Sony DRU500A - crazy burn problems

[joepic]

If you have a SONY DRU500A and installed their software BEWARE of conflicts with other burning software like NERO. This problem does effect DVDXCOPY and NERO.

I have copied several post from the Afterdawn forum on DVDXCOPY.
http://dvdxcopy.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/14090


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All I can say is WOW! There is some really Goofy behavior - but I understand it now.
I had so many errors trying to run the DVDXCOPY test we E-Mailed to one another last night.

First question: Why the Crazy behavior when using a Sony DRU-500A? Answer Veritas DLA. The DLA software just jumps on the interrupt vector for the DVD device. The DLA software is on the Sony distribution CD.

Follow this scenario - which is what I did this morning. Pretend to take the 500-A out of the box, install the hardware on your IDE, then install the Sony supplied drivers and applications (CopyNow, DLA, PowerDVD) then install DVD X COPY then install NERO. The result is a tangled mess! When DVDXCOPY is doing a 2 disk copy, DLA jumps in (I think it's monitoring the DVD drawer Open interrupt and doesn't cascade the interrupts to other registered interrupt handlers) and voila nothing happens to continue the DVDXCOPY dialog! I got several error messages that stated, "Requested media unnown, Last detected media - unknown, writable - Yes" but the system locked up - requiring a reboot (hard reboot - turn the system off, turn it back on again!)
I had to reboot 5 different times - but alas no success.

Now for the solution…
Go to the Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs, Select Veritas DLA, Remove IT ! ReBoot.
The result is as other people are advertising - DVD X COPY executes just fine with NERO.

I suspect the culprit here to be Veritas and DLA. For instance Start "My Computer", right click on the DVD device, BAM! Veritas jumps in with a format, erase, and Copyright notice. I think they think that they own the interrupt vector at the expense of applications downstream (i.e. DVD X COPY, NERO, etc).

Now for a little bit of bad news regarding DVD X COPY Version 1.2:
When I tried the 2 disk copy of "Body Heat" I received the following message:
"Cannot identify Chapter points in this title. Chapter Numbers will not be accurate" Required a "Hard Reboot."
ReBooted - Same result - Umnidentified Chapter Points
This symptom is related only to the Version 1.2 software. Vesion 1.1 allows a "split" but does repeat a chapter.

GOOD NEWS the 2 disk copy I did this morning on "The Spy Who Shagged Me" - believe me NOT my choice of DVD's but it was here! Split perfectly and wrote perfectly, and works on a DVD CONSOLE (infact 3 differnet models) and on the Intel platform!
My conclusion is that anyone who purchased a SONY DRU-500A and applied the supplied software and drivers is going to have problems as indicated in the "bitch" forums:" Another conclusion I reached is that Versioon 1.2 - when confused about Indexing the DVD files gets way to confused.
In any event having remove Veritas DLA and using a SONY DRU-500A I have met with success.

Just a couple of other "gotchas" for your user base.

When the write/burn dialog starts .... Erase, Erase Full, Burn... end users must be aware that if they have monkied aroound with NERO on a CD basis (as opposed to a DVD) and the last "burn" they did was with a CD (again as opposed to a DVD) the default media, as far as NERO is concerned is a "CD" not a DVD! This causes NERO to not recogonize the DVD as a valid media, since it is expecting the default, a "CD" - Yuk !

Same issue is that the defaulf from NERO will once and a while default to "Image" (I believe CD again) or the more ubiquitious "NERO Virtual DVD". All of these device types will result in a failure unless your end-users explicitly identify the real DVD device as the device to be erased/formatted, then burned. The select box is in the dialog - biut you must be cognizant that the correct selection is in effect, again by explicitly clicking on the burn DVD device - it's not intuitive but nonetheless the dialog when executed selects the correct device to burn.

The test I succeeded at this morning, playing on a console DVD, has displayed the message, on my television screen
"Insert Second Disk" , having done so I am now watching the conclusion of "The Spy Who Shagged Me" - it works wonderfully!

With repect to a posting on the Forums - I think frustrated users, in particular DRU-500A folks would repond very positively if you started the thread and proposed the solution. After all it was your "customer service commitment" and BALLS to call me! that actually defused my anger and got me into an analytical mode. Go for it - there is good PR in you doing so!
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That does explain a few things - I was wondering why I didn't have any of the DRU-500a problems described in several of the posts. The answer is that I didn't install any of the Sony software off of their disk - I already had Roxio EZCD Creator and Nero installed and working, and didn't want to add any potential conflicts to that. I installed DVDXcopy a day or two later. I was thinking of experimenting with some of the Sony software later, but I'm thinking now that I won't.
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Using NERO to burn a DVD always results in the creation of a log file calle NeroHistory.Log in what ever directory you have installed NERO. This log file is extensive - it will explain almost any reason for a burn failure - right on down to the program module and the line number that caused the problem.

From a 321Studios or Nero developers perspective this information is invaluable. It removes the mysery as to why a given burn operation failed. I f you get totally frutrated as to why NERO won't successfully burn a DVD ask 321Studios tech support if they want the file NEROHISTORY.LOG - I suspect that the support team will always welcome this input. It is a running dialog of the DVD burn process and every event that occurred while trying to complete the burn process.

[donpedro]

Maybe that's why I never had any issue with Sony DRU-500A .... I never installed DLA, only RecordNow.

[trooper_1]

I just tried installing DVDXCOPY v1.2 and for some reason it won't let me install the Gear drivers...just saying "DVDXCopy had an error during installation".

I have the Sony DRU500A, I tried uninstalling the standard Sony software and that didn't make a difference. I don't know if anyone has had this problem since I don't see it anywhere or if anyone can offer a solution.

[joepic]

I just tried installing DVDXCOPY v1.2 and for some reason it won't let me install the Gear drivers...just saying "DVDXCopy had an error during installation".

I have the Sony DRU500A, I tried uninstalling the standard Sony software and that didn't make a difference. I don't know if anyone has had this problem since I don't see it anywhere or if anyone can offer a solution.

"installation encountered registration error pls reboot and reinstall or contact tech support" is the standard message for GEAR drivers not installed.

This is due to the fact that DVDXCOPY V1.2 and v1.2.1 are lacking the GEAR "driver_install" directory.

You must install V 1.1 and don't reboot, installed drivers then reboot,.. then upgraded to 1.2.1 and everything is working.

For all of the latest fixes and problems on DVDXCOPY, go here:
http://dvdxcopy.afterdawn.com/

[mtgoat]

I'm sooo glad I didn't install said software. Been running Recordnow MAX demo with 100% success. I plan to purchase when demo runs out.