Sony DW-DR22A: Finally a single disc uncompressed backup solution for DVD movies

Author's Rating:

Pros: Fast, quiet and holds up to 8.5GB on a dual layer disc.

Cons: OEM version comes with no software, warranty or support and a 15 day return period.

The Bottom Line: 
I have been extremely happy with this drive. It has performed very well and I have had no trouble with it at all.

Author's Review
Authors note:
This review includes information about DVD and CD media as well as reviewing the product. If you are not interested in the technical stuff please skip over it. It is included simply as information to help understand DVD media for those interested.

Thank you.

It's about time!
I bought my first DVD burner about two years ago. Since then, I have had to decide whether I wanted to make full quality duplicates of my DVD movies using two or more DVD-R discs or compress the DVD image to make it fit on a single DVD-R disc which also lowers the quality of the movie. I finally found a solution to this dilemma; the Sony DW-D22A DLDVD-\+R\RW drive.

This DVD burner is capable of making a full movie backup of almost all DVD movies out today using the new (dual layer)DLDVD+R\RW media available to fit a whopping 8.5GB on a single disc or 17GB on a double sided disc. This also allows for more than four hours of home videos on a single disc so you don’t have to split up your home videos to make them fit the media.


The DW-D22A

The drive is available in pearl white or black. I chose the black model to match my computer case. It can read and write all formats of CD-R\RW and DVD-\+R\RW as well as the new DLDVD+R\RW which is compatible with just about all DVD players made after the year 2000 and some even older.

The drive is fast and quiet. It can burn a standard 80 minutes of audio on a CD in just under 3 minutes and full 4.7GB (4.37GB actual size) DVD-R in less than 12. It can burn a DVD+R in less than 8 minutes and the dual layer DLDVD+R at full capacity (8.5GB) in about 45 minutes.


Drive Specifications
Note: If you are not interested in the specs, please skip to the next section. Reading specs is boring and only provided here as information.

Buffer Size: 2MB
Media Size: 8.5GB or 17GB double sided
CD access time 105ms
DVD access time 110ms
IDE/ATAPI interface

Supported DVD writing methods:
Muti-session, multi-border

Supported CD writing methods:
Muti-session, mixed mode, disc-at-once, session-at-once

Write Speeds
* CD-/ R 48X
* CD-/ RW 24X
* DVD-R 8X
* DVD+R 16X
* DLDVD+R/RW 2.4X

Read Speeds
* CD formats 48X
* DVD formats 16X


CD and DVD Media exact storage sizes

CD-R/RW= 650MB or 700MB (700MB is most common now)
DVD-R/DVD-RW = 4,706,074,624 bytes ( 4488 MB )
DVD+R/DVD RW = 4,700,372,992 bytes ( 4482 MB )
DLDVD+R = 8,547,993,600 bytes ( 8152 MB )


Some quick information on read and write speeds of DVD optical media

Single Layer(4.7GB) write speeds
1x (CLV) = about 58 minutes
2x (CLV) = about 29 minutes
2.4x (CLV) = about 24 minutes
4x (CLV) = about 14.5 minutes
6x (CLV/ZCLV) = about 10-12 minutes
8x (PCAV/ZCLV) = about 8-10 minutes
12x (PCAV/ZCLV) = about 6.5-7.5 minutes
16x (CAV/ZCLV) = about 6-7 minutes

Dual/Double Layer(8.5GB) write speeds
1x CLV = about 105 minutes
2.4x CLV = about 44 minutes
4x CLV = about 27 minutes

Single Layer (4.7GB) read speeds
6x CAV (avg. ~4x) read speed is max 7.93MB/s = ~14 minutes
8x CAV (avg. ~6x) read speed is max 10.57MB/s = ~10 minutes
12x CAV (avg. ~8x) read speed is max 15.85MB/s = ~7 minutes
16x CAV (avg. ~12x) read speed is max 21.13MB/s = ~5 minutes

Note: Check out “http://dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.2” for more information on the read and write speeds of available DVD optical media.


