I just posted the article Sony DRU-830A DVD Burner Review.
Sony’s twelfth generation multi-format DVD burner now has the capability of burning DVD±R discs at up to amazing 18X speed.
Read the full article here: [http://www.cdfreaks.com/review/12694-Sony-DRU-830A-DVD-Burner-Review/](http://www.cdfreaks.com/review/12694-Sony-DRU-830A-DVD-Burner-Review/)
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Please note that the reactions from the complete site will be synched below.I’ve literally just bought and installed one of these for my Dell desktop. The original Dell OEM NEC deck (ND-3450A) is starting to show its limitations and was beginning to drive me nuts. The DRU-830A has performed brilliantly, burning a whole load of DVDs that the ND-3450A refused to do. I’m not too bothered if it’s actually a Samsung, or a Ford as long as it does the job well! I chose Sony because their products are generally very good and on the rare occasions when they have underperformed, Sony have been reassuringly good at putting things right. Yes I did pay a bit more than for some of the other decks, but I was really desperate. Normally I bite the pennies in half, but when you think of what you are doing when writing precious video to disc, or backups etc., you really need to be confident that the drive works reliably. which this one has done so far. Nero 7 Essentials (bundled with the DRU-830A) seems a useful package, BUT: - It doesn’t seem to have been written by MS Windows fanatics, as everything works in a peculiar way, taking a bit of getting used to. Certainly not untuitive. - It’s also very crammed with features, which is fine as long as you can remember where to find them!
Hi: My Sony 810A dies and the replacement was the DRU-830A. The firmware was upgraded to SS23. But the performance when reading DVDs is very slow. For example burning a 1 GB data disk (Nero 7) takes a few minutes, but the verification takes 22 minutes (most of the time at less than 1X). Many Many Many calls to Sony did not change anything. I tried to join the forum here but the code does not appear on the registration page. A note to the webmaster has gone unanswered. What’s the best DVD burner in terms of speed and quality data? The 810A was acceptable buy Sony will no longer sell me one.
i install a new sony dru 830a dvd writer in my pc and put it as master. after i boot up windows xp the drive read as dvd-ram drive without any disc in it. when i place a recorded dvd-r or cd-r, the drive read nothing out of the disc and immediately it changes into cd drive. the writer can burn dvd-r with nero, but just cannot read dvd-r or cd-r disc in it, even with the dvd-r written in it. i even have my windows re-formatted but it did not read but can write. the brand of the disc are verbatim and imation. 
i have bought sony 830a and it’s didn’t read the dvd it burn only read orignal dvd and pc is p3 550 256ram on winxp sp2 but when i try on onther modern pc pentium 4 it work well and could read all dvds and write !
I also have the Sony dual layer DRU-830A model. I can burn dvd’s just fine + or - either way Once i put the succefully burned disk back in the drive it will not read it!!! The DVD shows up as BLANK which i know its not because it works fine on any other system !!! its driving me crazy there has to be a solution somewhere someone please help ! my pc is p4 2.66 ghz 256 mb ram winxp sp2 nvidia geforce 5600. any ideas please get back to me on msn as realitycheck311@hotmail.com :c
I am having problems with my Sony DRU-830A, and it’s only five days after the purchase. The drive burns correctly CDs, DVD-Rs, DVR-RWs, reads them. But starting from today it refuses to read DVD-Rs, still continue to read all other formats and as well burning DVD-Rs. In first days it read DVD-Rs I have called the Sony’s UK hotline, they suggested upgrading my firmware and that’s what I did. I upgraded it from SS23 to SS25. Still the problem persists. 
_First, when i installed the drive in PC, the work well, but on day after the record was very, very low, 1 hour to record 1 DVD 4,7GB. I discovered witch the DMA turn to off alone. I did changes in bios setup, windows drive and nothing. It still low. I removed and put my old LG and windows turn to on DMA, i removed LG and put Sony again, so, windows stay DMA on (strange). _Second, when write CD-RW, it not recognizes ELGIN CD-RW 12x (IF12X80 AG41…) with 12x, it recognizes how to 10x. The results of record not open in some CD-drives. Strangely, the DVD RW it appeared with hole, without scratch and kept in DVD case :o . The laser of the drive open the hole in CD-RW and my DVD+RW discs? 
