The existing crop of DVD-burners have suffered from a multitude of problems, ranging from compatibility to ease-of-use. Has Sony delivered an external DVD writer that accurately meets the needs of home and office users?

Sony's DRX-120L represents the second generation of DVD 'plus' writers -DVD+RWs manufactured prior to April 2002 which (like the HP DV100i)are only capable of burning to rewritable discs, and not 'write-once' DVD+Rs. The major problem with this is compatibility and cost - +RWs cost more and aren't as compatible as +Rs with older DVD-ROMs and DVD players. The DVD 'plus' format also lacks the support of the DVD Forum, the official regulating body on DVD standards.

With so many problems, why would anyone want to buy a +RW drive? Primarily, it's because the format is a lot more flexible, and better tailored to consumer needs. It is more useful for data backup because writing and formatting times are faster, and it's possible to simply update individual files without having to burn the whole disc again - one of the main flaws of DVD-RW.

From a movie creation standpoint, DVD+ also offers some persuasive features, such as the potential to edit directly on the disc (without copying the entire contents of a DVD to your hard drive) thanks to the ability to rewrite existing data. It's also capable of creating VBR (variable bitrate) discs that offer more compatibility than DVD-RWs. As with most new DVD+RWs, Sony's drive also burns CD-Rs and CD-RWs (at up to 12x). It has a DVD burning speed of 2.4x, which is around 3.3MB/s, or the speed of a 22x CD-R drive. The rating of '2.4x' means it burns at two point four times the speed of 1x DVD-RW drives - so theoretically you can burn a 4.7GB DVD in under twenty five minutes.

Like a lot of external burners, the DRX-120L is a standard ATA-compatible drive with a Firewire (or 'iLink') converter. It can easily be removed from it's housing and used as a standard internal drive. You pay an extra AU$500 for the Firewire attachment (another 50% on top of the stand-alone model), so you'll want to make sure you're going to use it frequently.

Despite being a little lean in terms of documentation, the drive was a snap to set up under Windows XP. It was identified immediately upon being connected, and all we had to do was install the accompanying software. This consists of a host of CD burning applications (which adequately cover most burning needs), PowerDVD for movie playback, and one program specifically designed for DVD creation: "neoDVD" standard edition.

NeoDVD uses a simple menu system to get fundamental tasks done, like capturing video from a DV camcorder and converting existing video files (like .AVIs, .MOVs and MPEGs). It packs enough features to allow fledging movie creators to get used to the basics, but most users will soon notice the lack of advanced features. For example, there's no way to really edit movies prior to burning them, and no option to preview a disc, either. To accomplish these tasks, you'll need to fork out for a separate standalone program, or upgrade neoDVD.

We tested the drive's DVD writing capabilities and they almost universally lived up to expectations. Not once did a burn fail (thanks to buffer under-run protection), and the provided software performs well. Our main gripe is still with compatibility, because while the test DVDs we burned worked fine in our 16-month-old Pioneer DVD player, our 2-year-old Sony DVD-ROM refused to read any of them. We also found that we had occasional glitches when copying from the drive to hard disk, although the problem would always disappear after a simple reboot.

Overall, the DRX-120L did not disappoint. About the only feature that could have made this drive better is USB 2.0 support. While all iMacs have Firewire ports, you're still more likely to find USB 2.0 on new PCs.

Sony DRX-120L External DVD+RW Burner
Company: Sony Australia
Price: AU$1495
Distributor: Sony Australia
Phone: 1300 137 669

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