CNET editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 07/02/2004
- Released on: 05/17/2004
The DRU-700A is almost identical in appearance to its forerunners in the innovative DRU-500 series, sporting the same mildly attractive, putty-colored faceplate and translucent gray-and-blue media tray; Sony includes a black replacement faceplate for those with meaner-looking PCs. The drive measures a little less than seven inches deep, making it an especially good choice for bread-box and mini PCs. Adorning its front are an emergency-eject port, a power/busy light, and an eject button--that's it; there's no volume control nor headphone jack. The back panel has the standard array of connections: analog and digital audio outputs, IDE connector, drive configuration jumpers, plus three mystery jumpers whose purpose was unclear--leave them alone.
The DRU-700A's most significant feature is its ability to write 8.5GB double-layer DVD+R discs. This more capacious DVD-recordable technology allows you to back up an entire high-bit-rate, two-hour movie without compression or alteration and archive twice the amount of data as normal single-layer DVD (read more about the pros and cons of double-layer technology in CNET's burner buying guide).
The DRU-700A also writes single-layer DVD-R and DVD+R at 8X, DVD-RW/+RW at 4X, CD-R at 40X, and CD-RW at 24X (just like the DRU-530A before it). DVD-ROM reading proceeds at a sprightly 12X, and CD-ROM reading at 40X. Those specs are totally sufficient for most users, but they're no longer state of the art: Plextor's PX-712 writes DVD+R at 12X, and 16X drives are almost here.
For the first time, Sony bundles Ahead Software's Nero 6.0 DVD/CD software suite; it's not our Editors' Choice Ultra edition, but it's still a great improvement over the underpowered Sonic MyDVD suite that shipped with the Sony DRU-530A. Nero 6.0 isn't quite as intuitive or easy to use as MyDVD, but it offers far more advanced features and a much better backup utility.
CNET Labs recently changed its burner testing methodology to more accurately reflect real-life usage, and the Sony DRU-700A did very well with the new test suite. It stacked up well against both Lite-On's new double-layer SOHW-832s and LG Electronics's single-layer 8X drive, the GSA-4082B, with a three-way tie for movie-ripping performance but pulling ahead with the fastest time writing to single-layer DVD+R media. It was equally as speedy as the SOHW-832s at ripping CD audio, but for some reason, it fell considerably off the pace when writing a full audio CD, coming in approximately two minutes slower than the others. In our two DVD-rewritable media tests, the DRU-700A finished in a virtual dead heat with its competitors.
Because double-layer media is still hard to come by and will debut with a cost of at least $10 per disc and because there is no multisession support when burning DVD-movie discs, you'll want to be very selective with what you choose to put on double-layer discs. Additionally, the sluggish 2.4X write speed translates into a long wait for discs with lots of data or a feature-length movie. Our tests drive home this point: both the DRU-700A and the Lite-On SOHW-832s took about 44 minutes, 15 seconds to burn a full 7.9GB DVD movie. (Our dual-layer tests were conducted using Sony media.)
Interestingly, the more important performance issue regarding double-layer burning seems to be with DVD playback. The double-layer DVD disc we burned with the Sony drive played in most of the set-top players we tried; however, very few PC-attached single-layer DVD recorders recognized the disc. The double-layer disc we burned with the Lite-On SOHW-832s also played in most of the set-top players we tried and was recognized in very few of the PC DVD drives. For now it seems that buyers should beware: single-layer burners often can't play burned double-layer media.
DVD movie rip/burn tests (min:sec) (Shorter bars indicate faster performance)
 |
4.4GB DVD movie burn test | |
4.4GB DVD movie rip test (from DVD-ROM) |
Sony DRU-700A (8X DVD+R)
08:47
08:43
Lite-On 832s (8X DVD+R)
09:14
08:45
LG Electronics GSA-4082B (8X DVD+R)
09:18
08:56
LG Electronics GSA-4082B (8X DVD-R)
09:29
Lite-On 832s (8X DVD-R)
09:41
Sony DRU-700A (8X DVD-R)
10:08
CD Audio rip/burn tests (min:sec) (Shorter bars indicate faster performance)
|
74:35 CD Audio burn test | |
74:35 CD Audio rip test |
Lite-On 832s (40X CD-R)
03:02
06:35
Sony DRU-700A (40X CD-R)
03:04
08:25
LG Electronics GSA-4082B (24X CD-R)
04:45
06:22
RW read/write tests (min:sec) (Shorter bars indicate faster performance)
|
4.22GB RW write test | |
4.22GB RW read test |
Sony DRU-700A (8X DVD+RW)
13:44
09:30
Lite-On 832s (8X DVD+RW)
13:45
09:36
LG Electronics GSA-4082B (8X DVD+RW)
13:48
09:38
LG Electronics GSA-4082B (8X DVD-RW)
14:25
09:17
Lite-On 832s (8X DVD-RW)
14:37
09:33
Sony DRU-700A (8X DVD-RW)
14:39
09:32
LG Electronics GSA-4082B (3X DVD-RAM)
38:47
18:53
Unless otherwise mentioned, all write tests are run with Verbatim media, rated at the drive's maximum speed. Find out more about how we test DVD burners.
Sony backs the DRU-700A with an industry-standard one-year warranty, but the company's toll-free tech support is available only weekdays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. PT. Sony's Web site offers abundant support in the form of a variety of FAQs, technology white papers, software updates, PDF manuals, and firmware downloads.
Most helpful user reviews
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 22 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 3 of 22 user reviews
-
3 out of 6 people found this helpful
-
1 out of 1 people found this helpful
-
1 out of 1 people found this helpful
- See all 22 user reviews Write review
Submit your review
