Pioneer DVR-SK12D Dual DVD±R recorder - Page 12

DVD Recording Tests

- Writing Performance

The Pioneer DVR-SK12D supports writing of all DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW. According to the manufacturer the supported speeds are 1x, 2x for DVD-R/RW and 2.4x for DVD+R/RW. 4x DVD±R media are also supported, although the drive will record them at 2x/2.4x.

• Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD-R

First we tested a 4x DVD-R from Mitsubishi Chemicals at the maximum recording speed. The drive wrote the disk under CLV mode confirming the manufacturers specifications.

The drive started the write process at 2.07x and finished the test at the same speed.

• Maxell 2x DVD-RW

We repeated the procedure using another media type and brand. We tested the drive with a Maxell 4x DVD-RW.

Once again the drive finished the test in the prearranged speed, according to Pioneer. The starting speed was, as with the DVD-R in the previous test, 2.07x and an average speed of 2.06x.

• Mitsubishi Chemicals 4x DVD+R

We continued the writing performance test with a 4x DVD+R media by Mitsubishi Chemicals.

As it was expected the drive performed just as Pioneer's specifications for DVD+R media. The writing process started at the speed of 2.48x and the test completed with an average speed of 2.47x.

• Ricoh 4x DVD+RW

Finally, we checked the drive's writing behaviour with 4x DVD+RW media. The disc was from Ricoh.

According to the screen shots on the left and below the starting speed was 2.48x and the average 2.47x. This performance is exactly the same with the previous one in accordance with the drive's specifications.

- Burning Tests

We selected various media types and brands and burned the same 4315MB DVD-Video compilation for each disc, at the maximum speed. The best recording times are illustrated in the screen shots below and are gathered in the following table.

• Ritek 4x DVD-R (2x recording)

• Philips 4x DVD+R (2.4x recording)

• Maxell 2x DVD-RW (2x recording)

• Ricoh 4x DVD+RW (2.4x recording)

In the table below can be seen the maximum permitted writing speeds with various media including their respective manufacturing code IDs and writing times.

- DVD±RW Packet Writing

The Pioneer DVR-SK12D supports packet writing with both DVD+RW and DVD-RW media. To test the performance with the DVD+RW format, we formatted a 4x DVD+RW disc from Ricoh and started the drag and drop process, using a 412 MB file (412.822 KB). With the background formatting in full progress, we wrote down the reading / writing performance.

For the DVD-RW format we used a 2x DVD-RW from Maxell. The performance of the drive is illustrated in the following table:

Although the media we used supported higher available writing speeds for each format, and the drive's specifications are faster, under packet writing the performance is lower. With the +RW media the speed was 0.61x and 1.1x for write and read respectively, while with -RW media was 0.74x for write and 1.13x for read.