Test machine

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

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUSTeK P5W DH Deluxe (Intel Glendale DG I975x chipset)
  
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
  
• RAM: 2 GB OCZ Platinum dual channel kit DDR2 800
  
• GFX: BFG nVidia 8800GTS (640 Megabytes GDDR3)
  
• Sound: Onboard Realtek ALC882 HD audio controller
  
• Hard disk: 2X 250GB Seagate Barracuda (SATA 2)

System setup:

The Pioneer DVR-112 was connected to a Primary Slave IDE channel. As we can see from the above screenshot, Nero InfoTool reports the Pioneer DVR-112 as a UDMA4 compatible device.

And another screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Pioneer DVR-112 supports DVD-RAM read/write but the drive does not support Mount Rainier. The drive came shipped with firmware version 1.09.

Installed software:

• Nero Burning ROM 7
• Nero CD/DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool
• Slysoft CloneCD
• Exact Audio Copy
• KProbe

Our review PC has Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit installed.

Features and techniques

The Pioneer DVR-112 is powered by an NEC MC-10041 chipset.

In the above screenshot we can see the internal PCB of the Pioneer DVR-112.

Disc Quality Scanning:

The Pioneer DVR-112 can be used along with Nero CD-Speed for “Disc Quality Scanning”.

Disc Quality Scan at 8x scanning speed using CD-Speed.

BookType (Bitsetting):

The Pioneer DVR-112 supports automatic bit-setting, and is capable of writing DVD+R DL media with DVD-ROM book type. However, Bit-Setting of DVD+R/RW is not supported.

Here is how you could check if your discs are really written with DVD-ROM book type:

Start Nero CD-DVD Speed and click the Disc info button and you should get something like this:

DVD+R DL with book type DVD-ROM

Another quick test is to start Nero CD-Speed and look at the disc information:

Writing technique

Now it’s time to take a closer look at the write technology used by the Pioneer DVR-112:

For these tests we used CD-Speed and wrote a full disc at the drives maximum speed.

CD Recordable:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-112, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 40x.

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 40X. This gives an average speed of 30.27x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 14 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Pioneer DVR-112 was the slowest compared to our other drives when writing CD-R media.

CD Re-writable:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-112, it should be able to write CD-RW media at a maximum speed of 32x.

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. This gives an average speed of 24.97x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 45 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Pioneer DVR-112 was a little slower compared to our other drives when writing CD-RW media.

18x DVD+R/-R writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-112, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 18x.

DVD+R

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 18X. This gives an average speed of 13.17x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 11 seconds.

DVD-R

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 18X. This gives an average speed of 13.12x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 13 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from our table, the Pioneer DVR-112 was the fastest drive when writing DVD±R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-112, it should be able to write DVD+RW at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 7.83x and a total writing time of 7 minutes and 42 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-112 was about average at writing our test DVD+RW media.

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-112, it should be able to write DVD-RW at a maximum speed of 6x.

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 6X. This gives an average speed of 6.02x and a total writing time of 9 minutes and 50 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-112 was the fastest drive when writing DVD-RW media.

10x DVD+R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-112, it should be able to write DVD+R DL at a maximum speed of 10x.

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 10X. This gives an average speed of 8.55x and a total writing time of 15 minutes and 07 seconds.

10x DVD-R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-112, it should be able to write DVD-R DL at a maximum speed of 10x.

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 10X. This gives an average speed of 8.47x and a total writing time of 15 minutes and 31 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-112 was among the fastest drives when writing DVD+R DL and the fastest drive when writing DVD-R DL media.

12x DVD-RAM writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-112, it should be able to write DVD-RAM at a maximum speed of 12x.

The Pioneer DVR-112 uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 12X. This gives an average speed of 10.35x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 33 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-112 was the fastest drive when writing DVD-RAM media.

Let’s head on to the next page where we will check reading performance….

Introduction

Reading performance