Sony has announced its new DRX-830 series of DVD multi-format DVD/CD burners. The new 830 series arrive in three different models—the internal DRU-830A, external DRX-830U and Macintosh and PC compatible external DRX-830UL-T. All three drives are capable of burning DVD±R media at 18x, a slight speed increase from current 16x drives. While DVD±R media is burnt at 18x, DVD±R DL media burning remains at 8x. Other supported media formats include DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM, CD-R and CD-RW. All three drives are equipped with a 2MB buffer and feature Sony’s Power-Burn buffer under-run protection technology.

The DRU-830A is an internal IDE burner and is PC compatible. A black replacement front bezel is included with the DRU-830A to color match with black cases. The DRX-830U features a USB 2.0 interface for external connectivity. The PC compatible DRX-830A and DRX-830U include Nero 7 for burning tasks. Sony’s DRX-830UL-T is Mac and PC compatible. It sports a USB 2.0 and Firewire 1394a interface. It includes Nero 7 for PC burning and Roxio Toast 6 Lite for Mac burning tasks.

Via DailyTech

Does any body know on which OEM model is this drive based on?

It's either an OEM LiteOn LH-18A1P or one of the NEC/Sony Optiarc drives:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=190476

Sony is loath to speak on the topic or show full photos of 830A [as usual], but my money is on 830A being a Samsung unit this time.

So far, only PC World has published a picture, and it looks remarkably like a S182D.

SH-S182D: http://www.pcworld.com/product/specs...ves/specs.html
DRU-830A: http://www.pcworld.com/product/specs...ves/specs.html

Media-Tek chipset? I think you are right.

Thanks agent009. It does look that way. Probably not a bad choice going by some of the results I've seen in the Samsung forum.

Nice bezel.

@agent

Is the 820 any good?

Yep, its identical to one scratch. Now if only SONY sounded as cool as say 20 years ago... I kinda like the faceplate, still.

Cool or not, what matters is that the faceplate with the word SONY on it [and a nice-looking $3 retail box] instantly doubles the average selling price of the drive.

For the extra money you will probably be getting a guaranteed higher spec drive.

I would to agree with you first guess C0deking and lean towards it being Nec/Sony optics. There production started on April 01, 2006.

The only thing that Samsung and Sony have established is a 50-50 joint venture in South Korea for the production of liquid crystal displays for flat-panel televisions.

Does the SH-S182D and LiteOn LH-18A1P have the same Mediatek chipsets?

Yes

Now again the question comes whether it is a samsung or lite-on?

I was actually thinking that it was some unknown rebadged benq drive.

I think they're missing the boat by not offering the internal as SATA and not having the SATA connector on the external model.Why have 2 i-link and no SATA?What % of owners use the i-link connector?

Most new mainboards have 4 to 8 SATA connectors and some have an esata port.My new mainboard has 8 SATA 300 and an esata but only 1 ide channel for 2 devices.

I've owned the SATA LG GSA-H30N since early July without even a small hic-cup.

The puzzling thing is about the 12X DVD-RAM spec.Why have it if there's no Maxell 6X~12X DVD-RAM except in Japan.Are the drives more expensive to make with this feature that most people outside of Japan can use?

Hi,2 firewire connectors are needed for daisy chaining of several IEEE1394 devices. Also, Firewire is more common than E-SATA, especially in notebook computers.
Maybe it is just only a matter of firmware, like with LG's H10A/H10N. I doubt, that there is special hardware for 12x or 5x DVD-RAM speed nowadays.

Michael

I hope its not the Samsung.

Hm. Recent Samsungs aren't bad. My SHW163A is a better CD-burner than my Liteys (SHM-165P6S and SOHR-5239V).

Michael

My 182 is not good.

DRU-830A spetifications:
http://b2b.sony.com/Solutions/product/DRU-830A
Dimensions (WxHxD): 5.75X1.63X7.0 inches. Drive depth is 7 inches (177.8 mm). It is not a Samsung S182D (170 mm), LiteOn LH-18A1P (170 mm) or NEC/Sony Optiarc (170 mm).

It looks like a Benq. DV1800?

The latest specs I received from Sony is different than the PDF online.
· Burst data transfer rate: 66.6 MB/s max. Ultra DMA Mode 4

Sony faceplate is 12 mm deep, while standard faceplates are 5 mm deep, so that would account for the difference.

Here's a summary of the evidence.

1. The shape of the metal enclosure in the PC World photo indicates a Samsung drive. [Sony's own photos are doctored to make the enclosure look completely flat.]

2. A curious mix of P-CAV 8x DVD+-R and Z-CLV DVD+-R DL strategies, typical of MTK chipset firmwares. This indicates a Lite-On and a Samsung drive.

3. The locations of the LED and the eject hole are consistent with a Samsung or an LG drive, and completely different from Lite-On, Optiarc or BenQ designs.

This, in combination with 18x max speed, leaves SH-S182D as the only drive matching all three clues.

This is a little off-topic. 820A works okay, but it's not one of my favorites.

Sony wanted DVD-RAM support and picked a DW1670 for 820A on the heels of its success with DW1640 as 810A.

DQ60 and DW1670 were stepchildren in the BenQ family, a rebadged TEAC DV-W516E and a subsequent mediocre redesign. Most people were disappointed by them.

If that's the case, then that would eliminate Samsung as the drive since from the S182D review, the drive only supports UDMA-2.

It's not a Benq, Sony left Benq after Benq sold the opticial division to LiteOn in Feb 2006.

Sony and Nec joined there opticial division and started production in April 2006.

It is now confirmed that the Sony DRU-830A is a rebadged Samsung SH-S182D. UDMA4 is also supported.

Since the drive is based on Samsung, I will post some scans in the Samsung forum.