Dru 530A-Just bought/media recommendations/ADS enclosure.

[Milt]

Hi,
Someone here posted a couple of days ago about the Staples $30.00 rebate off purchases of $150.00 today. I downloaded the rebate, and took it to Stapes to confirm. Then, I went to CompUSA to get a writer.
Had been thinking about the DRX510UL as I wanted external, but was also thinking toward the AO6 since it was so cheap.
CompUSA was out of the AO6, but they had the new 530A as of today for $249.00. I had $125.00 worth of CompUSA gift cards (from rebates and other stuff) set aside, and they agreed to match the $30.00 from Staples, so it ended up at $100.00. Then, when I got to the register, they printed out a $30.00 rebate from Sony which is apparently on the 8x as well as the 4x. So, for a net of $70.00, I decided to get the 1 year replacement for about $20.00. They are good at CompUSA as you take it in, and they replace it, no questions asked, even if they are into a newer model. My son has had his Logitech speaker system completely replaced the last two years in a row with this (blows them at college).
Anyway, I have two questions:
1.) I have read a lot of the reviews on media compatibility and incompatibilites with this and other writers. In a nutshell, could I get some recommendations from Sony users for some media to try just to get this thing fired up and tested? Stuff that seems to work well with the Sony-not premium cost, but not necessarily the cheapest either.
2.) Also, I just bought an ADS dual link external box last week to put my removable drive dock in. It works fine, but looks like I will hook it to the Sony. Several hear have commented on this configuration, and I would appreciate simply reviewing any comments from others using this that have this combination working smoothly (or if there are any problems). I would really prefer to keep this external and I will be using firewire, not USB 2.0.

Thanks,

Milt

[Synergy]

In case you don't know, the DRU-530A is an OEM model of the Optorite DD0401 without the HD-Burn function and cannot write any 4X +R discs at 8X. See the following links for more info on the DRU-530A:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13716

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=13953

You will probably get better write performance by using DVD+R instead of DVD-R discs. BTW, Sony has already released the 1.0b firmware update, and it seems to indicate that they know they have got a buggy firmware for the model.

[Milt]

Well,
It appears that this Optorite OEM theory is just a theory at this point.
I would like to hear more feedback on this, or if this is just typical Sony bashing.
Several questions:
1.) Are any of the other Sony drives suspected to be outsourced?
(OEM of another company?)

2.) What exactly do you mean by HD burn?

3.) I WAS hoping it would do 8x on 4x media-which writers are proven to do that?

I have an unopened box, and the jury is still out. I would like to get more
discussion going on the 530a here.

[Synergy]

It appears that this Optorite OEM theory is just a theory at this point.

Well, click on the DRU-530A link at the bottom of the following page, and it will show you the circuit board of the DRU-530A:

http://homepage2.nifty.com/yss/dru530a/osony.htm

Then compare the picture to the circuit board of the Optorite DD0401 near the bottom of the page, also clickable to enlarge:

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Specific.asp?ArticleHeadline=Optorite+DD0401+...order&Series=0

If you still think this is Sony bashing, then Sony will be very happy to sell you anything with its label.

[defense]

The DRU-530A is manufactured much cheaper then the 500A AX or 510A models. Where the older drives had medal parts, the 530A has plastic. That doesn't necessarily mean the drive is inferior in any way. ONly time and reviews on this site and elsewhere will tell. I do like the fact the the DRU-530A has the disk tray almost perfectly sized for the disks.

The older models had a bigger tray and you had to actually position the disk to make it perfectly aligned. Although, I'm sure when you close the drive the disk became balanced...but that was something I never liked. The LED burns orange instead of red...and other minor things like the LED and tray/open close buttons are a little smaller and repositioned.

The good news is that unlike the 500a/AX and in rare instances the 510A...the 530A seems to burn ALL 4x media at a solid 4x ..or even at 4.1x. I just burned a full disk at 4.1x solid..meaning, the burn speed didn't vary. I was pretty impressed...not a big difference from 4x to 4.1...but in many instances the other drives would vary from 3.6x to 4.3x...seems like the laser in this is excellent early on.

I noticed the original poster purchased this from COMPUSA...one of my neighbors actually works for COMPUSA and is probably one of the smart people there...but he said COMPUSA won't "officially" sell the 530A until tomorrow...some stores maybe even early next week. They are still in the hub awaiting processing/scanning. But there will be a $30 Mail In Rebate on the Drive immediately from COMPUSA. So you can get this sucker for about $220 or so after the Rebate.

