I just got a Pioneer burner I may switch though, need advice

[dqtus]

Ok yesterday I bought a Pioneer DVR- A07U burner. Is this a good burner or not? I've read some reviews here but it seems ok but the review page says the CD-R read speed is 40x whereas the one I have is only 32x. This is the biggest downfall so far. I've looked into Sony burners and I have always loved Sony and I'm considering getting the Sony DWU18A. It's supposed to be the equivalent to the Pioneer one. The only thing is that there isn't a lot of user comments to this Sony burner but I figured since it's Sony it has to be reliable. Anyone want to sway me to either side and tell me why I should get that. I'm a complete newb to dvd burning and this is my first dvd burner so I don't know which to choose. Also what the hec is 2.4x for a DVD burner and why does a 2.4x sell for more than a 8x? I don't get that.

One more thing: People have told me Pioneer is good because there are hacks I can do to the burner to make it better? Are there any hacks for my burner and what kind of hacks?

[redwudz]

I've got a P106 and a P104 and I have been happy with both. Works with cheap media, no coasters from the burners. As far as 'hacks', don't do them unless you need them. I never use a burner to rip DVD's, not when a DVD ROM is cheaper and faster.

[handyguy]

"figured since it's Sony it has to be reliable."

Sony hasn't made any at all since their 4x writer, they just rebag other manf's units.

[dqtus]

ouch, so don't go for sony then?

Oh and the Pioneer, what exactly is the difference between the Pioneer burners that are DVR-A( and then something) and the Pioneers that are DVR-107/106? They're both 8x so I wasn't sure which is better. I have the one with A in it but I can get either the 107/106 at the same price

[redwudz]

Generally one is OEM (original equipment manufacture) with no software in a plain box and the other is the fancy box and usually software that you may or may not need. The difference is in price, not the burner. 106=4X, 107=8X.

[dqtus]

ah ic, yea mine was retail so thats why it has "A" in the name right?

Oh and when burning with my burner, does it matter what the DVDs are, like brand. Can I burn with generic brands as well or would those mess up my burner?

[redwudz]

Generic brands won't mess up your burner, but you may have failures. You can check the DVD media and DVD player lists to the left for recommendations. I use a no-name generic that works very well, but I only found it by accident. I would at least start off with a good name brand, then expirement with a few disks of generics if you want to save money. Yes, I believe the 'A' designation is the retail, mine was just a 106 and it came without software.
EDIT: You are getting a 8X burner and generics will be harder to find that burn reliably at that speed, however good 4X generics are more plentiful.

[4smiley20]

You don't have to worry about cheap media messing up your burner, it won't happen. I have a pioneer 106 and one of the best things about it is that I can burn on cheap media and never seem to have much of a problem. I would image that the 107 would be the same. I get all my media from www.yesbuy.net $48 for a 100 pack with free shipping. My 106 will write to them fine and they play backup movies and ps2 games just fine.

[offline]

I would image that the 107 would be the same

Not in my experience. Others tell a similar story. The 106 "spoils' you
compared to the 107 as well as other brands.

[dqtus]

ok cool, I did some research and the "A" does mean retail and in fact this is equivalent to the 107 version from pioneer. However though mine reads CD-R at 32x and the 107 reads it at 40x! I have no idea why is this. I think I may switch them then. I just updated firmware right now and I'm burning a CD so I'm not sure if that will break the 32x read cap for CD-R. Mainly I need a 40x CD-R read is because I do a lot of CD-R copying for people. So does anyone know of a hack or preferably a firmware upgrade to boost my cap to 40x instead?

[dqtus]

I would image that the 107 would be the same

Not in my experience. Others tell a similar story. The 106 "spoils' you
compared to the 107 as well as other brands.

ah wait so 106 is better?!?!? Oh man, I can get that at about the same price as well -_- So hard to choose....

[thor300]

Pioneer has a convincing quality, i regret my guts out for not buying a 107D in the first place. Long life and reliable, all that can not be said about Sony. Ok, Sony products are usually VERY high quality, but not for lasting long.

[johns0]

Ok, Sony products are usually VERY high quality, but not for lasting long.

Thats an oxymoron if i`ve heard one.

[offline]

Check out the news and forums at:

http://www.cdrinfo.com
http://www.cdfreaks.com/

and there are others as well you can google.

[thor300]

Ok JohnsO, i be more specific. For example my Sony Digital8 camcorder, great picture quality, i really like it, but it been repaired to many times. Sony car CD players, used to be better sound than Pioneers, but after a while they tended to stop working while the pioneers would go on and on for years. Get it now or need i find an even smaller spoon for you?

[Tiny71]

Just picked up a few more 106's that are OEM style for 45US each. Been one my original for a while and I can't complain.

Might see how many I can pick up at that price.

[dqtus]

ok I think I decided, I;m gonna return my retail burner and just got for the 107 OEM one. It has a better CD-R read speed and everything else seems the same plus it's a whole $1 cheaper!

LOL

Oh and 1 more thing, I have the software for the burner from pioneer, it's like "Ulead burn now" or somethiong. Should I be using that to burn my DVDs or some 3rd party company software to burn such as Nero or NTI? I just want to use the best software for my burner so I don't mess it up and run into bad burns. For example, on my Sony CD-RW drive, when I use NTI I never ran into 1 bad burn and that's over the course of burning 2000+ CDs where as if I burn with Nero 6.0 I get a bad burn about 1 out of every 2 CDs and the program actually freezes in the middle of burning and I have to restart my whole comp! I don't want that to happen with my DVD burner so please give me some guidance

[Tiny71]

depends on what you want to burn on to your DVDs.

