SONY DRU800a/Lite-ON

[RonBoy]

SONY replaced my DRU710a with a DRU800a.

What do I really have. Lite-on but what model.

TIA-Ron

[ofbarea]

It is a Lite-on 1693S.

cdfreaks LiteOn DVD Burner / Sony DVD Burner forum: http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=44

For hacked firmwares check this link: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=152583

[BoilerUp]

OK, some posters in the cdclub forum asked "Shouldn't [the DRU-810a] be in the BenQ forum?" Now I'm confused. Is the Sony DRU-810a also a rebadged BenQ 1640 (or just Lite-on 1693S)? I've heard both from this forum.


EDIT: OK, it looks like the DRU-800 is a rebadged Lite-On, but the 810 is a rebadged BenQ. Seems like an odd thing to do for models that were released so close together.

[ofbarea]

Agree it is ODD.

[sho95]

Wow that suck cause if a DRU800 is a Lite-on1693
that will me mean Sony down graded you. I got both the dru710a and the Lite-on1693 and the Sony one gets me better burn quality than the lite-on 1693.

[RonBoy]

From reading other posts on these forums the SONY DRU710a is a Lite-on1633s.

[ofbarea]

Wow that suck cause if a DRU800 is a Lite-on1693
that will me mean Sony down graded you. I got both the dru710a and the Lite-on1693 and the Sony one gets me better burn quality than the lite-on 1693.

If you have a Lite-on 1673S/1693S or Sony 800A/720A you should flash to Quality Patched 1693S Firmware for 1673S, 1693S, 720A, 800A (KC4B) developped by codeguys. it is available in here: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/firmwares.html#SOHW-1693S

The post where this is firmware is documented is listed in my previous post.

Sony released recently a new firmware for Sony DRU800. It is version KY06. It is a big improvement over the stocks firmware available. I x-flashed my 1693S with firmware and it is now recognized as a Sony DRU800. You can get this firmware in here: http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/downloads/800FWKY06/800A_KY06.zip

The burning quality improved a lot, maybe Sony implemented similar fixes as the ones introduced by codeguys’ KC4B own version.

Previously and using any stock firmware from Sony or Lite-on, the burning quality of CMC MAGE01 media (TDK, HP, Memorex. etc.) was not very good. But now, after installing Sony DRU-800A KY06, this drive looks like a totally different beast. I now have good burns with this so-so media:

Date : 30/12/2005 12:01:38 a.m.
Model : 1-0-0-0 SONY DVD RW DRU-800A KY06
Disc : DVD+R , CMC MAGE01 [CMC Magnetics Corporation]
Speed : Max
ECC blocks sum (PI/PIF) : 8/1
Scanned range : 0 - 2285857
Sampling count : 124152
Errors : 2
PI Max : 31
PI Average : 11,60
PI Total : 201194
PIF Max : 3
PIF Average : 0,19
PIF Total : 3377

I will use Sony DRU800 KY06 firmware for a while, but I’ll probably go back to KC4B so my drive is recognized as a Lite-on one.

Note: You can perform the x-flashing with the help of the following tools: EEPROM Utility and LtnFW, to backup current EEPROM settings and firmware. You will also need FLASHFIX, to modify the Sony firmware executable so it allows flashing a Lite-on drive with a Sony firmware.

*** Edit: 16-JAN-2006 ***

After more testing and several burns I still think that the best firmware around for Sony DRU800 and Lite-on 1693S is codeguys' KC4B. If you want the best firmware, do not botter x-flasing to this Sony firmware. It is a big improvment, but is not as good as codeguys' one.