Anyone tried Sony DRU500A? [Archive]

rufusrex

4th October 2002, 23:08

I think Dell had a deal on this drive. I believe you needed a coupon to get it down to $253. There website says it will ship in 1 - 2 weeks but I doubt it. I ordered a printer from them last Dec. that was supposed to ship in 1 or 2 weeks, 1 month later they emailed me saying they were automaitcally canceling the order. Then another month later they email saying they are going to cancel it, I emailed them back and said please do cancel it, I've already bought one. I get an email back the next day saying sorry, we've already shipped it, if you don't want it refuse it which I did. It took another 4 months of to get my mone refunded. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is they make kick ass PCs but the peripheral dept sucks.

crow

5th October 2002, 04:31

Sony DRU500A Check it out click here. (http://www.storagebysony.com/products/productmain.asp?id=192)
The specs are in my 4X Media Help!

Ghamu

6th October 2002, 15:21

This drive looks cool. But what is the advantage of DVD+R? The whole point of DVD-r is the low cost media right? The feature I was looking forward to most on the Pioneer A05 is 'burnproof' feature which promises no more coasters. Lets hope this is a the simular feature that some cd burners used to gauge the media's quality and burn as fast as possible...

alexnoe

8th October 2002, 21:55

@Ghamu:

There is no benefit of dvd+r, but if your settop player reads dvd+rw, then you can have 2.4x speed, instead of 2x.
And you can boast having a ± drive

According to Jörg Schilling (author of cdrecord), these drives use JustLink, not Burn-Proof, but that is only FYI and not really important.

DVR-A03 has buffer underrun recovery, but only for dvd media
DVR-A04 has buffer underrun recovery for dvd and cd media
Neither drive has reliable buffer underrun recovery if you use crap media.

Forget your theory about no more coasters. Coasters are not caused by buffer underruns, but usually by bad media. And this won't change unless DVR-A05 supports more crap media, which I doubt.
My solution for this is not using crap media at all.

About media speed detection: SmartBurn does not work, JustSpeed doesn't work either. PowerRec II seems to work, OWC needs some tuning, but works.
I don't see any sense in adding such an experimental feature to DVR-A05: A media table is much more reliable.

mrbass

9th October 2002, 23:04

I ordered one on Oct 3 or so for $256.66
http://www.mrbass.org/sonydvd.png
anyway if your quick....only 9 hours left I believe till midnight you can get it from dell.com for $268.56 ($315.95reg[$47.39 off]) free shipping and no tax. Amazon had it listed for $344 so I think it's a good price.
It did say it would ship Oct 8th but now it's another week or so. It'll be a little longer than that since it's sitting in the dock at Long Beach and they just started working again today thanks to the Bush man.

Dell Sony DVD burner $268.56 (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.asp?Sku=A0060843&spagenum=1&category_id=269&keyword=&mnf=&prst=0&prEnd=0&mnfsku=&orderby=&SearchType=&customer_id=19&Pageb4Search=&page=productlisting%2Easp&icompatid=&instock=0&refurbished=)

hog dude

10th October 2002, 07:55

Yes, I ordered one too for $255.

We need to report on this when it comes.

Conserned about Bitsetter working, but it did not work on 120A either. It comes with pretty good software and Nero says they support it already too. So with the exception of Bitsetter we may be set.

diogo6

17th October 2002, 22:26

I just got the drive yesterday, apparently I was the only one that paid over 340 bucks for it. But I must say it was worth it... There is one little problem though, RecordNow Max doesn't support it currently, hopefully they will...

hog dude

17th October 2002, 22:41

It is supposed to come with RecordNow. Is that less than RecordNow Max? What is the diff?

How does MyDVD work?

Nero (which is a good product) supports 500A now (v5.5.9.14)(according to them).

Any problems?

diogo6

18th October 2002, 08:01

It does come with RecordNow, but recordnow only lets you do data/audio disks or direct copies. It won't let you do images, plus the interface for Recordnow max is much better... I'll try nero tonight though, and post results

alexnoe

18th October 2002, 09:01

And MyDVD is crap. It stores audio as PCM.:devil:

Thwiipp

18th October 2002, 14:10

Hey Diogo, where did you get your drive from, just curious, cause im still waiting on mine from stupid dell, they pushed me back to "on or before the 23rd" ...yah right well see. I have a sneaking suspision they'll doing it to the people who it for 250, after realizing they gave away so many for that price.

