Sony DW-U14A DVD Writer

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Sony DW-U14A

OEM:Sony
Chipset:TI/Sony

24xCDR ZCLV
16xCDRW ZCLV
4xDVD-R CLV
2xDVD-RW CLV
~~DVD-RDL~~
4xDVD+R CLV
4xDVD+RW CLV
~~DVD+RDL~~
~~DVD-RAM~~

~~BD-R~~
~~BD-RE~~
~~BD-R DL~~
~~BD-RE DL~~
~~HDDVD-R~~
~~HDDVD-RW~~
~~HDDVD-RDL~~
~~HDDVD-RWDL~~
~~HDDVD-RAM~~

32xCD
8xDVD
~~BDROM~~
~~HDDVD~~

EIDE, 8MB
More info

$150

8.4/10
18 votes
Read 20
comments
(63196 views)

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DVD Media comments for this DVD Writer (click on the link to read the comments):
1 BeAll 4xDVD-R (BeAll G40001) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Bulkpaq 4xDVD-R (AN31........) comments, 0 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
3 Bulkpaq 4xDVD+R (MEDIA ID001) comments, 1 good, 1 mixed, 1 poor.
2 Bulkpaq 4xDVD-R (PRINCO......) comments, 1 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Bulkpaq 2xDVD-R (PRODISCG02..) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Bulkpaq 4xDVD-R (SKC Co.,Ltd.) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Bulkpaq 8xDVD-R (TYG02.......) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 CD Media 4xDVD-R (VDSPMSAB 01.) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Commodore 8xDVD+R (VDSPMSAB002) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 CompUSA 1xDVD-R (LD..........) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 D-Well 4xDVD-R (SONY04D1....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datamart 4xDVD-R (VDSPMSAB 01.) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datasafe Media 4xDVD-R (ProdiscS03) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 DataTrack 4xDVD+R (DT-D02..02.) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datawrite 2xDVD-RW (PRINCO......) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datawrite Classic Yellow 4xDVD-R (PRINCO......) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datawrite Red (V3) 4xDVD-R (AN31........) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datawrite Yellow (V2) 4xDVD-R (RITEKG04....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Datawrite Yellow (V2) 4xDVD-R (RITEKG05....) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 EMTEC 1xDVD-R (4M SYS 202C1) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Fujifilm 4xDVD-R (ProdiscS03) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Fujifilm 2.4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Fujifilm 16xDVD-R (RITEKF1.....) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Generic/Unbranded 4xDVD-R (AN31........) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Go Tech 4xDVD-R (AN30........) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Hypermedia 4xDVD-R (AN30........) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Imation 4xDVD-R (CMC MAG. AF1) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Imation 2.4xDVD+RW (CMC MAG.W01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Imation 4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW11) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Infiniti 8xDVD-R (CMC MAG. AE1) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Infiniti 8xDVD+R (CMC MAG.E01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Infiniti 8xDVD-R (MCC 02RG20) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Infiniti 4xDVD-R (SONY04D1....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Infotech 4xDVD-R (Yi Jhan 001.) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 KHypermedia 2.4xDVD+RW (CMC MAG.W01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Lead Data 4xDVD-R (LEADDATA01..) comments, 1 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 MAXdisc 4xDVD-R (............) comments, 0 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Maxell 2xDVD-R (MXL RG01....) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Maxell 4xDVD-R (MXL RG02....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Maxell 4xDVD-R (TYG01.......) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Maxell 4xDVD+R (YUDEN000T01) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
4 Memorex 4xDVD-R (CMC MAG. AF1) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 2 poor.
2 Memorex 4xDVD+R (CMC MAG.F01) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Memorex 4xDVD+RW (CMC MAG.W02) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Memorex 4xDVD+RW (PHILIPS.041) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 Memorex 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Mitsumi 4xDVD-R (AN31........) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 MMore 1xDVD-R (VIVASTAR....) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Philips 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Philips 4xDVD+RW (RICOHJPNW11) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Pine 4xDVD-R (Dvsn........) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Playo 8xDVD+R (AML.....002) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
3 Princo 4xDVD-R (PRINCO......) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Prodye 2xDVD-R (3AM0201.....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Prodye 4xDVD-R (POMS3A......) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Prodye 4xDVD-R (VDSPMSAB 01.) comments, 0 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 RiData 4xDVD-R (RITEKG04....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 RiDisc 4xDVD-R (RITEKG04....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Ritek 8xDVD-R (RITEKG05....) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Ritek 2xDVD-RW (RITEKW01....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 SmartBuy 2.4xDVD+RW (PRODISC.W01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 StarMedia 4xDVD-R (VDSP.SAB 01.) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Swisstec 2.4xDVD+R (SKYMEDIAR01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
2 TDK 8xDVD+R (CMC MAG.E01) comments, 2 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 TDK 2xDVD-R (MXL RG01....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
3 TDK 4xDVD+R (RICOHJPNR01) comments, 2 good, 1 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Teon 8xDVD+R (CMC MAG.E01) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 That's Write! 4xDVD-R (PRINCO......) comments, 0 good, 0 mixed, 1 poor.
1 Traxdata 4xDVD-R (RITEKG04....) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
1 Verbatim 16xDVD+R (MCC.....004) comments, 1 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
3 Verbatim (DataLifePlus) 4xDVD+R (MCC.....002) comments, 3 good, 0 mixed, 0 poor.
Post your DVD Media comments here

