Pioneer Announces 8x DVD±RW Drive

[joepic]

I believe this makes them the first with 8x for -R media. Also 4x on ±RW and 24x on CD media.


Pioneer Electronics has officially announced their new 8x DVD±RW, the DVR-A07. This new drive is expected to be the first to support 8x DVD-R and 4x DVD-RW writing speeds.

The DVR-A07 is the world's first 8x8 dual format writer, meaning it is capable of writing at 8x speed on DVD-R discs whose standard is being ratified in the DVD Forum and +R discs that are designed for this recording speed. The new drive also records high-speed DVD-RW and +RW discs at up to 4x speed, and CD-R and CD-RW discs at up to 24x speed. By supporting the DVD Forum's DVD-R and DVD-RW disc formats as well as the +R and +RW formats, Pioneer is helping to eliminate format confusion, which has become a growing problem for potential buyers.

According to Pioneer's announcement, the DVR-A07 is expect to ship some time in December. Of course, this depends on whether or not the DVD Forum has approved 8x DVD-R and 4x DVD-RW writing speeds.

[Faustus]

Nice! Must resist urge to upgrade until April...

Actually 4x media has finally came into the realm of affordable for me, the Matrix media I had was the first I used, now I have 50 Ritek G04s. I'm actually hooked with 4x so I guess 8x wouldn't be affordable for a while yet.

[defense]

All 8x info seems very boring to me right now. Dual Layer has put the choke hold on all 8x drives/media as far as i'm concerned. I'm perfectly content with 4x write speeds..but i've been writing at 4x from the get go...so I'd agree that if I were to try 8x..i'd be hooked on that too. Kinda like having a dial up modem for so long..then saying..ahhh...I don't need broadband...but then you eventually get it..and forget about it....you'll never go back to dial up again.

Good to see that Pioneer finally has the 4x +RW down...figured they'd get it 8 months later then the Big Boys at Sony....the engineers must of worked real hard and studied Sony's technology immensely. Too bad they aren't getting CDR writing faster then 24x.... that's slow these days...c'mon Pioneer..get with the program. The Sony DRU-530A writes to CD-R media @ 40x and CD-RW media @ 24x.

At least they "hopefully" got this dual format 8x drive down pat....at least the "dash" format...after all... -R is what they are....but we shall see.

[lordsmurf]

I still use 2x MXL because they're the best discs, so 8x is no concern of mine. I'm also more interested in dual-layer.

[Vejita-sama]

Yeah I've got a 4x DVR-A05, it's -R only but so what, it gets the job done. I can burn a full 4.7GB in ~15min. All reports seem to state that the 8x speed is CLV not CAV so it's going to take ~9min (not 7.5min) to burn a full disc. Yeah that's faster but not enough to make me buy a new drive.

Like everyone else I'm waiting for dual layer/DVD-9 media and burners to come out. The 8x drives are just current technology a little bit faster

[defense]

I still use 2x MXL because they're the best discs

,
Tough to argue that...they are superior disks..no doubt.

All reports seem to state that the 8x speed is CLV not CAV so it's going to take ~9min (not 7.5min) to burn a full disc.

Yep..that's true..and even at a true straight 8x burn in ~7 minutes or so...I still wouldn't be interested in it with Dual Layer soon to make its debut. The only question mark I have has to do with the price. But from everything i've read..it seems as though it will be reasonable.

They will introduce 2x dual layer disks ...so i'd think the understanding of 16x being introduced will lower the price for dual layer to make it more appealing to consumers...the question is how much. My guess is the drives will be ~$300 initially....but my main concern is with the media......it wouldn't surprise me if it were $4 per disk....but hopefully it will be more like $2 per disk.