BTW, Stomp will be releasing a patch for RecordNow Max that should recognize the DRU500A next week.

BBWoof

20th October 2002, 05:13

I bought the DRU-500A today, and have so far burned two coasters using the RecordNow product that came with it. Unfortunately, it's the only software that seems to recognize it. It burns most of the way through, then dies with a media failure.

alexnoe

20th October 2002, 14:58

Use Nero 5.5.9.14. I think it supports that writer.

What did it burn coasters with? DVD+R or DVD-R? Crap media or good media? Note that most companies bundle crap media with their writers. Exceptions are Plextor and Teac.

DirtyAbdul

20th October 2002, 18:37

hmm, according to http://www.nero.com/en/index.html#recorder , nero does NOT seem to support this drive yet. it's just mentioned on the list without any further specifications. support of other drives have already been mentioned starting with version 5.5.9.15 which is not out yet, but not so for the sony dru-500a...

but you still might want to see into it. keep us updated ;).

DA

diogo6

22nd October 2002, 13:31

sorry for the late reply, Thwiipp and everybody else. I bought my drive on Compusa, the day it came out, I think. They didn't even have it on the shelves yet. And Thwiipp, just out of curiosity, how do you know they'll be supporting that drive in a week? (that's good news though, 'cuz nero gave me two coasters, luckily I was using Memorex DVD+RW's. If anybody figures out when the support patch for RecordNow Max comes out, please post it here...

thanks,

Thwiipp

22nd October 2002, 14:15

Well Diogo, after hearing of RecordNow max not recognizing the DRU500A, i emailed Stomp and mentioned this problem, i recieve a reply stating that they will be realeasing a patch this week, looks like ill be waiting longer since stupid Dell pushed back my order the nov. 29th now:angry: , im considering getting it at Circuit city and when my dell one does arrive, sell it to make up the difference, it was suppose to be my birthday gift which is tom, so im thinking of that option, got 30 dvd-r at home im just itching to burn.

thxtof

22nd October 2002, 23:39

So to recap no one was able to burn a "playable" DVDR with the sony (yet) ?

May be the pioneer A04 at 259$ is still a good bargain then :p

Caedel

23rd October 2002, 06:37

I got my DRU-500A about a week ago at best buy. It turns out that the drive is incompatible with Verbatim 2x DVD-R discs, which i confirmed by producing 2 coasters, attempting to copy a DVD to DVD-5. I have made 3 coasters with Memorex DVD-R. I honestly dont think that the Memorex discs work well. Of course the Sony DVD+RW that came with the drive works perfectly. I have had great sucess with Verbatim DVD+R discs. So far i've done DVD-5 movie to DVD-5 and DVD-9 to DVD-5 and they work flawlessly in PS2. I don't have my modchip yet but hope to soon. I am about to order some Ritek DVD-Rs. Hopefully those will work well. As far as software, Nero 5.5.9.14 is not a good choice. While it supports the drive, it has bugs. I told it to simulate a DVD+R burn and it burned the disc anyway, giving me "Unable to write Disc at once" error at the end. MyDVD crashes all the time. RecordNow works great, though. Just waiting for RecordNow Max to support the drive because RecordNow is limited. Sony promises a free RecordNow DX download though. It only rips DVDs at 2x using DVD Decryptor in XP. Oh and it burns CDs perfectly at 24x. It is only slightly slower than my Sony CD-RW 24x drive.

Taxidermista

23rd October 2002, 11:15

PxEngineUpdate 358 (ftp://eval.veritas.com/downloads/pro/exe/pxEngine358.exe) for Recordnow MAX is out.

diogo6

23rd October 2002, 13:27

that new pxengine did NOT solve the problem. Recordnow Max still doesn't support the dru500a. Anyone had a different experience?

Thwiipp

23rd October 2002, 16:02

That is NOT the patch weve been waiting for, it didnt even come from Stomp's website, its not there, so it will be coming some time this week.

Taxidermista

23rd October 2002, 16:26

So it will be a 'real' update not only a Veritas engine update, that's it?

Thwiipp

23rd October 2002, 21:01

Yeah , thats how i understand it.

napalongcasidy

24th October 2002, 01:24

The main reason I would see to buy this is the 4x speed BUT nobody seels this. The first 3-6 months they DO sell it for the MAX $$$ (RU willing to pay $10ea?)

By then these drives will be $250 REGULAR price, $200 on sale.

Has anyone found 4x media???

