Pioneer BDC-S02BK
1. Introduction
BDC-S02 is the retail drive for Pioneer's BDC-202 which, we recently reviewed, here on cdrinfo.com. Despite the fact that below there is a link for the review of the BDC-202 drive, we considered necessary to copy the main characteristics and specifications of the drive on this page too. Important is the fact that this drive (as well as its predecessor) supports Blu-Ray media reading and can be considered as a cheaper solution for Blu-Ray home entertainment than one of Pioneer's Blu-Ray writing drives. Needless to say that Pioneer was also the first manufacturer ever that introduced the technology of the Blu-Ray burning combo drives.
Pioneer BDC-202 reviewed on cdrinfo.com
The IDE drive supports Blu-Ray reading at 5x, as well as BD-ROM DL at 2x. The writing speed remains at 12x for DVD+R/-R, 4x for DVD-R DL/+R DL and 5x for DVD-RAMs.
- Drive Features & Specification
Media |
Read Speed |
Write Speed |
---|---|---|
BD-ROM / R / RE (Single Layer) |
5x |
- |
BD-ROM DL /R DL / RE DL (Dual Layer) |
2x |
- |
DVD-ROM (Single Layer) |
12x |
- |
DVD-ROM DL (Dual Layer) |
8x |
- |
DVD-R/+R |
12x |
12x |
DVD-RW/+RW |
8x |
6x |
DVD-R DL (Dual Layer) / +R DL (Double Layer) |
8x |
4x |
DVD-RAM |
5x |
5x |
DVD Video with CSS (Single Layer / Dual Layer) |
5x |
- |
CD-ROM and CD-R |
32x |
24x |
CD-RW |
24x |
24x |
Video CD |
9.3x |
- |
CD-DA, CD-Text, Mixed-CD,CD-Extra (play audio) |
9.3x |
- |
CD-DA, CD-Text, Mixed-CD, CD-Extra (Data extraction) |
24x |
- |
- Additional Specs Include:
- Buffer Memory Size: 4MB (Buffer Under Run Protection for DVD and CD)
- Atapi interface: Serial ATA Revision 1.0
- Data Transfer Mode: Gen1i, 1,5Gbits/sec
- Audio Interface: Stereo audio output
- Dimensions: W=148 x D=185 x H=42.3mm (including front bezel)
- Net Weight: 0.98 k
Let's take a look at the internal components of the drive. Note that opening the drive case voids the warranty and should be avoided.
A closer look of BDC-S02's RENESAS R8J32500FPV chipset.
- Nero Info Tool
On the following pages of this review, we present the results of testing a few media discs that turned out to be badly burned by the BDC-202 drive, giving back exceeded limits of digital errors.
For the usual reading tests, you can always refer to the BDC-202 review.
Let's see if the new firmware release (1.01) helped in improving the drive's burning quality capabilities.