Question Before buying a Pioneer A05 or Sony DRU500

[marsupi]

Hello, I am a newer member and after reading forums since 2 month now, i am ready to buy an DVD burner. I have seen that my tokai 723 (firmware 3H) should play DVD-R, but can someone tell me if he did a test and what was the result ? Otherwise, i am looking for a DVD burner which can ripp up to 2x speed ; so i would like some help about choosing the pioneer A05, or the sony, maybe the NEC ?

I know that we are a few to ask the same questions, but i couldn't see the response in the forum for my tokai...

Thanks a lot.

Marsupi. (France)

[Remco]

Yo I'm new here too.

Got myself a Pioneer DVRA05.
After some testing with Nero v5.5.10.0 with the UDF formats I now write DVD-R's on 1,2 and 4speed that are almost compatible with every stand alone and pc dvd-rom (haven't found a player that couldn't handle my DVD-R's).

At the moment a lot of Pioneer DVRA05 users have problems with the different DVD-R media. The cheap ones won't work. Here in the Netherlands I can get 1speed for 2,5euro - 2speed for 3euro and 4speed for 5euro. I suspect these prices are going to drop very soon.

If you don't want to pay the 3euro for one DVD-R then buy a Sony or Nec writer or something so you can burn the cheap 1euro media...

Greetings,
Remco

[Homeless Guy]

How many standalone units were you able to test? What were your results playing a burned DVD-R in a Sanyo WDM-370?

[Remco]

Succesfully tested several differen DVD-R(W) media on standalones :

- Philips 710
- Philips 712
- JVC TH-V70R

No idea about a Sanyo WDM-370....sorry

Something interesting : according to the manual of the JVC it shouldn't play DVD-R(W) at all - but everything just works fine!!

[Solo4114]

I JUST bought the DRU-500A a few days ago, and burned my first DVD+R last night with Veritas Record Now. It appears that the disc (a TDK +R) works in my folks' Panasonic RV32, but not in my older RV31. Don't know if this is the format that's the problem or what, but I suspect it's that the '31 doesn't support +R very well (given that it's an older model after all). Anyway, so far I've got no complaints. I used DLA to make a DVD-RW "floppy" disc, and had no problems there. To my mind, the reason for buying the DRU-500A was it's high ratings in reviews, it's wide range of compatibility, and the fact that it fit my price range. The compatibility features lead me to believe that it actually WON'T be obsolete in a year or two when one of the burning formats is accepted by the public.

[BlueSdime]

I recently got a DRU-500a and it's great. I have also heard there has been trouble with all of the Pioneer writers. Someone who knows more might want to update this, but from what I have heard they have a tendency to just stop working and you must update them with some type of firmware before this takes place. I'm just saying you might want to check into that.

[marsupi]

I would like to thank you for all your response.

I m still looking the forum to get my right choise.

Regards Guys.

[cstu11]

I recently bought a Pioneer 104 and have been happy with it. It's about $50 less than a 105 and with the 1.31 firmware can burn .80 Ritek media at 2X. Burning at 4X isn't a big consideration for now since the media is nearly $3.

[Benzima]

Here's another vote for the Sony DRU 500a. I've had mine for about 3 weeks. I now easily back up DVDs and PS2 games. Only one coaster outta 75 burns and the was totally my fault.

I use DVDXCOPY for DVDs & RecordNow Max for PS2 DVD games and just Nero disc copy for PS2 CDROM based games.

The right hardware with the right software makes all this stuff very very easy. Many people seem to have some problems but they are usually config, install or set up related. Make sure you have the latest versions of your firmware, software, ASPI driver, etc. You'll have an very good chance of being successful.