Back to basics - back to buring bits! Thanks to Pioneer Europe, we have had the chance to play around with the brand new Pioneer DVR-116D recorder. The DVR-116D is a high speed burner that records DVD-R media up to 20x speed and DVD+R DL with the maximum speed of 12x. On the other hand it introduces the brand new Optimal Write Speed technology, which is supposed to automatically pick the best possible recording speed for optimal quality.

Key features:

• Max 20X writing speed for DVD-R/+R
• Max 12X writing speed for DVD-R DL / +R DL (Dual / Double Layer media)
• Max 5X reading speed for DVD-RAM
• Multi-effect LCD Tilt Servo Compensator Mechanism
• Ultra-DRA (Dynamic Resonance Absorber) low vibration mechanism
• Performance adjusting firmware
• Disc-Resonance Stabiliser
• Supports “Buffer Under Run” protection (CD and DVD)
• Data buffer size: 2MB

So far the initial test results have been slightly controversial. On the other hand there are some excellent result on certain media, but we have also discovered cases where 116 does not seem to match the avesome quality of the previouus 115/215 series, so it seems that something has changed ‘under the hood’. Also we still need to dig into the OWS-feature which we have not tested yet. Check out the test results that already include Verbatim, Traxdata, Maxell, RiDisc media and more is on it’s way.

Study the recording quality test results: BitBurners.com MediaBase
Pioneer DVR-116D full specs: Pioneer Europe