Sony BWU-100A detail information
| Posted by | agent009 |
| Posted on | 26/06/07 06:17 |
| Number of views | 20673 |
| Manufacturer | Sony |
| Product | Sony BWU-100A |
DVD-R writing quality
In the tests below, we will explore DVD-R writing speed and quality of Sony BWU-100A with media from several manufacturers.
Verbatim 16x DVD-R

Verbatim 16x DVD-R
(Thanks to Verbatim USA for providing this media)

Quality test

Transfer rate test

A remarkably clean burn, not surprising given the consistency of this media.
Sony 16x DVD-R

Sony 16x DVD-R

Quality test

Transfer rate test

Excellent quality.
Ridata 16x DVD-R

Ridata 16x DVD-R
(Thanks to Ritek USA | Advanced Media, Inc. for providing this media)

Quality test

Transfer rate test

A low-quality burn with PI errors steadily increasing in the second half of the disc and PI failures growing to values that suggest readability problems.
The disc is read fine and at full speed by LG GSA-H42N. Whether this is due to exceptional reading capability of LG GSA-H42N, or poor scanning by BenQ DW1680, we don't know, but at least this has a happy ending.
TDK 16x DVD-R

TDK 16x DVD-R

Quality test

Transfer rate test

A great burn of CMC media, one of the best we've seen for media from this particular pack, with any drive.
Fujifilm 16x DVD-R

Fujifilm 16x DVD-R

Quality test

Transfer rate test

A good quality burn of Prodisc-manufactured media.
Fujifilm 8x DVD-R

Fujifilm 8x DVD-R

Quality test

Transfer rate test

Although this is an excellent quality burn, this media burns better in other drives.
TDK 8x DVD-R

TDK 8x DVD-R

Quality test

Transfer rate test

Compare to the same media type above. This time Sony BWU-100A produces a burn more in line with what we expect from TYG02.
Unifino 4x DVD-R

Unifino 4x DVD-R

Quality test

Transfer rate test

We have used one piece of old media to test the slower 4x speed. Sony BWU-100A applies ROPC (Running Optimal Power Control) to 4x burns. The quality test suggests a good burn, but a slowdown at the end of the transfer rate test shows a potential problem.
Summary
Sony BWU-100A is a good DVD-R writer, producing solid, sometimes excellent results with almost every DVD-R disc we tested.
DVD-RW writing quality
In the tests below, we will explore DVD-RW writing speed and quality of Sony BWU-100A with media from several manufacturers.
Verbatim 6x DVD-RW

Verbatim 6x DVD-RW
(Thanks to Verbatim USA for providing this media)

Quality test

Transfer rate test

High-speed Verbatim DVD-RW media, burned at 6x CLV, in near-record time. Disc quality can only be described as insanely great!
TDK 4x DVD-RW

TDK 4x DVD-RW

Quality test

Transfer rate test

A very good burn. Elevated PIE levels at the end of the disc are typical for discs from the particular 25-pack we use. No apparent problems in the transfer rate test with LG GSA-H42N.
Summary
Sony BWU-100A is a good DVD-RW writer, producing good or excellent results with two types of DVD-RW media we tested.

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

DVD+R and DVD+RW writing quality
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