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Sony Speeds Multiformat DVD Drives

Upgraded drives can record data twice as fast as previous models.

Martyn Williams, IDG News Service

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Sony has upgraded its multi-format DVD recording drive adding faster recording to the unit, although users will have to wait a while to use one format at the higher speed because of a lack of available media.

The DRU-510A internal drive and DRX-510UL external drive are upgraded versions of Sony's 500 series multi-format drives that were unveiled last year. They were the first drives to support both the competing 'plus' and 'minus' recordable DVD formats.

The DVD+R/RW formats were developed by a group of companies led by Sony and Koninklijke Philips Electronics, while the DVD-R/RW formats were developed under the DVD Forum. The two standards are battling for dominance in the expanding recordable DVD market.

The new drives support 4X recording for DVD+R, DVD+RW, and DVD-R and 2X recording for DVD-RW. Compared to Sony's first multi-format drive, it is an increase on the plus formats from 2.4X while the minus format speeds are the same.

Twice as Fast

For consumers this increase means data can be recorded twice as fast onto the three formats that support 4X--leading to an obvious cut in the amount of time required to burn a disc. For example, at 4X speed it will take approximately 15 minutes to fill a 4.7GB DVD disc to capacity, against almost 30 minutes using 2X speed and an hour at 1X speed.

In addition to the new drives, media that supports the higher speed will be needed to realize the speed increases. DVD-R and DVD+R media that supports 4X recording is already available. However DVD+RW media, which is potentially more useful because it allows rewriting, is not widely available beyond 2.4X.

Other features of the two drives are CD-R recording at 24X and CD-RW recording at 16X, according to Sony. Read speeds are 4X for all four recordable DVD formats, 2X for DVD-Video, 12X for DVD-ROM, and 32X for CD-ROM. The internal DRU-510A has an ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface) interface while the external DRX-510UL supports both IEEE1394 and USB 2.0.

The DRU-510A will be available during May and will cost around $350. The DRX-510UL will be available during June and cost around $430, Sony said.

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