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Review: Pioneer DVR-A08XLA DVD-Writer Reviewer: OC-Freak Provided by: Pioneer Europe Firmware: 1.14 Manufactured: July 2004 |
PioneerEurope was kind enough to send us their latest DVD-Writer;
The Pioneer DVR-A08XLA. This writer is a much anticipated drive and our
expectations are very high. In this review we will run the drive through several
advanced tests, and try to test as many aspects as possible.
Some short Pioneer information:
Pioneer is a large and well-known company over the whole
world and has since the 1930s been providing quality products, so let us take a
look at their product history:
As we can see they have been providing high tech, quality
products for a long time. Pioneer, as we know them now, has the following
vision:
sound.vision.soul
Pioneer group's sense of purpose
Everyone's got soul. The never-ending challenge is to find
better ways to feel it deeper down inside. At Pioneer, 'Move the Heart and Touch the Soul" means more than
words can express. It's our mission to stir as many senses and sensibilities as
we can through the wonders of everlasting sound and vision.
Since we are pretty sure that almost everyone knows
Pioneer, we do not think a longer company presentation is needed and go directly
to drive specifications.
Drive specifications:
These are the specifications of this drive, found at the
Pioneer webpage:
High |
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DVR-A08XLA |
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Writes |
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DVD/CD |
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Max. |
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DVD |
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Bundled |
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Specifications |
DVR-A08XLA |
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Write |
DVD-R (4.7 GB for General disc CD-R, |
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Read |
DVD-ROM (Single layer & Dual DVD-RAM (Version 2 - 2.1 DVD-R (all types), DVD-RW, +R, +R CD-ROM Mode CD-Text, CD-R, CD-RW (Supports |
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Write Speed |
16x Zone CLV (22.16 MB/sec) 8x Zone CLV (11.08 4x 2x CLV (2.77 1x CLV |
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Write Speed |
4x CLV (5.54 2x CLV (2.77 1x CLV |
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Write Speed |
16x Zone CLV (22.16 8x Zone CLV (11.08 4x 2x CLV (2.77 1x CLV |
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Write |
4x CLV (5.54 2x CLV (2.77 1x CLV |
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Write Speed |
4x CLV (5.54 2.4x CLV (3.240 |
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Write Speed |
32x Zone CLV (4.8 MB/sec) 24x Zone CLV (3.6 MB/sec) 16x 12x CLV (1.845 MB/sec) 8x CLV (1.23 MB/sec) 4x CLV (0.615 |
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Write Speed |
24x Zone CLV (3.6 MB/sec) 16x 10x CLV (1.5 MB/sec) 4x CLV |
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Read |
Max. |
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Read |
Max. |
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Read Speed |
Max. |
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Read |
Max. |
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Read Speed |
Max. 12x CAV |
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Read Speed |
Max. |
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Read |
Max. |
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Read Speed |
Max. |
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Read Speed |
9.3x CLV |
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Access Time |
140 msec |
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Access |
130 |
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Interface |
ATAPI |
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Data |
2 |
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Mounting |
Horizontal |
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Power |
+5 |
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Power |
22.60 Watt |
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Regulatory |
UL, CSA, |
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Dimensions |
148 x 42.3 x |
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Net |
1.1 kg
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The specifications are pretty good, but 32x CD-Writing is a
bit low compared to other new drives. The specifications do also state that it
uses Z-CLV/CLV writing strategy, many new writers use CAV/P-CAV which is a
faster (but maybe harder to implement) strategy. We will later on see how this
affects the performance of the drive.
What's inside the
box?
Let us start out pretty easy with taking a look at what we
got and what the box contained.
The drive we received was a retail drive that came in a
nice looking box, but a nice box is not worth much '“ so let us look at the
content.
Looks like a very small bundle but to make sure that we do
not miss anything we list what we got below:
This is what the Retail bundle consists of:
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The drive itself
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Sonic software CD
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Manual
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Screws
Far from the best bundle we have seen, we are missing
IDE-Cable, Audio cable as well as empty media.
Now it's time to take a look at the drive itself:
It does at least have a very special looking front, very
stylish. But it is very stripped for features, there is just a small one
coloured led, we prefer a different led colour when writing compared to when
reading, and there is no head phone connector and volume knob either.
Our sample was produced in China and has a production date of
July 2004.
On the back of the drive there are from the left: one
undocumented connector; analogue audio connector; pins and jumper to set the
drive to cable select, slave or master; IDE connector, power connector. The
digital audio connector is missing.
Now, let us install the drive and check out the features
and program bundle of this drive on the next page…