them into thinking they're dealing with a dual-layer DVD, or other such problems. So, it's highly unlikely that waiting for a newer, better burner to come out will solve that issue; the compatibility problem will only go away when all the old players currently in service get replaced by new, DVD-R(W)/+R(W)-compatible ones.

Now, as far as whether one of the upcoming models might somehow be better than currently-existing ones... When has this ever not been the case with any computer device? No matter what you buy, or when you buy it, there will always be a "newer, faster, with better features" model just around the corner, and anything you buy will always be cheaper two weeks after you bought it. It's inevitable, and you will never get ahead of the curve for long enough to matter (or, as Weird Al Yankovic put it in "It's All About The Pentiums" -- "My new computer has the clocks, and it rocks, but it was obsolete before I opened the box"), so just accept it as an Immutable Law Of The Universe and move on.

[filmguy123]

Thank you solarfox. Also, I understand what you were saying, however, I guess what I was asking is if it is too soon and it would be better to wait and let the technology mature. I hear a lot of praise as well as a lot of complaint for this new DRU500A and I wonder if taking the plunge now is just a bit too soon and I will experience problems burning my homemade short films to DVD for distribution to others (maybe 50 copies all on different players) using Ulead's DVD Workshop Pro.

[Greg12]

Yes, I have a DRU500A and it is very very very good.

[aubrey_q]

Filmguy:

I'm about to take the plunge on the Sony tomorrow, provided Best Buy receives some tonight.

For a while I was tempted to keep on waiting, but my Digital 8 camcorder tapes are beginning to stack up, and I just want to get going and transfer to DVD before it gets out of control.

Like solarfox said, you'll never be ahead of the curve. The only thing I'm doing to minimize the blow is to get it as cheap as I can. I have a 10% off coupon (that's $35 right there) and a form for a $50 mail-in rebate. That would put the $350 burner down to a less-painful $265.

I called the rebate department at Sony and they verified it's good. You can get the rebate form at the following link:

http://members.cox.net/movie_maker/rebate.html

The form is actually two images. Hurry up and get it before whoever owns the website takes it down.

Good luck.

Aubrey

[miket29]

Just throwing my 2 cents in for what it is worth. I did about 2 hours worth of browsing on pricewatch and this site as far as compatibility and everything because I was thinking of getting one for Christmas. I am thinking about waiting until afterwards to see if the price will go down, but my technical toyplaying side is eating me up. What would you guys do, wait or get it. I have around 3000 cdrs laying around the house and think that this will be much easier to organize. Plus I have another dilemma. Isn't it more advantageous to burn 4 vcds(DVD rip) to one DVD with good viewable quality than to use one store bought dvd? Just a wierd question. But seriously what do you guys think about the Christmas waiting thing?

[pogue1000]

I have the sony500a and i havent wrote one bad disc.
I have used memorex +R and +RW and ritek -R, and sony +RW
All of them play in my standalone player.
Actually i have tested this on 5 dvd players and they have all played, even my rca that wouldnt even touch a video disc.

I really think its the user sometimes more than the device itself.
I read so many people having problems with the memorex media and i iddnt have a bit of problem. And i am new to this!

and i have never changed the firmware even.

its a nice unit, i dont have anything to judge on.
But it sure beats my first 1x write memorex cd-burner i dropped about 350 on years ago. Course i will probably laugh at this one some day

[byron23]

When has this ever not been the case with any computer device? No matter what you buy, or when you buy it, there will always be a "newer, faster, with better features" model just around the corner, and anything you buy will always be cheaper two weeks after you bought it. It's inevitable, and you will never get ahead of the curve for long enough to matter

I agree with you point. but like to add one thing. It's the slope of the curve. No one worries about getting obsolete too soon when buying CD-RW these days, for the expected time-varying perfomance increase is quite small at this stage.

You know that is not the case with DVD burner. it's still 'early-adopting' stage. The buyers should always pay for it, be it high price, compatibility, unknown bugs whatever.(sometimes the risk of being a paying beta-tester)

i don't know if it's TOO early, but surely it's early with steep upward slopefor most people(i guess even for mid-level geeks). after all it all depends on the degree of your current needs or technological curiosity.