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Features
The features and specs on this drive are truly
impressive. Let's go over some of the main ones.
The new Pioneer DVR-108 is the only drive on the
market capable of writing to both DVD+R and DVD-R discs at 16x. It would
be, however, rather difficult to find some DVD-R discs capable of writing at
such high speeds.
This is also on of the first drives on the market to
feature 4X double layer writing. Keep in mind that 4x Double Layer media
is not expected to be available until January 2005. However,
Pioneer claims that 4x write speeds can be achieved on selected +R 2.4x Double
Layer media. This definitely sounds exciting so we will be testing 4x
write compatibility later in this review.
The drive also supports 4x write speeds on both
formats of DVD re-writable media.
Other features include:
- Liquid Crystal Tilt / Thickness Compensator
Provides accurate, reliable READ/WRITE performance with a variety of disc
characteristics. The Liquid Crystal Tilt Compensator is an ideal solution for
irregularly curved, thin/thick, and double layer discs.
- Smart Laser Driver
Smart Laser Driver: Write strategy control circuitry positioned in close
proximity to the writing laser limits signal delay, allowing high quality
recording at high speed.
- Buffer Under Run Protection
Prevents buffer under-run errors and allows
multi-tasking while writing to media.
Installation
Installation, as always, was a breeze on Window
XP and was identified properly under Device Manager.
Now, our sample did ship with firmware 1.04 and
when running Nero InfoTool, it did not recognize all supported features
properly. Double Layer support, for one, was not recognized.
However, Pioneer has just released firmware 1.06 on 08/07/04, which did
recognize the drive as a double layer writer. We will be testing this
drive using this brand new firmware release.
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