Pioneer DVR-108 DL Recorder - Page 22

Conclusion

The Pioneer is one of the first 16X ±R recorders to support the 4X DL writing speed with existing 2.4X DVD+R DL media. The writing time to burn a DL disc at 4X is reduced by 38.43%, while the writing quality is very good and the DVD-ROM booktype promises maximum compatibility with DVD players.

The used writing method for DVD projects (Z-CLV), won't give the highest recording speeds and the lowest recording times. A strange side-effect of the Z-CLV implementation, is that the DVR-108 is faster at 12X than at 16X. The writing quality is very good with specific media, while there is room for improvement with other. The drive seems better tuned for the +R rather than the -R format, in terms of writing quality, while it is faster with -R than +R, in terms of writing times.

The supported media for the 12X/16X writing speeds is restricted, overspeed is supported only for some 8X rated media. Don't expect 4X rated media to burn at 8X, unless it is supported either by official or un-official firmware upgrades. We expect Pioneer will offer new firmware updates improving the drive's performance.

The CD writing quality is good with low C1C2 error rates, but with high 3T Jitter values. The drive's ability to read scratched CD/DVD discs is very good, even though it cannot properly handle deep scratches. Lastly, Games and Audio discs incorporating various protection schemes, will present you with problems, since the drive can neither read them fast nor backup them up 100% accurately.

The price of the drive is around €116 ( including VAT)! The retail package (DVR-A08XLA and DVR-A08XLB) is expected to hit the European market at the end of August, early September, at a higher price of €150.

- The Good

• Supports 4X DL writing speed
• Quiet operation
• Supports DVD-ROM booktype for DVD+R9 format
• Very good CD error correction
• Very good DVD error correction
• Good CD writing quality
• Supports reading of DVD-RAM media
• Can overburn up to 90mins
• Supports CD-Text (reading/writing)

- The Bad

• Low CD recording speed (32X)
• Cannot recognize Key2Audio protected discs
• Cannot backup accurately newest SD2 protected titles
• Very slow reader when reading SD2 protected titles
• Doesn't support Mount Rainier for CD/DVD formats
• Doesn't support overburning for DVD±R formats
• Doesn't support DVD-ROM booktype for DVD+R/+RW formats
• Doesn't report C2 errors
• Cannot be used to measure C1C2/PIPO errors for CD/DVD media

- Like To be fixed

• High PIF error rates with specific media
• High 3T Pit/Land Jitter values
• CSS DVD-Video ripping speed could be higher
• Restricted supported media list for 12X/16X (can be fixed with firmware upgrade)
• Ripping problems with CDS200 protected Audio discs
• Recognition/ripping problems with 90/99min Audio discs

Tony Veglis