Introduction and Construction

A few weeks ago, we dangled a little DVD Dual Layer primer (teaser?) for all of you who are looking forward to the technology.

Even though we received a preproduction sample from Sony, we have a generally good idea which media will be bundled in the final version of the drive. To no surprise, most of the Nero Express suite will ship with the final drive. This includes Nero Express 6, InCD 4, ShowTime, ImageDrive, WaveEditor and the Nero Toolkit.

The faceplace of our preproduction drive looks identical to the DRU-530A. Our press guide claims that the final version of the drive will also ship with a black replaceable faceplate. Unlike the Gigabyte GO-W0808A, there is no forward headphone capability.

Our largest surprise came when we noticed the chipset in our DRU-700A was the same found in the Gigabyte GO-W0808A, the MT1818E. This little chipset has been with DVD burners for a long time; the only real upgrades that have occurred since DVD+R 2X has been upgrades to the analog controllers and pickups. The same innards are found in the Lite-On LDW-812S.

Below is a quick overview of specifications on the drive:

Sony DRU-700A DVD-/+R DL Drive
Interface	IDE
CD Write Speed	40X, 32X, 24X (P-CAV) 16X, 12X, 8X, 4X (CLV)
CD Rewrite Speed	24X (Z-CLV) 16X, 12X, 8X, 4X (CLV)
HD-CD Write Speed	24x, 18x (CAV) 12x, 6x (CLV)
CD Read Speed	40X Max (CAV)
DVD-R Write Speed	8X (Z-CLV) 4X, 2X (CLV)
DVD-RW Rewrite Speed	4X, 2X, 1X (CLV)
DVD+R Write Speed	8X (Z-CLV) 4X, 2X (CLV)
DVD+RW Rewrite Speed	4X, 2.4X (CLV)
DVD+R DL Write Speed	2.4X (CLV)
DVD Read Speed	12X Max (16,620KB/s) (CAV)
Supported Modes	DAO / DAO-RAW 16 & 96 TAO SAO / SAO 16 & 96 Packet Write MultiSession
Supported Formats	DVD+R (DAO, incremental, seq) DVD+RW (random) DVD-R (DAO, incremental, seq) DVD-RW (restricted overwrite) DVD+R Dual Layer CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-DA, Mixed Mode, CD Extra Photo CD, CD Text, Bootable CD, UDF
Access Time	CD: 160ms DVD: 200ms
Buffer	2MB

Although the labeled access times are slightly higher than normal, most specifications on this drive are identical to the Gigabyte GO-W0808A shown from our roundup last week.

Click to enlarge.

DVDInfo Pro correctly identifies the DVD+R DL capabilities of the drive.

Click to enlarge.

Burn Tests CDR Media

We used the following configuration to test our burners:

Albatron 865PE Pro II
Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz 800FSB
2 x 512 DDR OCZ PC3200 EL
Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM 8MB PATA
Windows XP SP1

Below are the corresponding firmwares to each drive that we used:

Drive	Firmware
ASUS DRW-0802P	1.13
AOpen DDW8800	1.4A
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	USY1
Nu Tech DDW-082	B372
Sony DRU-530A	2.0A
Sony DRU-700A	VYV3
Toshiba SD-R5272	1030

Higher burn speed averages are more desirable.

Ritek 97m31s01f - 52X CDR
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	27.13X	79:57.71	Z-CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	22.39X	79:57.71	Z-CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	31.65X	79:57.71	CAV
Nu Tech DDW-082	23.51X	79:57.71	P-CAV
Sony DRU-530A	29.39X	79:57.71	P-CAV
Sony DRU-700A	31.62X	79:57.71	CAV
Toshiba SD-R5272	22.89X	79:57.71	Z-CLV

Mitsubishi 97m23s24f - 24X CDRW
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	16.00X	74:43.00	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	22.26X	74:43.00	Z-CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	-	74:43.00	-
Nu Tech DDW-082	21.22X	74:43.00	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-530A	22.40X	74:43.00	P-CAV
Sony DRU-700A	22.35X	74:43.00	Z-CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	15.78X	74:43.00	Z-CLV

Almost to no surprise, the DRU-700A had the same very high CDR burn speeds found on the Gigabyte GO-W0808A.

