Compressed Audio Performance

• Compressed Audio (data CD/DVD)

Let's now see how the player responds to various compressed audio files stored on data CD-R/RW/DVD-R/DVD-RW. The specifications for the Pioneer DVR-320-S indicate MP3/WMA support, but with some restrictions. According to the specifications mentioned in the manual, the DVR-320-S reads MP3 files of any bit-rate, CBR or VBR encoding mode and sampling rate from 44.1 KHz to 48 KHz. It can also read WMA files encoded with CBR, but VBR is not supported. Also, as stated in the manual, the player can read files encoded with the Windows Media Codec 8. Audio encoded with Windows Media Codec 9 is not guaranteed to play.

The table below shows a list of MP3 and WMA files with a variety of compression settings and the behavior of the device.

Compression Type	Compression Settings	Recognize/Play
MP3	CBR 20kBit 11025Hz Mono	No
	CBR 20kBit 11025Hz Stereo
	CBR 32kBit 11025Hz Stereo
	CBR 32kBit 22050Hz Mono
	CBR 40kBit 22050Hz Stereo
	CBR 48kBit 22050Hz Stereo
	CBR 48kBit 44100Hz Mono	Yes
	CBR 56kBit 22050Hz Mono	No
	CBR 56kBit 44100Hz Mono	Yes
	CBR 64kBit 22050Hz Stereo	No
	CBR 96kBit 44100Hz Mono	Yes
	CBR 96kBit 44100Hz Stereo
	CBR 112kBit 44100Hz Stereo
	CBR 128kBit 44100Hz Mono
	CBR 128kBit 44100Hz Stereo
	CBR 160kBit 44100Hz Stereo
	CBR 192kBit 44100Hz Stereo
	CBR 224kBit 44100Hz Stereo
	CBR 256kBit 44100Hz Stereo
	CBR 320kBit 44100Hz Stereo
	VBR - High compression
	VBR - Highest compression
	VBR - Low compression
	VBR - Lowest compression
	VBR - Medium compression
WMA	CBR 48kbps	Yes
	CBR 64kbps
	CBR 96kbps
	CBR 128kbps
	CBR 160kbps
	CBR 192kbps
	VBR any bitrate	No
WAV	WAV	Not supported
OGG Vorbis	OGG Vorbis	Not supported

One feature that we think could be useful and is missing from the DVR-320-S is the ability to playback compressed audio files from a DVD-R/DVD-RW. We tried burning DVD-R and DVD-RW discs with MP3/WMA audio in them, but the DVR-320-S didn't recognize and ejected the disc after 10-15 seconds of being inserted in the device.

Also, the DVR-320-S is capable of recognizing mixed discs, i.e discs that contain both compressed audio and/or image files. Of course, it only supports CD/CDR. One small annoyance we found is that if in a mixed disc we play back any of the mp3/wma files, then the Photoviewer menu option becomes unavailable. The only way to remedy this is to eject and reinsert the disc in the unit.