Introduction

Sony Electronics is one of the biggest names in all forms of technology having to do with home theater, personal audio and video, as well as personal computing. It has a reputation for producing outstanding products that keep up with current standards and technologies as well as designing their own standards and technologies to compete with the rest of the big industry names in all fields.

One type of product Sony has made a permanent mark in is optical media. It has produced everything from simple CD readers to the latest dual layer DVD writers. Besides keeping up with up and coming technologies Sony consistently works to improve products which are already on the market.

Dual mode burners have been out for a while and have been improving both in quality and speed. Recently we received a sample of Sony's new 12x DVD+/-RW burner, the DRU-540A. Though not the first 12x drive released to the world we believed it would be a great competitor due to Sony's reputation. The first 12x capable DVD+/-RW was Plextor's PX-712A capable of writing DVD+R discs at 12x speeds. The second 12x burner we looked at was MSI's DR12A.

So how will this new 12x burner perform compared to the other two? We know you can't wait so we have run a few benchmarks with various types of media to compare reading and writing performance across all. Take a look at what we found...

Construction

Looking at the bezel of the 540A reminds us of Sony's previous drives with a rack mount look to it. The top half of the bezel is the dark tinted plastic which displays the Sony logo as well as the DVD/DVD+Rewritable and CDRW standards logos.

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When we peeked inside the drive we noticed that the circuitry inside the DRU-540A is the same as that of the DR12A. Like the Plextor PX-712A, both drives use the Sanyo LC897491 chipset which support 12x DVD+R burning as well as the AK8584 analog signal processor. The DRU-540A does have a slightly updated cache but remains at 2MB like the DR12A.

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Features

Since the circuitry/chipsets of the DRU-540A are the same as the DR12A we assumed the features would also be quite similar amongst the two drives. We scanned the 540A using Nero's InfoTool to see what the drive offered and found the following...

From the InfoTool results the drives seem to be identical, so far...

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We scanned the DRU-540A in DVD Info Pro to get a better look at the drives overall features. It seems that though the circuitry looks to be the same on both the Sony and MSI drives, the Sony does not have the HD-Burn features the MSI carries or, Plextor's flavor of HD-Burn, the GigaRec feature.

The Plextor PX-712A also featured support for the Philips Mt. Rainier standard which allows drag & drop writing to RW discs.

Sony DRU-540A 12x DVD-/+RW Drive
Interface	PATA
CD Write Speed	40X CAV, 32X PCAV, 24X PCAV 16X, 8X, 4X
CD Rewrite Speed	24X PCAV 16X, 12X, 8X, 4X
CD Read Speed	40X MAX (CAV)
DVD-R Write Speed	8X (Z-CLV) 4X, 2X, 1X
DVD-RW Rewrite Speed	4X, 2X, 1X (CLV)
DVD+R Write Speed	12X PCAV, 8X PCAV 4X, 2.4X
DVD+RW Rewrite Speed	4X, 2.4X (CLV)
DVD-RAM Write Speed	N/A
DVD Read Speed	12X MAX (CAV)
Supported Modes	DAO / DAO-RAW 16 & 96 TAO SAO / RAW SAO, RAW SAO 16 & 96 Packet Write Multi-Session
Supported Formats	DVD+R (DAO, incremental, seq) DVD+RW (random) DVD-R (DAO, incremental, seq) DVD-RW (restricted overwrite) CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-DA, Mixed Mode, CD Extra Photo CD, CD Text, Bootable CD, UDF
Access Time	CD: 130ms DVD: 160ms
Buffer	2MB

Burn Tests CDR Media

We use 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 You can check out our previous benchmarks on the MSI DR12A from about a month ago. For this duration of the benchmark, we use the included 1.0A firmware. We first burn the media with the DRU-540A and then use Plextools v2.12 to test C1/C2/CU averages in the same drive. Good burns have low C1/C2 averages and are considered the most readable. We used Ahead Nero's CD-DVD Speed 3.12 for burn and read tests.

Fujifilm CDR

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The disc creation process for the Fujifilm brand CDR completed without a hitch utilizing the CAV method. Towards the end of the burn the drive did top out at about 41x, just as the MSI had done using a Ritek brand CDR.

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The transfer rate test ran just as smoothly topping out at 42x at the end of the disc read.

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The Plextor 712A read the Fujifilm CDR without any errors at an average rate of about 32x.

The media had an enormous number of C1 errors in the first 10 minutes of writing but did smooth out after that.

Imation CDR

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Like Fujifilm, Imation media is one of the higher quality brands of media which performed just as well.

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Again, the Plextor drive had no trouble reading back the Imation CDR.

The Imation media had a very low number of C1 and an even lower number of C2 errors on the disc.

Burn Tests CDR Media cont'd

More media tested...

Memorex CDR

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Though taking 4 seconds longer to write to the disc than the Imation media, the Memorex DRU-540A wrote to the CDR with no errors.

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Like Fujifilm and Imation, Memorex manufactures great quality media which worked perfectly with the Sony drive.

KHypermedia CDR

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Even the lower quality CDR's from KHypermedia burned with 0 errors up until the last bit.

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Once again, the Plextor drive confirms a good burn on this low quality media.

Burn Tests DVD+R Media

We have a number of different brands of DVD+R media ranging in quality...

CMC MAG F01

This is an Imation disc rated at 8x write speeds...

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The CMC media did not do well, writing at only 4x speeds when it was rated at 8x.

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The transfer rate test produced the same results, reading the disc at only 4x.

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Nero's CD-DVD speed had some trouble reading the disc towards the end at 12x. The drive never got back up to 12x most likely due to some errors in the burn quality. PlexTools also scanned a good amount of C1 errors that shows this media isn't the best to use.