Burn Tests DVD+R DL Media

Sony bundled some Mitsubishi DVD+R9 media with which to test the drive. We pulled the information below from DVDInfo Pro.

Click to enlarge.

The ugly 2.4X write descriptor shows up. So far as we can tell, here is one of the first published screen grabs of a DVD+R9 burn. Enjoy.

Click to enlarge.

Sure, it isn't the most interesting burn that we have ever seen, but it is surprisingly stable. Notice, however, that this 7.96GB burn took 45.23 minutes! Burning two 4.38GB discs takes less than 15 minutes.
Here is the read test on the same disc with the same drive. We did not have many problems.


Click to enlarge.

Burn Tests DVD+R Media

Higher burn speed averages are better.

RICOHJPNR01 - 4X DVD+R
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	4.11X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.00X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	4.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	7.62X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-530A	4.05X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	4.02X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	4.04X	4.38GB	CLV

MCC 002 - 4X DVD+R
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	4.14X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	4.11X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	7.62X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-530A	4.10X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	4.04X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	4.11X	4.38GB	CLV

MCC 003 - 8X DVD+R
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	6.80X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	7.71X	4.3GB	Z-CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	6.57X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	7.62X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-530A	7.64X	4.38GB	P-CAV
Sony DRU-700A	4.02X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	6.51X	4.38GB	Z-CLV

YUDEN000T01 - 4X DVD+R
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	6.82X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.12X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	6.60X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	7.61X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-530A	4.11X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	4.11X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	6.51X	4.38GB	Z-CLV

YUDEN000T02 - 8X DVD+R
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	6.82X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	7.72X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	7.16X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	7.62X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-530A	7.66X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-700A	7.61X	4.38GB	Z-CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	6.55X	4.38GB	Z-CLV

The largest issue that we saw was the 4X DVD burn on MCC 003 media (Verbatim). During our tests, the drive would not find an 8X write descriptor. After consulting Sony, it seems that the final versions of this drive will support 8X write speeds on MCC 003 media.

Other media burn speeds seem fairly conservative. There are no burn speeds higher than what is labeled on the media.

Burn Tests DVD-R Media

Higher burn speed averages are better.

RITEKG04 - 4X DVD-R
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	4.04X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	4.03X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	3.97X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-530A	4.05X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	3.97X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	4.02X	4.38GB	CLV

MCC01RG20 - 4X DVD-R
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	4.00X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	4.04X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	3.96X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-530A	4.11X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	4.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	4.05X	4.38GB	CLV

MCC 02RG20 - 8X DVD-R
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	6.80X	4.3GB	Z-CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	7.70X	4.3GB	Z-CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	6.57X	4.3GB	Z-CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	7.54X	4.3GB	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-530A	6.85X	4.3GB	Z-CLV
Sony DRU-700A	6.60X	4.3GB	Z-CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	6.52X	4.3GB	Z-CLV

Burn Tests DVD RW Media

Higher burn speed averages are better.

RICOHJPNW01 - 2.4X DVD+RW
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	2.48X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	2.42X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	2.48X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	2.48X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-530A	2.48X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	2.48X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	2.47X	4.38GB	CLV

RICOHJPNW11 - 4X DVD+RW
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	4.11X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.00X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	4.00X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	3.97X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-530A	4.08X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	4.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	4.02X	4.38GB	CLV

MKM A02 - 2.4X DVD+RW
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	4.13X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.00X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	4.02X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	-	4.38GB	-
Sony DRU-530A	4.11X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	4.04X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	4.01X	4.38GB	CLV

PHILIPS 041 - 4X DVD+RW
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	4.12X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.00X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	4.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	4.03X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-530A	4.05X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	4.02X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	4.07X	4.38GB	CLV

PVCW00V00245 - 2X DVD-RW
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	2.00X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	2.00X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	2.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	1.91X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-530A	2.03X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	2.01X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	2.01X	4.38GB	CLV

MCC 01RW4X - 4X DVD-RW
Drive	Average Burn	Length	Mode
AOpen DDW8800	4.13X	4.38GB	CLV
ASUS DRW-0802P	4.00X	4.38GB	CLV
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	4.10X	4.38GB	CLV
Nu Tech DDW-082	3.97X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-530A	4.02X	4.38GB	CLV
Sony DRU-700A	4.02X	4.38GB	CLV
Toshiba SD-R5272	4.07X	4.38GB	CLV

Printed Media

Lower seek times are better.