Caedel

24th October 2002, 02:02

There are 4X discs on eBay!!

thxtof

24th October 2002, 02:03

Yeah right, I'm sure you can also find x6 DVD-R on ebay ;)

DirtyAbdul

24th October 2002, 09:29

... sobering news about the sony DRU500A here: http://forum.firmware-flash.com/viewtopic.php?t=7847

DA

thxtof

24th October 2002, 17:30

Thanks DA for this very interesting link !

Well it's pretty sad but I warned people on this board to wait before buying this 1st generation drive http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33344&highlight=DRU500A

I would rather buy the Pioneer A05 that starts selling this week-end in Japan ;)

napalongcasidy

24th October 2002, 19:20

Sounds like someone selling snake oil from a covered wagon. Why Ebay but nowhere else?

Thwiipp

24th October 2002, 20:18

well you can find it in some CompUSA stores as well as Best Buy and Circuit City, all the online retailers are getting S hitted on though and getting it late (could be due to that strike crap that happened on the West coast, back up alot) i had ordered one from Dell for 253.06 and i got pushed back 3 time, the new date is Nov. 29th, im gonna go pick one up at circuit city next week, and then when i get mine from dell ill bring it bak to Circuit City to get my money back from them cuase im not waiting another 5 weeks, i already waited a month now. now i gotta call Verbatim and get a 15 pack of DVD-R replaced since they might be the older ones not compatible with the DRU500A. Wish me luck!:sly:

Caedel

25th October 2002, 03:09

Cnet reviewed the drive. Editor's Choice!!! 8.8!!! HA!
http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-1095-404-20384294.html?tag=ld

DirtyAbdul

25th October 2002, 14:48

caedel:

those who are year-long readers of cnet know that they do write a lot of crap -- unfortunately... so, read their reviews with caution. sometimes, i have the impression that those people who do not meet "high industry standards" or just started writing computer articles for their first time are writing for cnet (hahahaha).

DA

Caedel

25th October 2002, 15:18

You're probably right. I will admit that they love almost every Sony product that comes out, but they did do some benchmarks which showed the drive's speed was better than the competetion. I only mentioned the review as something for those that cared.

thxtof

25th October 2002, 18:16

In my opinion, but I could be wrong :D

1) There is no x4 DVD-R media on the market yet, and it's gonna take a while to see them at a reasonable price (6+ months ??)

2) The Sony drive seems to produce more coasters than the Pioneer for instance, and seems to support less DVD-R medias than the competition.

3) "Speed better that the competion" is not necessarly a criteria for a burner to be "the best one". There are many other technical and non technical parameters that should be taken into account, like compatibility with existing DVD-/+R media on the market, reliability, etc...

So even if "technically" and "theoretically" the Sony drive is the best, "practically" the Pioneer gives better results, at least to backup DVD movies :)

With the Pioneer you can burn quality backups with $0.90 DVD-R (Riteks G3) that will play everywhere ;)

I have no doubt that with their next 2nd generation drive, Sony could become a serious competitor to Pioneer. Until then I doubt that they are going to get a wide adoption for this new product.

Caedel

25th October 2002, 21:09

Originally posted by thxtof

With the Pioneer you can burn quality backups with $0.90 DVD-R (Riteks G3) that will play everywhere ;)

I have no doubt that with their next 2nd generation drive, Sony could become a serious competitor to Pioneer. Until then I doubt that they are going to get a wide adoption for this new product.

There is no reason to say that the Sony is not equal to the Pioneer. Also, with the drive being around for less than a month, you have no real grounds to base your statements on. How many discs have YOU burned with the Sony drive?

Also... i just ordered some Riteks G3 and I will be going to blockbuster to get their 10 DVDs/10 Weeks deal. If i am unable to burn "quality backups" as you say the pioneer can, I will admit that the pioneer may be better. With new technology, there are many factors and bugs that must be worked out.