[lordsmurf]

I dont get this. If CD-R support is so important, why not buy a CD-R drive?

[dqtus]

I dont get this. If CD-R support is so important, why not buy a CD-R drive?

oh no I have one but like see I have 2 burners in my comp the DVD burner and the CD-RW burner. I used to read from a normal DVD-rom which was 48x read and I could burn stuff real quick since my SONY CD-RW drive is also a 48x burner but I burned at 40x. The thing with the pioneer is that it's reading at 32x and that slows everything down. I only need the added speed because I help burn a lot of CD-Rs for people so its a waste of time for me to read at 32x. Doesn't seem like that much a difference when burning 1 CD but when you burn like close to 100 CDs each week, you will feel it! But I also need the DVD burner because I plan to switch all my media onto DVD but for the time being I need to be able to burn the CD-Rs at a respectable pace still.

[4smiley20]

If you are concern with cdr speeds you should really just go with a cd burner. Personally I think that buying a dvd burner and using it to burn cds is a huge waste. I have burners for both but I only use my pioneer 106 for dvds and my cd burner for cds. If you don't have room on your tower I can understand the dilema, but still think its a bad idea.

As far as burning software goes I also got the Ulead software with my pioneer and the only thing I have to say about it is that it sucks. Its setup for working with movies and importing mulitiple video files and different file types. You can construct your own menu and stuff but the quality I've gotten out of it was very poor. When it comes to burning cds keep using nti if you like it and it works for you. As long as it recognizes your new drive you shouldn't have any problems. I don't really like nti and normally use nero. I haven't had any problems with nero but I've seen numerous people on here who have so use whatever works for you.

[dqtus]

If you are concern with cdr speeds you should really just go with a cd burner. Personally I think that buying a dvd burner and using it to burn cds is a huge waste. I have burners for both but I only use my pioneer 106 for dvds and my cd burner for cds. If you don't have room on your tower I can understand the dilema, but still think its a bad idea.

As far as burning software goes I also got the Ulead software with my pioneer and the only thing I have to say about it is that it sucks. Its setup for working with movies and importing mulitiple video files and different file types. You can construct your own menu and stuff but the quality I've gotten out of it was very poor. When it comes to burning cds keep using nti if you like it and it works for you. As long as it recognizes your new drive you shouldn't have any problems. I don't really like nti and normally use nero. I haven't had any problems with nero but I've seen numerous people on here who have so use whatever works for you.

hahaha ok I'll try both Nero and NTI with it and see what I get. I really like Nero since it has more feautres than NTI but I don't like crashing my burners so we'll see. I guess I should uninstall this Ulead thing then.

[nufan292]

Just picked up a few more 106's that are OEM style for 45US each. Been one my original for a while and I can't complain.

Might see how many I can pick up at that price.

Tiny, where did you find a 106 at that price, are they new? I would love to pick one up at that price. Please share info.

[johns0]

thor300,chill out,i was just joking.

[dqtus]

ok so I put in the dvr-107d right now. Works like a charm!

Now should I go and update the firmware from the pioneer website? I dont think I have any issues but should I update it anyways?

[code65536]

ok so I put in the dvr-107d right now. Works like a charm!

Now should I go and update the firmware from the pioneer website? I dont think I have any issues but should I update it anyways?

Or better yet, use the firmware found here:
http://pioneerdvd.rpc1.org/

Region-free, faster ripping time, burn 4x media at 8x, etc.

[dqtus]

ok so I put in the dvr-107d right now. Works like a charm!

Now should I go and update the firmware from the pioneer website? I dont think I have any issues but should I update it anyways?

Or better yet, use the firmware found here:
http://pioneerdvd.rpc1.org/

Region-free, faster ripping time, burn 4x media at 8x, etc.

you sure this is safe? It looks good but I dont want to damage my drive or anything

[ziggie216]

i'm edging for the pioneer 107 burner since it seems like it got some good rating listed on here. I check some online sites and they dont list the d on the 107d. is the "d" the firmware number?

[fmctm1sw]

but the review page says the CD-R read speed is 40x whereas the one I have is only 32x. This is the biggest downfall so far.

Dude, you've got to be kidding me. Let me guess, you're one of those people that need a 2000 watt microwave oven so you can make popcorn in 30 seconds... But seriously, I wouldn't let 32x/40x bother you....

[gwoiler]

I am also thinking of ugrading the firmware in my 107's. I got 5 to make a duplicator from. I wonder though... if I can not get back to the original Pioneer firware version, is it worth the risk to burn the hacked firmware? I mean... I use the RITEC GO4's and i am sure they would burn at the 8x speed, but... the way things are going now, 8x media should be here with as good a price as the 4 x media. Is there a list anywhere that shows what media people are getting consistent 100% burns at 8x with 4x media? When you are doing other peoples copies and getting paid for it, the speed makes a BIG difference, but more important is 100% burns. It is not worth loosing a client from some bad discs in a batch. I downloaded the firmware flasher and virmware... but I am afraid, (if that is the term to use) to use it. The drives are brand new still in the box. --waiting for the tower to put-em-in.

Glenn

PS About the GO4's... I took one last week and bent it like a pretzel trying to break it last week, and after bending it back and forth, I realized it would not separate... and I flattenned it and what do you know... it still played all the way though! Best disks i have seen!