If you could not find the exact driver for your hardware device or you aren't sure which driver is right one, we have a program that will detect your hardware specifications and identify the correct driver for your needs. Please click here to download.
Fortunately, the war of formats between DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW has actuallyfinished thanks to the new DVD-Dual format which put an end to the disputeswhich one is better. This format combines recording capabilities of bothDVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW in one device. All main competitors from the campsof DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW promised to back the new standard. Pioneer, Sanyoand Hitachi, and a bit later Ricoh and Philips will produce pickups forthe DVD-Dual. So, the only thing for users to choose will be a media type - the warof formats is over, but the war of discs is probably just starting :).But this seems to be more convenient for a user. It's simpler to buy adisc and record it on the DVD-Dual than to choose between the drives whichare much more expensive. The first drive of the new format on the marketis one from SONY, DRU-500A, and we will test it today. SONY DRU-500ASpecificationRead formats supported.
DVD: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
CD: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-ROM (XA), CD-Extra, Video CD, Photo CD, CD-Text,Multi-session
Write speeds.
DVD-R: 4X
DVD-RW: 2X
DVD+R: 2.4X
DVD+RW: 2.4X
CD-R: 24X ZCLV
CD-RW: 4-10X
Read speeds (max).
DVD-ROM Video: 2X CAV
DVD-ROM: 8X CAV
DVD-R, DVD-RW,DVD+R,DVD+RW: 2.4 X CAV
CD-ROM/R: 32X CAV
CD-RW: 32X CAV
CD-Audio (CDDA): 32X CAV
Access time (Random Average)
DVD: 200 Msec
CD: 160 Msec
Interface: ATAPI (EIDE) support U-DMA
Data buffer: 8 Mbytes
Installation: horizontal and vertical.
Dimensions (W x H x D): 146 x 41.5 x 192 mm
Weight: 1.1 kg.
The big nice Retail box contains the drive, an IDE cable, one Sony's DVD+RW,screws for the drive mounting, two CDs with software and e-version of themanual and several brochures with useful information. The front panel is not conventional; when the tray opens, it looks asif the upper half moves toward you. There is only the Open/Eject button;the controls for direct listening to Audio CD are not here. The buttonis deeply recessed which prevents accidental pressing, but on the otherhand, it's not easy to find it by touch and press. The software suite coming with the drive is impressive. Sonic MyDVD 4.0 is a popular with novices packet of programs for makingprofessional DVD and Video CD of nonprofessional movies. VERITAS RecordNow is a program for copying DVD and CD and also for creationof DVDs; it's a good choice for a beginner. VERITAS Simple Backup is a full-featured program for making backup copiesand data protection, also supporting background copying and data recoveryafter failing. Arcsoft ShowBiz - video editing program with tools for making unsophisticatedhome video of video records; supports import/export to the MyDVD software. MusicMatch Jukebox 7.1 is a well-known program for listening to musicalcompositions and creation of your own MP3 albums. CyberLink PowerDVD 4.0 XP is one of the most popular software DVD-Videoplayers which, apart from DVD-Video, plays Video CD. The drive was released in November last year and first it came withthe firmware version 1.0d, now it's replaced with 1.0f. The new versionsupports recording of DVD+R at 4X and has the read speed for DVD liftedup, though it's not specified up to what level. The new version has some negative effect as well. Some of the userscomplain that the drive does not write Princo 2x discs at 2x and allowsonly for 1x. Reportedly, there are also Power Calibration Errors when any discs fromPrinco are used. The installation of the drive is simple, like that of any CD-ROM drive.It requires no special drivers. And I used the NeroBurning Rom ver 5.5.10which has successfully detected this device. The drive supports the Power Burn technology, the buffer underrun errorprevention technology from SONY. Besides, it also supports the LosslessLinking technology - a version