SciFer

27th October 2002, 17:33

I've had the drive for a few days. At first I was excited then a let down. I'm still running more tests to see if it stays or not. I already own an A04 with 2x for all firmware and very happy. I 1x & 2x media (princo) that work great at 2x. I decided to keep it only if I can use the same media (no sense buying more and expensive media when I have 100 pk spindle). We pretty know that it only works with the RecordNow that came with it. I have a home made movie that I wanted to copy (3.87GB). ATTEMP #1: 1st it ask to place source disk (you can select) in Toshiba DVD reader then it asked for blank in recorder, I placed 2x media. A window then opened up informing me that it will write it to the hard drive 1st (NO "on the fly" supported). Hit ok process was a complete success! Read and burned in 44 mins. Played back whole movie in Pioneer DVD Player without a hitch. ATEMPT #2: Tried it again and again, this time it would reject my disk (disk from same batch). Tried a DVD-RW, it was also rejected. ATEMPT #3: Used Sony as reader and still failed. ATEMPT #5: Tried it Pioneer Media DVD-RW and did not reject media, but this was not my goal so I canceled. When I use ADVDInfo a get a sense error, does anyone know what ASPI layer version I should be using with WinXP Pro, or a solution? I will then post actual media ID.:confused:

alexnoe

27th October 2002, 17:55

ADVDInfo is silly in some cases. Don't let it cause a headache. Use cdrecord-prodvd (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35370).

helo4v

29th October 2002, 07:59

I have used this drive about a week and so far am pleased with it.
Using Nero 5.5.9.14, I've burned data and Video discs to +RW, -RW, -R.
The +R will be supported within a week with RecordNow Max 4.5; I expect nero to follow with support soon. The 2X verbatim -R will burn at 1X; this issue is addressed on Verbatim's website - bad batch of media that they offer to replace (Not Sony's fault). I've done quite a few 9.4GB PrimeDiscs (1X), also some Sony and Fuji +RW. I saw mention of Memorex DVD-R - these are crap, 3 of 5 failed in my Pioneer A03 drive. The +RW is a bonus because the DVD drive in my other PC won't read -RW; and I like to store hard disk image backups on RW media. I've been able to burn two DVD-Rs at once with the Sony and Pioneer A03 being fed from two different discs. I'm still debating using the 2X for all firmware on the A03. My ideal media would be $3 to $5 9.4GB DVD+RW discs. I like PrimeDisc 9.4 -R, but am tired of 1X speeds. I've ordered samples of several other brands of media. CD-R 24X burns were not a problem. Only coaster I made was the +R disc I tried with Nero before I found out its not supported yet. I'm pleased so far with it enough to prefer it over the Future A05 drive. I may be biased as I usually use the $2.50 to $5 media and not the generic stuff that is problematic.

alexnoe

29th October 2002, 09:23

The +RW is a bonus because the DVD drive in my other PC won't read -RW;Don't forget that some drives, e.g. LG crap drives, can only read Verbatim DVD-RW media, but *not* Pioneer media.
Did you try Verbatim? Only then can you say that that particular drive doesn't read dvd-rw.

helo4v

30th October 2002, 01:59

I'll have to order some Verbatim -RW to try that; the drive is a SCSI Toshiba SDM-1401, a somewhat older DVD drive. Still, I just bought some PrimeDisc +RW at $3.29 each; which is a pretty good for 2.4x write speed. So I'll probably use the RW for tests and drive backups then use -R 9.4GB for most everything else. It's too bad brand name 2x 9.4 media is $9 each.

scimani2

30th October 2002, 18:54

I picked up mine from compusa on tuesday after bestbuy told me they were sold out for a week or two with no reserve...weird...then i browsed this forum to get an idea of what medium to use so i ordered some Ritek 4.7 -r's because my memorex dvd player is only compatible with them. Got all the neccasary programs except dvdmaestro...anyone got a subsitute for this program? any help would be appreciated. Thanks for helpin me get started

Eidolon

30th October 2002, 20:04

OK, here's the deal. I guess we all know that Memorex media sucks. Well I found that out the hard way, but at least I learned my lesson. I've had absolutely no trouble with my dual-sided PrimeDisc (ritek) so I think I've found my media supplier. So far the drive has been great. Just make sure you get the right media.

Caedel

30th October 2002, 21:51

Anyone else experience "Unable to write Disc at Once" in Nero when trying to write a CD ISO image? I have experienced this with 2 separate CD image files. And where's the RecordNow update?

scimani2

31st October 2002, 20:31

im tryin to copy my first dvd9 as we speak. I ordered 25 ritek dvd-r's from supermediastore and they got here in 4 days...ill post results as soon as i possibly get this done...the encoding of casino is over 8 hours on my P3 - 933mhz machine...hopefully it will work!

