News - Sony to stop manufacturing optical drives

[HEXUS]

As part of restructuring program, closing money losing divisions.

Read more.

[pctech2012]

And when the cloud disappears for whatever reason people will be wishing they had these drives.

[shaithis]

Not surprised really.

The Sony name has taken quite a hammering over the last 10 years and the likes of Lite-On and LG have gotten great reviews over the years making them first choices.

[pctech2012]

I had an Optiarc in my last machine but have an LG in my new one, the LG seems much better quality.

[edvinasm]

There's not much business in these devices unless you are big and famous. Plextor, Pioneer used to be fast and rock solid. Now people buy any €20 $hite as long as it does the job. Hardly there is any money in it. Besides - Samsung is in this game as well. These guys do even external slim ones for €30.
I just hope Sony restructures and focuses on the right things.

[martian_aphid]

I got an optiarc DVDRW after my samsung failed but they seem to be well off the pace in the case of Bluray drives in terms of price and performance, so probably a sensible choice to abandon that market.

[crossy]

And when the cloud disappears for whatever reason people will be wishing they had these drives.

Totally agree, cloud is all very well - until you want to exchange data with someone who "lives under a cloudless sky". Then a nice, cheap optical disk is great. Next build I do will definitely have an optical drive - they're too useful, not only for legacy programs, but also ripping music CD's, playing DVD's etc. I ended up cutting some photos and videos to a disk last week for a relative - yes I could have used a flash drive, but a disk is "better". Then again, I've still got a 3.5" drive.

As to Optiarc - I've got one of their drives in my current rig and I'm not that impressed - it's got a noisy eject mechanism and it always seems a little reluctant. The LG or Asus drives I've had in the past were more confidence inspiring! Nice to see that they're going for early retirements and redeployments for the folks concerned in the Optiarc division - rather than "pink slips".

[watercooled]

I've found the opposite TBH - the LG drives I own have ridiculously noisy bearings, while the Optiarcs are about as quiet as you could want really. They also have lower IO error rates and better burning quality. The buggy eject mechanism is a minor one really, but it happens on LiteOn drives too (same mechanical drive AFAIK).

I might do some research and, if they're still about the best drive to get, I might grab a few before they sell out.

[[DW]Cougho]

I'm also a fan of the Optiarcs. Have been since I got an old NEC drive years ago, used them in builds for friends etc.

Still my current one doesn't see much use as it is, so I can't see me needing another.

[SineWave]

No wonder, as the last Optiarc DVD-R I bought broke after a month or two, then I exchanged it for another one, and that one has problems with the tray... really low quality. I will never buy an Optiarc DVD-R, ever. Really. LOL

[=assassin=]

I've never ever bought a Sony drive, so no big loss here to me

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I've never ever bought a Sonu drive, so no big loss here to me

Sonu are quite big with Dave down the market together with Somsung and Pioner!!



Edit!!

Darn it!

You corrected itt - you said Sonu before!!

[Bambooz]

Sonu are quite big with Dave down the market together with Somsung and Pioner!!

PieOnEar

edit: now with matching logo.. ahem..

[SineWave]

LOL "PieOnEar"!

[geoffmail500]

is it correct that sony who launched and pushed so hard with blu ray aren't going to make their own drives? same with oled as well, what do they actually have left that makes them the real money? ps3?

[Funkstar]

is it correct that sony who launched and pushed so hard with blu ray aren't going to make their own drives? same with oled as well, what do they actually have left that makes them the real money? ps3?

Not such a crazy situation if I'm honest. Why should Sony actually manufacture the drive mechanism and assembly when some other company can do it just as well and far cheaper? I would imagine Sony has high over heads for things like this, they need to be spending their time manufacturing high value items, not commodity items like optical drives.

Apple don't actually manufacture any of their own gear. Others do it for them to their design and specification, or they buy off the shelf components for someone else to assemble.