Pioneer DVR-S706-J

Review Pages

1. Retail Package - Installation
2. Data CD Reading Tests
3. CD Error Correction Tests
4. DVD reading tests
5. DVD Error Correction Tests
6. DAE Tests
7. Protected AudioCD Tests
8. Game Protection Tests
9. CD Recording Tests
10. Writing Quality Tests - 3T Jitter Tests
11. Writing Quality Tests - C1 / C2 / CU Error Measurements
12. DVD Recording Tests
13. PI/PO quality results for DVD+R/RW
14. PI/PO quality results for DVD-R/RW
15. BitSetting Tests
16. Conclusion
17. Noise Reduction

PIONEER DVR-S706 DVD±R/RW recorder - Page 1

The Pioneer DVR-S706 is an external 8x DVD dual format optical disc drive compatible with all current formats such as DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW and CDs. The external case has a fancy and stylish design and comes with connection interfaces for IEEE1394 firewire and USB2.0 ports. The drive can sit vertically or horizontally on your desk.

- Features

The DVR-S706 features 8x DVD±R writing, 4x DVD±RW rewriting, 24x CD-R writing, 24x CD-RW rewriting, 40x CD-ROM reading, 32x CD-RW reading and 12x DVD-ROM reading and 2x DVD-RAM reading. Buffer underrun protection is also supported.

Advanced technological features:

Precision Recording Technology: Adapts drive to media characteristics for writing performance and quality.
Smart Laser Driver: Controls laser pulse for accurate writing at high speeds.
Quiet Drive Technology: Mechanism for quite operation, achieving 75% lower operation noise compared with previous drives.

- Specifications

Host/Interface	USB 2.0 / USBB1.1 / USB1.0, IEEE1394
Usable Discs	Write Supported Discs: 4.7GB DVD-R for General, Version 2.0 4x-speed DVD-R Revision 1.0 for Video, for Data 6x-speed DVD-R Revision 2.0 for Video, for Data 8x-speed DVD-R Revision 3.0 for Video, for Data 4.7GB DVD-RW Version 1.1 2x-speed DVD-RW Revision 1.0 for Video, for Data 4.7GB DVD-RW Version 1.2 2x-speed DVD-RW Revision 1.0 for Video, for Data 4x-speed DVD-RW Revision 2.0 for Video, for Data DVD+R Version 1.2 DVD+RW Version 1.2 CD-R, CD-RW Read Supported Discs: DVD-R (for Video, for Data) DVD-RW (for Video, for Data) DVD+R Version 1.2 DVD+RW Version 1.2 DVD-RAM Version 2.0/Version 2.1 DVD-ROM Single Layer, Dual Layer Audio CD, CD-TEXT, Photo-CD, CD-EXTRA, Video CD, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW
Write speed	DVD-R: 8x-speed (Zone CLV), 6x-speed, 4x-speed, 2x-speed, 1x-speed DVD-RW: 4x-speed, 2x-speed, 1x-speed DVD+R: 8x-speed (Zone CLV), 6x-speed, 4x-speed , 2.4x-speed DVD+RW: 4x-speed, 2.4x-speed CD-R: 24x-speed (Zone CLV), 16x-speed , 8x-speed, 4x-speed US-RW: 24x-speed (Zone CLV), 16x-speed HS-RW: 10x-speed, 4x-speed
Read speed	DVD-R: Max.8x-speed DVD-RW: Max.8x-speed DVD+R: Max.8x-speed DVD+RW: Max.8x-speed DVD-RAM: 2x-speed (CLV) DVD-ROM (Single Layer): Quiet mode: Max.5x-speed Performance mode: Max.12x-speed DVD-ROM (Dual Layer): Quiet mode: Max.5x-speed Performance mode: Max.8x-speed DVD-Video (Dual layer): Quiet mode: Max.5x-speed Performance mode: Max.8x-speed CD-ROM: Max.40x-speed Video CD: Max.9.3x-speed Audio CD (Data extraction): Quiet mode: Max.9.3x-speed Performance mode: Max.40x-speed CD-R: Max.40x-speed CD-RW: Max.32x-speed
Buffer memory	2 MB with Buffer Underrun Protection
Weight	2.1kg
Dimensions (WxDxH)	167mm x 272.8mm x 56.2mm

The drive uses a 2MB buffer memory store and supports RAW-DAO96 writing (CD). The drive does not support writing of DVD-RAM, DVD+R DL and Mount Rainier formats as well as DVD+R DL and CD+G reading features. The drive uses the RPC II region control, allowing a user to change the drive's region at most 5 times. There is "patched" firmware that can disable RPC1 protection, but is not recommended for amateur users. Use it at your own risk.

For our tests, we changed the region code to 2 (Europe) (hence the reason 4 changes left in the screenshot above). Using DVDInfoPro software we can also check the drive's features:

The screenshot above was taken after the tests were completed, and after Pioneer had released the new firmware, hence this is the reason why the Firmware Revision is shown as 1.16.

- Retail package

The retail package includes an AC adaptor (AC100V), one USB cable (1m), two IEEE1394 cables, one 6pin - 6pin, 1.5m and one 6pin - 4pin, 1.5m. Also included are two stands for vertical mounting.

The drive's front panel's color is black and the case is silver. On the tray loader on the left side we can see the 8X8 DVD writing logo, in the middle the DVD-R/RW logo and on the right side the RW DVD+ReWritable logo, UltraSpeed Rewritable logo and the DVD Multi Player logo (the drive supports reading of DVD-RAM media).

Below from left to right we can also see the power/operation led (lights dark blue when on), the Pioneer logo and the eject button. The emergency eject hole is located below the 8x8 DVD writing logo.

On the rear panel you can see two firewire and one USB 2.0 connectors, the power button and the power connection.

- Installation

The device was connected to our test PC using a firewire connection and was identified as "Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-107D" under WinXP, which is the same id as the DVR-107D internal drive from Pioneer. All tests were done with firmware revision 1.15.

By the time we finished all tests, Pioneer had released a new firmware revision (v1.16) that supported more media types for 8X DVD-R writing:

CMC 8X (CMC MAG. AE1)
TDK8X New Dye Version (TTH01)
MBI 8X (MBI 03RG30)
Gigastorage 8X (GSC003)

The following pages include test results for the Pioneer DVR-S706 drive compared with the internal Pioneer DVR-107D drive to check performance differences between the external firewire and the internal atapi drive.