Sony Writers

[joeyjoejnr]

thinking of gettin this dvd writer

Sony DVD+/-RW 8x Internal OEM Silver DWU-18A-S

for £90.47.

is it any good? what all should i look for in a dvd writer?

[Vanderlow]

There's been some articles on burners and quality burn anlaysis and the more common Sony has been reviewed. If you want to follow this thread you can. I'd personally would recommend the BenQ, NEC, LG, or Pioneer over the Sony or Lite-ons.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=216751

There's also a DVD writer database with customer ratings. NEC is number 1.

[handyguy]

Its an optorite, not made by Sony, sold as theirs though. Read the dvd writer topic on left column.

[joeyjoejnr]

excellent

[code65536]

U18A is a rebadged 812S, not an Opto. Support 8x +R, 8x -R.

The newer LiteOn drives are not as bad as Vanderlow makes them out to be. The older generation--the 401/411/811--should be avoided, but the newer drives, especially the 812S and the Sony rebadge of that are good drives.

If what you care about most is DVD-writing, then I would recommend the NEC 2500A or the Pioneer 107 (actually, if you want to drive to support the new 8x +R and 8x -R media, the NEC is not a good option unless you're willing to use hacked firmwares because NEC hasn't added support for many new media types... most people have had good experiences with hacked FWs, though). But if you want a drive that reads nicely, can do copy protections, and that doesn't suck at CD burning (i.e., if you want a well-rounded drive), then the Sony drive that you're looking at is great. I've heard too many people complain about the LG to say anything good about that drive. The 411S and 811S gave the LiteOn drives a bad name, and I think that the new 812S (same as the Sony U18A) is their redemption, IMHO.