TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Dual-Layer burners can be had for pretty cheap these days, as little as $29 for an OEM part. They are all pretty on par with each other, but Sony has taken the next step and introduced the DRX-810A and DRX-810UL. It is capable of burning Dual-Layer DVD+R discs at an impressive 8x, and DVD-R Dual-Layer discs at 4x. My 2 Pioneer DVR-108s, in comparison, can do 4x and 2.4x, respectively. With both retail and OEM parts, the Sony drive will come bundled with a stripped down version of Nero. Aside from the increased speed, however, nothing is new. Like most DVD Burners, it still sports a 2MB cache on board. There are some models out there with 8mb, but they are pretty pricey right now. Then again, sometimes speed is all you need. Burning 8GB of data to a DVD at 2.4x is painfully reminiscent of the early days of CD burners.