- Overall Good DVD Recording Speeds
- CD-R Speeds Lower Than Specifications
- 16x DVD+R and DVD-R Recording Speeds
- 8x DVD+R and 6x DVD-R Dual Layer Recording Speeds
- 8x DVD+RW and 6x DVD-RW Recording Speeds
- 16x DVD-ROM Reading Speeds
- 48x CD-R and 32x CD-RW Recording Speeds
- 48x CD-ROM Reading Speeds
- 130ms CD and 140ms DVD Access Times
- 2MB Buffer and IDE Interface
- Nero Burning Suite Software
5/19/06 – Sony was one of the first companies to offer both the plus and minus formats in a single DVD burner when the format wars first started. This made their name in the optical storage format and they continue to release products with very competitive features.
The Sony DRU-820A has many of the specifications that you will see on competing DVD burners. The drive supports the fastest speeds for the DVD+R formats including 16x for recordable and 8x for both dual layer and rewritable media. DVD-R support is also for 16x recordable media but is slower at 6x for both the dual layer and rewritable media. Sony lists 48x CD-R speeds with a footnote that is is with a turbo boost feature that I could not get to function.
During testing of the drive with the various media types, the Sony generally fell in the middle or slightly above the group for overall write times. The one area of concern was with the CD-R performance. As mentioned above, Sony lists a turbo feature to achieve 48x speed, but during testing I was only able to achieve a 40x speed that put it slightly below average.
Overall, the Sony doesn't excel or falter in any one particular media format and that is its strength. The DRU-820A makes a good all around burner for those needing to use all the various media types.