Ritek R03

Here's another 8x disc, this one by Ritek...

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The Ritek brand media, however, performed better as it peaked at the end at about 12x. Sony claims in its documentation that the DRU-540A is capable of burning some 8x media at 12x speeds. The Ritek R03 was one of them.

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The transfer rate tests proved a reliable burn...

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PlexTools shows that it may have had some trouble reading the disc towards the middle but smoothed out as it continued.

Burn Tests DVD+R Media cont'd

Some more DVD+R media...

Philips C08

We used the same Memorex discs to test the DRU-540A as we did the MSI DR12A...

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[memorex_8x_DVD+R_transfer_rate.jpg] Click to enlarge Even though the disc seemed to burn successfully in the 540A, it choked on the transfer rate test in the same drive.

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[memorex_ridata_8x_dvd+r_nero.jpg] Click to enlarge

The 712A didn't have any luck either reading this disc. It was basically unreadable at the end of the disc.

VDSPMSAB 001

Here is another low quality media we tested with the DRU-540A...

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Even though the disc seemed to burn successfully in the 540A, it choked on the transfer rate test in the same drive.

Burn Tests DVD-R Media

We have 3 different types of DVD-R media to test out on the DRU-540A.

CMC MAG AF1

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The DRU-540A had no trouble writing and reading the disc at its rated 4x speed.

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The Plextor drive had some trouble reading the disc at speeds higher than 9x but continued to complete the read. Otherwise, the media performed well in both the 540A and the 712A.

AN 31

We also used the low quality Platinum media to test the drives - R write capabilities.

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The Platinum brand - R wrote and read fine in the DRU-540A but was unable to read on the Plextor 712A.

A bit by bit scan in PlexTools shows way too many uncorrectable bits for any drive to read. It's a miracle the Sony could possibly successfully complete a read.

G05

We also used the low quality Platinum media to test the drives - R write capabilities.

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The Platinum brand - R wrote and read fine in the DRU-540A but was unable to read on the Plextor 712A.

Again Plextools showed way too many uncorrectable bits which proved why the Plextor drive could not read the disc in Nero CD-DVD Speed.

Burn Tests DVD+/-RW Media

At test time we had only Ritek media to benchmark RW capabilities on the DRU-540A. Take a look at how it performed on these media.

Ritek 004 - DVD+RW

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The DRU-540A had no trouble reading and writing to the Ritek 004 media.

PlexTools also showed there were minimal C1 errors which could all be corrected.

Ritek W04 - DVD-RW

Though it is common for - RW and +RW media to behave differently we found both Ritek media standards to read and write similarly.

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The Plextor drive did have some trouble reading the end of the disk but continued on to complete the scan.

Read Tests - 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
LG GSA-4120B	125ms	242ms
MSI DR12-A	84ms	153ms
Nu Tech DDW-082	113ms	160ms
Plextor 712A	112ms	165ms
Sony DRU-530A	86ms	155ms
Sony DRU-540A	84ms	152ms
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
LG GSA-4120B	94ms	195ms
MSI DR12-A	106ms	224ms
Nu Tech DDW-082	99ms	171ms
Plextor 712A	107ms	259ms
Sony DRU-530A	129ms	204ms
Sony DRU-540A	107ms	220ms
Sony DRU-700A	121ms	231ms
Toshiba SD-R5272	97ms	180ms

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
LG GSA-4120B	32.50X	79:57.71
MSI DR12-A	31.81X	79:57.71
Nu Tech DDW-082	33.22X	79:57.71
Plextor 712A	33.25X	79:57.71
Sony DRU-530A	31.80X	79:57.71
Sony DRU-540A	31.79X	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
LG GSA-4120B	7.58X	4.38GB
MSI DR12-A	8.22X	4.38GB
Nu Tech DDW-082	6.53X	4.38GB
Plextor 712A	6.21X	4.38GB
Sony DRU-530A	5.79X	4.38GB
Sony DRU-540A	8.15X	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
LG GSA-4120B	6.88X	7.88GB
MSI DR12-A	6.84X	7.88GB
Nu Tech DDW-082	4.30X	7.88GB
Plextor 712A	6.18X	7.88GB
Sony DRU-530A	6.45X	7.88GB
Sony DRU-540A	6.91X	7.88GB
Sony DRU-700A	5.88X	7.88GB
Toshiba SD-R5272	6.44X	7.88GB

From the read tests the Sony DRU-540A proves to be one of the faster drives as far as seek times go. Since the drive is almost identical to the MSI DR12A we looked at last month their results were very close.

Final Thoughts

Being nearly identical to the MSI DR12A, we predicted the Sony DRU-540A to perform in the same way - which was not a good thing. The 540A had trouble many some of the media we tested, though low quality, but we hoped it could handle the lower quality media.

The DRU-540A did however perform exceptionally well with the higher quality CMC MAG and Ritek R03 DVD+R media. The DRU-540A specifically was capable of writing to the 8x R03 media at 12x. Sony mentions on their website as well as in their documentation of the 540A that it can write to some certified 8x media (Ricoh Co. Ltd 8x, Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd 8x, Hitachi Maxell, Ltd 8x) at 12x.

As expected in all new DVD burners today, the DRU-540A performed flawlessly on all four types of CDR media we tested. The drive's 40x CDR write speed was quick enough to write a complete 700MB disc at around 3:10. Playback was very good and we saw no issues.

We were a bit disappointed the HD-BURN capability was not implemented in the DRU-540A as it was in its twin, the MSI DR12A. The Plextor PX-712A is a much more efficient drive but also comes at a steep price. For the price, about $120 at some retailers, we would definitely recommend the DRU-540A for the average user, although there are better drives to be found. Get ready for our massive 12X+ DVDR roundup in the upcoming weeks!