Sony BWU-100A detail information
| Posted by | agent009 |
| Posted on | 26/06/07 06:17 |
| Number of views | 20665 |
| Manufacturer | Sony |
| Product | Sony BWU-100A |
CD-R writing quality
In CD writing tests below, we will use Nero CD-DVD Speed to write CDs at the maximum speed supported by Sony BWU-100A.
We will then test their quality using a Sony CRX230EE drive. Quality scans will be conducted at the maximum scanning speed of 48x. (Note that using different scanning drives and speeds may dramatically alter results obtained in quality tests.)
In CD quality tests, the testing drive reports two types of errors: C1 errors and C2 errors.
In practice, a pressed or recorded CD will always have some C1 errors, but they are easily corrected by the drive's error correcting decoder.
C2 errors are the next level of errors. While C2 errors can also be corrected by drive, they are not wanted in a good quality disc. A good disc should not contain any C2 errors, and have an average C1 error amount below 2.0 to be considered a best-quality disc, or at least below 10.0 to be considered a good-quality disc.
Beyond C2 errors, there are uncorrectable errors that make a disc unreadable.
In the tests below, we will explore CD-R writing speed and quality of Sony BWU-100A with media from several manufacturers.
Fujifilm 48x CD-R

Fujifilm 48x CD-R

Quality test

An excellent burn with this This Taiyo Yuden media.
Verbatim 52x CD-R

Verbatim 52x CD-R

Quality test

Excellent quality with CMC-manufactured media as well.
Memorex 52x CD-R

Memorex 52x CD-R
(Thanks to Memorex USA for providing this media)

Quality test

Excellent burn with Ritek media.
Summary
Sony BWU-100A is not a very fast CD-R writer, but it created high quality CD-R discs with three media types we tested.
CD-RW writing quality
In the tests below, we will explore CD-RW writing speed and quality of Sony BWU-100A with media from several manufacturers.
Verbatim DataLifePlus 32x CD-RW

Verbatim DataLifePlus 32x CD-RW
(Thanks to Verbatim USA for providing this media)

Quality test

Transfer rate test

High levels of C1 errors but no C2 errors. Acceptable quality for ultra-speed+ CD-RW media, confirmed by the full-speed transfer rate test.
Memorex 12x CD-RW

Memorex 12x CD-RW
(Thanks to Memorex USA for providing this media)

Quality test

C1 error rates significantly increase toward the end of the disc but there are no C2 errors.
Summary
Sony BWU-100A produces acceptable quality CD-RW burns.

except HDDVD perhaps



Unfortunately, 1x HD-DVD burners are just beginning to appear this summer [in notebooks], so HD-DVD burning has been no more than a theoretical possibility even though HD-DVD-R and -RW media has been out for months.
Toshiba's SD-H903A 1x HD-DVD burner is awfully late for a product launched/unveiled six months ago. They better hurry. You know: train... leaving the station...





Just wondering if that benQ you used for scanning is a rebadged liteon? If it's genuine benQ, I wonder why you didn't use cdspeed for scanning + jitter, it would be nice to see how good the jitter was on some of those discs that had ridiculously low error levels (MCC003 in particular)



DW1680 is a MediaTek/Lite-On design [otherwise KProbe wouldn't have worked with it], equivalent to LH-16A1P.
We use KProbe for quality testing to keep reviews consistent, but you are right, CD-DVD Speed does provide more quality data.
In BWU-100A DVD+R burns, jitter is pretty low. It usually averages 9% +-0.4% when measured by either BenQ or Lite-On drives.




I believe this is the way CD-DVD Speed reports capacities.
25,025,xxx,xxx bytes is the so-called 'gross' BD-RE capacity before 12,288 clusters are allocated for the inner spare area (ISA0).
The same number of 64 KB clusters is lost with BD-R as well, but the 24,220,xxx,xxx number reported for BD-R is the 'net' capacity.
In both cases, usable space ends up being the same 24,220,xxx,xxx bytes.


Havent payed much attention yet as its still sorta early to consider using anything newer than DVD as a cost effective measure..
But yeah, absolutely too small for next gen, which is sad because I hate sony and everything they are about.
btw nice writeup 009


thanks for the review, I appreciate it, I was wondering if anybody here, maybe able to help me with a question, I am thinking of fitting one of these into a custom HTPC case. Is this the same same size dimensions as current DVD drives and also, does the front bezel remove easily as current drives, I need to remove to be able to fit the drive into my custom case, as long as it is standard sizeand the bezel comes off, I will be fine.
thanks for any feedback.


Yes, the bezel is removable. It is held in place by plastic tabs, as with any other drive.
BWU-100A is a standard 5.25 inch drive that is 190 mm long. This is longer than usual and about the maximum length that 5.25 inch bays are designed for. It may be a tight fit in very small cases like Shuttle. I don't think you will have trouble fitting it in an HTPC case, but to be sure, measure the length of the drive bay.




...is this true? BD-R at 1x? Is this only on the OEM version? I am also looking at a (retail) version from ebay and wondering if anyone else had same experiences... thx


http://reviews.cnet.com/dvd-drives/sony-bwu-100a-blu/4505-3212_7-31899197.html

CD, DVD and BD (Blu-ray Disc) reading performance
add a tag