, i´m investigating. _third, well, after this problems, the DRU-830 is bealtiful and record very well DVD+R till moment. Need improve with more discs registered to recognizes speed (DVDs±R) and record quality, especially RWs
hey Italo Valerio. to turn on dma uninstall the ide controller from device manager and restart. then the windows will automatically reinstall it and enable dma. mine works lyk a charm xcept dat it recognises discs as 4.29 gb instead of 4.7 gb wots wrong?
"mine works lyk a charm xcept dat it recognises discs as 4.29 gb instead of 4.7 gb wots wrong? " oops stupid mistake. 4got computer recognition is diiferent. pls ignore it.
Posted by PFX (guest) on Thursday 31 May 2007 14:16 "hey Italo Valerio. to turn on dma uninstall the ide controller from device manager and restart. then the windows will automatically reinstall it and enable dma. " - I had make this, but not work. In PC of my friend witch have Samsung happen the same, i did try to make this changes but only swapping drives an turn again worked.
The more new problem is: This drive recognize ELGIN DVD+R DL 8X (LO 1106-R) how 30GB free space!, i did try to record but happened error when starting recording the second layer. Midia losted. Play only first layer (4,7GB).
My burner is not recognized by the PC. It shows only the DVD RAM drive icon in “My Computer”, which i rpesume is for writing but no CD/DVD reader is shown. Pls Help!!!
Hi, I am also facing same problem, i have sempon 3000 ASUS motherboard, I tried all the above options, but still did not help. if you have any new ideas to solve this problem mail me at wconnect@gmail.com
i also have same problem. my dvd riter sOny DRU-170C giving me same things. it isnt reading any of DVD s and saying that insereted disc is a blank cd (instead of a DVD ).all of my frnds having same problem . it s IC problem . The IC of sony dvd riter /cd riter is faulty ! and they arent taking pains to rectify the errOr! sony sucks!!!
Make sure you guys are using the latest firmware, which at the moment is SS25. BTW i don’t have any issues with the drive, possibly due to the fact that i’m using the latest firmware. P.S http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/firmware.htm
I’ve owned the Sony DRU-830A for over a month now and burned a lot of -R, 4 gig DVD’s which will not play on most players. The drive does not support Book Typing therefore making a good Double Layer (ROM) DVD is impossible. I personally feel with most stores carring blank DVD’s there is a large market for making back-up copies of your DVDs and Sony has missed the boot on this issue! The Lie-On DVD Burners is a better choice for those of use who have a need to make back-up copies of their DVDs and no drive that does not support BOOK TYPING should not be considdered! :g
After 3 months, i will get other drive. This drive is an DVD-RW disc killer. After to burn the discs in DRU, the discs aren´t recognizes more, in any drives, the discs only stop, really not work. No record, no erase, no appear more how DVDRW, only appear “no disc inserted”. Happened with: 2 discs SONY DVD+RW AccuCORE (VER. 1.2), 1 DVD-RW Opto Digital (OTC -W84083N0 W004), 1 DVD+RW OPTO DIGITAL (OTC+W84169N0 0P4), 1 DVD+RW HP (PHILIPS ODTC 1-4X D25051). Loose 2 Elgin DVD+DL discs too, no burn second layer. I wait till now, waiting an firmware version to correct RW problems. I no have time to wait more. I like the quality burns of DVD-R/+R, its beautiful drive but i need good RW drive. Good luck to all users.
Robert’s posting on July 5 is incorrect. This drive does indeed support Book Type settings. (A screen capture of the Book Type setting is shown right in the review.) However, you must use the version of Nero included with the drive to set it. And in general, Book Type settings only apply to +R media. No drive that I am aware of has confirmed support for setting Book Type for -R media. (For -R discs, the Book Type is set in the disc manufacturing process. Disc drives cannot afterwards write to the necessary sector.)
Hey guys I have the same problem stated above… the drive reads a DVD-R16x as an emtpy CD disc… i updated the firmware like Chris_504 suggested, still nothing. The DVD disc works fine on another computer. Any ideas?? Thanks