Sony DVD±RW Drive DRX500ULX

[Erica]

I posted this in wrong board before....sorry

I just bought this drive from Sony that records both PLUS and MINUS DVD's and wondered if anyone else has this.

What do you think of it and what is your preference burning.. DVD+R or DVD-R?

[midwestarts]

I just picked up the au version today. I was surprised to notice that it promotes +r media and only lists the -r media in the small print. Buy whatever media is cheapest. Today I found a bunch of cheap +r media so I got that.

[Erica]

YES I noticed that too...
I read the description carefully a few times to make sure it said both media......that is strange.

Maybe it doesn't burn minus so good? lol I don't know.

Anyway, I thought the minus was cheaper.

[midwestarts]

The +R are cheaper in stores the -R are cheaper online (generic brands)

[Romanov]

I really can't believe this... Are you pulling our leg??? The ONLY reason why anybody on earth BUYS this Sony is BECAUSE it burns two formats. Your posts are intended as a joke right? Please confirm, because otherwise they deserve to be names 'posts of the day'.

[midwestarts]

Complete compatibility with both major DVD formats is a major sales point. Just ask Sony.

[Erica]

The +R are cheaper in stores the -R are cheaper online (generic brands)

Thanks, I didn't know that.

[Erica]

I really can't believe this... Are you pulling our leg??? The ONLY reason why anybody on earth BUYS this Sony is BECAUSE it burns two formats..

So what's your point?

Thanx for letting me know the reason I got my drive einstein.
I also got it cuz it burns DVD's....I liked it, wanted it, used it & love it cuz it works absolutely great...not to mention I only paid 200 for it brand new from store.
Why would I pay a few hundred for something limited when I can get something unlimited and burn whatever I want?


I don't see anything really amusing in any of that but if it amuses you then I'm happy for you. Although you probably paid more for your drive that only burns one type, so that's kinda funny....maybe you should be the joke of the day....LoL

[artemio]

In Italy DVD+R and DVD-R have now the same price. At first +R brand was difficult to find and with higher prices.

I am waiting for 4x certified media of both types to test on my SONY DRX500UL.

A.

[Romanov]

Erica,

I HAVE the Sony burner.... The external model, to be more precise, and I am very happy with it. Thanks for calling me Einstein; that fits me nicely.
The only point I wanted to make is that this whole board is litterally full of posts on the dual-burning capacity of the Sony (also the reason I bought it), so I could not understand that somebody just went to a shop, and -whoops- discovers at home that the drive burns two formats...

Hope you are as happy with yours as I am with mine.

Best regards,

Romanov

[Romanov]

... and one more (should make you happy also): I paid for my drive the equivalent of... USD 500 two weeks ago. Bought it in Malaysia, because in Thailand (where I live) the external model is not yet available.
So: congrats on your good price. Wished only that we had the same here in Asia.

[Erica]

Well that would be kind of strange that someone bought the drive and didn't know it could burn both till they got home but guess that is where you lost me cuz I didn't see anyone in this thread say they didn't notice till they got home.

I bought mine cuz I don't like a lot of clutter and liked that I could get both formats in one machine....and it's external too...only reason for discount is cuz friend works for sony

I hear different stories everywhere...some people say plus is more compatible & others say minus is...I just got both just incase.
I haven't bought discs out here yet, only online & I know plus are more expensive everywhere I look.
I'm gonna go out today and check prices in stores.

[Romanov]

Erica,

You clarified the whole thing now!! Sorry again if I sounded offensive, but NOW I get the meaning of your first post>>> I read it like this: you got home and then discovered all of a sudden that the Sony burns two formats. (I thought you were referring to the dual format capability as you said: "...wondered if anyone else has this." As in: 'this' referring to the dual burning format). Quite obviously you mean ... this BURNER.
That makes perfect sense; you just wanted to know which format is better. Haha, I'm afraid we have to remove 'Einstein' for me again...

Anyway, now some real answers to your post (after all this):

My Sony burns both formats equally well, the +R format is better for data back-up (lead-in/lead-out is faster), the -R format is better for video storage (although there are different opinions here, I found that the -R format is more widely accepted by the standalone DVD players).
Then: try to buy some -RWs. I just found here in Thailand some Princo's (version 1.1 it says) for approx US 2/piece. They are up to 1,000 x rewritable. I always burn a video movie (including menus etc.) to a -RW first. If all works well, then I go for the -R.

Phew, am I happy I finally understood your post

[VinnySem]

Erica,
If you are looking for good media for that drive (I have the DRU-500UL, esentially the same drive) check out http://store.yahoo.com/cdrdvdrmedia/specbealdv47.html. Great quality, 2X burning speed, and inexpensive. After much brand and format testing, I have settled on these.

[donpedro]

Hey !! Romanov and Erica, just to add to your misundertood discussion...

