After a long wait, we finally received Sony's latest 16X internal burner, the DW-G120A, which adds reading and writing support for DVD-RAM media, while also supporting 8X DVD±R DL writing.

Most of Sony's optical drives are OEM, from various manufacturers such as Optorite in the past, LiteOn mostly but also BenQ. This time, as it happened with the previous Sony drive that we reviewed a couple of months ago, the DW-G120A is an LiteOn OEM SHM-165P6S.

- Features

• Writing support for DL media types at 8X speed
• 5X writing to DVD-RAM
• 16X writing to DVD-R/+R
• 6X writing to DVD-RW and 8X writing to +RW
• Buffer Under Run protection features for smooth, reliable writing

- Specifications

Write Speed
DVD-R	16x
DVD-RW	6x
DVD-R DL	8x
DVD+R	16x
DVD+RW	8x
DVD+R DL	8x
DVD-RAM	5x
CD-R	40x
CD-RW	24x
Read Speed
DVD-ROM (single)	Max 16x CAV
DVD-ROM (dual)	Max 8x CAV
DVD-R, DVD+R	Max 12x CAV
DVD-RW,DVD+RW	Max 12x CAV
DVD+DL,DVD-DL	MAX 8x CAV
DVD-RAM	Max 5x P-CAV
CD-ROM, CD-R	Max 40x CAV
CD-RW	Max 32x CAV
Access Time DVD-ROM	130 msec
Access Time CD	135 msec
Installation
Mounting Orientation	Horizontal • Vertical
Data Buffer (size)	2 MB
Dimensions	Width: 5.75 in. • Weight 1.98 lb.

Below are the main specs as given by NeroInfoTool, VSO Inspector and DVDInfoPro:

- Nero InfoTool

- VSO Inspector

- DVD InfoPro

- The Drive

We received the bulk version of the Sony DW-G102A with bundled Nero OEM software.

The Nero OEM includes:

• Nero 6
• Nero Vision Express SE
• Nero Media Player
• InCD 4
• InCD Reader
• PhotoShow Express
• NeroLINUX

- Front panel view

The sample we received was white, with a light-blue colored DVD MULTI RECORDER logo, indicating that the drive can also burn DVD-RAM discs.

- Rear panel view

- Top view

- Inside view

We do not recommend removing the drive's cover, since this will void the manufacturer's warranty. You can take a look inside the drive with the pictures below. Click on the image below for a larger and more detailed photograph.

The Sony DW-G102A uses the same Mediatek MT1888E chipset as the latest release LiteOn SHM-165P6S model.

- Installation

The device was connected to our test PC and was identified as "SONY DVD RW DW-G120A" under WinXP. The drive came to our labs with firmware revision MYS3 installed, which at the time of the review was the latest available.

Below is a screenshot from Nero Burning Rom's specs for the drive.

Throughout this review, we will be comparing the Sony DW-G102A with two other latest release drives, the Plextor PX-760A and the Pioneer DVR-111DBK.