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-112D was connected to a Secondary Slave IDE channel.

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Pioneer DVR-112D supports DVD-RAM read but the drive does not support Mount Rainier. The drive came shipped with firmware version 1.09 and was updated to firmware version 1.15 when it became available.

Firmware update:

We had no problems updating the firmware from version 1.09 to 1.15

Installed software:

• Nero CD/DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool
• KProbe

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

Features and techniques

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

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

Disc Quality Scanning:

The Pioneer DVR-112D 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-112D 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-112D:

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-112D, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 40x.

The Pioneer DVR-112D uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 40X. This gives an average speed of 30.29x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 15 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

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

CD Re-writable:

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

The Pioneer DVR-112D uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. This gives an average speed of 24.95x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 59 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Pioneer DVR-112D 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-112D, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 18x.

DVD+R

The Pioneer DVR-112D uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 18X. This gives an average speed of 13.13x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 13 seconds.

DVD-R

The Pioneer DVR-112D uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 18X. This gives an average speed of 13.08x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 14 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

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

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

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

The Pioneer DVR-112D uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 7.84x and a total writing time of 7 minutes and 18 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

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

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

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

The Pioneer DVR-112D uses CLV, (Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 6X. This gives an average speed of 6.01x and a total writing time of 9 minutes and 51 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-112D was among the fastest drives when writing DVD-RW media.

10x DVD+R DL writing speed:

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

The Pioneer DVR-112D uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 10X. This gives an average speed of 8.49x and a total writing time of 15 minutes and 16 seconds.

10x DVD-R DL writing speed:

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

The Pioneer DVR-112D uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 10X. This gives an average speed of 8.50x and a total writing time of 15 minutes and 21 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

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

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

Introduction

Reading performance