Sony DRU500A (1.0g) vs DRU500AX (2.0c)

[donpedro]

OK. I just found out that new DRU500AX is shipped with firmware 2.0c. Originaly I thought that AX will be just A with latest firmware. Since firmware is different, what is real difference between them ?

[flashbang]

I don't know if all the DRU500AX drives come with the 2.0C but mine does.
I can not find any info on this firmware anyware, but it writes flawlesslly up to 4x so far with RecordNow DX.
Nero stalls when attempting the burn and freezes.

I'm waiting on some info myself on this firmware. Sony don't say a word about 2.0c on their website.

[dun4cheap]

I would suspect that the difference is that the 2 represents the 2nd model. While they are probably the same exact drives, Sony wants to keep track of 2nd generation drives and what better way to do so. I would suspect that they are able to specially serialize the firmware so it can detect what category they have put it in. This probably will mean in the future we will see hacks for the firmwares. Other than that, I have not noticed any difference from the 1.0f and 1.0g firmware on the 500a model.

[marylandmike]

I just got the Sony 500AX and have attempted to burn a dvd using the included software MyDVD. Unfortantly I can't get it to work. After setting everything up my burn button will not come up highlighted. I have been able to burn a vcd using menus with this program. I am transfering vhs tapes and use TMPEGen to convert an avi file to mp2.

I have also ordered the Ulead VideoStudio 7.0 to see if this works. Seems like the Sonic software is not stable and will come up not responding when trying to edit a file.

I am running WinXP on a 800MHZ processor and it seems to do the job. I have burned quite a few VCD's and not want to move up to the DVD format.

Any help?

[blmjr]

I just got a Sony 500AX and I was wondering: where do I check to see the version of firmware? I looked under device manager, but that just gave me the driver version.

Thanks!

[donpedro]

Do you have Nero ? That shoud give you info. Or you can download testing software from Sony's Support page. That should display firmware version too.

[blmjr]

Thanks for the tip. Nero showed me all the 4-1-1 on the drive. I've got the 2.0c firmware, so I guess I'm all set.

Thanks!

[kingy1968uk]

Does anyone have the 2.0c firmware upgrade for the 500ax??
Cheers

[donpedro]

Isn't 2.0c standard on AX model ? There is no upgrade for AX as far as I know.

[Justin Cider]

You guys who have the 500AX, does it show up just as 500A??? Mine does and I wonder if that's normal (or correct). It has the 2.0c firmware, the box it was shipped in says 500AX, so does the drive itself, but any burning software which shows the drive, reports it as only the 500A. Did I get ripped off??

[metageek]

Justin, my 500AX also says it is a 500A. I don't think you were ripped off, (at least not you in particular). I think the theory that 500AX is just a 500A rebadged with a different firmware number is probably correct. I got mine two days ago in the local Circuit City. The drive was manufactured Jan 19 2003.

[spiderman2k1]

I'm burning K Hypermedia that crash on the DRu500AX my AO4 I burn these DVD-R all the time with no problem. I heard Record Now DX you havet o use now. If I can not get the bug's out of this drive it's going back

[atb]

I don't have "K Hypermedia " to burn so i don't know..but i use optodisc and lead data..both are cheap and work fine. with lead data i can burn at 2x speed even it is certified as 1x media with recordnow max, retail version, not the bundle one from sony. never have a problem so far, so why don't you try other dvd-r instead complaine about it doesn't burn "K Hypermedia"? i had a panasonic LD-321 (dvd-r/ram) which doesn't even recogniz Ritek's dvd-r <-- which claim to be most reliable cheap media. i don't believe "K Hypermedia " is on sony's compatiable dvd-r list ins't it?
your complian is like why can't i put diesel gas into my 2003 honda accord, because it is not desgin to!

[bl2003]

Another proud (?) owner of the 500AX model. In all apps I have seen, it states the drive is a 500A, which really means nothing in and of itself, except when Sony put out the drive, they just left the 'X' off the hardware designator. The firmware most definitely shows up as '2.0c'.

Since I have never had the original 500A drive, I couldnt say if it was better / worse. I will say that in a weeks worth of burning CD-R / CD-RW / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+RW I have had only one coaster, a Memorex DVD-R disc and I never got the actual media manf. info, so all I can say is it was a Memorex disc.

Brief synopsis of my tests thus far:

CD-R / CD-RW write perfectly under Nero and cdrecord in linux.

DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD+RW write perfectly under Nero, RecordNow MAX 4.5 & RecordNow DX 4.6 bundled with the drive. I even made a test DVD with 'MyDVD' bundled with the drive, and it worked perfectly, although I thought the software was a little cumbersome.

Sony 2x DVD-R media writes perfectly at 2x
Sony 1x DVD-RW media writes perfectly at 1x
Sony 2.4x DVD+RW media writes perfectly at 2.4x
Pioneer 2x DVD-RW media writes perfectly at 2x
DVD-ON or ESBUY (Ritek G04) 4x media writes at 4x when it wants to, mainly starts at 4x and then 5% into the disc writes 2x.

After trying several hare-brained schemes (mainly of my own. heh) to get the Ritek discs to write at 4x, I give up. I guess it's just the media and Sony has not listed it as compatible (if they ever update their compatibility list). It does seem to do the job though, although the next batch I'm buying 2x Ritek media until I'm convinced otherwise.

So far I like the drive quite alot. No problems reading / writing that I can see, although if I had my ways, I would beat the engineers into submission for not including a dual color read / write LED on the front of the drive. Plus the face of the drive looks a little awkward, it should be flat, like all good-hearted CDROM drives. =)


Windows tests were run under XP SP1 and W2K SP2.
Linux tests were run with Debian 3.0 (stable) and cdrecord 1.10-7.