Comments

20 comments, Showing 1 to 20 comments

Just bought a SONY DW-U14A ... flashed it to a SONY DRU-510A.

http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=18382&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=sony+dwu141a&&start=0

Using firmware 1.0c.

Writing at MAX x4 on ritek purple x4 discs - no probs.

The drive cost me £25 (overclockers.co.uk) bargain.

Not the fastest drive in the world but for the price, I couldn't hope for anything better. Highly recommended.

Comments posted by FrOggeh from United Kingdom, November 22, 2004. Rated this writer 8 of 10.

Works 100% with Princo media, 0% with Go Tech.

Comments posted by MrHat from Australia, May 01, 2004. Rated this writer 8 of 10.

I both it a week ago, and I thik it is not best but it is fine. I have just burning problems at 4x with DVD-R from Maxell (I did not try any other yet). The Burner starts with 4x and in a while (5-40% burning) it slows down to 2x speed so it takes about 25-28 min to burn one full DVD and the dye looks like only a part of DVD was written (it visible change the burning power). At simulation it takes only 16 min. I had 1.0d firmware. I did the trick and now it has a DRU-510A 1.0f but still the same effect. I do not see any change at all besides the name has changed.. maybe its the media...? maybe ist the drive..? anyone else with DVD-R 4x?

Comments posted by miroo from Germany, April 28, 2004. Rated this writer 6 of 10.

Purchased from Newegg.com a few weeks ago for $125 US.

Put it in a USB 2.0 enclosure and burned several brands of DVD's on it with no problems. (Imation, TDK, Opto)

By far, the best DVD writer I've bought (have three now).

Comments posted by shoozleboy from United States, March 03, 2004. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

for the people having problems using nero 6 and this drive, try turning off xp's internal burner as it causes problems in nero.
to do this go to Administrative tools/services and disable "IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service"

worked for me :)

Comments posted by Kazuya^ from United Kingdom, February 13, 2004. Rated this writer 8 of 10.

I have burned 20 straight DVD-R without any issues once so ever. I am using DVDShrink and DVD X Copy. I know for a fact that Maxell R.4.7 DVD-R DVD's are 100% compatible with this drive - zero coasters.

