Sony DRU-540A

Review Pages

1. Introduction
2. Transfer Rate Reading Tests
3. CD Error Correction Tests
4. DVD Error Correction Tests
5. Protected Disc Tests
6. DAE Test
7. Protected AudioCDs
8. CD Recording Tests
9. Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests
10. Writing Quality Tests - C1 / C2 Error Measurements
11. DVD Recording Tests
12. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 1
13. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 2
14. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 3
15. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 4
16. CDSpeed/PlexTools Scans - Page 5
17. BookType Setting
18. Conclusion

Sony DRU-540A DVD±RW Burner

Introduction - Retail Package

The recorder is capable burning at speeds up to 12x for DVD+R media, 4x for DVD+RW, 8x for DVD-R and 4x for DVD-RW. The maximum allowed recording speeds for CD media are 40x for CD-R and 24x for CD-RW.

The DRU-540A recorder uses the Power-Burn feature to prevent buffer underrun errors. This feature includes Sanyo's well known Burn-Proof technology. The specifications for the drive are presented below.

PART NUMBER	DRU-540A
DRIVE TYPE	Internal Combination DVD-R/-RW, DVD+RW/+R, CD-R/RW Drive
MEDIA & MODES SUPPORTED	DVD: DVD-R/-RW, DVD+R/+R DL (read only)/+RW DVD-ROM, DVD-Video CD: CD-DA, CD-ROM (XA), CD Extra, Video CD, Photo CD**, CD Text, multi-session
READ/WRITE SPEED	Write (DVD-R) 1X, 2X, 4X, 8X (Z-CLV)* max. Write (DVD-RW) 1X, 2X, 4X* max. Write (DVD+R) 2.4X, 4X, 8X (P-CAV)*, 12X (P-CAV) max. Write (DVD+RW) 2.4X, 4X max. Write (CD-R) 4X, 8X, 16X, 24X ~ 32X (P-CAV) 40X (CAV)* max. Write (CD-RW) 4X, 8X, 12X, 16X, 24X (P-CAV)*** max. Read (DVD-ROM) 12X max. Read (CD-ROM) 40X max.
SUSTAINED DATA TRANSFER RATE	16.2 MB/s max. (12X DVD-ROM)
AVERAGE ACCESS TIME	160 ms (DVD 12X) 130 ms (CD 40X)
INTERFACE	EIDE (ATAPI)
BURST TRANSFER RATE	33 MB/s Ultra DMA Mode 2
BUFFER MEMORY	2MB
POWER CONSUMPTION	+5V 2.0A max., +12V 2.0A max.
DIMENSIONS (WxHxD)	5.75 X 1.63 X 6.75 inches
WEIGHT	2lbs.
PACKAGE CONTENTS	Internal DRU-540A Dual RW drive Ahead NeroVision® Express DVD video editing & authoring software Ahead Nero® Burning ROM CD/DVD mastering software Ahead InCD® drive letter recording software Ahead Nero Showtime™ soft DVD player software Ahead Nero® BackitUp backup software ATAPI cable and mounting hardware User’s Manual
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS	Pentium® III 800 MHz or faster (or equivalent) CPU minimum Pentium IV 1.6GHz or faster (or equivalent) CPU is recommended for real time video authoring/editing 128 MB of RAM (256 MB or more for Windows XP Systems) 10GB of hard disk space Windows® 2000 or Windows® XP Home or Professional Operating Systems
WARRANTY	One Year Limited
	* DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs recorded on this drive will playback in most consumer DVD players and computer DVD-ROM drives. Not supported with the bundled software, additional software required. * Appropriated speed rated recordable/ rewritable discs required. **** Supports 12X recording on specifi ed 8X DVD+R discs, please see User’s Manual for list of specified 8X DVD+R media brands.

The drive uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times.
Below are the drive's main specs as given by NeroInfoTool and DVDInfoPro:

- The drive / Retail Package

We received the SONY DRU-540A retail package of the drive. The retail package includes the internal SONY DRU-540A burner and recording, DVD authoring and DVD playback software (Nero, InCD, PowerProducer Gold and PowerDVD player). You will also find an owner's manual and manual for Nero recording software, as well as an audio cable, mounting screws and atapi cable.

The front panel is not particularly impressive, since Sony uses the same typical panel available on most burners. You can see the "DVD R/RW", "Compact Disc Rewritable Ultra Speed " and "RW DVD+Rewritabler" logos. There is no DVD+R DL format logo, since the drive does not support DL burning.

On the rear panel you will find the analogue and digital audio outputs, the IDE selection jumpers, the IDE connector and the power input.

Opening the device's case will void the warranty, so we advise against it. Instead, use the photos in this review for a closer look under the hood. Clicking on the image below will open a high resolution image in a new window.

- Installation

The device was connected in our test PC and was identified as "Sony DVD RW 540A" under Windows XP.All tests were done with firmware revision v1.0b.

The following pages include the test results for the Sony DRU-540A drive in comparison with three other dual DVD burners, the Plextor PX-712A, the LiteOn SOHW-1213S and the LG GSA-4120B.