DVD-R Media

And now, some DVD-R media…

AN31

The DVR-110D performed better on the AN31 media, writing at the full 4x speeds at which the media was rated. We did not expect the DVR-110D to exceed this speed due to the lower quality of the media. The complete write took a few seconds over 15 minutes at 4x speeds, while reading back the media took 6 minutes and 37 in change.

MCC 03RG20

“Here we go, back to some high quality Verbatim media that took a successful write and helped the drive produce a successful read of the disc, finishing off at 16x write speeds.” That’s what we said in our look at the PX-740A, but we can’t say the same for the DVR-110D. For some reason, this drive has issues with media between the 3.5-4GB range. The write just gave up around 3.8GB and we had to stop it manually. Of course, we tried another disc, but it gave us the same results.

16x -R - MCC 03RG20 Write

16x -R - MCC 03RG20 Read

16x -R - MCC 03RG20

For giggles, we read back this disc on the drive that showed a flawless read up to the point that it had given up the read. During our PlexTools scan, we noticed a huge leap in PI errors towards the “end” of the write. You can see the screenshot by downloading the package at the link below.

TYG03

By reader demand, we are introducing Taiyo Yuden media into our testing, beginning with DVD-R media. Take a look at how the DVR-110D performed in it.


Click to enlarge.


Click to enlarge.

Well, our first time around with this media did not prove to be such a great experience. Like the MCC 03RG20 media, the write could not get past the 3.8GB mark and this disc was, of course, unreadable past that point as well. Hopefully, Pioneer can fix this in a firmware update, since Taiyo Yuden is rated as such a high quality media.

The screenshots of Nero’s CD-DVD Speed and Plextor’s Plextools can be downloaded here.
DVD+R Media DVD+/-RW Media
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  • DigitalFreak - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    But who can afford dual layer media? I don't care if the drive can burn DVD+-R/DL @ 20x, if I have to pay $3/disc for the media...
  • Anton74 - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link

    It makes for a good backup medium. Tapes of similar capacity are far more expensive, and far slower as well.

    Not to mention, the price of the media will undoubtedly drop over time.
  • Questar - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    Still reviewing DVD drives? $50 items?
    I'm left speechless.
  • LoneWolf15 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    quote:

    Still reviewing DVD drives? $50 items?


    Yeah, because all of us would like to buy three or four, spending money and time to RMA if necessary because Drives A, B, and C didn't have good write quality standards across multiple media manufacturers and burnt horrible discs, or burned 80% of the media on the market at 2-4x instead of max. rated speed.

    Just because a product is inexpensive doesn't mean it's not worthy of a review. Heck, I'd like to know which 120mm case fans produce the least amount of noise, for example. Do I want to buy ten just so I can test it out myself?

    In the same way, DVD burning today is much like second-gen CD writers about nine years ago. Media differed by manufacturer, and some drives did a lot better writing than others. The problem is rarer today now that technology has matured, but with DVD burners, the technology is like a child; some growth has been achieved, but it's still a long way from maturity. All of us here want the best for our money. Don't you?
  • vijay333 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    Yes. Who cares how cheap they've become? It's a matter of how often you actually use them these days - you'd still like to get the best possible product. Falls into the same category as mouse reviews...
  • wanderer27 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    Firmware is at v1.17 on the Pioneer Site. Why are we looking at v1.08 issues ?
  • PuravSanghani - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    At the time we tested this drive, 1.17 had not yet been released, which we stated in the review. We would also like to get some feedback from those who do have newer firmware versions applied on the performance/quality of burning to various types of media.

    If you do have the DVR-110D, or any other product we have reviewed in the past for that matter, with newer firmware than we have tested with, we would like any input you, our audience, can provide to help the rest of the community.

    For those looking for reviews besides DVD writers, we have quite a line up in the coming weeks so keep an eye out!

    Purav
  • DigitalFreak - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    I would like to see an updated review with the 1.17 firmware, if it fixes any of the issues they had. However, it appears that 1.17 has only been out for a week, so they probably had the article done awhile ago.
  • Lifted - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    you heard me, fix it!
  • n7 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    BenQ DW1640 still has the crown!

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