-y

1st November 2002, 04:05

I have used the drive for about 2 weeks. The drive has burned Sony DVD+R/-R 2.4x/2x and +RW/-RW 2.4/1x speeds and TDK DVD-R at 2x speed and Verbatim DVD-RW at 1x speed. I have not made one coaster yet. I have used Nero 5.5.9.14 to burn (dragged and dropped DVD Video files right into the VIDEO_TS folder) DVD-Videos authored from Sonic DVDit PE v2.5. I have burned about 5 DVDs all have worked in my Pioneer c503 player and a Oritron DVD player. I have not burned any CD's yet. I am very happy with this drive.

scimani2

1st November 2002, 05:36

-y are you talking about copies or personal home videos that you burn with nero?

helo4v

2nd November 2002, 04:38

An update to my previous post. Using the new Nero update, 5.5.9.17,
I was able to successfully write a Fuji +R disc at 2.5X. Disc worked fine on my Toshiba 4800 and all my DVD-Rom drives could read it ok.
I was also able to write to a Pioneer -R at 2X speed without problems.
For me, this completes my testing of all four media types at various speeds using multiple brands of media. Just in time too, my two weeks is up tomorrow for a return. I will definitely be keeping this drive. The RecordNow Max update 4.5 was delayed another 10 days. I'm not sure I will even bother with it since Nero works great now.

Caedel

2nd November 2002, 04:50

Got some Riteks today. They burned fine with RecordNow, though they are supposed to be 2x and RecordNOw did them at 1x. One of them was messed up around the outer area and ended in a failure. The rest of the disks look good though. I will have to try Nero 5.5.9.17.

Caedel

4th November 2002, 07:25

When using RecordNow i had this experience with the Ritek 2x DVD-Rs. First, the DVD-Rs will only write at 1x (this is the case in Nero too). Second, the burning gets stuck around 83% and the time loops but then after a long while it continues like normal. Then when there was about 8 mins left it just jumped to 100% and said it was complete. Disc came out fine. Anyone else experience this???

alexnoe

4th November 2002, 07:29

Why should these Ritek be supposed to burn at 2x? Only because it workes with the hacked Pioneer firmware :confused:

chips144

4th November 2002, 13:13

Caedel,

Your description of what happens using RecordNow is exactly what I have experienced. In fact I burned 2 coasters because of it. When I saw the looping the first 2 times I used the program, I CTRL+ALT+DELETE'd the program, ergo 2 coasters. The next time I walked away and came back just as it was exiting the loop. Same results as you. Disks are fine. I think it is a problem with the Sony in combo with the software not the media since I tried several different types of media and get the same thing. Perhaps this will be corrected when the upgrade to RecordNow Max becomes available.

Stomp has officially announced version 4.5, but I have yet to find it at their website.

Taxidermista

4th November 2002, 15:51

The '83% loop bug' is an old one in Recordnow MAX. I've been suffering it with my DVR-A03, but all burnings went fine at the end.

caprioles9000

5th November 2002, 15:30

Originally posted by chips144
Caedel,

Your description of what happens using RecordNow is exactly what I have experienced. In fact I burned 2 coasters because of it. When I saw the looping the first 2 times I used the program, I CTRL+ALT+DELETE'd the program, ergo 2 coasters. The next time I walked away and came back just as it was exiting the loop. Same results as you. Disks are fine. I think it is a problem with the Sony in combo with the software not the media since I tried several different types of media and get the same thing. Perhaps this will be corrected when the upgrade to RecordNow Max becomes available.

Stomp has officially announced version 4.5, but I have yet to find it at their website.

@Caedel & Chips144....

I also have the same problem with my new drive and recordnow ...the description that u guys gave is excatly what happens when using RecordNow. Till now i have burned 4 coasters ..2 with Nashua DVD-R and 2 with Imation DVD-R...however the Pioneer DVD-RW worked without a glitch!!! Straanggeee...its driving me nuts ..i hope that VOB Instant DVD will support this drive soon ..i seen to have had always great results with vob instant!!...I also went by the SONY HEADQUARTES here in amsterdam ..and they said that usually after a couple of weeks when things like this occur they come up with a firware upgrade ..but they would not verify if it would happen or not..and when this firmware upgrade would arrive:(.....however ..at this point i guess its just trial and error.....the store owner from where i bought the drive had good results with Thats Write DVD-R and Princo DVD-R ..so i if i can get my hands on it i will try the Thats Write DVD-R and will post my findings here!!!!

Caedel

6th November 2002, 00:49

As far as that bug is... i've only witnessed it twice. And it only gave me a coaster once. The coaster though i think was a media problem. One of the Ritek's that i received, and of course the first one i used, had scratches all around the outer edge. I think that was the cause of the error. Otherwise though, the Ritek's have worked well. Havent tested the new Nero yet though... too scared.

