Pioneer DVR-116D 20x DVD±RW

CD Write and ReWrite Tests - Nero Burning Rom 7.11.10.0 and DLA 5.20:

For this test I randomly generated 700MB of files and directories to test the time it takes the drive to write and close a CD. All of the files are between 1MB and 25MB in size and no more than 10 directories deep. All of the times below include not only the actual writing time, but the lead in and out times too. This gives a more realistic idea of how long it takes to write a CD.

The DVR-116D has a maximum CD writing speed of 40x. To reach this speed, it uses CAV, or Constant Angular Velocity. With Taiyo Yuden's 52x media, the drive started writing at about 17.77x and reached a maximum speed of 39.46x at the end of the session. This gave Pioneer's new DVD±RW drive an average writing speed of about 30.42x.

To test the drive's writing times, I wrote our test data to some Taiyo Yuden media rated at 52x. The results are below.

Pioneer's new DVD writer went into this test with a slight disadvantage. While the other drives can write CD's at 48x, the DVR-116D has a maximum writing speed of only 40x. Nevertheless, it was able to write an entire 701MB CD in a respectable 3:33.

To test the drive's writing quality I used Lite-On IT's KProbe2. Written by Karr Wang, this utility can be used to test the number of C1 and C2 errors on a disc. For these tests I used a Lite-On LTR-52246S (firmware 6S0F) and read the discs at 32x. 

Memorex 52x (CMC)

Taiyo Yuden 52x

Verbatim 52x

The DVR-116D's writing quality was very good. By looking at the KProbe screenshots, you can see that the discs burned by the drive had a low number of C1 errors and there were no C2 errors at all. 

For the rewriting tests I created 400MB of files on the hard drive and wrote them in DAO mode using Nero. To test the packet writing speeds I copied and pasted the same files off the hard drive onto a CD-RW disc using DLA from Sonic. Verbatim's 32x Ultra Speed CD-RW media was used for these tests.

While the DVR-116D uses CAV when writing to CD-R discs, it uses Z-CLV, or Zone CLV, when rewriting at 32x. By looking at the screenshot above, you can see that it starts writing at 16x and jumps to 24x at about the 19 minute mark. The drive writes at this speed until about the 49 minute mark. At this point, the writing speed increases to 32x and stays there until the very end of the session.

Pioneer's new DVD writer didn't do as well as some of the other drives in our rewriting tests. Due to its Z-CLV writing method, the DVR-116D took 2:40 to write 400MB with Nero and 2:33 to do the same with DLA. For whatever reason, it also took more than 6 minutes to read the data back.

While the DVR-116D's Z-CLV writing method didn't have much of an effect on its quick erase time, the drive took 3:49 to do a full erase.