CD Freaks presents: Sony DRU-840A Burner review

*~KIPPER~* · 24-09-2007

CD Freaks presents: The Sony DRU-840A 20X Multi-Burner Review

The full review can be viewed here

As always your comments and discussions are welcome in this thread.

**Albert** · 24-09-2007

*"Positive: ...boosts read and write speed to 58X on CDR media"

I just opened it and noticed.

*Another thing:
Features page--
"Summary The Sony DRU-840A performed well with our writing tests. We regret that we do not have some of the high speed rated media to test with at this time; when the media is available to us we will post scans of further burning tests in the appropriate threat here at CDFreaks.….."

*The graph that should be for TYG03 on the DVD-R page is YUDEN000 T03.

I really like this review, Kip, although some of the results surprised me a good bit. Brilliant job.

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*~KIPPER~* · 24-09-2007

Nice catch wallace

Please post any more that you find; I do appreciate a third eye on this. Thanks

**Albert** · 24-09-2007

Also on the features page: You refer to the drive once as the DRU-840X, and once as the DRU-840U; the rest of the time as the 840A. Both are only minor. The former is the only one that matters, as Sony does have the DRU-840U.

All else appears to be good.

Glad to help.

Anyone wondering why the Results and Discussion thread for individual members' test can't be found in the LiteOn/Sony forum can find the thread here: http://forum.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=227017
[The drive is based on a Samsung, and I thus started the thread there]. The thread offers a few pictures and a little more info that the uber-enthusiast might find interesting.

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**alan1476** · 24-09-2007

Great review Kipper, thankyou, these reviews make picking out a drive much easier. Great job.

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*Bob* · 24-09-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan1476

Great review Kipper, thankyou, these reviews make picking out a drive much easier. Great job.

Alan meaning this drive is a good buy or bad buy?

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*~KIPPER~* · 24-09-2007

Thanks Alan and wallace

*Bob* · 24-09-2007

Thanks and good job

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*~KIPPER~* · 24-09-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolling56

Thanks and good job

You are welcome; I think Alan is going to pick up this drive and do some of his own testing before he gives his opinions.

**MegaDETH** · 24-09-2007

Great job on the review Kip!

Lets hope a future firmware can help out the DVD quality a bit.

That aside Sony does make a slick looking drive.

**mciahel** · 24-09-2007

Hi,

since this drive is a Samsung rebadge, this thread belongs into the Samsung forum

Nice review btw

Michael

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*zebadee* · 24-09-2007

Hi

Very well presented Kipper.

It is surprising given the chips pedigree that it doesn't do better with some media though.
As for f/w updates this might not be that forthcoming.
As with the Samsung SH-S202 which shows a lagging of performance when compared to the SH-S203.
I can't help wonder if this is in part due to some apparent preference given to SATA in the build.
Although f/w updates should go some way to address this.
Are the interests/resources focused in that way?
Certainly for me.
My experiences have led me to believe that if buying a new drive & have SATA as an option (even with the use of PCI card). Then that's where the smart money is going to go.

*CDan* · 24-09-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by mciahel

Hi,

since this drive is a Samsung rebadge, this thread belongs into the Samsung forum

Nice review btw

Michael

Agreed. And it would be great if the maker of the drive was identified in the review itself. On a related note, we used to see reviews with images of the inside of the drive, identification of the chipset, etc. It would be great to see this again.

*~KIPPER~* · 24-09-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by mciahel

Hi,

since this drive is a Samsung rebadge, this thread belongs into the Samsung forum

Nice review btw

Michael

Thanks Michael

I am sure Zevi will see your suggestion on moving to the Samsung forum and will provide his input or move the review.

*~KIPPER~* · 24-09-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by zebadee

Hi

Very well presented Kipper.

It is surprising given the chips pedigree that it doesn't do better with some media though.
As for f/w updates this might not be that forthcoming.
As with the Samsung SH-S202 which shows a lagging of performance when compared to the SH-S203.
I can't help wonder if this is in part due to some apparent preference given to SATA in the build.
Although f/w updates should go some way to address this.
Are the interests/resources focused in that way?
Certainly for me.
My experiences have led me to believe that if buying a new drive & have SATA as an option (even with the use of PCI card). Then that's where the smart money is going to go.

Thanks Zeb

It will be interesting to see how future firmware changes will effect quality.

Auzzie Kid · 24-09-2007

is the Sony DRU-840A reliable when it comes to PIPO scanning?

**Albert** · 25-09-2007

For DVD scanning, they [Samsungs, off of which this drive is based] can be fairly reliable, although they don't have the reputation that BenQ, LiteOn, and Plextor drives have for scanning. They have been consistent enough for me that I'd say this drive is.

CD scanning? That's best left up to Plextors, BenQs, or LiteOn CD-RW drives. The MediaTek based Samsungs [such as this drive] act much like LiteOn DVD RWs when it comes to CD scanning--only showing some of the errors, and not all.

Again, I have some very crude pictures of the chipset and inside of the drive, as well as a little more info on it, in the Results and Discussion thread. I personally believe leaving some of the more advanced info and pictures out of the reviews is okay, as some people looking for a general review found it to be extraneous info.

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*cd pirate* · 27-09-2007

This drive seems to have a few quality issues @ high speeds. May be in need of FW updating or cross flashing (when possible) hehe.

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**Albert** · 27-09-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by cd pirate

This drive seems to have a few quality issues @ high speeds. May be in need of FW updating or cross flashing (when possible) hehe.

That sounds like a good idea...if I wasn't so lazy about getting the SH-S202J firmware [that Samsung finally released an update for], I would try it out and see.

I'm hoping that Sony re-labeles the SB01 firmware and ships it out soon.

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4hams · 27-09-2007

Thanks as always Kipper!

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Nk03 · 26-02-2008

Does anyone know why this drive does not read ANYTHING in Vista? If I put in a data disc, it either starts to spin up but stops, and continues to try and read, OR keeps spinning and trying to read. I can't access the contents of the disc, as it locks up Windows Explorer.

Samsung makes a drive that uses the same hardware, and it does the exact same thing.

deucedeuce1 · 15-07-2008

Does this burner slow down half way through burns for you guys and become almost completely silent?I tried burning at 12 and 16x with ashampoo and it always does this to me.The dvd's have always came out fine for me so far but at the end of burning ashampoo reports that the burn was only 5x speed or sometimes 10x.Any suggestions?

Thansk!

*~KIPPER~* · 15-07-2008

Welcome to the forum deucedeuce1

Have you tried burning with any other software?

I no longer have this drive but never experienced any slow-downs when I burned with it.

deucedeuce1 · 15-07-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~KIPPER~

Welcome to the forum deucedeuce1

Have you tried burning with any other software?

I no longer have this drive but never experienced any slow-downs when I burned with it.

Not yet but i will soon and report back with what happened.Thanks for the reply.

deucedeuce1 · 15-07-2008

Well I tried Cheetah dvd burner and the same thing happened.At 16x it was cruising right along and i could hear the drive spinning then when it got to 52% it got real quiet(Had to put ear to drive to hear spinning)and slowed way down.It took about 3-4 minutes to burn the first 52% then it took 10-11 minutes to burn the other 48%.So really 15 minutes isn't all that bad but is that a normal time for 16x?My old aopen burner that just died(Go Figure)seemed to be faster.

Thanks again.

CD Freaks presents: Sony DRU-840A Burner review

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