Now for the bad: The Drive works brilliantly - however - I ordered some cheap DVD-R's off eBay. Three so far are coasters - not the fault of the Sony but of cheap media I got from Merritline. The crappy media is called Be All DVDR47-A4A and it sucks. Stay away from the cheap stuff I think is the ticket here. I have searced high and wide for compatibility charts for the Sony DWU14A and found only what www.dvdhelp.com offers - Thanks for the help - I hope this helps someone else.

Comments posted by Marc from United States, February 06, 2004. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

well i would know hoy i can get the new firmware 1.0f, i know that this drive it´s a OEM of DRU510A, and this unit has the new firmware.thanks

Comments posted by melly from Spain, January 21, 2004. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

I used this DVD burner with good results.

When I first started burning, I had 50% success rate on Memorex 4X DVD+R. I was experimenting with different
software and burning at 4X and 2.4X. So the failures could well be my own fault.

When I became more familiar with the software, and switched to TDK 4X DVD+R, I had no problem burning
half a dozen discs with no failure.

Comments posted by Trinh from Other, December 26, 2003. Rated this writer 8 of 10.

It is a great DVD writer, but doesn't look that great though (No Sony logo at all). This writer picks disc, but I found out that turn out to be good because if it can't write, means it won't get read on my stand alone DVD player anyway. Use Maxell and Fujifilm DVD medium (4x) combind with this writer. All the DVD I ripped worked great on my DVD players.(0% failure) If u got problem, it's most likely the medium. Don't use Cheap DVD disc, u waste more money than buying quality ones!!!

Comments posted by Anonymous from Other, December 11, 2003. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

So far so good, but it is slow. Then I found this link. http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=18382&highlight=sony+dwu141a
This may be helpful to some. It sure helped me.

Comments posted by clinkman from Other, November 23, 2003. Rated this writer No rating.

Fantastic burner, superb value for money, take no notice of the whiners, this kit is the dogs doodahs !

Comments posted by Philip from Other, November 19, 2003. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

One thing that I forgot to mention in my last post is that after applying the update, you can download the official firmware 1.0d and apply it. It's available at

http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/dru510adwn.htm

Comments posted by Sam from Other, October 28, 2003. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

Burned TDK +R 4X using DW-U14a 1.0c using DVD XCopy. My two hour movie had about 6 pauses across two disks at various intervals when played on both my PC and toshiba player. I suspect it is the media but it might be the firmware? I have upgraded to version 1.0d of the firmware and will retest.

Firmware update if anyone needs it: http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1618

Comments posted by A Hyde` from Other, October 27, 2003. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

Works great and I found this update that upgrades the firmware to think that it's retail drive.

http://isweb44.infoseek.co.jp/computer/type-ive/files/14A%20to%20510A%20[1.0c].zip

After applying this patch, I was able to run Sony's DSS tool to increase the reipping spead from 2x to 3.6x.

Comments posted by Sam from Other, October 27, 2003. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

Bought this on Monday from eclipse-computers.com, seems to work fine with Maxell and Leaddata disks. Only problem is that Nero 5.5.10.54 will only burn at 2x, even though it picks up the media at 4x.
Used the Nero hack to see real write speed. Took 30minutes to burn.
Any ideas?
Anyway still a good little buy!

Comments posted by Paul from Other, October 23, 2003. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

just burned 14 dvd+rs with absolutely no problem. also burned a dvd+rw, erased it, burned it again, erased it, and burned it again... NO PROBLEMS!
great burner, quick, stable, and it burns cds faster than my other writer; guess i'll have to take that out. heh.

definately for the price of this oem, it's well worth it. the NTI software is crappy. i opted to use nero 6 and dvdxcopy for all my needs.

Comments posted by Matt from Other, October 10, 2003. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

This is a QUALITY drive. Have had just a week but have had only a couple of coasters and that was down to poor quality media. Have used various software without problems, have settled on DVD Shrink and DVD Copy as best combo so far.
Has worked 100% fault-free with Datarite (by Datasafe) DVD-RW's.

