Test machine

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

Hardware:

• Motherboard: ASUSTeK P5K (Intel P35 chipset)
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
• RAM: 4 GB OCZ Platinum dual channel kit DDR2 800
• GFX: BFG nVidia 8800GTS (640 Megabytes GDDR3 HDCP compliant)
• Sound: Onboard Realtek ALC882 HD audio controller
• Hard disk: 2X 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (SATA 2)
• Case: ThermalTake Armor (silver)
• PSU: Enermax Liberty 620W
• Display: Samsung Syncmaster 245B 24” widescreen LCD (HDCP compliant)
• Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (64 bit) with Service Pack 1

System setup:

The Pioneer DVR-215BK was connected to an SATA channel on the motherboards ICH9 controller. As we can see from the above screenshot, Nero InfoTool reports the Pioneer DVR-215BK as a UDMA 4 device.

And another screenshot from Nero InfoTool:

From the screenshot from Nero InfoTool above, we can see the Pioneer DVR-215BK supports DVD-RAM read and write. The drive came shipped with firmware version 1.18.

Installed software:

For conducting our various tests, we will be using the following applications.

• Nero Burning Rom 8
• Nero CD/DVD Speed
• Nero InfoTool
• DVDFab Platinum
• Slysoft CloneCD
• Exact Audio Copy

Our review PC has Windows Vista Home Premium 64 bit installed with Service Pack 1.

Features and techniques

Drive Internals:

Pioneer DVR-215BK PCB

The Pioneer DVR-215BK is powered by an NEC MC-10042 chipset

BookType (Bitsetting):

The Pioneer DVR-215BK supports automatic bit-setting and supports Bit-Setting on DVD+R DL media.

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 BookType 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-215BK:

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-215BK, it should be able to write CD-R media at a maximum speed of 40x.

The Pioneer DVR-215BK 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 15 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Pioneer DVR-215BK was the slowest drive when writing CD-R media.

CD Re-writable:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-215BK, it should be able to write CD-RW media at a maximum speed of 32x.

The Pioneer DVR-215BK uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 32X. This gives an average speed of 24.93x and a total writing time of 3 minutes and 58 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see, the Pioneer DVR-215BK was one of the slowest drives when writing CD-RW media.

20x DVD+R/-R writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-215BK, it should be able to write DVD+R/-R media at a maximum speed of 20x.

DVD+R

The Pioneer DVR-215BK uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 20X. This gives an average speed of 14.66x and a total writing time of 4 minutes and 45 seconds.

DVD-R

The Pioneer DVR-215BK uses CAV, (Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 20X. This gives an average speed of 14.62x and a total writing time of 4 minutes and 47 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

As we can see from our table, the Pioneer DVR-215BK was about average when writing our test DVD R media.

8X DVD+RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-215BK, it should be able to write DVD+RW at a maximum speed of 8x.

The Pioneer DVR-215BK uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 8X. This gives an average speed of 7.82x and a total writing time of 7 minutes and 29 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-215BK was above average when writing our test DVD+RW media.

6x DVD-RW writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-215BK, it should be able to write DVD-RW at a maximum speed of 6x.

The Pioneer DVR-215BK 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 10 minutes and 2 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-215BK was one of the fastest drives when writing DVD-RW media.

10x DVD+R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-215BK, it should be able to write DVD+R DL at a maximum speed of 10x.

The Pioneer DVR-215BK uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 10X. This gives an average speed of 8.01x and a total writing time of 15 minutes and 42 seconds.

10x DVD-R DL writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-215BK, it should be able to write DVD-R DL at a maximum speed of 10x.

The Pioneer DVR-215BK uses Z-CLV, (Zoned Constant Linear Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 10X. This gives an average speed of 8.37x and a total writing time of 15 minutes and 54 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-215BK was about average when writing double layer media.

12x DVD-RAM writing speed:

According to the specifications of the Pioneer DVR-215BK, it should be able to write DVD-RAM at a maximum speed of 12x.

The Pioneer DVR-215BK uses P-CAV, (Partial Constant Angular Velocity), to write at its maximum speed of 12X. This gives an average speed of 10.27x and a total writing time of 5 minutes and 40 seconds.

For comparison we have made the following table: 

The Pioneer DVR-215BK was one of the fastest drives when writing our test DVD-RAM media.

Summary:

The Pioneer DVR-215BK has excellent writing performance on DVD recordable media. CD-R writing performance is not quite so good, since the drive is limited to 40x maximum writing speed.

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

Introduction

Reading performance