Holy Crap! *GOOD* DL Burner hits the market!

spudthedestroyer

That's right, just got an e-mail about a decent brand having a shot at things. I've been using a Pioneer 105 for ages with no problems (old school guy here), and there new burner has just come out. I can't speak any higher of quality of build and what's better is this one sounds to be market leader again:
http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/acatalog ... .html#a988

{HA 4099} Pioneer DVR-108 16x DVD+/-R writer with 4x Double Layer DVDR writing compatibility and 32x CDR writing compatibility.

Quote:

The release of the Pioneer 108 is a milestone in DVD writing.

The features of the drive will leave you full of anticipation.

While DVDR recording speeds have previously edged slowly up, the Pioneer 108 brings us a giant leap with a drive being capable of 16x DVD writing to both the DVD-R and DVD+R formats. It also is capable of writing to CDR at 32x. DVDRW and CDRW writing is naturally also supported.

Compatibility with 8.5GB Double Layer media is included. This is the first Pioneer DVD writer that can write to Double Layer media.

Pioneer have added a number of new technologies to this new drive to make it write with greater accuracy and precision giving our customers the highest possible success rate in writing DVDR discs. The drive has been designed to cope better with media which may be slightly warped or unbalanced so whether you are writing at 2x or 16x you are less likely to run into any problems.

Until such time as 16x media is available (expected October 2004) Pioneer tell us that16x write speeds can be achieved on selected 8x speed DVD-R/+R media. We are awaiting their advice on this matter. All of our current range of DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and CDR/RW media should function perfectly with this DVD writer.

4x Double Layer media is not expected to be available until January 2005. Until then Pioneer tell us that 4x write speeds can be achieved on selected +R 2.4x Double Layer media. We are awaiting their advice on this matter.

This item is sold as a bare drive. No cables, installation screws or software is included.

This drive is very new technology (only being released in August 2004), so you may need to update your DVDR writing software to include compatibility with your new drive.

We offer some options for software below.

Firmware to burn 2x at 4x on my 105 works perfectly, so I'm hoping its the same here

I'm going to make a purchase very soon methinks, unless someone has news of a better burner?

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Sat Aug 07, 2004 1:07 pm **Post subject:**

damn i thought everyone would be jumping for joy, guess its cos medias so expensive or something?

For ?69.99 this things a bargain though

ohgodnotanotherone · **Posted:** Sat Aug 07, 2004 4:07 pm **Post subject:**

I think I might get it - Was waiting for that philips but that wasn't compatible with all formats out of the box , there'd be "a firmware in september to deal with all that" ... :matrix:

But ehm....it's the DL media that put off most of us I guess....

it's heading towards the same situation as it is with printers and ink :evil:

John_Doe · **Posted:** Sat Aug 07, 2004 4:37 pm **Post subject:**

ok. I've been looking for a new burner. Heard some good things about Lite-on, but I guess I'll just as well go for this one instead. If I ever get any troubles with it though, you better go into hiding spud! :twisted:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Sat Aug 07, 2004 5:34 pm **Post subject:**

ahem, my comments merely reflect the quality of the 105, and the consistant review scores.

Your enjoyment may not reflect spud, his subsiduries, or share holders

@ohgo, philips make good burners? I've never bothered to look at them because they always struck me as an average hardware maker... which burner were you holding out for?

ohgodnotanotherone · **Posted:** Sat Aug 07, 2004 8:26 pm **Post subject:**

spudthedestroyer wrote:

ahem, my comments merely reflect the quality of the 105, and the consistant review scores.

Your enjoyment may not reflect spud, his subsiduries, or share holders

@ohgo, philips make good burners? I've never bothered to look at them because they always struck me as an average hardware maker... which burner were you holding out for?

*ahem* They co-invented the cd , cd-rom , pioneered mpeg2 (CD-I) and ohhh.......a third of all telly tubes are philips (they supply a whole bunch of "tv manufacturers", including some real expensive brands)......and in the LG joint venture they're one of the big 3 producers of LCD and plasma......
oh , and they make light bulbs.....it's what they started out with a 100 years ago....... :wink:

I don't have the type number around , there should only be one out right now.....

And what about that Liteon ? Saw that last week in the shops....How does it fare in any tests ? at 99 euro's , it's fairly cheap.....

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Sat Aug 07, 2004 8:43 pm **Post subject:**

Liteon do well, they are very popular. Like a NEC that don't smell (which while on the subject of, NEC do excellent flat panels for monitors, they just suck at everything else :lol:

)

Damn I dunno why it is then, but philips always make me think of poor quality, must be some japanese propaganda :lol:

Panasonic pioneered the dvd if memory serves, I always thought cds were a japanese lab product too. About the teletube thing, that's kind of odd since philips and sony monitors have NEC panels :lol:

Must not have got the hang of pcs yet :mrgreen:

Sounds like most companies just suck at everything but one thing, and end up using rivals components :lol:

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Thu Aug 12, 2004 7:34 pm **Post subject:**

Well, let's hope you're right, I've just ordered one

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Aug 12, 2004 10:18 pm **Post subject:**

please let us know how it is, I'm trying to juggle together the cash for one of these atm

It's a pioneer, so at least its a solid burner at the base

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Thu Aug 12, 2004 11:57 pm **Post subject:**

Looks like Pioneer have bent the truth a bit with 16x speed writingh though : http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=28363

In fact outright lying might be more truthful.

