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SONY ENHANCES ITS LINE-UP OF DUAL RW DRIVES FOR THE PC
New Drives Can Record DVD+R and DVD-R at Up to 4X; Compatible
with Popular DVD Players, Recorders and Drives
LAS VEGAS (CES, Booth N109), Jan. 8, 2003 - Sony Electronics
is building upon its leadership in the DVD-recordable market
with a new generation of its Dual RW drives, the first
combination drives for the PC to support the DVD+RW, DVD+R,
DVD-RW and DVD-R formats.
The internal DRU-500AX and the external DRX-500ULX drives
are capable of recording to both 4X compatible DVD+R and
DVD-R discs at up to 4X speeds, offer enhanced software
for mastering and drag-and-drop file management, and playback
DVD recordable media faster than before.
Like their first-generation predecessors, the new Dual
RW drives encompass four DVD recording formats for recording
functionality and playback compatibility. By supporting
all the popular DVD recordable/rewritable formats, the
Dual RW drives allow computer users to transfer home movies
from tape to DVD discs, customize and edit them for a personal
touch, and then play them back in nearly all consumer DVD
players and DVD-ROM drives without worrying about format
variations. Sony's DRU-500AX and DRX-500ULX models are
also the industry's first to support both up to 4X DVD+R
and DVD-R recording when using 4X speed media, making them
among the fastest on the market. Users can now create write-once
discs in approximately half the time of drives writing
at 2X speeds.
The new drives additionally support up to 2.4X DVD+RW/+R
recording and 2X DVD-RW recording, as well as 24X CD-R
and 10X CD-RW recording (using high-speed CD-RW discs),
making them ideal all-in-one recording devices.
"Sony has taken the lead in the DVD recordable market,
delivering high-speed and high-performance drives that
eliminate confusion and risk for consumers, and allow them
to create DVDs without worrying about formats," said
Robert DeMoulin, marketing manager for branded storage
products in Sony Electronics' IT Products Division. "The
DRU-500AX and DRX-500ULX drives offer high recording speeds
for users looking to quickly create video or audio discs,
edit and share home movies and slide shows, and perform
data backups."
Sony's first generation DRU-500A drive has already garnered
a number of industry awards last year, including Editors'
Choice Awards from both CNET and CDRLabs.com in October,
a Best Buy Award from PC World's December issue, and Maximum
PC's Gear of the Year and Kick Ass Awards, also bestowed
in December.
The internal Sony DRU-500AX drive comes with an ATAPI interface
for easy installation inside a PC, while the external Sony
DRX-500ULX drive features both an i.LINK (IEEE 1394) and
a USB 2.0 interface for simple set-up and maximum flexibility.
DVD & CD Software Suite
Both new Dual RW drives come with CD/DVD burning and video
editing, authoring and mastering software. The full-featured
software suite also includes backup and packet-writing
software for users to easily create custom backup discs
of up to 4.7 gigabytes (GB) of audio, video and data,
along with software to organize music files on a PC and
record them onto a CD or DVD. The software suite includes:
* VERITAS RecordNow DX™ mastering software that
allows users to create custom CDs and DVDs, in addition
to creating backup copies of CDs or DVD-ROMs;
* VERITAS Simple Backup™ backup and data protection
software that provides users instant backup and disaster
recovery capabilities;
* VERITAS Drive Letter Access™ packet-writing software
that enables users to format, drag-and-drop or delete files
similar to a hard drive or floppy disk;
* Sonic Solutions MyDVD™ authoring software that
allows users to quickly and easily transfer home videos
to customized DVD and Video CD discs;
* Arcsoft ShowBiz® video editing software for customizing
video footage with easy import/export to and from the Sonic
Solutions MyDVD software;
* CyberLink PowerDVD® DVD-Video playing software that
enables interactive viewing of both DVD-Video and Video
CD discs on a PC; and
* MUSICMATCH® Jukebox personal music system to play,
record, organize and discover new music with a guide to
thousands of streams of personalized music programming.
Availability, Pricing and Warranty
The DRU-500AX and the DRX-500ULX DVD/CD rewritable drives
will be available in February for an estimated retail
price of under $350, and under $430, respectively. The
DRU-500A and DRX-500UL first generation models are currently
available.
Sony DVD/CD rewritable drives are sold through retailers
and resellers nationwide, mail order catalogs, and select
online shopping sites, including SonyStyle.com. Sony supports
what it calls "worry-free" installation and easy
operation with toll-free customer and technical service,
Monday through Saturday, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CST,
along with a one-year limited warranty from the original
date of purchase.
Key Specifications
Sony DRU-500AX DVD/CD Rewritable Drive
* ATAPI (EIDE) internal interface
* 2.4X (max.) writing (DVD+RW)
4X (max.) writing (DVD+R)
2X (max.) writing (DVD-RW)
4X (max.) writing (DVD-R)
8X (max.) reading (DVD-ROM)
24X (max.) writing (CD-R), 32X (max.) reading
10X (max.) writing (CD-RW), 32X (max.) reading
* Dimensions: 5.75 x 1.63 x 7.56 inches (W x H x L)
* Platform support: Windows 98SE/2000/Me/XP
* Burst data transfer rate: 33.3 Mbit/s max.
* Random access time: 160 ms (CD-ROM), 200 ms (DVD-ROM)
* Buffer memory: 8 MB
* Recording method (CD): disc at once, track at once, session
at once, packet writing (DVD): Random Access Write (DVD+RW/DVD-RW),
Sequential Write (DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW)
* Compatible disc format: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD+RW, DVD+R,
DVD-RW, DVD-R, CD-ROM, CD-DA, Video CD, Photo CD (multi-session),
CD TEXT, CD Extra and others
* Estimated Selling Price - Under $350
Sony DRX-500ULX DVD/CD Rewritable Drive
* USB 2.0 and i.LINK external interfaces
* USB 1.1 compatible with sustained read speed of up to
6X and write speed up to 4X
* 2.4X (max.) writing (DVD+RW)
4X (max.) writing (DVD+R)
2X (max.) writing (DVD-RW)
4X (max.) writing (DVD-R)
8X (max.) reading (DVD-ROM)
24X (max.) writing (CD-R), 32X (max.) reading
10X (max.) writing (CD-RW), 32X (max.) reading
* Dimensions: 5.75 x 1.63 x 7.56 inches (W x H x L)
* Platform support: Windows 98SE/2000/Me/XP
* Burst data transfer rate: 480 Mbit/sec max
* Random access time: 160 ms (CD-ROM), 200 ms (DVD-ROM)
* Buffer memory: 8 MB
* Recording method (CD): disc at once, track at once, session
at once, packet writing (DVD): Random Access Write (DVD+RW/DVD-RW),
Sequential Write (DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW)
* Compatible disc format: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD+RW, DVD+R,
DVD-RW, DVD-R, CD-ROM, CD-DA, Video CD, Photo CD (multi-session),
CD TEXT, CD Extra and others
* Estimated Selling Price - Under $430
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