Positive

• Turbo Boost Function; boosts read and write speed to 48X on CDR media
• Can over-burn CD-R and write 100 minute CDR media
• Good Software bundle
• Can read and write to mini-disc (DVD-R/RW)
• Supports Disc Quality Scanning with CD-Speed and Kprobe.
• Supports BookType (Bitsetting) on DVD+R/RW/DL
• Supports DVD-RAM read and write at 12X
• Reads pressed DVD Video at 12X
• Very good reading performance and reliability
• Can burn selected DVD+R/DL media faster than its rated speed.
• Very Good to Excellent CD-R writing quality and compatibility

Negative

• CD-RW write quality could be of better quality
• High PI errors on some of our DVD-R test media
• Single colored LED for read/write.

Conclusion

The main positive points: The Sony DRU-840A is called “Multi DVD Burner” since it supports recording on most available media formats including CD-R/RW, DVD±R/±RW, DVD±R Double/Dual Layer, and DVD-RAM.  It is packed with a comprehensive software suite consisting of Nero Express, Nero InCD, PowerDVD, which is worth the extra retail price.

The drives operation is very quiet; this is a big plus for us or anyone who appreciates a quiet computer.

The main negative points: There are a few issues that we would like to mention with hopes of them being improved.  Write quality with some CD-RW and DVD+R is an area we think improvement is needed.  We would also like to see some tweaks to a few of the write strategies for DVD+R media and are hoping that this will happen with future firmware updates.

To sum up, this is what we would say

“The Sony DRU-840A is fast and burns most media with good quality”.

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Introduction