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:16 am **Post subject:**

lol... the peckers! They don't get a xmas card this year! :matrix:

edit:
err no, someone said it won't burn at 16x on 8x media with the current beta firmware. I wouldn't expect them to crack it off the bat to be fair.

I don't think they were lying when they said its 16x burner (else that would be false advertising), although they definitely were bending the truth. I think it probably has more to say about the quality of the 8x media than it does the drive if you look at the test.

When the proper firmware comes out I think it will be hunky doory, although to be honest, I wouldn't want to burn 8x at full 16x, your more likely to get CRC and it definitely won't do anything for the discs life. Just a cheapo backup plan for the odd disc, and to save money burning at 12x. They have bent the truth, but it doesn't look like they were lying about it at all.

It does say that it can burn 8x at 12x though, even with the current firmware. Guess it needs a bit of tweaking.

I was ready to be seriously pissed off then :lol:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Fri Aug 13, 2004 12:19 am **Post subject:**

Sweet looks like its a very fast reader too

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Fri Aug 13, 2004 7:29 am **Post subject:**

I was referring more to the fact that 16x is slower than 12x and only used for ~200Mb of the disk (!)

Quote:

you have to know that the DVR-108 is really a 12x burner that only got stamped 16x because Pioneer marketing insisted on it. In all, the drive must burn less than 300 MB of data at 16x

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:28 pm **Post subject:**

{HA 4100} NEC 3500 16x DVD+/-R writer with 4x Double Layer DVDR writing compatibility and 48x CDR writing compatibility.

Quote:

NEC are always on the forefront of DVD Writing technology.

As well as being a 16x DVD+R/DVD-R writer it is also capable of writing CDR at 48x. DVDRW at 4x and CDRW at 24x is also supported.

Compatibility with 8.5GB Double Layer media is included at 4x

NEC have maximized the speed of this drive by using a write strategy that maintains the highest writing speed possible for longer. (Known as CAV) This means that this 16x DVD writer is actually faster than some other 16x DVD writers!

Speed is no good without accuracy so you will be pleased to know that initial reviews show that the NEC writer produces good accurate DVD and CD writing results on a wide range of different brands of media.

The previous DVD writers from NEC have been award winners (the 2500 and 2510 models) and have been responsible for converting many customers who had previously used other brands over to NEC. NEC are aiming to build on this by offering a machine that they claim is as fast and accurate as any drive available at a price that they believe makes this drive irresistible.

Until such time as 16x media is available (expected October 2004) NEC tell us that 16x write speeds can be achieved on selected 8x/12x speed DVD-R/+R media. We are awaiting their advice on this matter.

All of our current range of DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and CDR/RW media should function perfectly with this DVD writer.

4x Double Layer media is not expected to be available until January 2005. Until then NEC tell us that 4x write speeds can be achieved on Verbatim +R 2.4x Double Layer media.

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:51 pm **Post subject:**

mmm, yeah, but it's NEC and having had 2 of their drives (and problems with both) I think I'll avoid it thanks

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:56 pm **Post subject:**

yeah, but just thought it was funny, wonder if they were laughing when they were typing award winnning :mrgreen:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Mon Aug 16, 2004 2:15 pm **Post subject:**

Well there's a shoot off between the two burners here:
http://www.flashman.dsl.pipex.com/Pioneer-NEC.htm

Reads as though Pioneer is the better burner, and NEC has trouble with errors on the dvds (surprise, surprise). NEC is the faster cd burner, but pioneer is a better overburner.

PC_Arcade · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 8:36 am **Post subject:**

OK, not done too many burns since receiving this, BUT with datawrite red v2's the drive is burning perfectly @ 4x, which was hit and miss on the NEC (i'd taken to burning them @ 2x to make sure they'd work), I've got some Datawrite Greys (8x) to try out next, I'll keep you posted.

So far though the drive is excellent and at the risk of prompting a "told you so" from spud it pisses all over the NEC which, on my machine anyway, was horribly unreliable.

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 2:33 pm **Post subject:**

I'm honestly not that pett.... who am I kidding? :wacky:

I'm definitely getting one of these eventually. Just need to get together the cash and put together a plan of action :mrgreen:

spudthedestroyer · **Posted:** Tue Aug 31, 2004 8:42 pm **Post subject:**

I ordered mine today, and now I have no money!

Hooray! :cry:

Holy Crap! GOOD DL Burner hits the market!

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