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Sony DRU-720A: Speed Increases All Around

 by Purav Sanghani on March 6, 2005 12:30 AM EST
18 Comments | Add A Comment
18 Comments

Write Time/Quality Test - DVD+R 16x Media

We have tested the DRU-720A with a variety of media types from a couple of different manufacturers. Our usual Ritek media selection has been updated to include the Ritek R04 16x media to test the high speeds of the newer drives. We have also included Verbatim's 16x MCC 004 media and Sony's own home-grown 16x D21 media, which was included with the retail package.

Write Test - DVD+R 16x Media

All three types of 16x +R media burned at an average rate of 11.95x. The drive began its write at about 6.67x and increased its speed to 15.98x-15.99x at the end of the write on the MCC 004 and Sony D21 media, while ending slightly slower on the Ritek R04 media at 15.95x, which is not a big difference. These three media are some of the highest quality discs on the market.

We did notice a short drop in speed when writing to the MCC 004 disc right before the 3.5GB mark. Let's take a look at the read back of the media in our Plextor PX-712A drive. We have been using the PX-712A as a standard to detect PI/PO errors on media written by our test drives.

From the above screenshot, we can see how well the DRU-720A wrote to the MCC 004 media. The abrupt drop in speed had no effect on the final quality of the write. The majority of the errors were detected at the end of the disk beginning just before the 4GB mark. This did not scare us, however, since PI errors are correctable and a total number of 65947 PI errors is nothing to worry about if spread out over the course of the media. The Ritek R04 media had the most PI errors at 174223, mostly at the mid-point of the disc. There were 0 PO errors on all three media samples that we scanned with PlexTools, which is great, but not surprising since the DRU-710A performed just as well.

Screenshots of the 16x media read and write processes in Nero CD-DVD Speed as well as scans with PlexTools have been compressed into a downloadable zip file: 16xplus.zip

The Updated DRU-720A Write Time/Quality Test - DVD+/-R 8x Media
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  • semo - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link

    #14
    "I used to make my own cdrw/dvdrw cases with custom inserts but after realizing how much time and ink I was waisting I finally went back to the sharpie route."
    that's why i want lightscribe, so i don't have to waste too much time. it can burn the label all day, i don't care, i'm away most of the time anyway and i almost never use the cd/dvd after i burn it.

    and "Take a art class or two and become more talented with a sharpie :)"
    would you say something similar to this to someone who wants a printer?

  • PuravSanghani - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link

    #15: Our next roundup should include all of the highest speed media supported by the competing drives.

    #16: Sometimes. Although, there are brands of media out there that just do not work well with certain drives/firmwares.

  • bjtag - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link

    If you write at slower speeds are the errors less?

  • Hemispasm - Tuesday, March 8, 2005 - link

    Good review. Some more media scans would have been nice (and informative) though :)

  • dgkulzer - Monday, March 7, 2005 - link

    #2 - I was under the impression that all Sony drives are now made by LiteOn. At first it was just the cdrw drives but now the dvdrw are also.

    #3 - Take a art class or two and become more talented with a sharpie :) I used to make my own cdrw/dvdrw cases with custom inserts but after realizing how much time and ink I was waisting I finally went back to the sharpie route.

    My first couple of dvdrw drives were Sony and I had great luck with them but when I got a new black case I decided to get a new drive and the dvr-108 was on sale so I got that. I don't care for DL much yet and will not be interested until the price of the media gets to about 1/10 its price now.

  • WooDaddy - Monday, March 7, 2005 - link

    Is there a place that sells DL media for less than $7 yet? DL burner is a nice feature.. if you can use it and it's affordable. Personally, I still like my ND3500A with 2.18 modified FW. Burns TDK, Sony and Fuji DVD+/-R 8x media at 16x flawlessly. I'll need another burner soon so I'll be looking forward to Purav's next review.

    Keep up the good work guys!

  • KristopherKubicki - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link

    bofkentucky: we have a second 16x roundup in the next few weeks.

    Kristopher

  • bofkentucky - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link

    I would have liked to have seen the this up against the 8MB cache Plextor's. Are there plans for an optical shootout in the future.

  • ND40oz - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link

    How about they test the 720 next to the old 710 with the latest firmware since it brings it up to the 720s specs.

  • semo - Sunday, March 6, 2005 - link

    meant to say media are lagging behind as usual
    [rant]why the hell isn't there any edit button in here[/rant]
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