Personal use

Backing up my DVD collection
Since I installed this drive I have made several back-ups of my DVD movies with no problems and in very short time. Normally it used to take me about 20 minutes to rip the DVD files to image(s) and then usually over an hour to burn the disc(s). If I used full quality, it would take longer especially when burning two or more discs for one movie.

With this drive using the new DLDVD+R/RW media, it takes roughly 12-15 minutes to rip the image and another 45 minutes to burn the disc. The only time I have to use more than one disc is if the original movie is more than one disc (like “Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring”) or if I use standard DVD-/+/R/RW discs.

Backing up my PC
I can now back up my personal files using fewer discs. All of my original digital music will fit on one double sided DVD-R or a dual layer DVD-R disc. My pictures and other personal files fit easily on one normal single sided DVD-R.

I have even made restore DVDs using imaging software and Nero Burning Rom 6 Ultra Edition. So if my computer crashes beyond recovery, I have a restorable image on 4 DVDs to recover my primary hard drive. That is about 114GB of data compressed into 4 dual layer DVDs.

The imaging software makes DVD images ready to be burned by Nero. All I have to do is boot with DVD number 1 in the drive and the operation of restoring proceeds asking for the next disc when it is ready.

Home Videos
My sons 4 year birthday, my trip to Florida, our puppy when she was 8 weeks old, my band playing live on stage and many more videos have been recorded to DVD for permanent storage. I can usually squeeze two tapes onto a dual layer single sided disc depending on if they are completely full tapes or not. This is a great way to preserve family moments for future enjoyment.

I just wish they had all these things available before my dad had passed away. I would have loved to see his face and hear his voice again. This is a perfect way to keep your memories in full color and digital sound. If you have a camcorder or digital camera you can make your own home videos and watch them whenever you feel like popping in the DVD.


Software Recommendations

Roxio
Still pictures can be made into “slide shows”. You can even add music if you like. I bought this drive “OEM”, which means it didn’t come with any software or cables. You can use Roxio Easy CD/DVD Creator 6 to create home videos or slide shows from still pictures. There are other software titles you can use but Roxio is one of the easiest for beginners. It allows you to make DVD movies from home video as well as all the CD writing features it comes with. You can design your own menus and buttons too.

Adobe
I personally like Adobe Encore for making professional looking DVDs. If you are advanced or willing to learn a bit about making DVDs, this is excellent software for creating truly original menus and motion menus. You can control every aspect of the creation process and tailor your DVD to your exact vision. It does have a steep learning curve for those not familiar with DVD creation and how DVDs work in general. I would recommend this software only for advanced users and people who aren’t afraid of learning something new or are at least willing to read several publications in order to do so.

Ahead
Nero Burning Rom 6 from Ahead software is one of my most used DVD burning titles. I use it to burn DVDs from images stored on my PC and for creating bootable DVD media for the PC. Roxio allows you to make bootable DVDs also but Nero gives you many more options in doing so. You can make a bootable DVD that imitates a hard drive so you can load an operating system on it as long as you know how.

I have the latest version of Fedora Core Linux stored on a bootable DVD. When I want to install Linux on a PC, all I have to do is boot to the DVD disc and the installation runs from there.

There are many more DVD authoring and burning programs you can use but these are the ones I use the most. I will say that if you decide to use the Roxio software, you may notice that music that you add to your videos and slide shows sometimes is not as good a quality as the original files you derive it from.


The Deal

I got this drive for an amazingly low price. I found the drive on Xtremegear.com for only $69 on sale. Since then I have seen it as low as $59 other places. If you buy the drive “OEM” like I did you can save a lot of money, however you will also forfeit any warranty associated with the drive and you will get no software or support from the manufacturer.

If you want the software, warranty and support you need make sure you get the retail version of this drive. It runs about $80-$100 on the web depending on whether you get it on sale or not.


Conclusion

The Sony DW-D22A is a great drive for the price and it is fast. There are a few drives out that can top it but for the price, I’ll stick with this one. I have been extremely happy with this drive. It has performed very well and I have had no trouble with it at all. I hope this helps if you are looking for a large capacity DVD burner.

Thanks for reading,
Gr8ful :-)