Caedel

6th November 2002, 00:55

What's the fastest you can get DVD Decryptor to rip with this Drive? I get about 2X. My old Pioneer 6X peaks out at 4X.

preston

6th November 2002, 02:30

I bought 100 Ritek DVD-Rs at supermediastore.com for $1 each (on spindle) and have successfully burned the first one, using Ulead Video Studio 6 at 1X. It plays in both my home players, one an old panasonic that won't play VCDs. I also succeeded in burning using Imgtool to create the img file from my VIDEO_TS )constructed with ifoedit), and then burning with Decrypter, which is an elegant solution and works great.

It took me a while and several reviews of documentation to realize that checking test mode didn't burn anything. Time, but not blanks, was lost.

Caedel

6th November 2002, 03:07

The update appears to be on their page now... under the downloads section.

scimani2

6th November 2002, 05:20

caedel can you post a link to this update?

preston

6th November 2002, 05:29

http://www.stompinc.com/support/downloads.phtml?stp

napalongcasidy

6th November 2002, 18:39

Nobody seems to mention this drive with NERO, also nobody is talking about what I think is the MAIN feature - the 4X record speed? Are people having luck with 4X?

I'v heard many Pioneer 04 owners record at 1x even though the drive can do 2x to avoid coasters.

Thwiipp

6th November 2002, 19:29

did anyone actually download it? cause its gone form there site now...... and you cant burn 4x yet the 4x discs aint out yet. and i burn at 2x just fine.

scimani2

6th November 2002, 21:42

thwipp whats your method? do share.

Caedel

6th November 2002, 21:59

Wow, you're right... they took it down. I was able to download it. And it recognized the drive. I tested by burning a PS2 image ISO onto DVD+RW. And if anyone knows where I can get real 4X... ID LOVE TO KNOW.

This is the only link i could find http://downloads.stompinc.com/support/stprnm450v.exe

I believe that is the upgrade for those that have previous versions (not eval).

Thwiipp

6th November 2002, 22:21

Well Scimani2 there's no real secret, ive been making some backups of some of my anime DVD using DVDDecryptor's ISO mode with TDK DVD-R and it burned at 2x, complete burn with Lead In and everythign in about 28 Min.

napalongcasidy

7th November 2002, 00:06

Judydeals - mine arrive today...

preston

8th November 2002, 06:45

I've now burned eleven DVD-Rs with the Sony DRU-500a, all 1X Riteks from Supermediastore.com, $83 for 100, and reasonably priced shipping. No coasters so far, and all eleven recognized in all of my DVD players, including an ancient panasonic that won't play vcds as well as a modern Toshiba and 4 PC DVD-ROMs. I've burned using Ulead video studio and Decrypter (making the image first with imgtools).

Personally, 2X isn't worth that much to me, since I tend to start the burning process and go do something else. I bought a few TDKs for emergencies, though.

diogo6

8th November 2002, 08:05

I noticed no one else replied to your post Caedel, but I also have only been able to get 2X max when using DVDDecrypter.

DirtyAbdul

8th November 2002, 09:23

Originally posted by napalongcasidy
Judydeals - mine arrive today...

do you have the link by any chance??? :D
so what's your burning status? those discs any good?

DA

napalongcasidy

8th November 2002, 23:23

see item # 2066473238 ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2066473238

This points to a 100 set but I bought a 10 pack last week - I gave wrong address so its being re-shipped.

I would not risk 100 look for the ten pack. OR OR OR email them direclty.

judysdeals@hotmail.com

Caedel

9th November 2002, 00:10

So how fast can YOU burn these 4x media??? And what program are you using and what drive? THanks!

caprioles9000

10th November 2002, 13:28

UPDATE:

caprioles9000

10th November 2002, 13:30

UPDATE:

I have finally been able to burn DVD-rs with the new sony.,....pfff was till now a pure media issue....anyways as my earlier post ..the sony burns fine without a problem to Thats Write DVD-Rs...so those who are in europe ...this might be helpful to know!!

Greeeettzz..
caprioles9000

napalongcasidy

11th November 2002, 08:26

But when they get here the latest Nero 55917 - released oct 31 - probably includes the DRU500. The FIRST on ONLY thing I will try until the discs run dry is the 4X recording...