Seek Times - Pressed CD 74:40.02
Drive	Random	Full
AOpen DDW8800	122ms	188ms
ASUS DRW-0802P	127ms	296ms
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	116ms	232ms
Nu Tech DDW-082	113ms	160ms
Sony DRU-530A	86ms	155ms
Sony DRU-700A	119ms	245ms
Toshiba SD-R5272	110ms	169ms

Seek Times - DVD 4.38GB
Drive	Random	Full
AOpen DDW8800	114ms	272ms
ASUS DRW-0802P	130ms	312ms
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	102ms	194ms
Nu Tech DDW-082	99ms	171ms
Sony DRU-530A	129ms	204ms
Sony DRU-700A	121ms	231ms
Toshiba SD-R5272	97ms	180ms

Even though they are more or less the same drive, the Sony DRU-700A had higher seek times than the Gigabyte GO-W0808A. This is most likely due to the differences in firmware right now. We also suspect that once Sony releases the drive to retail, seek times will descrease.

We used various DVD and CD media around the lab for this portion of the benchmark. We attempted to use discs that contained no errors or scratches. Higher read speed averages are better.

Read - Pressed CD
Drive	Average Read	Length
AOpen DDW8800	31.35X	79:57.71
ASUS DRW-0802P	30.89X	79:57.71
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	30.12X	79:57.71
Nu Tech DDW-082	33.22X	79:57.71
Sony DRU-530A	31.80X	79:57.71
Sony DRU-700A	31.06X	79:57.71
Toshiba SD-R5272	31.22X	79:57.71

Read - DVDR
Drive	Average Read	Length
AOpen DDW8800	3.75X	4.38GB
ASUS DRW-0802P	6.27X	4.38GB
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	6.16X	4.38GB
Nu Tech DDW-082	6.53X	4.38GB
Sony DRU-530A	5.79X	4.38GB
Sony DRU-700A	6.20X	4.38GB
Toshiba SD-R5272	6.61X	4.38GB

Read - Pressed DVD Video
Drive	Average Read	Length
AOpen DDW8800	3.44X	7.88GB
ASUS DRW-0802P	6.34X	7.88GB
Gigabyte GO-W0808A	6.31X	7.88GB
Nu Tech DDW-082	4.30X	7.88GB
Sony DRU-530A	6.45X	7.88GB
Sony DRU-700A	5.88X	7.88GB
Toshiba SD-R5272	6.44X	7.88GB

Error Tests

Although the write speeds are important, equally important is the drive's ability to write cleanly. We used one DVD+R (MCC 003) and one DVD-R (MCC 02GR20) for each burn test. Unfortunately, we had the issue of our standard MCC 003 media burning at 4X; we typically burn at the maximum speed for this test.

We used KProbe 2.1.0 with a Lite-On LWD-851S drive for our tests.

Sony DRU-700A MKM 001

Click to enlarge.

Update: We got an email from Karr Wang (designer of Kprobe2) claiming the tests we see from the PI/PO detection are 100% correct. Remember how DL technology works (see the primer if you need a refresh): the L1 layer sits behind the L0 layer. Thus, any errors on L0 are essentially amplified as we read the L1 layer. This disc read correctly in our Apex AD 2500, as well as every PC DVD reader in the lab.

Sony DRU-700A MCC 003

Click to enlarge.

Our MCC 003 burn went extremely well; although, it is hard to contest the validity of this burn, since we could only burn this media at 4X. We included it for reference anyway.

Sony DRU-700A MCC 02RG20

Click to enlarge.

The DRU-700A had some issues burning this disc cleaning, but consider the similar pattern we saw with the Gigabyte GO-W0808A last week in our roundup.

