PIONEER DVR-S706 DVD±R/RW recorder - Page 17

Conclusion

The Pioneer DVR-S706 is an external, stylishly designed multiformat DVD writer. Created to offer connection flexibility between different computers, it is a good buy for users who need to transport a burner between different computers and different operating systems, such as Windows Operating Systems, Mac Operating Systems, Linux, etc Pioneer, is a well known company for its drivers and firmware support, and warranty coverage.

The Pioneer drive performed nicely reading CDs, having good seek times. The error correction test results are also good, reaching higher than an average performance.

DVD reading was acceptable with both recordable and pressed media. Seek times were also good along with error correction capabilities. Only full seek times were a bit high. The drive managed to playback all of our test discs without reporting any errors or problems.

The Pioneer managed to make compatible working backups only with SafeDisc 2.51. With SafeDisc v2.8 & v2.6 the burned CD was usable only on the same drive.

The DVR-S706 behaved nicely with the CDS200 protection scheme while with Key2Audio protection, the drive recognizes the disc but cannot play or rip the contents. The drive can play our 90min & 99min AudioCDs.

The Pioneer burns quality CDs, as was the case with four of the five various media we used, where we had low jitter values. High C2 errors occurred with Traxdata and MAM media, but it seems not to be a problem as both of the media were usable (this was double checked with CDSpeed and OS). Also, overburning for 90min (800MB) and 99min (880MB) is not supported.

DVD burning showed compatibility with various manufacturer's media we used except for Mitsubishi Kagaku where there were read problems at specific points, changing the speed. General conclusions, it had good writing times and acceptable PI/PIF levels.

Booktype Bitsetting for +R/RW format and Mount Rainier for CD/DVD is not supported by the drive.

The drive is priced at around $260, which is not a high price for an external DVD writer offering high compatibility with the majority of the media.

- The Good

• Supports both USB2.0/Firewire interface connection
• Good compatibility with DVD±R/RW
• Good DVD writing quality for DVD±R media
• Supports reading of DVD-RAM media
• Very good CD/DVD error correction
• Good DAE ripping speeds (up to 40X)
• Supports CDS200 protected Audio discs
• Frequent firmware updates from Pioneer
• Noise reduction

- The Bad

• Doesn't support Booktype Bitsetting for +R/RW format
• Doesn't support Key2Audio Audio protected disc
• Doesn't accurately backup SafeDisc2 v2.6x+ protected discs
• Doesn't support CD/DVD overburning
• Cannot be used to measure writing quality of CD/DVD burned media
• Doesn't support Mount Rainier for CD/DVD formats

- Like to be fixed

• Low DVD ripping speed
• C2 errors with various CD-R media