Customer Reviews

Sony DRX-840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I have had an external burner for quite some time. With recent changes to my environment, I no longer had a Firewire port so I decided to switch to a USB 2.0 external burner. I had gone to Fry's, purchased another well known brand that was an 18x burner, brought it home, set it up, Windows XP Pro did its thing and all seemed right with the world. That was until I actually tried to use it. No matter what I did, Nero V7 and V8 saw it but refused to use either DVD+R or DVD-R media. I did the normal searching for solutions but none presented itself. After months of trying to get it to work, I finally gave up and decided to try another vendor.

In my searching on Amazon, I ran across this Sony drive and noticed it was one of the first to offer 20x burn speeds. The 20x burn speed, while certainly nice, was not what attracted me to this. Rather, it was the fact that, at 20x, this meant it was a relatively new design which meant it should work better. In my searching to resolve my previous external drive's problems, the Sony drives were always lauded by those that had used them. A combination of those two things gave me at least some confidence that this was a good drive.

When it arrived, I did the normal thing and Windows was happy with it. So the acid test: what would Nero think about it? As it turns out, Nero V8 was quite happy with it and worked flawlessly with the drive. I have burned DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-R DL and CD audio all at the rated speed, all without any problems, all with perfect burns.

Pros:
- It just works without any problems
- Nice case design
- It is happy both vertically and horizontally

Cons:
- Somewhat noisy when the CD/DVD is burning at full speed
- Slower burn speed on inside tracks but speeds up as it moves out

Bottom line: if I had to do it all over again, I would. The drive got me what I was looking for: something that works reliably and dependably. It certainly gets my recommendation.

After having ripped AND burned over 1000 discs, the SuperDrive on my two-year old iMac decided to die on me (thanks Apple for the longevity :). This Sony DVD Writer is a wonderful alternative to the pricey $250 replacement SuperDrive--and it works right out of the box with no software tinkering (just choose drive option when needed). Fully compatible with both Tiger and Leopard, this Sony Writer gets a HUGE thumbs up for all Apple Users in need of an extra burner or those with konked-out ones!

I bought this drive to use with a laptop that could not take an internal DVD-burner. I was a little afraid to buy an external burner, thinking that it could not keep up, resulting in many burn errors. The drive so far has worked flawlessly. The software includes a copy of nero essentials, which will accomplish most DVD tasks needed. It also works fine with DVDShrink.

The drive is somewhat large. This is really the only negative that I can think of.

Of all the external devices I've added to my computer, the Sony DRX840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner is the best. Some people say the unit is noisy. All I can say is, with any external unit you can expect it to emit sound. This unit produces a gentle hum which I find comforting, knowing that it is actually working. The installation is simple. The Nero software that comes with it is lame, and takes up a lot of disk space. It would not work at first, and an e-mail to their Tech. Support people went unanswered for a week, and then gave vague instructions. It also only gives you a short "trial period" for use, and then requires that you purchase it. I purchased "Record Now!" instead, which is a great, easy to use product to burn/copy CD's and DVD's...and it uses a small footprint. I then deleted Nero. The Sony works very well, and burns at a reasonable speed. As for the accompanying Nero software...."forget about it!"

If you want an excellent external CD/DVD burner, that looks decent also, this is the unit you want. Highly reccommended.

I was in the market for a next external DVD drive when another one I got died after about 4 months. It did not really work out of the box. I had Past up the Sony DRX840U for A HP one. Big Mistake. The Sony DRX840U worked out of he box. I have used it to burn dvd's and read all my old DVD. I have watched movies on it and now I'm doing backups of old cd's to dvd's with out a problem. If anyone is in the market for a new External DVD drive this is the one to get.

I've burned about a dozen dual-layer DVDs now without a problem. And it burns faster than I expected. The included Nero software has an intuitive user interface and offers all the flexibility I need.

My four year old Dell's two drives went out simultaneously (NEC DVD+RW ND-1100A and SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616T). Tried Dell support to fix them, but that did not work. I didn't have the type of Dell service agreement that replaced failed hardware. I would have had to buy both drives from Dell, approximately $200. Saw this Sony at Amazon. I was unsure if this new DVD burner would work on my old Dell; specifically was the Sony's USB2 workable on my old USB1-only system. Yes it is. The other consideration was that both drives on my Dell were inoperable, so how do I load the new Sony's installation disk? No problem, the Sony burner is hooked up via the USB first, then the Sony installation disc is inserted into the new burner. The new Sony hardware burner plays the new installation disk. No need to use the existing internal players (impossible in my case). All the new DVD media will play on this Sony attached to the old Dell; no compatibility problems because the Sony DRX840U 20x External Dual-Layer DVD Burner plays the new media, not your old computer. I also did not install the Sony burning software. I had Sonic and this Sony works perfectly with the existing Sonic software. Very satisfied with the purchase. Cheaper than Dell replacements, and much cheaper than a new computer.

I have windows XP, media center edition. I have hated my DVD burner since I got it with my tower, I have an HP pavilion media center edition. The samsung Tsstcorp TS-H652L CD/DVD drive that came installed has been nothing but a headache to me. It not only required updates on the driver, I had to search out patches on the internet, JUST to make it work the first time. Then, it never agreed with all my programs, and it hated sonic programs in particular. Which is weird, since sonic came as free software with my computer! And it was picky, it would eat most disks but preferred to eat the expensive verbatim and TDK. It liked to turn those to coasters.
I brought this home, plugged and played. AWESOME. I was up half the night burning home movies using my sonic programs (free programs) onto dual layer DVD's.
To another comment on a review of this product, yes, it plays and burns :)
I'm so happy. I'd give it a hundred stars if possible, burns fast, burns great, I have already plowed through many projects, and it hasn't let me down NOT ONE COASTER :)

My only complaint about this product was that if you want to burn onto a DVD-R DL only one brand of disks were compatible i.e. Verbatim. This brand has proven to be high-quality so the inconvenience was a minor one.

I have burned nearly 100 projects so far and not one glitch. This burner is also fairly quiet.

Sony has produced a quality product with this burner.

I burned 10 DL-DVDs (data mode) in quick succession and the unit did not lose any disks. Takes approximately 1 hour to burn and verify job integrity (2.4x speed). After burning, disks were normally read in other computer DVD drives. I haven't tried burning movies. Granted, I have had the unit for only a month, but I haven't experienced any of the door problems reported by others. My unit remains in the horizontal, rather than vertical (if this makes any difference, at all). I did not give 5 stars because I thought the unit to be somewhat bulky, although it does not appear to be any different from other external burners I have seen. Nero software installed without any glitch and is being used in all burning jobs; it appeared very intuitive to me.
Bottom line: so far an excellent job, no regrets, I hope it lasts many more years.