Sony DRU500A firmware 2.0e

[Feoke]

The Sony DRU500A firmware upgrade 2.0e has been out for a week now. The previous firmware version being 1.0g, there must have been some significant changes to jump to version 2.0e (where went the others?). According to Sony, the 2.0e upgrade (1)Allows your Dual RW drive to record at 4x on 4x compatible DVD-/+R media; (2)Improves reading and writing performance and reliability; (3)Reduces vibration noise for the discs with unbalance or eccentricity. (see:http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/dru500adwn.htm)

I'm trying to collect some impressions of 2.0e here. Who had his Sony flashed with the 2.0e and what are your impressions?

Update:
DRU500A & AX firmware 2.0f (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51498) released.

[tingwc]

Not yet. I am going to wait to hear some user comments. I am sitting fine at 1.0f and see no reason to change.

[Caedel]

I flashed mine... worked great. Let me burn 4x riteks at 4x and fixed an issue i was having with CD burning speeds.

[golfextreme]

I flashed mine, had no change on anything. Still couldn't burn riteks at 4x, just 2x. So I downgraded to 1.0d like most said, and low and behold, for the first time, the same discs burned at 4x. I always had 2x before. If you're burning dvd+r, do the upgrade, if not, don't. My 2 cents.

[DMagic1]

Where is the info or site about downgrading the Sony drive?

[Taurec]

The weirdest thing: With the new Firmware I can burn VIDEO_TS folders with RecordNow at 4X (Ritek G04). But burning images with DVD Decrypter
went down to 2X. With the 1.0G images would burn with 4X.
But CD-R performance went up, noise went down. Maybe a dvddecrypter thing.

[golfextreme]

The site I got the firmware from is http://www.sonydru500a.com

[Feoke]

I thought that I might add an update with my own experience concerning the new firmware.
The DRU500A with firmware 1.0f was flashed without any problems with version 2.0e.
Next I wrote a 4x Princo DVD-R at... 4x speed. The resulting DVD is working fine in both pc- and standalone player.
My conclusion: the new 2.0e firmware seems to be working fine; at least, I haven't detected any problems.

Update:
Also, the vibration noise for some noisy discs indeed has diminished.

[The-PJ]

I have a question. I too have a Sony DRU-500a. I am currently at 1.0f.

I am wondering why with 8x DVD-Rom read speed, I can only rip DVD-R's at 2x. I have a 8x Pioneer DVD-Rom and it can even rip at 8x. What is going on?

[Doom9]

@2The-PJ: Essentially the same as on the A05: The manufacturer placed some code in the firmware that prevents the drive from ripping at full speed when a CSS encrypted DVD is inserted. Hopefully one day there'll be a hacked firmware as for the Pioneer. If you own such a drive and want to help speed up the firmware process, the guys at the firmware forum are looking for a Sony owner who can open the drive and post images of all the chips used on the drive controller. Here's the link: http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=12873

Oh, and generally, c't recently performed a new disc test and the Sony did considerably better with some media as in the old test.. the only thing they changed was flash a new firmware, so using an old firmware might not necessarily be the smartest thing to do.. error rates are much higher using old firmwares on the Sony.

[The-PJ]

Ah ha, Thanks for the info. Hmm, I can open it, but I lack a digital camera. =/ I would definately be willing to help if I could.

Do you know if the code always existed in the firmware that locks down to 2x, or do previous versions (like 1.0d) rip at full speed?

Now I just need to figure out if I dare to flash my firmware over a USB link (see http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50893)

[Doom9]

actually.. I'm hearing different things all over. I'm pretty sure Sony wouldn't limit writing speed on 4x certified discs so it must be something else.. I have such a burner myself (and since a few days also a Pioneer 105) but so far I only have 4x DVD+Rs (haven't burned one yet though).

[The-PJ]

Oops, I think you misunderstood me. I meant the code to lock down to 2x rip speed, not write speed.

[DMagic1]

I have had firmware 1c, 1d, 1f, and 2e. They all only allow 2x rip speed.

[The-PJ]

Grumble grumble. Ok, thanks.

[Arky]

I've just had to sell one of my CDRW drives in order to make room for a bog-standard DVD-ROM reader, cos my Sony DRU-500ax (Firmware 2.0e) won't rip faster than 2x. It's an absolute pain and I'm not happy about it, but having said that, as a burner, I can;t fault the drive - it burns the 4x Riteks I bought absolutely perfectly, without the slightest complaint.

I guess you can't always have everything, and I'd rather the Sony burned properly and read slowly, than vice-versa! :(


Arky ;o)

[DMagic1]

What dvd-roms rip originals faster than 2x? I thought that was pretty much standard with all of them. My Hitachi rom rips at the same speed for originals.

[The-PJ]

What annoys me is it can write faster than it can read. It can read at 2x, but write at 4x. =P They should not be allowed to advertise it as an 8x drive if its reading is limited to 2x on the vast majority of DVD's avaiable on the market today. It is deceptive advertising / marketing. I am really hoping a hack is produced soon to get rid of the cap.

When I moved my Sony burner out of my PC, I realised that I'd need a non USB cd reader for CD booting, so I dragged an old drive out of my storage room and threw it in. I was stunned by its speed.

It is a Pioneer DVD-115 with 1.27 firmware and it rips at almost 8x. It will start at 3.3x, and then slowly inch its way all the way up to 7.8x by the 50% mark. It will then either stay there, or inch its way back down to about 5x.

[DMagic1]

That 2x is only for original disks. If you ever rip a disk you made yourself you will see that it reads alot faster.

[Arky]

Yes, but in order to rip one of your backups, it must first have been ripped from the original, unless you are authoring from scratch, which very few people on these boards seem to be interested in these days (which is a pity).


Arky ;o)

[Ollie W. Holmes]

Originally posted by DMagic1
What dvd-roms rip originals faster than 2x? I thought that was pretty much standard with all of them.

I once had a compaq-branded dvd-rom drive that ripped faster than a pioneer A04. Smartripper was showing rip speeds of 3-4x.

My Panasonic LF-D321 dvd-ram/-r drive also rips twice as fast as an A04.

[golfextreme]

My Lite-on 16x dvd-rom gives me speeds up to 15x for single layer originals and up to 9x for dual layer. Great little drive for ripping.

[Caedel]

What is the exact model of the Lite-on?

[golfextreme]

It's the Liteon LTD-165H, but I think just about any liteon 16x dvd-rom will do about the same. I've never been disappointed with liteon. newegg.com has the great prices on them.