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Sony AW-G170A DVD-writer review

Sony and NEC join forces

Review:
Optical drives

09/20/2006

With the prices of DVD-burners dropping almost continuously it’s becoming increasingly difficult for manufacturers to realise a profit on their sales. This has forced various large manufacturers of Optical Drives to combine their resources and to work together. For example: Samsung and Toshiba have joint ownership of a production plant for optical drives, LG and Hitachi work together and Lite-on is a production partner to a multitude of other companies. The latest joint venture is that of Sony and NEC. Both Sony and NEC can profit from this cooperation as well as lower their production costs substantially. Sony is co-owner of various DVD-drive patents and therefore, unlike other manufacturers, does not have to pay some of the licensing fees associated with the production of DVD-burners and this can benefit NEC greatly. NEC on the other hand develops its own DVD-burner chipsets and is very cost effective in this area thus benefiting Sony. The first product to emerge from the cooperation of Sony and NEC is the Sony AW-G170A, an 18x speed DVD-burner. We put the drive through our expansive testing routine and in the following review will give you an in-depth view of its capabilities.

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Blu-ray drives: BenQ versus LG

BenQ BW1000 compared to LG GBW-H10N

Review:
Optical drives

08/24/2006

Some time ago we recieved the first Blu-Ray DVD writer from BenQ, the BW1000. LG has recently sent us their Blu-Ray writer, the LG GBW-H10N. Having the two in our test lab was to good an opportunity to not put these two through a head to head test.

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DVD writers buyers guide

All you need to know before purchasing a DVD rewriter

Background

08/08/2006

Although Blu-Ray and HD-DVD have been officially introduced, the developments on DVD burners have not stopped. The magical 16 speed limit has been broken by a few companies, the compatibility to use different discs has improved considerably and new technologies like lightscribe and labelflash have been introduced. Although it might seem that all DVD rewriters are the same, there are a few very important distinctions that need to be considered.

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