Pioneer A06 vs. Sony DRU-510A

[Yellowman]

I would appreciate any help in this matter. I am looking to buy either the A06 or the DRU-510A.
From some of the head to head comparisons, it would seem that the Sony is better any comments? other benchmarks? personal experiences?
I am basically looking for stability and performance.
I believe both have buffer underrun protection but the Sony has a bigger buffer. Not sure if this is much of a difference when burning dvds.
There is a $60 price difference between the 2 where I am located.
Thanks for your input!!

[sLiMpAuLy]

Go with the Pioneer.......I had the Pioneer A04 and sent it to service, they sent me back a A06. The two drives with both do what you want but Pioneer has a far better warrenty/service then Sony.(I've worked in the biz for 7 years and this is FACT).

[dengar]

I have both of them (one at home and one at work). They both are very good burners. I would pick the A06 solely because of price. You cant go wrong with either burner.

[vtecwil]

I have a sony DRU 500AX and I love it . I dont know much about the Pioneer unit , but it should be of similar quality . Just remember to feed them good media . Sh*t in equals sh*t out .

[ReDlxn72]

I hear thta the pioneer is picky about media, i do own the Sony 510a and i've liked it so far. I had a Pioneer back in the day and it wasn;t bad. I was able to find it at a decent price, well after 2 day shipping and everything, it evened out to 250.

[You_Are_Alive]

If your looking for head to head shoot outs, then I remember reading in PC Magazine that the A06 beats Sony in all counts. Its just a much better burner, in both quality and service. These two burners are not the same. The A06 is the better product to get and thats what I told my brotherinlaw to get as well, he did.

From my experience, my burner was unable to read and write at the inner most edge of 2 Memorex CD/RW's. I was gonna toss them, thinking it was the media. But I had problems with the burner before when I also wrote to Sony CDR's. But when I popped it in to my other CDRW, the discs were usable with no problems, unlike the Sony. I guess the laser calibration is not up to snuff, which is not that much of a surprise, Sony likes to cut corners in their consumer products. Hence, alot of people already sent this burner in for repair. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed, I'm reaching the 100 burned -R DVD mark, and this is when most people from these forums say that the burner crapped out on them.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[doctorcd]

Sorry, aint we comparing apples with pears ?

I fail to see how sombeody can say the AO6 is better, price issues aside, when the 510a has a 8 Mb cache and 4x RW speed compared to the AO6 at 2 Mb and 2x RW max speed....

People reading this thread are trying to make up their minds whether they should buy a Pioneer A06 or a Sony DRU-510a. Presumably they have not decided yet which is why they are reading this, to make their own judgement on other's experiences. In my case, I could find nothing to suggest that the performance of the Pioneer was better, so went with the better specs. Simple as that.

So far, the drive has performed to my expectations, not a coaster yet.

RW speed was particularly attractive to me and might be to anybody concerned about the high cost of media at present, the 8mb buffer was less of an issue.

If u can afford it, why not go for the 510A, I did.. have no complaints.

[defense]

@ You_Are_Alive..seems like you've been misinformed. I get PCMAG every month and NEVER remember reading a comparison where they said the A06 was better then the 510A...as a matter of fact..I don't think they ever compared the two in a magazine at all. I do remember about a year ago..they compared an earlier Pioneer burner..the A05..I believe..with the DRU-500A. And I have that particular mag still..the comparison was with ripping speeds and all sorts of other B.S....it wasn't a QUALITY COMPARISON. Their results could absoulutely vary from what other people experience.

At any rate....the DRU500A/AX is DEFINITELY not the same as the 510A as some people may think. They are all excellent burners...I've had all three and can definitely say the 510A is beyond incredible.

It burns every piece of 4x media i've thrown at it @4x without a hitch...it would probably burn a pancake @4x if I fed it to it....and as far as the A06..it lacks heavily in a few areas where the DRU-510A accels. And incidentally...PCMAG recently wrote up an article saying as much. They gave the A06 3 out of 5 stars and were pretty disappointed overall with the A06. Interestingly enough...they still compare the "NEWEST" PIONEER A06 with the "FIRST GENERATION" SONY DRU500A and talk about minor things such as "RIPPING" speeds. Most use their DVD ROM's to rip..so that is simply insignificant IMO. And even if people are concerned about ripping....this post was for comparison with the "510A" vs. the A06...and with the 510A...you can D/L the DSS UTITLITY from SONY and rip up to a WHOPPING 10x with the Sony DRU-510A.

And when the article does mention the A06 AND DRU5-510A in the same sentence...they make it clear the DRU-510A is a better burner. They talk about some bugs with the A06..as well as where it lacks...and they were actually pretty easy on the A06. Too bad they didn't FULLY compare the A06 with the 510A.