[Milt]

Defense,
Do you have this drive? I was the original poster, and I bought this Friday Dec. 12 at CompUSA. Yes it does have a $30.00 rebate from Sony.
What do you think about the comments regarding the Sony being an Optorite OEM. Seems kind of ridiculous to me-but what do I know?
Also, looking for definitive feedback about its ability to write 8x on 4x.
I have not opened the box, because CompUSA has an opened box restock fee, so I am doing my research after the purchase. But I got a really good deal on it since they matched an additional $30.00 Staples had going on purchases over $150.00, in addition to the Sony rebate.
I actually picked up the 510a also at Staples, with their discount-so one of them goes back after 30 days, or a trade for a Pioneer after they are back in stock.

[defense]

@ milt, yes I do have this drive. I too am deciding on whether or not i'll return it or keep my DRU-510A. I also have the NEC-1300A...and I have a friend that would purchase my DRU-510A...i'd sell if to him for a good price. Anyway..these DRU-530A drives weren't supposed to be sold prior to Sunday's ad...but either you know someone within' Compusa as well or whichever COMPUSA you went to..really wanted to push those drives out quick.

Anyway, being that you too also have the DRU-510A, you can clearly see the construction of the 510A is much better. The 510a uses much tougher/stronger parts..even the front tray is more solid then the 530A. Internally, you can see it's all plastic..pretty much just like a DVD-ROM drive.

So it's definitely obvious Sony has cut costs signifcantly....but as long as it "performs" well..that one year warranty is in affect so I wouldn't be overly concerned. Now as far as the rebadged optowrite deal goes...I saw that post from Synergy..and he is correct. But again, don't let this be too much of a concern to you because i'd be willing to bet the actual laser was constructed by the Sony engineers..as well as the circuit board...as a matter of fact...I can almost guarantee it. So the physical "apearance" of the drive and the jacks in the back are really insignificant and nothing to be concerned about.

I've tested many different 4x media with the 530A....and all of them have burned AT or beyond 4x. That wasn't the case with the previous SONY drives or MANY other drives for that matter. The burn speed usually fluctuates..but each time I burned an image with DVD DECRYPTER...it burned at a "LOCKED" 4.1x. I mean LOCKED as in NEVER went below 4.1x and never went above. It seems very precise and my burns have been excellent. The only problem i've seen this far as "DISK TO DISK" burning going slower then it should. With the 510A...I never had a problem burning 4x media at 4x from drive to drive. However, with the 530A...the burn speed goes down to A SLOWWWW 1X...before evening out at 2x. One of them actually half way through went from 2x to 4x..but the rest were pretty much burned @2x.

Have you burned a DISK TO DISK IMAGE? If so...what speed did you burn at? Have you burned any 8x media? If so, what media and how long did it take? I'll be testing some of those next week. If you get a chance to test a "DISK TO DISK" burn..such as a DVDR TO DVDR...from your DVD ROM to your DVD WRITER..IF you have a DVD ROM...please let me know your results.

Thanks

[-jsl-]

To me it looks like Sony is selling an overpriced Accesstek (Optorite) drive with a crippled firmware, ie no HD-Burn and no 8x@4x DVD+R writing. More over from some tests I've seen the current Sony firmware doesn't even manage to burn @8x on real 8x Mitsubishi media without dropping the speed to 4x in the end and it's also only starting at 4x compared to 6x for other 8x drives giving a low average speed, see for example here.

[defense]

I've not burned 8x media as of yet, but all 4x media i've burned has burned at a locked 4x..and my kprobe results are much better then the other charts that were posted....same with NERO CD SPEED results. Although I don't put much faith in either...you don't watch a DVD @8x...so it doesn't really matter what Nero CD Speed says...i've had results that have looked so horrific with both programs and played perfectlyf rom beginning to end....and have also had nice looking results which have had skipping issues.

I rip the data off the disk when its burned...as long as that works out...then I know if there's a media issue..or burn issue..then I can just make an iso.


That link you gave only showed one person with a problem burning to 8x media was with "ONE" person..you can't make an assessment or even SLIGHTLY educated response from one person's test.

In addition, I haven't read a post ANYWHERE that says Sony has used or had Optowrite manufacturer its CORE components. If ANYONE can post a link which says otherwise, i'd love to read it. Otherwise, my belief that optorite only manufactured the "casing" of the DRU-530A units and saved Sony quite a bit of money...because the casings are cheap as shit. But i've looked at the circuit boards and lasers on ALL THREE INTERNAL SONY units...the 500-A, 510-A , AND NOW 530-A...and the circuit board is in the same exact position, and basically identical. In addition, the laser position and casing are also identical.

The only difference is on the 500A AX, and 510A models, the cover of the laser casing is on with a magnetic top..while on the 530-A, the laser cover is on the inside top of the casing.

Now as far as firmware goes...I don't know what goes into the engineering of a drives firmware...so that may have something to do with optorite as well....but it appears mainly as though the housing was creating very generic as well as the internal parts of the DRU-530A...at least in relation to the 1st and 2nd gen Sony drives.

