By Kire Terzievski, RMIT Test Labs
June 18th, 2002.
4. Pioneer DVR-A04
Pioneer was the first to introduce a recordable device that could burn both DVDs and CDs. Its latest product is the DVR-A04, which can burn DVD-RW, DVD-R, CD-RW, and CD-R discs.
The Pioneer drive isn't as fast as any of the DVD+RW/+R drives, because it can only record DVD-Rs at 2x and DVD-RWs at 1x. The Pioneer was on par with the external Lacie drive (which also happens to use a Pioneer DVR-A04 drive).
We expected the internal drive to be much faster but this didn't seem to be the case. One thing we noticed was how long it took the Pioneer drive to finalise a DVD-RW disc after it had finished recording. In some cases it took longer than the recording process.
We initially thought there must be a problem with the software, but we tried another recording package and again it took just as long to finalise. The software bundle features Record Now DX, which is a mastering software package from Veritas. It's quite good and on par with the B's Recorder in regards to ease of use. Also thrown in are Cyberlink's PowerDVD and ArcSoft's ShowBiz, which is a video editing software program.
Like all the other drives, some blank discs were thrown in, but Pioneer also included a permanent disc marker (and five DVD movie rental vouchers from Blockbuster Video).
| Product: | Pioneer DVR-A04 |
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| Price: | AU$1099 |
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| Vendor: | Pioneer |
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| Phone: | 1300 666 383 |
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| Interoperability: |
Writes to both DVD-R and DVD-RW. |
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| Futureproofing: |
Future is uncertain and too difficult to predict. |
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| ROI: |
Well priced unit that offers good value. |
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| Service: |
1-year parts and labour warranty. |
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| Rating: |
Issues with finalising DVD-RW discs. |
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4%
1%
