Pioneer DVR-A04 IDE DVD-R/RW - Page 9

Conclusion

DVR-A04 is the second low-end DVD-R recorder from Pioneer. The company had really dominated the market with the DVR-A03 recorder and the new model has several improvements over the previous one. The biggest improvements are the higher reading speeds and the supported buffer underrun protection for CD and DVD formats. There is also support for HS-CD/RW format with 4x re-writing speed. The DVD recording times also seem to be improved and a possible good price for the drive will make it a successful buy, however not as much as the DVR-A03 series. Why? The answer is simple.

The main problem of the DVR-A04 is the new generation of DVD+R/RW recorders that will hit the market in the same time frame. The DVD-R format has proven 'higher compatibility' with DVD desktop players than the new DVD+RW format. However the DVD+R format promises the same and even higher compatibility than DVD-R, something that makes things more complicated. Also the DVD+RW format supports a higher recording speed of 2.4x. Of course no one yet has tested the compatibility of a DVD+R disc, but soon we will have more info.

As a final word, we can say that Pioneer DVR-A04 will not disappoint its potential buyer who wished for several improvements over the already successful DVR-A03. Of course though, the desired 4x DVD-R recording speed is not yet implemented, but after the summer something will come up. The drive's initial price will be less than 600 Euros around Europe, and the "old" DVR-A03 price will be even lower. Who said it's not the time to buy a DVD-R drive?