Sony’s newest Double Layer DVD recorder brings a whole new level of performance to DVD burning.
1 Decent burner, but why the Nero software (...)?
I purchased this burner a few weeks ago. After struggling a bit to get it to work properly, it seems to burn discs reasonable well, despite being rather noisy.
My concern is with the Nero software provided. Like most people, I rip audio CD tracks to MP3 format. This would seem to be a most basic feature of any media software. However, I was very surprised to learn this software requires the user to purchase an additional MP3 module at the cost of $20 once the free limit has been reached. That limit is 25 tracks, so you will be good for one, maybe two CDs before stumbling upon this "now you see it" feature. I can only wonder what other surprises await me.
Sony should be embarrassed for going along with this disreputable practice.
2 work with sony dvd player, not with my 2 others dvd player
I bought drx710ul 3/5/05 at Costco, because i have a laptop without dvd burner.
I burned my first dvds on phillips 2.4x dvd disk
I can play them on my laptop and my sony dvd player, but I can not play them from my 2 other dvd players
Yet the dvd commercial movies I have can be played on all 3 of my dvd players
I am glad I don't have to buy sony dvd disks, and then burn my home videos on them.
Sony has to be able to do better than this
This dvd burner is still not up to my expectation
maybe try drx720ul-next model up
3 works after updates
Overall I am happy with the purchase. It worked for me on the second time after updating the firmware. The drive is kind of big and also a little loud. it still deserves 5 stars.
i am running xp on a thinkpad t41 with a pcmcia 1394 card. the first dvd was a coaster. nero captured the video but did not burn the dvd. the dvd looked like it burned part way.
then i updated the firmware from the sony.storageupdate.com. i also uninstalled the sonic DLA and utilities that were bundled with the IBM. I also tried a different dvd brand (imation)
i am capturing from a dish-network PVR thru an ADVC100 (bought from amazon) into the PCMCIA1394. it took about 20 minutes to burn a 50 minute show at 4x. I am also capturing to a USB hard drive Western Digital USB hard drive.
Nero wizard is intuitive, but I have not had a chance to explore in detail. i have yet to visit the site to get the updates, but what ships on the install disk seems to be working for me.
i have tried the shareware stuff in the past with no luck, so i am happy to have a way to transfer video from camcorder and PVR to dvd. at some point i will also transfer my old vhs and hi-8.
4 Solid burner... bit expensive...
All,
PROS...
This a good burner, second only possibly to the Plextor. The software couldn't be easier after all the updates are in place.
Now the CONS...
Make sure you get all the updates from the NERO web-site. There are 6 major updates. The drive is rather big and kind of noisy at times. It would have been nice if they had put a bigger buffer in, say 8MB. It's still a little bit expensive compared to other burners on the market. My burned DVD's work okay on all my computers so far(Toshiba, Dell, Gateway) and on my Sony DVD player but not on my Panasonic DVD player ?.
5 Bad Drive - even worse service
I purchased the internal version DRU-710A of this drive about a week ago. I didn't buy the drive from Amazon - so don't blame them for the bad service part. But after the experience I have just had I wanted to alert anyone who is considering buying a SONY to think twice!
My problem with the drive is that I can write to it - or at least I appear to be writing to it - but then I am unable to read anything. I have blazed through 20 CD's and still no luck. I found some evidence on various consumer postings that I was not alone in my frustration which only half way consoled me since I was now faced with needing to get my money back.
I purchased the DRU-710A from MWave.com along with several other items in the construction of a new system. First of all, unless you want damaged, defective, dented goods (not just this drive that did come sealed in a Sony box) - don't ever buy anything from that company. And returning items to them is like pullilng teeth. When I attempted to return the Sony DRU-710A I was told that since it was a Sony product I would have to return it to Sony directly. I realized immediately that I was in it for the long haul.
So, I called Sony. I talked to someone for about 10 minutes after spending a few minutes talking to an automated voice which attempted to help me with my computer problem unsuccessfully and then spending 10 minutes on hold. I naturally didn't get anywhere. He then told me to call the "returns" department. Of course, the number I called wasn't the returns department. I talked with them for a while and realized they were not able to help. I explained that as a consumer of a Sony product - that I did believe that they would want to satisfy me. By the way, I thought I had just received a lemon and bought the same drive at Best Buy - only to find out that it had the same problem. Best Buy gave me a full refund though. Again, the representative at Sony said that I should call the "returns" department. So I was given another number and called them. I did manage to stay cool, calm and collected throughout this process even though I had been on the phone for about 45 minutes by this point. I talked to another person and seemed to be getting nowhere - so I asked if there was a "returns" department at Sony - her answer "NO". Well, at least she was able to tell me that. So again I went through my spiel to guilt her - kindly - into thinking that I should be able to get some satisfaction from Sony and that I shouldn't just be out $100. She agreed and compiled with my request to transfer me to a supervisor. Interestingly enough I was transfered to the very same person I started with. I spoke to him for another 10 minutes - he agreed to transfer me to a supervisor - at least I had advanced to having them transfer me instead of me calling a different number every 10 minutes. I started speaking to a "supervisor" - he told me that he couldn't help me that he didn't deal with peripherals like DVD's and that I would have to call someone else. I asked him if he was a supervisor and he said "NO". Another no - two in a matter of over an hour. These people are good. They avoid the word "NO" whenever possible and just keep transferring - and they do stay calm and somewhat polite - even though you get the impression they aren't listening most of the time. That is at least more than I can say for MWave.com personnel who are insolent and rude before they get on the phone. Anyway, before being transferred again I asked this last guy at Sony if he would recommend that I just suck it up and face the fact that I was not going to get my money back - he said that I would probably not get a refund but that he really couldn't help me because he didn't work in the peripherals section of sony...... Well, my last recourse is to ask for a charge back from American Express on my purchase. Hope that works.