Here's a snippet quote from the article:

But if your tasks demand a multiformat drive, the A06 ought to do a good job at a competitive price.

It "OUGHT" to do a "GOOD" job...lol...I think i'd like the assurance that my burner will absolutely do an EXCEPTIONAL job. It's interesting how..even though there are known bugs with the Pioneer drives...and NUMEROUS people have come forward saying their Pioneer burner CRAPPED out on them...SONY seems to get the most heat.

And I believe the reason for that is simply PRICE. People want to "BELIEVE" the Pioneer is a better burner....they want to "convince" themselves of that..because it's less expensive. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the Pioneer burners...but it's a known FACT that the A06 lacks in areas which the DRU-510A shines. I personally wouldn't take TWO A06's in exchange for my 510A.

Oh..BTW...Here's the PC MAG article.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1230140,00.asp

[hoho]

defense you're so right....but,

it would probably burn a pancake @4x if I fed it to it....

my Sony DRU500A didn't like that...lol

[defense]

my Sony DRU500A didn't like that...lol

That's because you HAVE ABSLUTELY got to put "MAPLE" SYRUP ON THE PANCAKE FIRST! I should of mentioned that. AND It HAS to be MAPLE...the SONY's don't like that generic syrup....some good MAPLE SYRUP and a perfectly sized pancake..and it will BURN AWAY...hell..I may even try a WAFFLE WITH MAPLE SYRUP.

[garryheather]

I seem to recall a recent post where I said that my 04 would burn a beer mat if you rounded the edges, but that was based on fact, believe it or not.

Pioneer changed the way their drives determine a write strategy with the 05. The 04 had one cracking feature going for it - if it didn't have a specific media in its lookup table and it wasn't etched onto the disc, it would adopt a "safe" write strategy based on a universal strategy at 1x. This meant from a certain firmware upwards - 1.31 IIRC, no further updates were necessary to add new media unless you needed a specific speed or functional upgrade. Alright, it didn't assure you it would play back in your target device, but it did mean you should never find a disc that it would refuse to burn.

AFAIK, the 04 was unique in this feature. And then Pioneer ditched it ! I don't know how Sony identifies the media, nor am I sure about the 06, but I do know that one of the NEC writer is fussy about "unknown media" and there are several media codes that the NEC can not / will not write to.

As far as media compatibility is concerned, as long as you leave aside the speed issue (which is a big thing for some people), there should be little in it between the Pioneer and the Sony these days. Oh yeah, if you think a drive won't work without throwing away the manufacturer's firmware and injecting it with someone else bastard creation, Pioneer's seem to be the most hackable in the firmware department.

[overloaded_ide]

That's because you HAVE ABSLUTELY got to put "MAPLE" SYRUP ON THE PANCAKE FIRST! I should of mentioned that. AND It HAS to be MAPLE...the SONY's don't like that generic syrup....some good MAPLE SYRUP and a perfectly sized pancake..and it will BURN AWAY...hell..I may even try a WAFFLE WITH MAPLE SYRUP.

Let me know how the waffle turns out! I was thinking if I get a new burner later of trying that, though I may use the frozen store bought waffles (the round ones) and not put the sysup one till after the burn.

Now I am wondering, if I burn at 1x will it be darker and more crispy since it will be in longer, and will it be lighter and softer if I burn 4x?
I like em crisp and crunchy, but the kid likes em light and soggy, ick.

Is there anything actaully WRONG with a a06? I am thinkng on one before long. I care nothing about 8x burns for now, and I want to burn 2x or 4x on ritek printables, and also be able to burn well on cheaper media even if I have to drop back to 1x.

[defense]

LOL....I guess we'll have to find out about the crispiness in relation to duration equation. No..there is nothing wrong with the A06 persey...the bugs are very minor and it's a great burner. But compared to the 510A..it is lacking in some areas. If you aren't concerned with burn speeds..or more specifically..burning to +RW media at 4x...then go with the A06...you'll be a happy camper. I was a little concerned by reading an official statement from Pioneer when the A06 was initially released.

It basically stated that they were not familiar enough with the +RW format at that time to allow their A06 to burn +RW media @4x. Funny though.....Sony penetrates the market like lightning with the worlds first multi-format burner..the DRU-500AX....then ONLY MONTHS LATER..comes out with the DRU-510A which burns +RW @4x. And might I add..does so...ohhh sooo smoothly! Yet..Pioneer being IN THE GAME ALREADY...with the HEADS UP.... can't perfect a burner which will burn to +RW @4x. Instead, they come with some lame, cop out..about how 4x +RW disks are such a new technology..blah..blah...blah.....Pioneer can keep talkin' the talk..while Sony keeps walkin' the Walk.

