Pioneer DVR-R100 16x DVD±RW

Nero CD Speed v4.01 - DVD-ROM:

A little editorial note here. Like a CD-ROM, you will get different benchmark results depending on what kind of discs you are using. You are probably going to get varying results from a full data disc to a single layer movie disc. You're also going to get different results for single and dual layer discs.

The DVD Speed website recommends using a single layer DVD-ROM disc with a capacity of at least 4GB. If you use a dual layer disc you probably won't get the best results because most DVD-ROM drives slow down to read them. Some even slow down to read single layer DVD-Video discs. To make a long story short, I am using a 4.20GB single layer, single sided disc for this test.

The DVR-R100 performed pretty well when reading our single layer DVD-ROM. In the transfer rate tests, it started reading at 5.11x and reached a maximum transfer speed of 15.70x. While this wasn't enough to top the GSA-4163B, the Pioneer's seek times were actually quite good.

Nero CD Speed v4.01 - DVD-R, DVD-RW and DVD-R DL:

First, we'll look at the drive's DVD-R and DVD-RW reading performance. For this I used the Nero CD/DVD Speed Data Disc Creation function to burn some general use DVD-R from Verbatim and DVD-RW media from RiData and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD/DVD Speed.

While not the fastest drive here, the DVR-R100 had no serious problems reading DVD-R and DVD-RW media. In our tests, it was able to read DVD-R media at 11.73x, but slowed to only 8.36x when reading DVD-RW discs. The DVR-R100 probably would have been faster when reading DVD-R media. However, as you can see, there were some minor slow downs in the transfer rate graphs.

Verbatim 4x DVD-R DL

Nero CD Speed v4.01 - DVD+R and DVD+RW:

Next we'll look at the drive's DVD+R and DVD+RW reading performance. For this I used the Nero CD/DVD Speed Data Disc Creation function to burn some DVD+R and DVD+RW from Verbatim and then ran our usual DVD read tests with CD/DVD Speed. The results are below.

The DVR-R100's performance with DVD+R and DVD+RW media was quite similar to what we saw with DVD-R and DVD-RW media. The drive read DVD+R discs at 12.58x and DVD+RW media at 8.38x. While there weren't any slow downs this time around, the DVR-R100 still had a had a hard time keeping up with the drive from BenQ.

Verbatim 2.4x DVD+R DL

Pioneer's new drive was able to read the whole DVD+RDL disc back flawlessly on this test. The drive managed a satisfactory speed of 7.61x, which is still quite slow in comparison to the BenQ DW1640, but is also noticeably faster then other competing drives in this section.

Nero CD Speed v4.01 - DVD-Video:

For these tests I am using the US version of Transformers: The Movie on DVD. The disc is 4.36GB and single sided.

Pioneer's new drive did surprisingly well when reading single layer DVD-Video discs. The DVR-R100 started out at about 6.73x and reached a maximum read speed of 16.24x. While this makes the drive a great choice for DVD-Video ripping, its seek times were again a little high.

To see how well the DVR-R100 worked as a DVD player, I watched a few scenes from Transformers: The Movie and Shrek using WinDVD 4 and PowerDVD 5. The drive had no problems playing back these movies with either program and was very quiet during the operation.