The point of all this is to let everyone know that SONY is selling defective drives. Read some of the other reviews on Amazon - I sure wish I had before I thought to purchase a Sony drive. And if Amazon or any other reseller doesn't give you your money back then don't bother even contacting Sony. Go straight for the charge back option or just suck it up and face the fact that you just lost your money. I am having a hard time realizing that Sony is not only not standing behind its product but that nobody seems to care that I am an unsatisfied customer and that that fact alone is going to hurt future business.
6 Great product from Sony!!!
I just got this at OfficeDepot for USD 229, with an additional USD 30 mail-in-rebate.
It has worked wonderfully. I use it with a Toshiba Satellite 1905-S301 (Pentium 4, 2GHz, 512 MB of RAM) and the firewire connection. Have not tried it with USB 2.0.
Mind you, I have NOT installed the software that came with the burner, but use generic software instead. So far no problems at all. For burning, I have tried both Maxell+R and Memorex+RW, no broken discs. Burned +R and +RW play perfectly in my Philips DVP642. A great buy!!
7 Excellent Burner, Crappy Software
After wasting a good deal of time trying to burn quality DVD's with the included Nero software, I decided to use some freeware like DVD43 and DVD Shrink. Ever since I've had flawless performance from this burner. It's very quiet and never seems to overheat, even after hours of continuous use. The quality of the burns is excellent, I backed up a 3 hr Lord of the Rings DVD and can barely tell the difference (using Ridata discs). This is definitely a versatile burner with a good deal of future potential once double layer RW discs become more prevalent on the market.
8 It has many problems but works ok for me.
I bought the Sony drive and installed the Nero software only to have my computer recover from a serious error caused by the Nero software. But then I updated the software and my computer was O.K. again. Another problem is that I need to restart my computer after every time I burn a DVD. This is due to the fact that after every burn my computer suddenly doesn't recognize anything I insert into the drive. Also, be forewarned that the software will only burn a DVD with two drives (one reading and the other writing)once; afterward it won't recognize the other drive as one to work with since the software only supports Sony drives.
9 Solid Product and the BIOS has been updated.
Paul (review below) did such a fine job that I only have a little bit to add. First I want to add that my initial experiences with this DVD burner have surpassed all of my expectations. The Nero software they provide is excellent; the DVD burner is pleasure to use. And FAST too.
I want to mention that Sony has two updated BIOS releases that takes DVD-R writing speeds from 8x to 12x. There are other advances also. And the BIOS update is so easy to do.
(...)
There are two updates. One update (says it is for the 710A but the DRX-710UL has a 710A inside so it applies here) updates media compatibility and improves writing speeds. That update is named 710A_BYX2.EXE.
The second update is for us users that connect to the computer with a USB cable. That update is FWUPDATE.EXE and it resolves some issues with WinXP SP2 communications on the USB interface.
I have now done both updates on my burner. I ran FWUPDATE.EXE first, rebooted and then with the USB interface issues all updated, I ran 710A_BYX2.EXE.
The 710A_BYX2.EXE update paused for what seemed like a minute or two at the 100% progress mark, but just be patient and eventually you should get the "inquiry" message followed by the "update was completed successfully" message and an invitation to reboot.
Upon reboot after the 710A_ByX2.EXE update, WinXP saw my DVD Burner as a new device (again).
All in all, it is pretty slick. But, of course, proceed at your own risk after printing out and carefully following the provided (on the web-site) instructions for each BIOS.
I've been burning with Fuji (Taiyo Yuden) 8x DVD +R and -R as well as ProDisc 8X DVD-R and it simply couldn't be easier.
10 Dual Layer, Dual Enjoyment.
I purchased this product about a week ago, since I was looking for an external DVD burner to hook up to my laptop (IBM T-30 w/pcmcia firewire card) in order to consolidate a lot of cd's that I had lying around.
Out of the Box:
The first thing I noticed was the size of the burner, which is actually pretty big compared to everything else on my desk, but with the verticle stand, it's not a problem. The drive itself looks like a high quality product, Sony even went the extra step of giving it a gloss finish.
Included in the box is a USB cable, and a Firewire cable with a 4 pin connector on one side, and a 6 pin on the other (the back of the drive has both a 6 pin firewire connector, and a 4 pin, so if you only have one type on your computer, you can just flip the cable around). Btw, Sony calls the firewire cable an "i.LINK" cable for some reason. Also included is a packet with the warranty, and seperate packet for the manuals and software CD.
On the software CD:
Nero Burning Rom 6-SE
InCD 4
Nero Vision Express 2
Nero BackItUp
Nero Showtime
Installation:
The drive is purely plug and play, there are no drivers on the CD at all. Connect it by either the firewire or USB cable and it recognizes it very quickly. After the drive showed up in my computer, I popped in the software CD and installed the Nero software suite. I'm very happy that they included Nero, considering it's one of the best CD/DVD burning programs out there.
Performance:
I went out and bought a generic brand of 4x DVD-R's to test the drive out, put in Kill Bill Vol 2, and started burning. Even at 4x, the entire process took 15 minutes. I was anxious to try out the Dual Layer feature, so I went out and bought a pack of DVD+R DL's. These things are not cheap, each one retailing around $10 a disc. After deciding on what to back up, I went to burn it. It took a bit of time, since it's burning at 2.4x, but it went flawlessly. I was a bit nervous, since I would've been annoyed (to say the least) at coastering a $10 disc.
In conclusion, I am extremely satisfied with this product. I can't find a reason not to give it less than 5 stars. It's easy to setup, it's easy to use, and it performs like a dream.