BTW: The rip speed of this clunker is well documented at 2x max. One review suggested NOT replacing your DVD-Rom drive with with proported "Do-all" drive.

caprioles9000

11th November 2002, 11:10

Originally posted by Caedel
Wow, you're right... they took it down. I was able to download it. And it recognized the drive. I tested by burning a PS2 image ISO onto DVD+RW. And if anyone knows where I can get real 4X... ID LOVE TO KNOW.

This is the only link i could find http://downloads.stompinc.com/support/stprnm450v.exe

I believe that is the upgrade for those that have previous versions (not eval).

@Caedel....

So how is that RecordNow Max 4.5 comming along ..has it made coasters yet???/...Please let me know.....i had luck with burning DVD-r's with recordnow ...but it still makes coasters occasionally:(..so i do not know what to go for !!!!!

Caedel

11th November 2002, 22:14

I have only used it once. With a DVD+RW. They have it on their site now though. I'll be able to say more once I get my PS2 back. Anyone want a V2/V3 Apple Modchip ($45)???

scimani2

11th November 2002, 23:44

ill definately take one if you are sure it works and you know how to put it in and can guarentee me it will work..let me know man thanks

preston

12th November 2002, 03:25

With the supermediastore riteks, I have now made 25 DVD-Rs on the Sony DRU-500a, at 1x, and no coasters. I've used Ulead Videostudio 6 and Decrypter to write, mostly writing image files with decrypter. This is better than I usually do with CD-Rs. I ordered more Riteks from supermediastore at 83cents per plus modest shipping. This is great!

I have the Recordnow Max upgrade to 4.5 (I'm a registered user) but haven't yet tried installed it, although I will when I'm ready to make data DVDs rather than video DVDs.

Caedel

12th November 2002, 06:59

Using RecordNow Max 4.5, I am unable to get it to burn a DVD+RW at 2.4x. Even if i tell it to burn at 2x, it will burn at 1x. Anyone else experience this? Nero burns the same disc at 2.4x no problem. ON top of that... if i use Nero, my older DVD Drive can read the disc. But if I use RecordNow Max, it doesn't. Also... I did not realize this at first, but the drive is 2x max in reading DVD-Video. THat explains the DVD-Decryptor thing... :-) Yep

caprioles9000

12th November 2002, 09:42

Well i finally upgraded to Recordnow Max 4.5 ...i was having trouble to burn SW2 properly ..and IT FINALLY DID :)...pfff...so now i am hoping that it will burn all the others without a problem as well.....again ..i repeat ..i guess you really have to be carefull what type of media u use with this baby ..but otherwise it works just great...has anyone tried it with FIREBURNER.....i did and i get buffer underruns like crazy ....i guess the writer is too fast for the computer ...the computer cannot seem to send info fast enough (funny i have a dual PIII 1 GHZ with 512 Ram)...so the audio burned seems to skip...:(.....i gueess i need to use a cd-rw ..and try to reduce the speed all the time until i find a speed where it does not do this anymore!!!!...if anyone else has the same results please post it ..it seems that this thread is becoming a long one however it is a very useful one for those who has this dvd drive!!!

Future2000

18th November 2002, 21:06

I ordered the Sony DRU500A A week ago from http://Dabs.co.uk seems their waiting for stock. Hope it runs the new firware. From what I've read in this thread I'll try Ritek DVD-R's first. Does anybody know a good reseller of these in the UK?

:confused:

scimani2

19th November 2002, 04:51

preston im with you.....riteks all the way and i dont want to sound repetitive or like an ad but supermediastore.com has been flawless so far with my orders...good luck guys

chips144

19th November 2002, 05:08

The 4x DVD-R disks advertised at judysdeals will only burn at 1X in the Sony DRU-500A. They will also only burn at 1X in a Pioneer A04 unless you have the 2x4all firmware installed. In that case they burn at 2X. I bought 300 of judysdeals 4X disks. Oh well.
Using the Pioneer, I have burned at 2X using $0.59 1X media with no porblems.

napalongcasidy

20th November 2002, 02:50

Sounds Judys was not such a deal....