But my 4x media that has burned seems perfect. We'll have to wait and see what other users experiences are. I sincerely doubt every 530-A has these issues this "one" person had. The interesting thing was that my first 510-A had a SERIOUS laser issue. For WHATEVER reason...it would write 4x media at a start of 4x, but shortly thereafter, the damn thing would revert to 2x. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I finally ripped a disk after about the 5th time this happened..and to my amazement...the disk wouldn't FULLY RIP. At the point where the laser power decreased to 2x, the disk somehow got damaged. I went to RIP the other 4 disks and the same thing happened. I didn't know if it was the firmware ..I had flashed to the latest at that time..which was 1.0c.....but I was DAMN LUCKY I caught it and only lost out on 5 projects which I already deleted off my HD.

The crazy thing is when watching the disks and scanning through chapters there was absolutely no issue....so this could of been really screwed up. I returned the drive for another..and have NEVER had a single issue....especially something that serious. I can't see any 4x burner being better then the 510A...burning all 4x media at 4x.....and doing it amazingly. It's an incredible drive....and overall..I think the 510A kicks the crap out of the 530-A......from construction to versatility.

If anyone else with this drive would mind doing some tests with a drive to drive/disk to disk copy with the DRU-530A at a minimal speed of 4x....please post your results. Mine have not been good as of yet..everything else has though.

[-jsl-]

That link you gave only showed one person with a problem burning to 8x media was with "ONE" person..you can't make an assessment or even SLIGHTLY educated response from one person's test.

Anandtech's and Extremetech's reviews revealed the same thing and although their reviews are not the best the Sony drive obviously does not perform as it should with the current firmware and Mitsubishi 8x media.

In addition, I haven't read a post ANYWHERE that says Sony has used or had Optowrite manufacturer its CORE components. If ANYONE can post a link which says otherwise, i'd love to read it. Otherwise, my belief that optorite only manufactured the "casing" of the DRU-530A units and saved Sony quite a bit of money...because the casings are cheap as shit. But i've looked at the circuit boards and lasers on ALL THREE INTERNAL SONY units...the 500-A, 510-A , AND NOW 530-A...and the circuit board is in the same exact position, and basically identical. In addition, the laser position and casing are also identical.

Have you really checked the pictures Synergy linked to? The mainboard pictures of the DD0401 and DRU-530A are identical and there are quite a difference between these and the old DRU-500A/510A. Also the Japanese site successfully flashed the Optorite firmware to Sony which would not work if the drives were different.

[defense]

Have you really checked the pictures Synergy linked to? The mainboard pictures of the DD0401 and DRU-530A are identical and there are quite a difference between these and the old DRU-500A/510A. Also the Japanese site successfully flashed the Optorite firmware to Sony which would not work if the drives were different

jsl have you ever checked the first gen boards/laser with the DRU530A's? If you have, please explain the differences to me...I have both drives right in front of me..and i'll be glad to scan the board and upload pics of both if that's what you need to see. However, neither are currently exposed, and it's possible there are many similarities but they are NOT identical....as I haven't as of yet looked at them directly next to one another. If you can link any pics of the 1st generation Sony burners mainboard....I'll look at them in comparison to the optorite main board prior to opening both drives.

As far as the optorite flash, I read that. Has anyone attempted to flash the older gen burners with the optorite firmware? I've read people flashing things incorrectly before.....if the flash took and there were no results..as there weren't...then to me it was a dead flash and proves very little. Also, did you read tomshardware review of the 530A? Overall it was pretty good and didn't mention any of the things the other article mentioned.

Again, with all this being said...I think it's very clear..at least to me and anyone else who has had the older Sony burners as well as the 530-A...the older models are just constructed better.

[-jsl-]

jsl have you ever checked the first gen boards/laser with the DRU530A's? If you have, please explain the differences to me...I have both drives right in front of me..and i'll be glad to scan the board and upload pics of both if that's what you need to see. However, neither are currently exposed, and it's possible there are many similarities but they are NOT identical....as I haven't as of yet looked at them directly next to one another. If you can link any pics of the 1st generation Sony burners mainboard....I'll look at them in comparison to the optorite main board prior to opening both drives.

There are pictures of the DRU-500A/510As mainboards in the Japanese review too.

As far as the optorite flash, I read that. Has anyone attempted to flash the older gen burners with the optorite firmware? I've read people flashing things incorrectly before.....if the flash took and there were no results..as there weren't...then to me it was a dead flash and proves very little.

The Japanese review burned several discs with the Optorite firmware.

Also, did you read tomshardware review of the 530A? Overall it was pretty good and didn't mention any of the things the other article mentioned.

I can't find any review @tomshardware (but their reviews of burners are usually quite horrible anyway).

