DVD Recording Tests

The Sony DRU-540A supports both the DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW writing formats. The maximum supported speed for DVD+R is 12X ( P-CAV) & 4X CLV for DVD+RW media. DVD-R writing offers 8X ( Z-CLV) maximum writing speed and 4X CLV rewriting speed. Nero Burning Rom reported speeds are shown below.

Nero CD-DVD Speed's "create disc" function with Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD+R media, shows us the 12X Z-CLV recording technology being used by the Sony DRU-540A recorder. The second screenshot reveals the writing strategy for 8X DVD+R while the third for DVD-R.

- Supported media list

Sony officially, doesn't list the supported media at any of 4X, 8X or 12X. The user has to insert a disc to check the maximum reported recording speed for the specific media, so it's basically a test and see process. Depending on the inserted disc, the drive may lower its recording speed.

- Burning Tests

We burned 4315MB of data on various DVD±R, DVD±RW media. We used the maximum allowed writing speed for each disc.

• DVD-R/-RW media

• DVD+R/+RW media

- DVD Overburning Tests

In order to test the drive's DVD overburning capabilities, we used two media types, one from CMC 8X DVD-R and one from 3A 8X DVD+R. As you can see, the drive refused to start the test with DVD-R media,

while with DVD+R, the test started but when it reached 4.38GB, stopped with an error message.

- DVD+MRW Tests

Mount Rainier isn't supported.