for buffer protection in case of DVD-R andDVD+R media. The recording process can be halted and then resumed fromthe same place, but without this technology there can be some free spaceafter the interruption which might cause problems for home DVD playersand some computer DVD-ROM drives. The formats and media types supported can be found out with the NeroInfotool. EAC Configuration Wizard results. Traditionally, let's see how this drive is detected by the most popularprogram for audio track extraction. Well, the drive has everything for quality operation with audio tracks,let's see how it uses them in practice. According to the preliminary results and the specs, the drive promiseshigh performance and ease of use. Now we are moving to the tests. Test resultsDVD recordingLooking though leaflets supplied with the drive I found two bright redones which made me test operation with DVD-R first of all. It was written there that Verbatim warns that early 2x discs from Verbatimcan cause a record error on this drive. The following types are under suspicion:Reorder number 43136 and 43166. I felt really sorry because Verbatim's media are one of the best. Besides,Verbatim often receives OEM orders from third parties, and it would bequite unpleasant to face such a problem with an expensive disc. So, wetested for recording the DVD-R discs from Verbatim that we had and gotthe following results: All the drives produced by Verbatim until Autumn 2002 which had thefollowing Lead-IN00 42 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 50 00 02 87 0D 13 .B...@....P.....88 99 80 00 03 4D 43 43 20 30 30 00 04 52 47 32 .....MCC 00..RG230 30 20 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 .............have the write errors when used on the SONY DRU-500A drive. If you look into our DVD-R media catalog, you will see that apart from discs under the Verbatim trade mark there are some TDK's samples. The discs produced by Verbatim with the following Lead-IN 00 6A 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 50 00 02 87 0D 13 .J...@....P.....88 99 80 00 03 4D 43 43 20 30 30 00 04 52 47 32 .....MCC 00..RG230 30 20 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 .............work nicely on this drive at 2x. I also found a similar warning from Pioneerwhich notifies about possible write errors in case of DVD-R discs of theDVS-R47A/EN type. After that I actually tested compatibility with the DVD-R media thatI had. The results are not so sad. The cheap noname discs which were detected as clones of TDK and whichwere earlier successfully recorded at 2x on the popular DVD-R drives PioneerDVR-104 and Toshiba SD-R5002 failed on the SONY DRU-500A. Now they canbe recorded only at 1x, as well as the old TDK's discs certified for 2xrecording. Well, everything that has the following Lead-In, will be recordedat 1x. 00 42 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 50 00 02 7A 0C 15 .B...@....P..Z..77 78 90 00 03 54 44 4B 47 30 31 00 04 30 30 30 WX...TDKG01..00030 64 39 00 05 CC C0 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 0D9.............The other discs with the TDK identifiers in Lead-In can still be recordedat 2x, in particular, some TDK clones such as eProFormance. They are lessexpensive than TDK's models and have good quality. The Lead-In is as follows. 00 42 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 50 00 02 8A 0D 14 .B...@....P.....88 88 80 00 03 54 44 4B 47 30 32 00 04 30 30 30 .....TDKG02..00030 30 30 00 05 CC C0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 000.............I also recorded two Princo's discs. The procedure was flawless, thoughonly at 1x. Although it's not statistics, it contradicts to those userswho say that this drive doesn't work at all with Princo's media. So, the verdict is that users should choose DVD-R media very carefully. Fortunately, there were no problems with the DVD-RW media. The discs of the DVD+R/RW format were recorded flawlessly as well. Thetest recording was accomplished on the eProFormance discs for the DVD-Rformat and on the Verbatim LiveIt for all the rest. DVD-R recordingDrivewrite time at 1x, min.write time at 2x, min.SONY DRU-500A60:1829:14TOSHIBA SD-R500256:1828:30DVD-RW recording Drivewrite time at 1x, min.SONY DRU-500A58:14TOSHIBA SD-R500256:28DVD+R recording Drivewrite time at 2.4x, min.SONY DRU-500A21:54RICOH MP5120A22:10DVD+RW recording Drivewrite time at 2.4x, min.SONY DRU-500A22:46RICOH MP5120A22:16Here youcan find the data of control reading for all recorded DVD discs on tworeference DVD-ROM drives Toshiba SD-M1712 and Pioneer DVD-117LJ. As youcan see, reading of all the discs is stable and error-free. Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to test the DVD+R and DVD-R mediaat 4x as the discs certified for such speed are lacking on our local market.Also, I couldn't test recording of DVD-RW discs at 2x. Well, this drive reflects the struggle of the current formats, or rather,their parity. The DVD-RW media have come very close to DVD+RW in the writespeed; no sooner had the DVD-R made a step forward thanks to the writespeed of 4x, than the new firmware version from Sony provided the DVD+Rwith 4x support. Main reading parameters of DVD mediaQuality of operation with DVD discsNero DVD SpeedTesting with a one-layer DVD SONY DRU-500AAverage Speed3.99xStart Speed3.90End Speed3.99xRandom Seek176 ms1/3 Seek198 msFull Seek258 msReading typeCAVCPU usage 1x1%SpinUp Time2.99 secSpinDown Time3.49 secDisc Recognition Time6.46 secTesting with a two-layer DVD SONY DRU-500AAverage Speed2.00xStart Speed1.99xEnd Speed2.00xRandom Seek190 ms1/3 Seek263 msFull Seek305 msReading typeCAVCPU usage 1x1%SpinUp Time3.05 secSpinDown Time2.55 secLayer Change Time85 msDisc Recognition Time19.06 secReading of recordable DVDDVD+R reading DVD+RW reading DVD-R reading DVD-RW reading There is nothing unexpected, except a low speed of operation with theone-layer DVD-ROM (Data), - this problem can be caused by fact the thedrive treats differently the discs it doesn't like. In the DVD read speedthe SONY DRU-500A is very similar to the PIONEER DVR-104 which doesn'thurry at all when reading discs of this type. Standard tests for operation with CDsCD recording timeAs the SONY DRU-500A drive switches on the Z-CLV mode for recording discsat the maximum speed of 24X, the tests were carried out with the Nero CDSpeed program. It's able to give the graphics results relative to the currentwrite speed; so, we will find out how the Z-CLV mode affects the gradualwrite speed change of this drive. Two CD-R types were used for recording: CD-R SKC (cyanine) and CD-R Philips Silver Premium (phthalocyanine). CD-R recording, cyanine CD-R recording, phthalocyanine Well, the drive has no preferences regarding the surface types. But there can be some problems in recording CD-R: if the drive doesn'tfancy a disc, it will record it at a lower speed. It was found out whenwe tried to record discs from CMC Magnetics and Prodisk. CD-R recording, phthalocyanine, Prodisk 32X.As you can see, the drive fixed the maximum write speed for the discand stuck to it. BLER factor of the recorded CD-RThe tests were carried out with the device described here. BLER factor for the SONY DRU-500A drive. SKC 22-31 Philips Silver Premium8-11 Prodisk 32X36-48 The recording quality of this drive is good enough. As you can see,the CD-R disc from Prodisk, which the drive didn't like, has a much higherlevel of errors compared to the other two CD-Rs. OverburnThe SONY DRU-500A doesn't support Overburn. The attempt to test it withthe NERO CD Speed wasn't successful. Time of CD-RW full formatting in UDF with directCD 5.02b.CD-RW recording in UDF, 650 Mb test packet in 6500 files. SONY DRU-500AFormatting time (min.)Write time (min.)Philips CD-RW74 4x28:4529:54Verbatim DataLifePlus 10x10:328:24 Testing ability of the drive to work with 80mm CDs by the example ofa CD-RW disc.Formatting and recording of the 80mm CD-RW disc in UDF. 4x write speed. Formatting time (min.)Write time (min.)11:048:18The drive works nicely with the 80mm discs. The only problem was thatthe drive agreed to record the 10x 80mm disc from Dysan only at 4x. Testing main read parameters of CD discsCDWinBench 99CDWinMark99 - 1550
CD-ROM Transfer Rate
Inside - 2370 KB/s
Outside - 4650 KB/s
