Pioneer DVR-109 DVD Burner Review

Test machine:

For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:

Hardware:

⋅         Motherboard: Abit IC-7 MAX3 i875P
⋅         Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3,2GHz 800MHz FSB Prescott with Hyper Threading support.
⋅         RAM: 1Gb PC4300 DDR
⋅         GFX: Asus GeForce 6800
⋅         Sound: SB Audigy 2
⋅         Hard disks: 400Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 S-ATA connected to the Intel i875P S-ATA controller.

System set-up:

The Pioneer DVR-109 was connected as Primary Master and identified itself as PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-109. DMA (Direct Memory Access) and autorun was enabled for all devices where it was possible.

Software:

Windows XP Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP. We will be using the following software in this review:

⋅         Ahead Nero Burning ROM version 6.6.0.12
⋅         Ahead Nero CD/DVD Speed v3.80
⋅         Ahead Nero InfoTool v3.01
⋅         DVD-Identifier 3.6.5
⋅         K-Probe v2.4.3

Installation and supported features:

We quickly installed the drive without any problems and here is a screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

Our drive came shipped with firmware 1.08, we updated the firmware to version 1.40 for this review. The only drawbacks we could see are the inability to write DVD-RAM discs as well as missing Mt. Rainier support along with a bit small buffer. A larger buffer would at least smooth the data transfer to the drive a bit on stressed systems. According to these reported abilities, it also lacks support for reporting C2 errors.

And since the drive we got is the bare drive without any software ‘“ let us head on to the next page, which is reading performance test…