Pioneer has announced a new external DVD recorder. The drive writes both DVD+R and DVD-R discs at 8 speed and is able to connect to your PC by using an USB or FireWire interface. It can read DVDs at a maximum of 12 speed and writes to DVD+RW and DVD-RW discs at 4 speed.

The drive also uses Pioneers technologies to improve the write quality and reduce noise, such as  Liquid Crystal Tilt Compensator, Smart Laser Driver, Ultra Dynamic Resonance Absorber  and Precision Recording Technology. Those who install SAI's WriteDVD also can use the Distributed Defect Real Management System.

The DVR-S706-J is an external high-speed rewritable drive in a sleek design, capable of recording at up to 8x write speed with DVD+/-R discs and at up to 4x with DVD+/-RW discs with substantially low operation noise. The new external drive can sit vertically or horizontally and plugs into standard IEEE1394 and USB2.0 ports. The monthly production is expected to be 2,000 units. The DVR-S706-J is stylish, easy to install and use, and offers fast write speeds and high quality recording with low operation noise. Recently, PCs and peripheral devices that smoothly process a large volume of data such as video materials have been rapidly penetrating into the Japanese market. In addition, many PC users have more opportunities that they enjoy music or video materials on their PCs. The new DVD/CD writer meets such requirements from our customers - high-quality recording, high write speeds, and quiet operation.

The drive should become available in May. Unfortunately no price has been set for the drive. The entire press release with much more information is available here. Discuss this in our Pioneer Forum.

Source: JapanCorp.net