Sony Dru-500a

[The Norwegian]

Two weeks ago, I purchased a Sony DRU-500a and upgraded to the new 1.0f firmware. I've tried several brands like Nashua DVD-R and That's Write DVD=R and That's Write DVD+RW and the all worked fine.
I now use PRINCO DVD-R(2x)which cost me in Euro 16.85,- (10 pcs.)
The Sony works perfect with these Princo DVD's and i have a very cheap provision DVD player in my home, which plays the princo's without any problem. The only thing is that the loading time is a bit longer in my provision player.

Software used is the DVD X copy v1.22
DVD Decrypter v3.1.4.0
Steinberg DVD Movie Copy Suite v6.5
Smartripper v2.41

I normaly test a backup to 2 DVD+RW's and also to 2 DVD-RW's, and when it works write it to final Princo DVD-R's.

I Love The SONY DRU-500A upto now !!!

Good luck !!!!

[destemido]

try ripping them using your DVD-rom drive. not the writer.
if you don't get any read error, and since it works fine, than why bother????????? :p

[scimani2]

i love it as well, but am still using xcopy beta1.1 because as soon as i tried all other versions (currently 1.3) the encoding time goes to like 2 hours instead of about 30 using beta1.1. I use ritek(x1) but havent had a coaster yet in about 150 attempts (mostly 2 discs) but i dont mind changing discs. Good luck.

[ericelza]

Hi Norwegian,

What program do you actually use to burn the dvd's. I used recordnow which came with the drive. It only seems to burn to +r disks. -r and +rw disks are not recognized and it refuses to burn anything to those disks. I keep getting an error message that the disk is not empty. The disks ARE empty.

Thnx

Eric

[The Norwegian]

Hi ericelza
Happy New Year !!!

When i backup DVD's i often use DVD X Copy v1.3 to just backup them to 2 DVD's (most of the times). When I don't want to use 2 DVD's I first rip the original with DVD Decrypter, this eliminates the extra's i don't need !!! Then I Burn it to a DVD with Nero v5.5.10.0 with a DVD-ROM (UDF/ISO)session. Make sure you make two directories in your session VIDEO_TS where you drop all ripped files in and an AUDIO_TS directory. Now the AUDIO_TS directory you leave untouched.
Now in the ISO settings of Nero you set ISO level 2 (31 ch) and ISO 9660 the rest is off. And then just burn my friend, it don't matter if u use DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW or DVD-RW. I now bought a Cyberhome 505 DVD player in my living room which plays DVD+RW and DVD-RW, when I try something new i first see if it works on a rewritable allthough other people think that is stupid and time consuming it is a good way to learn stuf without making coasters.

Best regards and good luck !!!

[ericelza]

Hi Norwegian,

It's me again.

Just one more question. When i try to burn a rw disc i get the message it is not formatted?? What program can i use to format the rw disc?

Thanx for your answers

Eric

[The Norwegian]

Hi,

When you start burning with Nero it automatically looks if there is
old data on the DVD(RW) if so it asks you if you would like nero to
quick format the disk. Nero does that in 5 seconds. And then it will
start writing. So it is very easy.

try it !!

[ericelza]

Hi Norwegian,

Well I tried it and the burning of the rw discs works great. Only problem is that they wont play in my standalone dvd player. But with your advise and nero formatting my rw's i was able to burn my rw's through dvd decrypter. Now they work great on my standalone.

Thnx again norwegian.

Eric

[destemido]

they are not playing on your standalone???
do you did get VTS sectors in ifoedit???

[ericelza]

Hi,

I only tried to burn my dvd+rw disc in Nero. My standalone
(Yamaha S510) did recognize it as a dvd but didn't play the disc. If i burn the dvd through ifoedit image and dvd decrypter it works fine. Sofar the Yamaha plays +r +rw and -r. I dont have a -rw so i cannot test that.

