CD Freaks presents the Pioneer DVR-A08XLA 4x DL drive review

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Posted by	Dan Bell
Posted on	02/11/04 02:37
Number of views	628

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CD Freaks presents the Pioneer DVR-A08XLA 4x DL drive review

Drive Reviewer Tor Magne, known as OC-Freak in our Forums, has just finished his look at the new Pioneer offering for DVD burning, the DVR-A08XLA. What sets this drive apart from the fray, is it's the first to offer 16x recording to plus or minus media and at the same time gives us the option to burn dual layer discs at a 4x speed. What's not to like?

Key features of the DVR-A08XLA:

Performance:

Writes and reads DVD-R/RW, +R/RW and CD R/RW formats

DVD/CD buffer under-run protection
Max. 16x writing speed for DVD-R/ +R
Max. 4x writing speed for +R Double Layer Discs
Max. 4x writing speed for DVD-RW/ +RW
DVD data capacity of 4.7 GB per single-sided disc and 8.4 GB Double layer discs

Bundled Software:

Sonic Digital Media Suite' includes...
- MyDVD Deluxe
- DLA
- RecordNow!
- SimpleBackup
- CinePlayer

Specifications:

Write Support
DVD-R (4.7 GB for General disc only), DVD-RW , +R, +RW CD-R, CD-RW

Read Support

DVD-ROM (Single layer & Dual layers) DVD-RAM (Version 2 - 2.1 only)
DVD-R (all types), DVD-RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
CD-ROM Mode 1, CD-ROM XA Mode 2 (Form 1, Form 2)
CD-Text, Photo-CD (Single or Multiple session),CD-DA, CD-Extra
CD-R, CD-RW (Supports AM2)

Write Speed DVD-R 16x Zone CLV (22.16 MB/sec)
8x Zone CLV (11.08 MB/sec)
4x CLV (5.54 MB/sec)
2x CLV (2.77 MB/sec)
1x CLV (1.385 MB/sec)

Write Speed DVD-RW
4x CLV (5.54 MB/sec)
2x CLV (2.77 MB/sec)
1x CLV (1.385 MB/sec)

Write Speed +R
16x Zone CLV (22.16 MB/sec)
8x Zone CLV (11.08 MB/sec)
4x CLV (5.54 MB/sec)
2x CLV (2.77 MB/sec)
1x CLV (1.385 MB/sec)

Write Speed +R Double Layer
4x CLV (5.54 MB/sec)
2x CLV (2.77 MB/sec)
1x CLV (1.385 MB/sec)

Write Speed +RW
4x CLV (5.54 MB/sec)
2.4x CLV (3.240 MB/sec)

Write Speed CD-R
32x Zone CLV (4.8 MB/sec)
24x Zone CLV (3.6 MB/sec)
16x CLV (2.46 MB/sec)
12x CLV (1.845 MB/sec)
8x CLV (1.23 MB/sec)
4x CLV (0.615 MB/sec)

Write Speed CD-RW
24x Zone CLV (3.6 MB/sec)
16x CLV (2.46 MB/sec)
10x CLV (1.5 MB/sec)
4x CLV (0.615 MB/sec)

Read Speed DVD-ROM (Single)
Max. 16x CAV (22.16 MB/sec)

Read Speed DVD-ROM (Dual)
Max. 12x CAV (16.62 MB/sec)

Read Speed DVD-RAM
Max. 2x CLV (2.77 MB/sec)

Read Speed DVD-R, DVD-RW
Max. 12x CAV (16.62 MB/sec), Max. 8x CAV (11.08 MB/sec)

Read Speed +R,+RW
Max. 12x CAV (16.62 MB/sec), Max. 8x CAV (11.08 MB/sec)

Read Speed CD-ROM
Max. 40x CAV (6 MB/sec)

Read Speed CD-R,CD-RW
Max. 40x CAV (6 MB/sec), Max 32x CAV (4.92 MB/sec)

Read Speed CD-Audio
Max. 40x

Read Speed Video-CD
9.3x CLV (1.395 MB/sec)

Access Time DVD
140 msec (Random Average)

Access Time CD (Random Average)
130 msec

Interface
ATAPI (ATA/ATAPI-5 & MCC3, SFFCINF 8090 Ver.5.11)

Data Buffer
2 MB

The specifications look good, the drive has the fancy face panel too. So how does it hold up in testing? Please head on over to the review page and find out. After which, you may return here to leave your coments or also in this forum thread. Congratulations on another intensive review OC!

Source: CD Freaks

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Posted by FreqNasty on Tuesday 02 November 2004 09:45

I've had this drive for a while and my conclusion is that it's very good. While I haven't really used the cd burning side of it much (all cd's I've done have worked fine), the dvd side of things is where this shines with great burning quality and high speed ripping. The only let down is that it doesn't support bitsetting out of the box.

Posted by grimdeath on Thursday 04 November 2004 17:55

This burner is great i purchased it and put it in a usb 2.0 external enclosure so i could use it with my laptop and this baby works wonders got no complaints, great quality burner.

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