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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  • yanon - Saturday, September 17, 2005 - link

    I am glad that I just bought a Benq 1640A. I can't wait to test it on Tuesday.
  • deathwalker - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link

    Its sad to see such poor product development work being done a Brand name Mfg. There is no excuse releasing a product for production that does not meet the expectations of not only the buying public but also a product that does not live up to a companies reputation.
  • Bozo Galora - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    heres the 1.17
    http://www.pioneer-eur.com/eur/content/support/sup...">http://www.pioneer-eur.com/eur/content/support/sup...

    since the review was so negative, I think it deserves an addendum with FW 1.17
  • RyanVM - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    When are you guys going to review the PX-716A?
  • imaheadcase - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    How come we don't see SATA based CDROM/DVD/DVD burners? Is it lack of standard for those? Expensive? Even if performance was not a reason, sure would look nicer in a case than the old ribbon cables..

    Just seems like lately i've noticed lots of computer parts seems, well outdated compared to how fast other stuff changes. hehe
  • Anton74 - Friday, September 16, 2005 - link

    Indeed.

    On the same token, why can I buy 1GB of RAM for less than $100, but most all optical drives seem to have a 2MB buffer, or 8MB at the most for the more expensive models?


    Similar story for hard drives, which could potentially benefit even more. Why aren't there models with something like 64MB or even 128MB buffers? I'd be perfectly willing to pay ~$20 more for the increased performance.

    /soapbox
  • xsilver - Saturday, September 17, 2005 - link

    most of the memory on hdd's and optical drives is provided via 1 memory chip
    your usual ddr/ddr2 uses a 8/16 chip configuration
    they also try to use lower latency/higher frequency ram

    however, yes I do agree though that devices should come with a 32mb buffer, which is feasable
  • joex444 - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    Indeed, as already commented, the Plextor 712SA and 716SA are both SATA drives, 12x and 16x (which also has some more features over the 712SA). Last I checked, the 716SA ran about $120 or so.

    I was considering buying one, but realized that it would be incompatible with my SATA chip, which is one reason that you don't see more of these drives -- motherboard compatibility. Apparently the SATA chips were designed for HDs or something stupid like that...
  • bldckstark - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    The SATA reviews are just one Google search away.

    http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?article...">Plextor's PX-712SA Dual-Format DVD+/- SATA Drive
    http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20040709/">MSI's DVD Drive Gets The SATA Connection

    It's a big world out there, you should take a look sometime.
  • KristopherKubicki - Thursday, September 15, 2005 - link

    Unfortunately, OSD manufacturers don't have mature unbridged SATA interfaces. Thus, they need to rely on a bridge to support SATA, but the logic goes if you're buying a DVD/CD drive you've probably got an older computer (because new computers come with DVD/CD drives).

    On the other hand, there is some market for OEM components, as removing the PATA interface for some companies (Dell) saves them a fraction of the production cost -- but unfortunately then the OSD manufacturer ends up eating that cost with the bridge chip.

    Plextor did just that for a bunch of people at first, and coincidentally the company is in trouble now. When the margin on these kind of products is so razor thin, *anything* to increase the cost is a huge problem for manufacturers.

    So in short - there is no market to support SATA on OSD right now.

    Kristopher

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