BIOS: Technology Means Business

Sony, like most other leading manufacturers, has hit sweet sixteen with its new internal double-layer DVD recorder. The DRU-710A looks great and lets you author single-layer DVD+R discs at up to 16X speed, burning an entire disc in about 6 minutes. Double-layer DVD+R DL discs are also supported, giving you up to 4 hours' of MPEG-2 video or up to 8.5GB of data storage space on a single disc. Being part of the Dual RW family, the DRU-710A burns both standard 4.7GB DVD+R and +RW discs, as well as CD-R/RW discs, but it doesn't support DVD-RAM or DVD-R DL media. Its buffer size of just 2MB is also small compared to some other drives which include an 8MB buffer. The benefit of a larger buffer is that it helps to prevent write errors, especially if you continue to use your computer while burning. The DRU-710A also comes with some excellent software and a replaceable black front bezel, but its price is high considering its speed can be bettered overall.

Pros: Stylish; double-layer technology; replaceable front panel
Cons: Only 2MB buffer; doesn't support DVD-R DL discs; expensive

Double-Layer (DL) DVD technology is the next milestone in DVD technology. It essentially means drives support single-sided discs that have two information layers that can be independently recorded to and read from. The clever part of the technology is that both layers of a double-layer disc can be accessed from the same side of the disc, eliminating the need to turn the disc over during recording or playback.

Ordinary DVDs can hold 4.7GB, but these drives can read and write to double-layer DVD, which means an increase in capacity to 8.5GB. In practical terms, this gives you 4 hours' of DVD quality video on a single disc opposed to just 2 hours'. Better still, the drive is designed for single sided double-layer discs, so the entire capacity can be recorded or played back in one go, without needing to turn the disc over half way through. Support for dual rewrite formats means that the drive is fully compatible with both DVD+RW and DVD-RW media. However, similar to most double-layer DVD recorders, the DRU-710A can't record to DVD-RAM or DVD-R DL media.

Double-layer discs are made up from a sandwich of two very DVD+ thin films of organic dye separated by a transparent spacer layer. Information is recorded by permanent changes in the dye films caused when they are exposed to energy from the laser in the drive's recording head. The lower (L0) layer is semi-transparent, so the laser can be focused through it onto the upper (L1) layer, allowing data to be recorded and read back from both layers in turn. The combination of two data layers increases the capacity of the disc from the standard 4.7GB to 8.5GB.

DVD+R DL discs are a write-once media format offering compatibility with DVD-ROM drives and DVD Video players. DVD+R DL compatible drives are also able to read and write to ordinary single layer DVD discs. The DRU-710A supports DVD+R DL format, so you won't be able to write to DVD-R DL discs. Similar to the way the first few generations of single-layer DVD recorders were either 'plus' or 'minus' compatible, Sony, like some other manufacturers, is working on recorders that incorporate both technologies.

The internal DRU-710A succeeds the company's first double-layer DVD recorders, the DRU-700A and DRX-700UL, by offering faster write speeds. The DRU-710A has an industry-standard E-IDE (ATAPI) interface, and supports Ultra DMA33 Mode 2 and Ultra DMA66. Installation of the DRU-710A requires a single half-height 5in. bay with an available internal power connector and E-IDE interface.

The new drive can burn DVD+Rs at 16X (compared to 8X), DVD+R Double Layer discs at 2.4X, DVD+RWs at 4X, DVD-Rs at 8X, DVD-RWs at 4X, CD-Rs at 48X, and CD-RWs at 24X. The drive reads single-layer DVDs at 16X, double-layer DVD-ROMs at 8X, and CD-ROMs at 48X. Other features include a random access times of 140ms (CD-ROM) and 135ms (DVD-ROM), as well as a 2MB buffer to help prevent buffer-underrun errors.

In typical Sony style, the mostly beige DRU-710A (146x165x41mm; 900g) is more attractive than most other internal optical drives. Sony also supplies a replaceable black font panel, should the original colour scheme not suit your desktop PC. Along with the motorised disc tray, the front bezel simply offers an eject button, an emergency eject hole (disc release mechanism supplied), as well as an activity LED. There's no surprises at the rear of the device either, where you'll find jumper settings (for connecting the drive as either a master or slave device), analogue and digital (S/PDIF) connectors, as well as power and data cable ports.

The drive can be mounted horizontally or vertically, but Sony doesn't provide a S/PDIF cable or mounting brackets. Sony skimps further by not providing an analogue audio cable (for connecting to your soundcard), any mounting screws, or even a blank DVD+R DL disc to get you on your way. You do, however, get an E-IDE data cable (for connecting to your motherboard) and some useful paper-based Quick Start Guides.

Software supplied with the drive includes Ahead Software's Suite for Sony. The Suite offers a lot of useful tools, ranging from excellent Nero Burning ROM to configurable data backup, DVD authoring and video editing, audio recording and sound editing. In addition, old video cassettes can be transferred to disc, as can tape and vinyl audio recordings, and digital photographs can be organised and stored safely onto disc. There's even a designer for producing disc labels, and the Ahead Toolkit acts as a resource of utilities and diagnostics.