Maybe you are right about those vts things. As i made an image of the movie i wanted to burn to the disc it did get vts sectors on its own. I guess i forgot to do that. Could that be the reason why it didn't work? i'll try one's more (advantage of rw discs)

I am really pleased with the Sony though i am very disappointed that i cannot immediately burn all discs with the software provided. RecordNow (came in package) only seems to burn to +r discs. It refuses to burn -r and +rw (even formatted and empty ones).

I am also puzzled about the burning speeds. It is supposed to burn -r discs at 4 times speed. Mine only burned at 2 times the speed. Do I have to make changes in the configuration for that? I am using firmware that ends with an f (updated the firmware the day i got it)

Otherwise great stuff from sony.

Greetz

Eric

[destemido]

yes that's the reason.
IF YOU DON'T DO "GET VTS SECTORS" IT WILL NEVER WORK ON YOUR STANDALONE.

sorry for the caps. but it's one of the most important rules...

[destemido]

if you cannot record with record now, it's NOT the drives fault, but yours!!! if you can only write at 2x then your a lucky guy... i only write at 1x. you're only supposed to write at 4x on 4x certified media and even then you may end up not wanting to do that... you can and probably will get coasters (don't really know what that is but it should be pretty bad!!:p ) and frozen frames. and by the way... this drive is really great as it is the first (i think) to be able to write to + and - media (as you know, they aren't really compatible)and at 4x.

[Fenix]

Originally posted by destemido
if you cannot record with record now, it's NOT the drives fault, but yours!!! if you can only write at 2x then your a lucky guy... i only write at 1x. you're only supposed to write at 4x on 4x certified media and even then you may end up not wanting to do that... you can and probably will get coasters (don't really know what that is but it should be pretty bad!!:p ) and frozen frames. and by the way... this drive is really great as it is the first (i think) to be able to write to + and - media (as you know, they aren't really compatible)and at 4x.

I Destemido ;)

Did you managed to burn ( using your DRU 500A ) ritek G03 ( Traxdata ) at 2x with success? Especially when using all the DVDR capacity?

Regards,

Fenix.

[destemido]

never tried, only sentinel! how much do the trax's cost???
é como quem diz, quanto é que xuta???

[ericelza]

Burned a +rw disc with Nero as Norwegian described, after getting vts sectors offcourse, and it works great on my standalone. Thx Norwegian and Desdemido.

[Caedel]

I have burned a few DVDs and forgotten to hit get VTS sectors and the discs played fine in a PS2 and a Panasonic DVD player. It is not ALWAYS necessary. Just thought that should be pointed out!

[BaRRoS]

Destemido: Geralmente xuta uma seringa, seringa e meia....

[Fenix]

Originally posted by BaRRoS
Destemido: Geralmente xuta uma seringa, seringa e meia....

Barros is right

Usually costs 1 £ = 1,5 euros ! But with transportation to Portugal , it's almost 2 euros !

So Destemido the price is a bit higher ;(

Regards,

Fenix.

[destemido]

and have you sucessfully burnt any of those discs @ 2x???

[Fenix]

Originally posted by destemido
and have you sucessfully burnt any of those discs @ 2x???

Yep but on my Pioneer A04 (Firmware 1.40 RPC1 + Ritek 2x ) !

But I want to buy a Sony, so I need to know if that brand works ok with the Sony recorder ;)

Regards,

Fenix.

[destemido]

ok i'll try those, if i find them...
where did you buy yours??

and as for vts sectors... if the disc is a dvd5 then you probably won't need to do it!!!!

[Caedel]

Ok Ok... it was a DVD9... and it played fine in the Panasonic RV-32, though in the PS2 and WMP9 it plays fast. How bout them apples???

[Fenix]

Originally posted by destemido
ok i'll try those, if i find them...
where did you buy yours??

and as for vts sectors... if the disc is a dvd5 then you probably won't need to do it!!!!

Well you can't find them in Portugal ( I can't ). You have to find a site ( UK ) that ships internationaly ;) and still have them in stock!

I bought mines on bigpockets.co.uk

Fenix.