[defense]

@jsl..it may not of been toms hardware..not sure why I thought it was....then again maybe it was. But the review I read last month gave the drive nice reviews and basically just harped on the fact that the DRU-530A at the present time didn't burn 8x media @4x. As far as the japanese site goes...I'm not going to dispute it...but you can't believe everything you read on the net.

I don't have the Japanese language install in my browser..and I have no reason to install it. If you would be kind enough to upload the pics of the 1st gen Sony mainboards..that would be great.

Without looking at them side by side..which I still have yet to do...it's possible there are some variations..but I know for a fact that the first thing I noticed when checking the DRU-530A board was that it was the exact same structure and size as the previous SONY's..and the mini type ide cables were the same...I also noticed the clip on the end of the board..and all of that comprised..I didn't think if Optorite manufactured the 530A board that it would have the same exact structure itself..as well as clip off the same way. At any rate..once again, if you would upload the pics of the mainboard for this japanese site....that would be great.

[elmotheteapot]

[quote="Milt
1.) Are any of the other Sony drives suspected to be outsourced?
(OEM of another company?)

quote]

Some of the earlier models such as the dru 500a and the dru510a, the dwu-10a were suspected to be using many parts from an NEc 1300a, jus a rumour tho.

[defense]

Some of the earlier models such as the dru 500a and the dru510a, the dwu-10a were suspected to be using many parts from an NEc 1300a, jus a rumour tho.

Of course that's just a rumor. The DRU-500A was the world's first generation dual format burner...the NEC didn't come until months later..how could it use parts from the NEC?

The DRU-510A is DEFINITELY structured IDENTICAL to that of the 500A/AX models, which both use extremely solid parts. The only difference between those models is a more refined laser. I can defiinitely attest to that.

The NEC-1300A burner uses all crap plastic parts....similar to the 530A. I have the NEC as well and i'm reluctant to use it because of how cheaply it was manufactured.

[defense]

@ jsl, this post got buried deep quick. You think you could upload a pic or post a link to that "Japanese" site which has the 500A OR 510A circuit board on it?

I don't see any pics of anything other then KPROBE results.

[Synergy]

DRU-500A:
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/3232767801/DRU500A_kiban.jpg

DRU-510A:
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/3232767801/DRU510A_kiban.jpg

DRU-530A:
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/3232767801/DRU530A_kiban.jpg

Optorite DD0401:
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Sources/Optorite%20Dd0401/images/inside.jpg

[DVDDave]

Rock Stars, While my first drive was a 500AX, and my second a 510A, both ripped real slow, and both could have burnded faster. Don't get me wrong, both Sony drives burned all the media I threw at them, but I like speed as well. I now use a LiteOn 411s and could not be happier. Burns all the media I have tried, and I have a lot. Rips fast, burns fast, flawless everytime. When I do go 8X, I will go with the Liteon 811s. Most 8X burners burn 4x DVD+R at 8X. Any manuafcturer that is currently selling an 8X drive should ship it with the ability to burn 4X at 8X. SONY is ripping all y'all off!!!!!

[defense]

thanks for the links synergy. That saved me from having to waste time checking the board myself. I absolutely thought there were more similarities then what their actually are between the various gen. SONY models, but it's clear the optorite board is the same as the DRU-530A board. I didn't look at the DRU-510A board recently..it was about a month ago and I never actually looked at either drive together.

I thought I remembered a view good points of the board...but I got swayed by the internal structure of the entire casing and harnass. The same number of screws are used for all three drives and the top/face plate are also structured the same way in terms of removability. The board itself is in the same position and basically the same dimensions in all three burners.
I should of looked at the actual chips themselves a littler better. But either way....I returned the drive in ONE DAY.

It was a completely useless piece of garbage as far as i'm concerned. The disk to disk burn issues were the most disappointing. Every time I tried disk to disk the drive either burned at between 1 and 2x, or actually LOCKED UP! And as I mentioned before, the drive was just flimsy crap. It was clearly manufactured much more cheaply then the other generation SONY BURNERS. I've never had any issues with my DRU-510A....so i'll stick with that for now.

[Milt]

Hey guys,
Is it possible the Optorite is the OEM vs. of the new Sony, and not the other way around? Look at how many bundled versions of the Pioneer there are? I must say, since I started this thread, I still have not opened the DRU 530 box-still waiting for other feedback on the board. There is very little. Anyone now when the A07 will ship?

[Synergy]

Is it possible the Optorite is the OEM vs. of the new Sony, and not the other way around?

I'm sure Sony will be happy to sell you a rock with its label just for your brand loyalty.

"Sony, one of the world’s top three manufacturers of DVD burners, will phase out production of DVD burners beginning with 8x models and instead seek OEM production in Taiwan, according to Taiwanese makers of optical disc drives."

http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?datePublish=2003/12/18&pages=A7&seq=43