[spiderman2k1]

Pioneer all the way read past posting about sony there very bad.

[LanEvo7]

They are both good drives. Some people try to push one over the other, but you'll get your money's worth if you get either. If you decide with the Sony, you are basically paying $60 extra for 4x +RW. Buffer size means nothing since there is buffer underrun protection.

[handyguy]

I use Accu 2x media on my Sony. They are $80 with free shipping for 100 right now, if you're looking for media prices for comparsion.

[mysterio1]

Ive had my AO5 for 8 months and have burned hundereds of DVD's their no burner I would buy other then Pioneer, maybe Plextor, The Sony's been over priced since the day it came out.

[mazinz]

seeing this post i just wanted to throw in my 2 cents about one thing. I do not have either drive ( i own the older pioneer 104), but virtually every device i have ever had that was made by Sony within a few years (like 3-4) went to the crapper or something went wrong with it (with the exception of my Beta vcr, you just can't kill that machine). Now im not saying that is going to happen with their burners, but just from experience with their other products, i would be a bit skeptical about getting a sony anything.

[dazz87]

i had the sony dru-510a for about two weeks. i had no problems with drive. Ended up returning it cause of the price. I ended up with the Pioneer cause it was cheaper. I have no regrets so far. Both drivers are good. Sony does burn dvd+rw @ 4x, and it does have a nice looking face plate. I have no problem surfing the net while burning with pioneer, even with its 2mb buffer. if u have enough memory then you should be fine.

[Capt_Diode]

FWIW,

I've had the Sony DRU-510a for a couple of months now. The drive has performed well. The only thing I don't like about the drive is the locked (2X) RIP speed on movies however at this speed it seems imune to most scratches.

Cheers,
Captain Diode

[defense]

I've had the Sony DRU-510a for a couple of months now. The drive has performed well. The only thing I don't like about the drive is the locked (2X) RIP speed on movies however at this speed it seems imune to most scratches.

I've read several people claim to have the same "problem"....the DRU-510A ISN'T LOCKED @2x. Get the DSS utitlity..you can rip up to 10x with it.

[Capt_Diode]

Defence,

Thanks for the tip! I will look into this when I get home tonight and if anyone is interested, I will post the results.

Cheers,
Captain Diode

[dun4cheap]

I have seen the Sony 510 down to $169, which I would personally spend the little extra for the 8meg cache. I bought my Sony DRU500a in October 2002 from Dell for $247 total, including shipping and tax, well worth the price. The drive works great. I am sure By xmas time we will be flooded with 8x drives, and I will pick up the new 8x Duel Sony once again.

Good Luck

[Metaluna]

They are both good drives. Some people try to push one over the other, but you'll get your money's worth if you get either. If you decide with the Sony, you are basically paying $60 extra for 4x +RW. Buffer size means nothing since there is buffer underrun protection.

Every underrun inserts a PI/PO error on the disc surface in the linking region and can even cause several kilobytes of wasted space if the linking isn't "lossless". This certainly isn't the end of the world but it's better to not have underruns. Plus it slows down the burn if the drive is frequently recovering from underruns.

[overloaded_ide]

Does anyone really have buffer under runs with a 2mb buffer?

I never do, but I have several systems so I don't need to use the main box for anything while burning. Also the box is 1700XP with 1gig ddr and a dedicated hard drive just for the video work.

[Capt_Diode]

Update:

I used the DSS-101 Utility on my Sony DRU-510a and SHAZAM! I can rip above 2X. I no longer have any complaints about this drive. Oddly enough it is provided by Sony. For anyone interested, I am attaching the link I found on this site provided by sidewinder33625.

http://sony.storagesupport.com/legalagreement.zulu?dlid=dvdrw/downloads/dss10/DSS101.zip

@ Defense, Many Thanks!

Captain Diode

[defense]

@ Captn_Diode..no prob..glad you are straightened away....put that DSS bad boy in OverDrive mode..and RIP AWAY at lightning speeds. I use my DVD-ROM for ripping..but you can even choose I think it's "sensitive' mode or something...when you get a scratched disk..put it in your SONY..and it will in some instances..be able to rip scratched disks that a ROM can't.

[JamesB69]

What are the prices on these two units average? I dont want the "I found it for $xxx" I want to know average prices. If you are using a machine below 1GHZ 256MB of ram, the 8MB buffer will be a huge help.

I am contemplating LG's DVD burner that burns R/RW/+R/+RW/RAM
They are the only brand of DVD-ROM and CD-RW that i have purchased recently and have had no problems at all. Not sure the buffer size on it though.

[tompika]

defense, you could post this little trick here:

DVD Ripping Speed Tips
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=180270

[SLICK RICK]

@defense,

Is that just for the 510 or can it also work for the 500?

SLICK RICK