DVD Capabilities P2

DVD-Video Dual Layer Reading

For this test we used "Terminator 2 : Ultimate Edition Disk 1" as it is dual layered and fairly common.

The A05 has exactly the same performance as the A04, its specifications claim the drive reads dual layered DVDs at a maximum of 8x - we didn't see this as shown above.

CLV vs CAV

An explanation as to what CLV & CAV in the Speed "Type" field means in the above screenshot:

CLV stands for Constant Linear Velocity and means that whilst reading/writing the laser will always maintain a constant speed regardless if it is reading at the center or the outer edge of the disk. To maintain a constant velocity read/write rate, the motor of a drive is lowered on the outer tracks of a disk to compensate for the larger circumference (as more data is being handled).

CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) drives have constant spin rates (and not read/write rates) so when reading/writing at the outer circumference of the disk the read/write rates are greater.

Playstation 2

We copied the game "Tekken 4" using a DVD-R disk and it booted successfully on our PAL Playstation 2 (swap trick aided by Action Replay). We also made a backup onto DVD-RW but the Playstation 2 can not read re-writable disks without drive modifications (we are told it does play -RW disks but only on the latest consoles).

X-BOX

The Pioneer A05 can produce X-Box backup DVDs and both DVD-RW and -R disk types produced were recognised and booted by our homebrew modded X-Box. We found that between the -R and the +R disks we tested, the X-Box favoured the -R format and would be the disks every time 1st time. (This is more to do with media as almost all the +R disks currently are rebranded Ricohs).

DVD Writing Performance

To test the drive's writing performance we used Nero 5.5.9.14 and wrote 4477MB of data to the disk and attempted to write to it at 4x:

Notice the 4x DVD writing option now appears in the screenshots above ? We didn't use a 4X DVD-R certified disk and it knew it was only good for 2x and so down clocked it to x2 automatically! It took 27mins and 04 seconds to write at 2x speed.

The original 2x writing that the older Pioneer drives could achive was a Pioneer specific invention but now that the DVD forum have given the go ahead for a standardised 4 speed recording we will see more recorders from other companies and branded HS-DVDRs.

Can the A05 Write To DVD+R ?

We tried to see if the drive was capable of writing to either "+R" or "+RW" disks, although it could read the "+" disks it could not write to them (we didn't expect it to either as Pioneer is founder member of the DVD forum which is backing the "minus" recordable standard).

Media Quality

We said the following when we reviewed the A04 drive:

"We feel the quality of some of the DVD-R media out is very poor and often you will not notice there is a problem until you manage to write to the outer edges of the DVD (near the maximum capacity of the disk i.e. 4,400MB). Disk writing would often be successful but whilst reading the data back using a verification process you will find that data written on the outer edges will fail and become unreadable."

The Pioneer A05 fixed this problem by adding a quality control burn system like you see in some new CD writers (although we didn't notice any direct benefits).

Compatibility Test

Compatibility is one area that has been much debated between the two recordable formats ("minus" and "plus"), we have updated the table by added the new "Pioneer DVR-A05". Please note: this table is not done from user contributions.

‡Only with the latest firmware upgrade (version 1806 or later).

Page 6 - Last Updated: 18 October 2002