bobeuchre

27th November 2002, 10:37

first of all thanks to all of you that posted info for the sony dru500a
so far im happy with the sony, since i took back the hp 100i junk
what i have found so far:
made a dvd with sony+rw that came with it no problem with record now
also made dvd's with princo 2x(36minutes) and princo 1x(51minutes)
both made with record now max ( too bad its 30 day trial)
messed one up with nero 55914 will try with 55917
been making svcd's befor this, made about 250 at 6-8 hours each, this is just a bit easier, haha
updated firmware to 10d and it still only rips at 2x speed (hp ripped at 6x speed or greater)
the princo dvd discs were 2.99 for 1x and 3.99 for 2x canadian (funny money) +rw's were 2.99 from www.greytech.com
also if your worried about reading you rw discs made hp100i, like i was, dont be worried i read mine just fine
dla has to be downloaded but works just fine moved 1gig in about 15min (this drive is real quiet)
using amd 1800xp - winxp-pro 786sdram
off topic if anyone wants to trade svcd's let me know
basically just wanted to say thanks for all the infor
ciao for now
BOB

diogo6

3rd December 2002, 21:26

has anyone found good 2X media that works with this drive? Ritek's doesn't. It will only work at 1x

chips144

3rd December 2002, 21:49

Sony has stated another firmware patch would be released approximately Dec. 9, 2002. This patch is supposed to address more 2X media burning capabilities, although they don't say which will be included in the support.

scimani2

3rd December 2002, 21:56

someone post a link when that comes out thanks!

Caedel

3rd December 2002, 22:49

Verbatim DVD+R work great... to address the individual that wanted 2x media.... 2.4X to be exact. And the latest firmware is to give us 4x DVD+R capabilities. The 2x issue was addressed with 1.0d.

destemido

4th December 2002, 14:14

i have that drive and i can rip faster than that, using dvd decrypter.
even faster then when i had the HP200i (yes i bought that one first, didn't like it and returned it.) i cannot confirm if it is even faster then my good'ol pioneer 116.

bobeuchre

7th December 2002, 16:13

the 10f is out and here
but follow the instructions, cause mine will still only rip at 2x speed
says to uninstall dla and disable dma, i forgot to disable dma
will try again
found here

http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/dru500adwn.htm

helo4v

8th December 2002, 03:07

The new firmware 1.0f is awesome! They just added PrimeDisc 9.4 GB DVD-R to their 2X allowed list - so I can write these at 2X. Something my Pioneer A03 will not do! This will save me lots of time since I prefer the doublesided media. I doubt if I will try the 4x media for -R and +R until the prices come down.

Caedel

8th December 2002, 08:42

Ritek 2x G03 are now recognized as 2x in Nero also! Go Sony!

bobeuchre

9th December 2002, 22:11

for those that installed the 1.0f
did it work ok, i can still only rip at 2times speed, but my firmware shows that i have the 1.0f firmware
can you read and rip faster, and if so please tell me if you had the 1.oe installed first
is it a must to have the 1.0e befor updating to 1.0f cause i never did see a 1.0e
let me know please

Caedel

9th December 2002, 23:05

Why would it rip any faster?

Doom9

10th December 2002, 00:14

as I understand it the firmware upgrade does not improve DVD±RW and CSS encrypted DVD read rates, only DVD±R and unencrypted DVDs can be read faster now. The limit on encrypted stuff is voluntary to prevent your drive from spinning up and down while watching a movie. Toshiba has used the same mechanism in some of their drives (that's why I only use Pioneer DVD-ROMs now).

framerman

10th December 2002, 01:57

I'm coming in a little late here, but I have a problem. Yes, I'm a loser newbie, but I try. I have made an image of my movie in ImgTools. I transferred that over to DVDdecrypter to burn. I set my settings to burn at 1x just to be on the safe side. It burned my movie in about 25-30 minutes on the Sony DRU-500a. Now, it will work in my PC but not in my player(Sony DVP-NC655P) and what I'm thinking is that it didn't finalize my disc. I did a quick format in Roxio before I started. Says it's formatted as UDF. It won't even register dirty disc or anything, but it quickly does see that it is a DVD. After that, nothing. Can anyone provide any insight to this problem? Thanks.

Thwiipp

10th December 2002, 22:33

Originally posted by Doom9
as I understand it the firmware upgrade does not improve DVD±RW and CSS encrypted DVD read rates, only DVD±R and unencrypted DVDs can be read faster now. The limit on encrypted stuff is voluntary to prevent your drive from spinning up and down while watching a movie. Toshiba has used the same mechanism in some of their drives (that's why I only use Pioneer DVD-ROMs now).

Thats funny i got a Toshiba 16X DVD-Rom and i ve been able to get 4X- 4.5X rip speeds, i guess im just lucky to have gotten one of their drives that arent retricted to 2X.