Sony DRU510a or Pioneer 106? 8mb or 2mb buffer.

[Jon_J]

Best Buy near my location has both DVD burners
The Pioneer is about $40 less
But I noticed the DRU510a has an 8mb buffer where the Pioneer 106 has a 2mb buffer.
I have read the articles here on both these burners, (including the problem thread regarding DRU510a)

Does this buffer size make a "real" difference? I know in CD burning, the larger buffer prevents buffer underrun.

I will probably take my chances with the DRU510, unless someone tells me this buffer size difference doesn't make up for the advantages of the Pioneer 106.

Any input would be helpful,
Jon

[ipdave]

Pioneer has been rock solid ( I have 104, 105 and 106), but the Sonys have had firmware issues. Personally, I see no problems with under or overruns with the Pioneer's smaller buffer (burn proof makes it stable), and no reason to buy the Sony.

[The-poacher]

I have a pioneer (105) Great drive

& a Sony (DW-U10A) Great Drive

I prefer the Sony Because it burns more different kinds of 4x media @ 4 speed.

[Jon_J]

Thank you for the input,
I was almost decided to get the Pioneer until I printed the specs/requirements from Best Buy's site. They are listed as follows:
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Pioneer DVRA06
Intel® Pentium® III processor 800MHz (1.0GHz best); Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP; Windows Media 6.x or later, Internet Explorer 5.x or later; 128MB RAM (256MB best); ATAPI drive slot; AGP video graphics card with 16MB RAM; 10.0GB hard drive space
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sony DRU-510A
Intel® Pentium® II processor 400MHz or faster (Intel® Pentium® III 800MHz for real-time video authoring/editing); Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME or XP; 64MB RAM (128MB recommended); 1.0GB hard drive space; EIDE interface
-------------------------------------------------------------------
My current computer is maxxed out with a Pentium III @ 600 mhz

I'll probably go for the Sony unless I find out these requirements are stated incorrectly, (as sometimes they are).

Jon

[The-poacher]

If U can I would upgrade the 600 mhz for better burning performance

My Guru in the trade reckons for DVD burning U need around twice that to realise full potential of DVD burners

[ipdave]

Remember, most of those specs are for the specific software supplied with each drive; if you use barebones burning like burnatonce, the specs they give are meaningless. But, as the poacher said, a faster machine is a good thing.
Also the 106 burns the same types of media (DVD-+R and DVD-+RW), just costs less.

[LTR12101B]

Specifications like that tend to be task-specific - And I'd rather have a chipset with stable IDE DMA drivers (for the actual burn), than the fastest CPU.

To tinker with video, if you don't have processor speed, every edit will take AGES.

[Jon_J]

Thanks again for your replys

My main purpose for a DVD burner is storage. I'm going to archive 10,500 files, which are on 61 CDRs to 8 DVDRs.

I have worked with video. Downconverting DVD Video to SVCD, compliments of Doom9.

I had a 333mhz chip in this box and it took 36hr to re-encode a 2hr movie. With the 600mhz chip I have now, it takes about 11hr for same movie.

I know I need a newer computer as this one is 5yrs old, and I'll put this DVD burner in the new one later. In the meantime, I'll be busy with re-organizing and archiving my collection. I was going to wait for blu-ray,(which would make this collection very portable, 2 discs), but that may be awhile before it is released to the masses.

Thanks again,
Jon

[Jon_J]

After looking at Best Buy's site again, I saw the Plexter PX-708A and it burns at 8X for DVD+R and 4X for DVD+RW, DVD-R, and 2X for DVD-RW, but has 2mb buffer.
It was $299 US. I have always heard good comments on Plextor and whenever my CD burner, (yamaha - burns CD+G), fails, I'll probably get a plextor to replace it.

Plexter PX-708A comes with sleazy CD creator, so I'll use Nero for my data DVDs and for DVD video will try the softs suggested in the tutorials here on this board.

Jon

[slippery]

I was told by a bench tech that the one big difference between the Pioneer and the Sony is, that in a side-by-side comparison the pioneer takes quite a bit longer to burn data due to its error checking during the burning process. Dont get me wrong, I am not against the pioneer whatsoever, but I do have a sony dru500a(rev.g) and absolutely love it.