I have been using BenQ burners and been very pleased with the results of my backups, however via viewing the BenQ forums after I went into purchase another BenQ I realize that the company is no longer producing them.
And the last few models of BenQ have firmware issues.

I have looked around at the Future Shop here in western Canada and the models that they are selling are the Sony DRX 810UL and DRX 800UL.
I have googled on both of them and don't find much in user comments and so I thought that I should post here.

Are there any members that use either or both of these.
When I use my BenQ burners I always burn in their Book Management exe. that came with the burner and so I always was burnining my backups in DVD ROM which was compatible and playable on 22 of our large family's diverse vintage and brand names of standalone players.

And with BenQ, their support out of Irvine Ca. recommended R+ Media and Maxell, Fuji, Sony, TDK and BenQ and no R-.

So I am wondering about the compatibility of either of these burners with all standalone dvd players and also I am wondering if Sony has any similar Book Management program so that a user can burn in DVD ROM.
Also what media is the best to use???

I would appreciate comments, thankyou.

BTW, I haven't looked at the LG brand as I started out with LG and had major compatibility issues with standalone players and thus I moved onto BenQ and that was in Dec 2005, not that long ago.

So that is why I am looking at Sony, here in Canada there is not much choice in shopping in stores and I prefer to do my electronics shopping that way as I am a novice yet in doing backups and knowing what brand is good and what is not so good and like the return policy of 30 days.
Regards.

810UL = BenQ 1640 rebadge
800UL = LiteOn 1693S rebadge
You'll find plenty of user feedback on these. Both are old models by DVD-burner standards, but good drives in their own right. Sony has a 820UL meanwhile (BenQ 1670 rebadge).

The 810UL is $149 cdn and the 800UL $119 cdn.

Would the 810UL have a Book Management exe. application then as BenQ does so that I can burn in DVD ROM?

The store doesn't know much about either of these and simply indicate that the 810 costs more b/c it is a faster model.
Are their backups compatible with most standalone players?

Thankyou.

Yes the Sony 810 (as well as BenQ version) supports bitsetting (booktype DVD-ROM) on DVD+R, +RW and DVD+R DL.

I did some more googling on the 810UL and found some individuals having problems with this unit being recognized by their notebooks and some having problems with it not reading their source dvd.
So now I am wondering if it is a reliable unit. I tried checking out the firmware support site on both of my computers and they come up as page not available??? Maybe google brought up an outdated site???

I should say that I appreciated the Link on bitsetting, but being a novice at dvd backups and being used to using the BenQ with Book Management I am confused as to how this relates to Sony 810UL when I burn on Sony, Maxell, Fuji, BenQ R+ Media as I noticed that the article seemed to address R- media.Again I am new to all of this type of discussion b/c of the BenQ Book Management exe. and so I guess what I am asking is there a setting that I will be required to do before I can burn in DVD ROM if I were to purchase this 810 UL???
I hope that someone can enlighten me on this bitsetting for the Sony as it does sound like it is close to what BenQ is all about and there are only 2 in stock.

( I forgot to ask if I d/l a firmware for the Sony 810ul and use my BenQ 162I occasionally will I run into any sort of conflict???)


thankyou.

Here's a link for firmware and another for support on the 810UL.

Booktype Managment isn't as complicated as it sounds and it has nothing to do with the drive's capabilities or with the way the discs are burned. It's just "setting one bit" to make the burned +R/+RW/+R-DL identify itself as a DVD-ROM to the player. Some drives have auto-bitsetting incorporated in their firmware and on others you have to use a little tool to accomplish the same (as you have been doing). I'm not certain about these Sony's as I haven't used them, but I think they may have auto-bitsetting in firmware (I know the 820UL does) - so you wouldn't have to do anything for it.

There won't be any conflicts with your BenQ 162I and if in doubt just unplug it as I don't suppose you'll want to use both simultaneously.

P.S. - Always go for the UL version, as this will give you the option to use FireWire if USB should give you any trouble.

Thx Cressida for that post, it makes this newbie a little more comfortable in the dialogue that I include here as I am not familiar with all of the jargon.

I appreciate all of the other replies as well, but just had to make the comment about this last poster.

Now I guess I would ask how is it that I would find out if this 810UL has automatic bit setting before I purchase it?
Is there a site that I could get such information as it was mentioned that the 820 UL has that feature.

I was out again today and have found an 820 U but no 820 UL.

Just to clarify one minor item, I guess what I meant is that D/L of firmware if needed for the Sony and again I am not a techie, what I meant to say is that I assume it is in the notebook and would the fact that the firmware update for the Sony is there affect/conflict with my BenQ burner when I decide to burn with it???
That shows how much of a newb I am with all of this discussion.
Thankyou.

Please close this thread as I have posted a more direct question on the DRX Sony 810 UL in this forum.
Thankyou.