When Pioneer A06 will be available in US and in Europe?

[Noua]

Does anyone knows when the drive will be available in US? And in Europe, any ideas?

[Ian]

According to their press release, it will be available in the US this month.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030519/lam042_1.html

[Noua]

Ian,

Thanks for the link I'v read it already... Nothing asbaut Europe though... Too bad...

Isn't 329€ a bit for the drive? Prices have been dropping for the past months... Well guess I'l have to wait a few months until it reaches 250€....

[Ian]

Yeah, $329 is a little high. Especially when you consider its going for about $207 in Japan. Hopefully Pioneer will drop the price when it ships.

[Dave C]

I thought I already saw these last week at my local Best Buy.

[Ian]

I thought I already saw these last week at my local Best Buy.

You probably did

http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=112 ... 1&scat=514

$329 too..

[chubz9]

yup, I'm in Orange County, CA and i found this drive on the CD-RW/DVD+/-RW shelves (although i only found 1). For a price so close to the Sony DRU-510A (at bestbuy, sony costs $349, but on other local retail stores, they offer it for the same price as the pioneer A06 which is $329), i think the sony would be a better buy, with its 4X DVD+RW capability, and 24X cd-R write, and 16X rewrite, plus an 8MB buffer. I don't know, i'm choosing between the two right now. I can't find any review for the pioneer either, and reviews for the DRU-510A is not that many too. oh well...

[Noua]

Well, I don’t think that the 8mb buffer makes such a big difference, in fact, I think it’s not a decisive factor.
I’ve read that the Sony has a lot of compatibility problems and many have complained about media problems although the constant firmware updates from Sony.
I’m very curious on the A06 cause for what I’ve read the A05 is one of the most stable and balanced DVD writers. With + and – capabilities, and let us hope that at least they’ve kept the A05 performance, make’s me anxious for a review on the drive…

[dolphinius_rex]

The Pioneer A06 looks incredibly similar to the NEC ND-1300A...I wonder if it is just an OEM?

[jase]

I would hope not.

The NEC-1300A's media compatibility is absolutely horrendous compared to the A05/105 that can record on just about any DVD-R you throw at it.

Yeah, it's probably OK with +R media (after all the 1300A is just a modified +RW drive) but I wouldn't want to use overpriced +R media that doesn't work with one or two of my players

[Ian]

Doesn't look like an ND-1300A to me..

[chubz9]

if we would be able to see the rear side of the drive, then we would know if it is based on NEC-1300A, but i think Pioneer won't do that (i hope). If the back side has that square-cutout which looks like a space for a fan, then it would be just like the TDK 440N.... whew... i wonder when will reviews come out.. the drive is available already....

[jase]

http://www.dvd-recordable.org/modules.p ... tent&id=53

Here is a brief review of the drive. Not much info, but some pictures are posted. I understand this drive is an engineering sample but not too dissimilar to the final product.

[Kennyshin]

The Pioneer A06 looks incredibly similar to the NEC ND-1300A...I wonder if it is just an OEM?

Both Pioneer and NEC said no.

[deeznuts]

already available in US

http://meritline.com/nepi4xdvdvin.html

http://store.yahoo.com/supermediastore/ ... vr106.html

[Raz0rX]

I saw from Akiba that the A06 uses a black colored tray.

[dodecahedron]

The Pioneer A06 looks incredibly similar to the NEC ND-1300A...I wonder if it is just an OEM?

Both Pioneer and NEC said no.

LOL

[rc213]

PIONEER 4X DUAL (+-)DVD REWRITABLE INTERNAL DRIVE W/SW #DVR-106D(OEM box)*No stock Estimated arrival on 6/26/2003 $248.00
www.mwave.com

That is a mighty nice price for a dual drive. I might have to cave in and finally purchase one.

Edit: Pioneer USA now has a page for the A06U
http://pioneerelectronics.com/Pioneer/CDA/Industrial/IndustrialProductDetails/0,1444,93032,00.html

[Noua]

That's the OEM verison, remember... I don't quite know the differences, besides the bundled software there must bemore but...
Nevertheless, for that price i would go for one...

[rc213]

Wonder when we will see a review, im interested in media compatability.

[hoxlund]

dude the pioneer a06 sucks compared to sony dru-510a, its slower at cd-r, cd-rw, dvd+rw

and only 2mb buffer

and the pioneer a06 is their first dual format, which most of the time can't be good

this is like sony's 3rd dual format, they really know what their doing, me being a very satisfied and happy sony dru-510a owner, i can speak from experiance

[aviationwiz]

While Pioneer does make good drives, I wouldn't get a dual format from them. Just a DVD-R/RW from them. They are known for -, they are good at -, they should continue with -. A Dual Format I think is just looking for trouble.

[hoxlund]

i agree

[rc213]

I guess ill keep playing the waiting game then.

[Noua]

I don’t want the drive for burning CD’s. For that I have my Plextor witch is good enough and never gave me a problem. Has for the 8 mb buffer, a drive isn’t just buffer… There are other issues that make the real difference... Like I said before, if they keep up with the media compatibility performance they had with A05, I think we’ll have a big surprise… It’s true that this is their first dual drive, but they’ve had more time to test it…
I’ll just give them the benefit of the doubt and wait for several reviews… and a price drop… :D:D:D eh eh eh…
Nevertheless the Sony 510 seems to be a very good drive but I’ve read reports that the still have some media problems…and the price is just too much (I think that it’s here that lies the problem with the Sony drive). Haven’t been able to confirm this but seems that some people still complained about some media recording problems….
One other drive that seems to be out there with good performance is the NEC 1300A. With a special firmware upgrade seems to overcome most of its media problems…
Maybe I’ll just wait one or two more months and then get the dual burner…