Bitsetting, Calibration, Firmware Hacks

Our immediate thought when we opened this drive was the similarity between this burner and the Gigabyte GO-W0808A. Although the Gigabyte drive is still not in full retail in the US yet, we could see that the two drives were built on the same design with the same chipset. You may recall that the MSI DR8-A(2) and the Sony DRU-530A shared identical components (and performance) in our previous DVD roundups. Sony has moved from a Sanyo chipset (used in the Plextor 708A) to the more widely used MediaTek MT1818E instead. To us, this implies two things. First, the MT1818E used in several burners including the LiteOn SHOW-812S and the TEAC DV-W58G-A may also support DVD+R DL with modified firmware - whether or not the pickup on those drives is capable of burning reliable error free DL media may be another issue. Second, the transition to DVDR-9 (DVD DL) may be "no big deal" at least as far as hardware is concerned. Remember, all DVD burners execute the necessary calibration techniques to read DVD-9; writing to DVDR-9 only requires the same strategies to the write laser. Could it be that all those rumors of firmware upgrade DVD DL capabilities were true?

In fact, several other MT1818E burners are capable of firmware upgrades to DVD+R9. In fact, using beta firmware upgrades, we actually got our Gigabyte GO-W0808A to burn DVD+R9 as well. Keep in mind that the GO-W0808A retails for less than $110, while the DRU-700A will hit shelves at $199. Although the Sony DRU-700A is a considerable step up from the DRU-530A, we would have to recommend the GO-W0808A if it costs $90 less and performs the same.

Another perk of the MT1818E chipset? The obvious booktype support of course! Lite-On's BookType Utility 1.0.6 (found here) works for just about any drive based on the MediaTek chipset, including the GO-W0808A and... the Sony DRU-700A. Whether or not this actually slips through the cracks in the final hardware revision is undecided. Since the upcoming LWD-832S is based on essentially the same components, we would be very surprised if the Lite-On BookType tool stopped working for only the Sony DRU-700A.

Bitsetting an MCC 003.

Bitsetting an MKM001 (DVD+R9).

You'll notice that we can go from "DVD+R DL" to "DVD-ROM" or "DVD+RW". This bodes well for those concerned with compatibility issues of DVD+R DL. Other sources claim this compatibility may become a large issue for DL, but since the book type utility clearly works, this becomes more of a non issue.

Final Thoughts

Does DVD DL make sense right now? We can already burn 12X DVD+R5 discs at less than 7 minutes a piece. Thanks to the lack of session closing, we can burn 2 DVD+R5 discs in less than 15 minutes, or one DVD+R9 disc in 45 minutes. Speed is not an issue to die hard DVD9 advocates, but casual enthusiasts may find the 3x in speed and increase in write errors an issue.

One misconception that we want to address is the notion that DVD DL software is not here just yet. Quite the contrary, pretty much any software we tried recognized the DVD+R9 disc properly and was quite capable. The bundled Nero software had no issues with software support. Other software like DVDDecryptor, Roxio Easy DVD Creator, and Alcohol 120% had no issues recognizing and burning the DL DVDs. In fact, software support seems almost transparent.

Unfortunately, even though the drives and software support are here, media certainly is not. We have heard from manufacturers that without decent media support, DVD DL will take a long road to adoption. Some drive manufacturers such as NuTech and MSI, claim that they will have DVD+R9 support in before July, but other manufacturers sound like they will not have reliable support or plentiful media until October.

There is no question that DVD+R DL (and DVD-R DL) will become the de facto standards for DVD recording eventually (before it is replaced by BluRay or HD-DVDR). We sit on a second cusp for Recordable Optical Storage technology; remember, only a year ago DVD recorders were still $250 items and 2X write descriptors were great. After media became more available, writing faster on discs was trivial. (We already write higher write descriptors than discs support with the Plextor 708A and NuTech DDW-082.) Once we see media start to hit shelves en masse, 4X and 8X DVD DL capabilities should come with relative ease. Kudos to Sony for solving the DVD+R9 "chicken or the egg" question.

Stay tuned for my Dual Layer madness. BenQ (Philips) has a dual layer drive on the way via the Nexperia chipset, and we will see if it can compete with Sony's latest offering.

Special Thanks to Sony and Verbatim for providing media for this review.