I like to go to the stores like Best Buy or CC just to look around what is new there. Sometimes I see people that they don't know too much about PC's and DVD burners and based on answers of some salesmans, same goes to them. So what is my point ? I believe that it is very possible that there is person that came home with this burner and discovered that there is something like PLUS or MINUS DVD

[VinnySem]

@donpedro, I couldn't agree with you more. While many of us lept upon the Sony dual-format burners because of the dual format capability, many users that purchased this drive at electronics stores did so because of brand name recognition. The average user out there has no idea that there are multiple formats for DVDs, the same can be said for the majority of the sales staff at these electronics stores. I went to Circuit City to pick up a spindle of disks, and they had neither + or - on the shelves, so I sent a sales person into the back to check, he came out with a DVD-RAM disk. I simply shook my head and left, went up the road to BestBuy, luckily they were in plain sight.

[donpedro]

Just one more comment that just came to my mind.

That person can be for example great surgeon that can save your life. Because somebody doesn't know too much about PC it doen't mean that we need to give them "nicknames"

[Erica]

Ahhhh Romanav finally! LoL
Thank you for ALL your responses


I went to the stores around here and could not find any minus for the life of me..everything was plus or Ram....did they JUST come out with burners yesterday and we are the VERY FIRST to actually need a variety of discs to choose from??

I think I'll stick to online for my blank dvd's for awhile....Well I still burned mostly plus cuz that is what I have in dvd right now and so far it plays for everyone but 1 person (1 out of 6 not too bad ) but I'll see if the one person can play it on minus.

TO ME on the Sony it seems that minus burns slower....is this a fact or just something I didn't time right? I only burned 2 minus out of about a dozen or so dvd's alltogether so I'm not at a good reference point here.

[donpedro]

-R burns based on type at 1x, 2x or 4x
+R ... the slowest available is 2.4x

So yes.... it is highly possible that your -R burns slower then your +R

You should be able to find -R in CompUSA. BTW: Prices online are much lower then in the store and -R are cheaper then +R on internet (this is changing now, +R are comming down). This does not realy aply to stores.

[Erica]

If anyone ever watches TechTV, they praise BestBuy a lot but my experience with BestBuy personally has been anything but pleasurable.
Sure the salespeople dont work on commision but it doesn't make them any more eager to help you or know what they are talking about.

The salespeople seem compareable to the CompUSA salespeople....none of them know what they are talking about or they are all just working there to get discounts on thier own equiptment & could care less what a customer needs. LoL

I've just learned the hard way to always do the research myself before attempting a purchase and yeah you can talk to salespeople to help you get around the store & such but never depend on thier knowlegde of what you need for your purchase.

Sorry if I offended any BB or CU workers here...some of my best friends work there LoL 8)

[Romanov]

Donpedro and VinnySem,
Yes, both of you are totally right. It can indeed happen that persons enter an electronics shop and buy Sony just out of pure brand recognition. Anyway, I apologized to Erica, because I definitely mis-read her initial post (she DID know what she was buying, it was my wrong interpretation of the words in her post). 8)

[ItTastesLikeChicken]

Erica,

I have the same DRX500ULX and it works great. I use verbatim DVD from best buy... 50 disc for $100.00 is the cheapest i can find around. I have tested them on xbox, ps2 and 7 playalone DVD players. They worked every time. They only problem i had was using cheap DVDs 75 cents from office max. You get what u pay for!

i always wonder if people really take the time to pead my post!

[ItTastesLikeChicken]

oops i meant to say READ not pead lol oh and use whats ever cheapest the DVD-r or the dvd+r. I use the +R even thought everyone says to use the -R. Sony,xbox, RCA, and Philps use the +R reading format.

[dun4cheap]

I have been buying my DVD-R Media from pc club. Its oem media 50 disc for $39.99. They have been Ritek G3 2x media, Sony 2x Media and Lead data 2x media. I have burned over 100 disc so far with only 1 failure and that was my fault. I do think burning to DVD-RW or +RW prior to your write once media is over rated. Maybe the first few disc you do, but after that I no longer do this. I have Done about 60 commercial DVDs using DVD2ONE, some movie only and some 1:1. I have found this, most of the time if a DVD does not play on a stand alone, either DVD+R or DVD-R media it usually the steps in burning the DVD, not the player itself. Example 1, Nero at first was burning DVD Video where it would be compatable with 70% of the players, so most of us turned to Recordnow DX and this solved the problems. Now since Nero has released 5.5.015 the DVD video seems to be working very well. Matter of fact I have a pool of about 12 players to try, apex, Daewoo, RCA, Pioneer, Go DVD and others and when using Nero and DVD2ONE I have come to burn the most compatable DVDs available that I know of. IFO files and file layout needs to be perfect, then of course the disc needs to be burned UDF/ISO mode for ultimate compatability.

By the way I have had my Sony DRU500a since October 30, 2002. I purchased it through Dell for $254. The main selling points were Duel Format and 4x. The drive offers the best of both worlds. I added an external usb1, usb2 and firewire box for $45. I have also found a great source for DVD cases www.caloptic.com. As low as $.26 for a case. I actually bought some at the Delmar computer show from them 5 for $1.00. I also picked up the Ritek G4 4x media which burn great with the 1.0d firmware for the sony. 13 minutes to burn to be precise.

Have fun burning all.