Pioneer DVR-108D - Crowning a new Champion
by Kristopher Kubicki on August 31, 2004 12:02 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
Features
Below, you can see the Infotool readout from Nero. Nero incorrectly reports the drive as only an 8X read, 4X write drive. For a little more detail, we will have to rely on DVD Info Pro. You may notice that we are still using the version 1.04 firmware; you can download the 1.06 firmware from the Pioneer Japan or Pioneer Australia websites, but since we bought the drive in the US, it only makes sense to wait for a retail US firmware update.
Click to enlarge.
There are no stellar features on this drive. We do not have any HD-Burn capability, and Mount Rainier DVD+RW is obviously not supported either. However, DVD+R Dual Layer (DVD+R9) is fully supported, and we are excited to see such an inexpensive drive support such features.
| Pioneer DVR-108D 16x DVD-/+RW Drive | |
| Interface | PATA |
| CD Write Speed | 32X, 24X ZCLV 16X, 8X, 4X CLV |
| CD Rewrite Speed | 24X ZCLV 16X, 10X, 4X CLV |
| CD Read Speed | 40X MAX CAV |
| DVD-R Write Speed | 16X, 12X, 8X CLV 4X, 2X, 1X |
| DVD-RW Rewrite Speed | 4X, 2X, 1X CLV |
| DVD+R Write Speed | 16X, 12X, 8X ZCLV 4X, 2.4X |
| DVD+RW Rewrite Speed | 4X, 2.4X CLV |
| DVD-RAM Read Speed | 2X CLV |
| DVD Read Speed | 16X MAX CAV |
| Supported Modes | DAO / DAO-RAW 16 & 96 TAO SAO / RAW SAO, RAW SAO 16 & 96 Packet Write Multi-Session |
| Supported Formats | DVD+R (DAO, incremental, seq) DVD+RW (random) DVD-R (DAO, incremental, seq) DVD-RW (restricted overwrite) CD-R, CD-RW, CD-ROM, CD-DA, Mixed Mode, CD Extra Photo CD, CD Text, Bootable CD, UDF |
| Access Time | CD: 130ms DVD: 140ms |
| Buffer | 2MB |
From the chipset information, this is by far the most ambitious drive that we have seen to date. We see identical features surface on a few other drives, including the NEC 3500A and the ASUS DRW-1604P, but we will get more into detail about those drives later.
The DVR-108D has the capabilities to write to DVD+R DL media at up to 4x and read it back at up to 8x speeds.
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DarthRanger - Saturday, September 4, 2004 - link
Hi Kristopher -Saw your post to my question; so you're saying Plextor has a d/l DVD RW? I checked Plextor-America's site and didn't see a D/L model there. Can you point me to a link?
Thanks,
Darth Ranger
Bozo Galora - Saturday, September 4, 2004 - link
Well well, quite a hodge podge of opinions and corrections.First of all the "retail" version with "honeycombed" casing to lower noise is not out yet. Its PART number is DVR-A08XL.
DVR-108 is the name of the drive and DVR-108D is the bare drive OEM bulk PART number.
I got that info from the cdrinfo article touted above, which does seem to be a lot more informative, and paints a lot less rosy picture of the drive.
http://cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews/Specific.aspx?...
After reading AT review, I had actually written a check to edazz.com for 5 of them ($89 shipped). Thanks to comments here, I ripped up the check and am now on hold again.
As far as the Plextor being $30 more expensive, pricegrabber.com has it for ~$122 at several vendors with 2 dif $30 rebate coupons noted, good until Oct.
So then I went to cdrlabs.com and saw one of the the new Liteon 16X will have a USB port version...
"Also available in an external version around October, the SOHW-1633SX offers an integrated USB 2.0 port for easy, flexible connectivity, and is ideal for users ‘on the go’."
"Fewer mistakes than usual" comment by belzer - heh heh. Quite an indictment.
I really need some DVD burners badly, but I guess I have to wait this stuff out.
And will have to take future AT optical reviews with a grain of salt - so to speak.
kcma - Friday, September 3, 2004 - link
I never read Anandtech's optical storage reviews, why? Because any burner reviews without tests on protected media is not worth my time reading. I browsed through the article quickly and once again, no tests are done on ripping and burning protected titles. If I was wrong because I browsed too quickly, I apologize. I would love to see this changed though, Maybe future articles can include these tests?bendixG15 - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
Okay;;Is there a diference between the modelDVR-108 asnd the DVR-108D ????
KristopherKubicki - Thursday, September 2, 2004 - link
Questar: The ridata media is pretty terrible. I havent seen another burner that burns it well either.Then again, look at some of our other dual layer tests that cant even burn the good MKM stuff.
Kristopher
mud - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
"but since dual layer media still costs several dollars a disc"Can someone tell me where I can find dual layer media at that price!?
Questar - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
A drive that FAILED half of the +R9 tests is considered the best drive you have ever tested?!?WTF was an average drive then??
KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
Belzer youre correct, ill have that changed.Kristopher
Belzer - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
Congratulations, fewer mistakes in this reveiw than usual. Here is a major one though:"CMC MAG F01
This is an Imation disc rated at 8x write speeds."
If this was rated 8x, which I doubt, it must be a mistake in production. CMC MAG F01 is the MID for CMC Magnetics 4x certified discs. If you had really tried a CMC Magnetics 8x disc, MID CMC MAG E01, you would actually have been able to try the burner @16x speed as it allows overspeeding on this media.
KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, September 1, 2004 - link
DarthRanger: I am guessing you didnt read the review.Kristopher