CPU utilization - 0.89%
CD-ROM Access Time - 127 ms
NERO CD SpeedTests with the standard CD SONY DRU-500AAverage Speed24.38xStart Speed14.22xEnd Speed7.15xRandom Seek166 ms1/3 Seek147 msFull Seek225 msReading typeCAVCPU usage 1x0%Accurate streamYesDAE quality Score10SpinUp Time2.95SpinDown Time2.83Disc Recognition Time9.94 secCD-ROM Drive AnalyzerCD-R reading CD-RW readingReading of low-quality CDAs you can see, in case of the low-quality disc the drive reduced thespeed immediately when the errors appeared and didn't make any attemptsto lift it later. Such approach can be very unpleasant for a user if allsuch discs will be read at 4x. Direct copying of information from 780 MB CD-R to HDDThe drive couldn't read the 780MB disc, - there were errors at the endand the drive displayed the warning; the next several attempts were uselesseither. CD audio track extractionCDDAE Licensed disc Pirated discAverage extraction speed21.4x20.3xTotal errors0.00%0.00% EAC (highest quality mode) Licensed disc Pirated discAverage extraction speed6.1x5.8xTotal errors0.00%0.00%Advanced DAE Quality(Nero CD-Speed)SONY DRU-500AOffset360 bytes (90 samples)Sequential Read TestAverage Speed: 22.80 X Data Errors: 0 Sync Errors: 0Harmonica Read TestAverage Access Time: 176 msData Errors: 0Sync Errors: 0 Total Data Errors: 0Total Sync Errors: 0Quality Score: 100On The Fly Copying SimulationCopying at 1 XOKCopying at 2 XOKCopying at 4 XOKCopying at 6 XOKCopying at 8 XOK Copying at 10 XOKCopying at 12 XOKCopying at 16 Xtoo slowCD TextDrive is capable of reading CD Text informationSubchannel DataTest 1Track (01): 01Relative position (01:05.00): 01:05.00 Absolute position (01:07.00): 01:07.00 Index (5): 13 -> incorrect! Test 2Track (17): 17Relative position (01:33.00): 01:33.00 Absolute position (33:35.00): 33:35.00 Index (1): 1 Test 3Track (36): 36 Relative position (00:00.00): 00:00.00 Absolute position (70:02.00): 70:02.00 Index (1): 1LeadinDrive cannot read data from the Leadin LeadoutDrive cannot read data from the LeadoutThe drive perfectly captures audio tracks. It can be recommended forthose who make their own digital audio albums. The detailed information on the tested parameters is given in the help file to the Nero CD Speed test program.DVD-Video playback with Cyberlink PowerDVD 4.0The DVD video was played without any problems. No artifacts were noticed. We also estimated quality of playback of movies recorded on DVD-R/RW+R/RWdiscs on the home DVD player BBK931. The playback was nice. Physical characteristics of the drives. NoisedriveTrayCD-SeekCD generalDVD-SeekDVD generalSONY DRU-500A6/107/107/108/108/10On the whole, the drive works quietly except some cases of operationwith badly balanced CDs and operation at the maximum speed. Thermal conditionsdriveT inside the case, CT of the upper surface, CT of the lower surface, CSONY DRU-500A36C46C47CThe thermal conditions are ok. But I don't recommend to place any devicesclose to it to avoid their overheating. Vibration in case of badly balanced CDsIn operation with the unbalanced disc the drive vibrated, but it didn'tprevent it from flawless reading of the disc, though the read speed wasn'thigh - 4x. Possibility to make it multizone (RPC-1)According to www.firmware-flash.com/it's still impossible to change the status of the drive from RPC-2 (regionlocked) to RPC-1 (region free).ConclusionAt last, the two competing formats are combined in one device developed by SONY. The new format DVD-Dual has confidently stepped out on the market. The SONY DRU-500A is a powerful tool for DVD recording which supports all latest innovations of both standards. Certainly, there are some downsides: it treats discs differently and has a low read speed for recordable DVD. Also note that it will be a bit dearer than one-format drives, but it won't be too much for a possibility to record all possible DVD types on one drive. All in all, the SONY DRU-500A drive is a worthy solution of the new DVD-Dual format. Recording Quality of the SONY DRU-500A Drive on the Reference DVD-ROM Roman Shelepov (srl@ixbt.com) Write a comment below. No registration needed!
Rw Dru 500a Driver
2ff7e9595c
Comments