The Sony DRU-530A is a class act. Boasting competitive performance, top-notch setup tools, and a low price, it's a well-designed product with no major flaws.

Installing our test unit and learning to use its bundled software was a snap. Sony's profusely illustrated setup poster and task-oriented quick-start application clearly explain how to configure the drive hardware and perform common tasks in each application. If you run into a snag or simply need more help to get started, the Setup CD includes well-written user guides and links to each hardware and software vendor's support site.

Like the HP DVD400i, the DRU-530A ships with Sonic RecordNow! and CyberLink PowerDVD. But that's where the similarity ends. The rest of the bundle consists of Sonic's DLA 4.5, plus a freeware version of MusicMatch Jukebox 7.5, and the disc-authoring/mastering module of Sonic MyDVD Studio Deluxe 5 suite. MyDVD has a solid selection of video-capture and disc-burning features but offers only rudimentary video-editing functions not in a class with those of the ShowBiz 2 application bundled with the HP drive.

The DRU-530A did well on our performance tests, generally falling right in line with the Plextor and TDK models and outperforming the HP DVD400i. Its 40X CD-R recording speed was a big improvement over the 24X capabilities of prior Sony models.

After shepherding its users through four generations of dual-format DVD rewriters, it's no surprise that Sony has gotten almost everything right this time around. Despite a few minor caveats, the DRU-530A is a very good value.