OT: Sony DRU530A

eejackson wrote on 3/25/2004, 3:03 PM
Help !!!!

Hi all - so sorry to be venting here, but I was wondering if any of you have encountered this problem with the Sony DRU530-A.

Every computer I have ever purchased since 1995 from my first little Micron to my most current Dell has come with Roxio Easy CD creator, in which I use to create back up Data Cd's and most currently Data DVD's of my .Veg files and their corresponding source files.

Two days ago, I purchased the Sony DRU530A. I was hot on a project for a client, so I installed it, burned a DVD in DVD-Architect...everything working beautifully.

Now the problem: I needed to call upon a file that I had on a CD-R for a client that was created a month ago and backed up onto CD via Roxio Easy CD Creator. When I inserted the CD..........nothing, the entire computer locked up and needed to be re-started. What the heck , I thought. So, I tried it again, still nothing, and again the computer locked up. Just for kicks, I pulled out three other cd's with back up files on them and the result was the same for all three. The computer locked up and needed to be restarted.

I called Sony Tech support and the gal told me that the Sony DRU530A will reject ANY disc that was created with any type of Roxio software !!!!!!!!! She also told me to unistall any and every other cd and dvd burning software program, DVD-Architect included, and install only Record Now.
I won't even go into what she gave as suggestions for over 9 years worth of data CD's that have been created using Roxio.

Before I rip this thing out of my system and return it to Comp USA, I was just wondering if anyone else has run into this. I find it hard to believe that Sony would put out a product that would selectively reject a data CD just because of the software that was used to create it. I also was appalled that a Sony Tech told me to unistall DVD-Architect and replace it with Record Now.

I took a whole bunch of the CD's that my new Sony rejected over to my friends house who has a Pioneer A06, and we had no problems at all. The data CD's and data DVD's opened right up.

I would really be interested in hearing from anyone else who has encountered this problem????

Thanks,
Lori J.


Comments

Jsnkc wrote on 3/25/2004, 3:10 PM
Return it, go with the Pioneer A07, you'll be much happier :)

Or wait till the DL burners come out this summer.
eejackson wrote on 3/25/2004, 3:21 PM
Thanks Jsnkc - You are probably right. Do you know of any known issues with the Pioneer not being able to read a cd created with Roxio????

Lori J.
jester700 wrote on 3/25/2004, 7:43 PM
That's pretty goofy. I have the Optorite DD401, of which the Sony is a rebadge. And I've not had a problem with any discs from Roxio (I used that up to v.5) or Nero. And I use Nero now.

If you can return it, do so; that's ridiculous. If not, you may be able to flash it with an Optorite firmware if it's worth the risk to you.
Flack wrote on 3/25/2004, 9:25 PM
I do know that some of my friends have had trouble with Roxio software when other burning software was installed as well, I would try uninstalling all burning software then install Roxio and see if that works , if it does then try your next bit of software and see what happens.
I also know that Nero and Roxio have never been happy on the same system when drag to disk is active in the taskbar.

Flack
GrizzlyIke wrote on 3/26/2004, 2:52 AM
I too bought the Sony DRX530, but discovered the software conflict prior to that as my new Dell 8300 came with the Record Now and DLA (Drive Letter Access) software. My wife's 2-year old Dell came with Roxio. I found that the DLA could read and copy from a Roxio-produced RW disk, but I could not edit or copy to the disk. The big problem was the other way around. Roxio could not read my DLA-formated disks! I solved this by installing DLA on my wife's machine. Incidently DLA can make a +/- R disk (but not +/-RW)compatible with other software.

My main concern is the statement the technician made regarding DVD Architect. I do not have Vegas+DVD, but I am seriously considering upgrading. Can anybody tell me if there really is a conflict between the Sony DRX530 and Vegas+DVD. Did I just purchase a $300 white elephant?

winrockpost wrote on 3/26/2004, 4:14 AM
I had the 500 for about a year and it worked perfectly ,just gave it to my kids computer and got the 530 about 3 weeks ago. No conflicts at all, and no coasters.............but
Got to admit gettin a little worried after reading this thread and a previous from a week or so ago ,wondering if the 530 is not as stable as the 500.
ScottW wrote on 3/26/2004, 6:18 AM
There's a report on the DVDA forum of someone using DVDA with the 530 - that's the good news. However, they also reported that the -R's it was burning were not compatible with most DVD players (I assume this is above and beyond the usual compitability issues, since when they replaced the 530 with another burner, the problem with -R went away).
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=259503&Replies=10&Page=1

I don't personally care for Sony firmware (Sony wouldn't expose how to change the booktype being burnt, other vendors would/did), so the first Sony burner I ever owned ended up getting re-flashed with Ricoh firmware. Disclaimer: Unless you know what you are doing, do not attempt to re-flash firmware with firmware from another vendor, if things go wrong you could end up with a dead burner
eejackson wrote on 3/26/2004, 8:48 AM
Hi all:
Thanks so much for the insights as to what is going on here. As I said in my original post, the DVD's ( in -R format ) I burned, came off without a hitch using DVD-Architect and my new Sony 530-A. And I did test the DVD's I burned in my two players hooked up to my TV and they do play flawlessly. However, I just can not get any cd discs that were burned on my other computers with Roxio to even be aknowleged by the drive. As a matter of fact, the drive Icon dissappears when I insert a cd that was created with Roxio.

On a side note; I did take these Roxio created cd's and Data DVD's to a friends house who has a Pioneer A06 drive. Some of them opened, some did not. the cd's opened OK, but the DVD's that I created with Roxio to make back ups of large files, did not open.

Thanks to all of you for your help, I really appreciate your input.
Lori J.
johnmeyer wrote on 3/26/2004, 9:01 AM
eejackson,

Did you create these using the EasyCD packet writing software? Or, did you open EasyCD Creator's main interface and create a standard CD?

CDs created using EasyCDs packet writing software (which is called DirectCD) often will not play on other computers. The same is true of Nero's InCD and Pinnacle's InstantWrite. Packet writing is a dicey proposition.

So, when you created these CDs on your old system, did you simply drag the files to the CD using the standard Windows Explorer interface, or did you open EasyCD Creator and do the authoring there?

If you have access to your old computer -- or for that matter, any computer that can still read these CDs -- you might want to put them in there, fire up EasyCD Creator, and try to close the session (and possibly also close the disc if you don't need to add any more files). See if that fixes the problem.
riredale wrote on 3/26/2004, 11:44 AM
The Sony 530 has a less-than-stellar reputation. There was a discussion on this board about this about a month ago--a quick search should find it.
eejackson wrote on 3/26/2004, 1:40 PM
Hi Johnmeyer:

In response to your question, the cd's are a mixed bag in terms of how they were created in Easy Cd Creator. Some were drag and drop, some were created by opening up Easy Cd Creator and following the prompts to create a new Data CD. I did do what you suggested and fired up the Easy CD creator, closed the sessions if there were any open sessions and then when I had to option to close to read on any computer or close to read through drive letter, I chose close to read on any computer. I then re-inserted the discs into my new Sony. The results... some of them are now opening, some are still not even being acknowledged by the drive. So, I am making some headway in terms of getting my new drive to read at least some of these cd's.

Thanks
Lori J.