Sony DRU-500a compatibility

[razor3830]

I am really interested in buying this model next month . but I heard its not compatible with some standalone DVD players . anyone know where I can find out if its compatible with my player? I have a crappy DVD player APEX 1200 but it does the job for the price.

[SaSi]

The SONY is most compatible with everything. I was to by the Pioneer -05, had one on loan for a couple of days. It was good. I was able to buy the SONY and am very happy as it also records DVD+RW. This media is more compatible with old DVD players (physical characteristics are identical to a dual layer DVD-VIDEO).
It is also very fast in recording CDs so I removed my "old" yamaha 3200 CDrecorded that was of equal speed. (I am happy to burn a CD in 4 minutes so won't buy a X48 drive).
Another thing with +RW discs is that they are very fast in recording. A X1 -R or -RW records in an hour. The +RW disc in 28 minutes.

The best deal is when recording small amounts of data. 150MB record in 2 minutes on a +RW while it takes 17 minutes on a -R (X2.4 compared with X1 - however the lead out time for the -RW is too much while the -RW requires none!!!)

Go buy a +RW compatible drive if you ask me and buy the SONY as a first choice.

[donpedro]

Compatibility problems can be caused by media quality, type, burning sofware, settings in burning soft., ripping steps, + or - support..... and so on. So when you see that disk burned by Sony burner can't be played on specific DVD player.... you can't blame burner immediatly.

[razor3830]

thank you all for the feedback . from doing a little research I concluded that anyone looking to purchase a DVD burner would also have to check if their player supports burned DVDs. so far from what I read about this burner is positive . I have a month to make my decision so I will see if anything new pops up if not I think this is the burner to go with.

[bmiller]

I went to the sony store today in Hamilton Ontario to ask about the dru500a.He got on the computer and said it has already been replaced by the dru500ax.He also said to buy it from a computer store because they can give a much better price.I was pleasantly surprised.Lo and behold their website has the new model listed with a due date of Feb 10th in Canada.Anyone have any idea what changes have been made?

[HyperYagami]

Anyone have any idea what changes have been made?

look at the other dozens of threads.

[razor3830]

Sony DRU500AX and ULX Second Generation DVD±RW Burner Updated Info:
The differences between this new generation and the previous one are:
- Built-in support for 4X DVD-R and DVD+R. For current Dual RW owners, 4X DVD+R is offered as a download because the specification wasn't in place when we announced the first-generation drives.
- Same is true for VERITAS DLA (drive letter access) and RecordNow DX software. They've both recently become available, so we're bundling them w/this new generation instead of offering them as a download.
- Lastly, Sony's been able to tweak the drives' firmware to even further boost their reading speeds.

Already own the first generation, don't worry. Sony is saying that you will be able to download a firmware update to get the latest additions to the drive. See official site for firmware update.


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Confused about the various DVD recordable/rewritable formats? Have you been putting off buying because you’re afraid of making the wrong decision? Sony’s amazing new DRU-500AX is a DVD recorder for your PC that brings together all the popular formats in a single drive: DVD-R/-RW and DVD+RW/+R, as well as CD-R and CD-RW.

The drive comes bundled with excellent industry standard software from Veritas™, Sonic Solutions®, ArcSoft®, CyberLink®, and MusicMatch®. Create and share your home movies, preserve old tapes on DVD, backup your system, create self-running slide shows of your digital pictures, create your own original music CDs, and so much more. Own a Sony DRU-500A and you’ll never have to worry about which DVD format is going to become the industry standard, because the drive does them all! *

*DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs recorded on this drive may not play back on some older or entry-level DVD systems. The write-once DVD+R or DVD-R discs are more compatible for interchange with other DVD systems.

Please record responsibly. Before copying anything onto a CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R or DVD+RW, please be sure you are not violating copyright laws.

[theseus001]

I should point out that most of the software that ships with the sony is NOT the best software. It is adequate but that is about it... I had to install Nero 5.5.10.0 just to burn a cd to alter the firmware in my Apex 660. RecordNowDX would not burn it properly.

Other then the software... the drive is the best for compatibility. Period. If your DVD player can't play any of the formats that the drive can burn, buy a new one for $50 that can.