Only gripe (and this is incredibly minor!) is that it's butt-ugly. Not even a Sony logo. Looks like a cheap generic CD-drive from the early nineties.

Comments posted by Adam T from Other, September 26, 2003. Rated this writer 9 of 10.

AVOID - A crock of sh*t drive due to very bad media compatibility. DVD+RWs will play fine (in consumer players) but cheap DVD+Rs simply do not work in most players (some are fine) My NEC ND-1000 is vastly superior. Speed isn't everything but media compatibility is! Wish I'd gone for the upgraded NEC unit (in fact I will be!)

ALSO - does not allow booktype change to DVDROM when burning to DVD+R discs, typical Sony!

Comments posted by Steve from Other, September 26, 2003. Rated this writer 1 of 10.

Also wanted to add that the drive has large 8MB buffer and comes in both beige and black to match most systems.

Comments posted by wanman from Other, September 20, 2003. Rated this writer No rating.

This dual format drive is the Sony OEM version of the DRU-510A. It has the same tech specs and performance statistics. This drive screams, the fastest on the market, when it comes to writing DVD+RW as it does so at 4X. When reading/ripping DVDs, it is very tolerant of scratched/dirty discs; however, the read/rip speed is fairly slow. I'd recommend having a DVD-ROM drive for the reading/ripping. I am very happy with this drive since it performs well and I only paid $189. The retail version (DRU-510A) was nearly $280 at Circuit City. Since it is OEM, it may be a bit harder to locate firmware updates because Sony only distributes the firmware updates to computer OEMs and not end-users. It does not come with much of a software suite since it is OEM. It came with NTI DVD Maker software CD. I've had good success with Fuji, Memorex, and even cheap CompUSA 2.4x DVD+R. I had originally bought the TDK 440N which had problems with "data read errors" (primarily CRC) on 5 of first 7 DVD-Videos I tried to back up. I returned the TDK and replaced it with this drive. It read/backed-up all 7 without problem. I've used this drive with DVD Shrink/Copy2DVD/Nero6 and other and have yet to make a bad disc. You can read a technical review at www.CDRLabs.com for the Sony DRU-510A to get an idea of how well this drive will perform.

Comments posted by wanman from Other, September 20, 2003. Rated this writer 10 of 10.

20 comments, Showing 1 to 20 comments

1 DVD Writer hits, Showing 1 to 1 DVD Writers

Column Explanation:

Click on this for more technical information.

New comments= New comments since your last visit.
New Writer = New DVD Writer since your last vist.

OEM
Original Equipment Manufacturer.

Chipset
The manufacturer of the main chipset the DVD writer/recorder is based on.

Write support / Read support
DVD-R = Works
~~DVD-R~~ = Is not supported
DVD-R? = Not tested

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
1x read speed is 1.321MB/s = ~56 minutes
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

DVD Write types
CAV = Constant Angular Velocity, the DVD is written at a constantly increasing speed.
CLV = Constant Linear Velocity, the DVD is written at a constant speed.
ZCLV = Zone Constant Linear Velocity, the DVD is divided into zones. After each zone the write speed is increased.
PCAV = Partial Constant Angular Velocity, the DVD is being written at an increasing speed until a certain speed. After this speed it will not increase anymore.

Connection
Desktop = Standalone desktop DVD Recorder
EIDE = Computer DVD Writer with EIDE/IDE connection
SCSI = Computer DVD Writer with SCSI connection
USB = Computer desktop DVD Writer with USB 2.0 or/and 1.1 connection
FireWire = Computer desktop DVD Writer with IEEE 1394/FireWire/i.Link connection (some standalone desktop dvd recorder supports this also but then it is usually to connect your DV camera to the recorder)

Rating
The first rating is based on a weighted rank (the true Bayesian), it requires at least 5 votes to get a weighted rating.
The second rating between the ( ) is a normal average rating.

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