Sony Tackles Dual-Layer DVD

Both types of drives are currently available only in write-once formats, and they're referred to as DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL. The DL discs can store up to four hours of MPEG-2 video, and are compatible with many home DVD players and DVD-ROM drives.

The DRU-800A is Sony's first disc recorder that supports DVD-R dual-layer and DVD+R double-layer recording, both at 4X recording speed. It can also record on write-once DVD+R and DVD-R media at 16X. The drive can record on DVD+RW at 8X and on DVD-RW media at 6X. It can also record on CD-R media at 48X and on CD-RW media at 24X.

The internal ATAPI drive can be installed in place of an existing CD-ROM drive, or along with a read-only drive to speed disc copying. The drive comes with a white front bezel attached, but Sony also includes a black replacement front bezel in case the drive is being installed in a black enclosure. The drive must be installed in an 800MHz Pentium III or faster with at least 128 Mbytes of memory and 10 Gbytes of hard disk space. Windows 2000 or XP is also required.

Included software programs are Nero Burning ROM 6 SE and Nero Express 6 CD/DVD mastering software; Nero VisionExpress 2 authoring software; Nero InCD 4 packet writing software; Nero ShowTime DVD-video playing software; Nero PhotoSnap, which captures digital photos right from a digital camera or scanner; Nero MediaHome streaming media server; Nero Recode2 DVD-video converter to back up unprotected DVDs; Nero BackItUp for complete PC backup and more.