Pioneer DVR-A07XL 8x DVD±RW review at CDRLabs

April 22, 2004

Ian
at CDRLabs has reviewed the
Pioneer DVR-A07XL which basically is the 'de luxe" version of Pioneer's latest
8x DVD burner. The XL-version of the DVR-A07/107 has a different front bezel and
the drive case has a 'honeycomb design" which together with a special utility
should reduce the noise of the drive compared to the standard version (reviewed
by CDfreaks here).

Part of the
conclusion of CDRLabs' review

After using the
DVR-A07XL for the last few weeks, it's easy to see why Pioneer's DVD
writers are considered to be some of the best. This updated version of
their award winning 8x DVD±RW offers a new look, enhanced features like
Quiet Drive, and some of the fastest DVD reading and writing speeds
available. Unfortunately,
even with these improvements there were a few things that kept the
DVR-A07XL from getting our stamp of approval.

Without
a doubt, what the DVR-A07XL does best is write DVD's. Thanks to its 8x
DVD+R and DVD-R writing speeds, it was able to write 4GB of data in less
than 8 minutes. While this is pretty impressive, Pioneer's new drive could
probably be faster. For whatever reason, it took longer than normal to
complete its calibration tests, adding as much as a minute to the total
writing time. If Pioneer could reduce or eliminate the time it takes to do
this, without sacrificing writing quality, the DVR-A07XL would be one of
the fastest 8x DVD writers around. Also keep in mind that the DVR-A07XL
cannot write to 4x DVD±R media at 8x. I'll admit that this is becoming
less of an issue as more 8x media becomes available. However, it would
still be a nice feature to have.

CDRLabs gives the
Pioneer DVR-A07XL an overall 8 out of 10 points. You can read the complete
review here.

Source: CDRLabs