Are these units worth forking over the dollars for, if you already own a 111? Again, much like our last Pioneer – it really depends on your needs and how passionate you are about your optical storage technology. On the outset, if you have SATA and want to clean up, the 212 unit a no-brainer “must have” unit, being the best SATA ODD currently on the market without exceptions. The 112 however falls into a cloudy area. If you have only EIDE and already have a 111, the only luxuries it affords you are faster burn times and slightly higher quality writes potentially. Lets take a look at how our “Pioneer ranking” is progressing, with the addition of the new models:

DVR-212 <– 1st

DVR-112 <–2nd

DVR-A11 <–3rd

DVR-A06 <– 4th

As usual, we reserve this little table for drive-experts and those that have been around the traps for many years. The A09 series still lives at the dead end, not performing nearly as well as it’s older and younger brothers. It looks like, on this occasion, the 112 series drives have gravitated their way to the top of the heap.

PATA vs SATA – did it all matter in the slightest?

Thanks to one heroic forum member, credited in the next section – we were given the chance to test the PATA interface directly against the SATA interface, to see if we could find any differences. The critics will tell you there ARE no differences. The realists (us) will tell you, they are wrong.

• The DVR-212 unit consumed more CPU resources
• The DVR-212 unit had far higher burst rate capability
• The DVR-212 unit exhibited some very strange RPM failover behavior to high-speed DVD-RW media, where the 112 did not
• SATA interfaces appear to read back on scuffed disc tests with more retry counts than EIDE. The 212 read further in our scuffed disc test, compared to the 112
• On certain MID’s such as MCC004 – the SATA interface reflected lower Jitter-TA constants than the EIDE 112 uni
• • We can see that there appears to be some trade-off between parity and jitter on the units. A 4% difference was noted between the two interfaces. This is considerable variation
  • The two interfaces, compared with direct overlays show different points where parity was fluctuating – does it suggest that the interfaces handle I/O and WOPC feedback differently? How can this be possible?
• To very poor/cheap MID’s such as PRODISCR04 – the PATA 112 unit bettered the SATA drive.
• RITEKF1 went horribly wrong on the PATA drive – impossible to explain variations in parity (for the worse) were noted
• Firmware architecture is apparently different. Hence, we can’t have LabelFlash “212L” yet.

So now, we come to the point where we weigh up the good and the bad. The truth is, both these units are something we can advise you do use, in the mission-critical sector but as with everything, we like to break down what differences exist and how things could have been improved, for Pioneer’s next run (if there is the next run!). Ultimately, we have no qualms in recommending both drives to the general public, albeit firmware maturity to fix some of our small complaints. We feel if only for its performance in the actual capability of the interface and the fact that is becoming a ubiquitous standard, SATA has won the day – but to be clear, this is NOT through write quality nor firmware tomfoolery. Both units have their strengths and weaknesses in different places, in that respect. Who’d have thought this to be the case hrm? 😉

Pro’s and Con’s of the DVR-112 (PATA)

Pro’s

• Cheap, very cheap. There is no excuse to not have a DVD burner anymore
• 18x – we are in the fast lane now
• The drive is very extensible, functioning as a LabelFlash burner, given appropriate firmware
• Many of the MID index related problems of the 111 are being fixed gradually with this drive – a significant update
• Build quality is absolute and impressive
• Firmware updates are prolific, thick and fast
• Community support for the unit is starting to ramp up
• Dual Layer writing is world-beating. There is no unit out there that can touch this hardware in terms of reliability and quality
• WOPC has changed considerably – the drives are nothing like the previous hardware in terms of WOPC sampling or write curves. Worlds apart, and for the better!
• Simple cover-plate. Looks nice, corporate and unobtrusive
• This is a writer you can rely on in mission-critical environments. Invest in it. You are investing “safely”.

Con’s

• EIDE – GAH! :(.
• Some MID’s are still strangely lacking in their MID speed detection – we still have some concerns about RITEKF1 and up until the most recent firmware update, TDK003.
• Firmware is, as per usual, not something that many of the community can play with easily. Don’t fiddle with it unless you know what you are doing.
• Again, Pioneer fails to ramp up to acceptable CD-R speeds. 40x and we are stuck there.
• The burst speed of the drive leaves a little to be desired
• Too few 16x MID’s will fly flat out at 18x
• As per usual, Pioneer will not really help you out with end user “tweak” tools. Don’t expect a QSuite or HyperTuning variation anytime soon! We had to hack the drive just for “QuietDrive” utilities to function

Pro’s and Con’s of the DVR-212 (SATA)

Pro’s

• Cheap, very cheap. There is no excuse to not have a DVD burner anymore
• SATA interface – about time. The first NATIVE SATA CONTROLLER onboard an ODD. Thank you, Pioneer!
• 18x – we are in the fast lane now
• Many of the MID index related problems of the 111 are being fixed gradually with this drive – a significant update
• Build quality is absolute and impressive
• Firmware updates are prolific, thick and fast
• Community support for the unit is starting to ramp up
• Dual Layer writing is world-beating. There is no unit out there that can touch this hardware in terms of reliability and quality
• WOPC has changed considerably – the drives are nothing like the previous hardware in terms of WOPC sampling or write curves. Worlds apart, and for the better!
• Simple cover-plate. Looks nice, corporate and unobtrusive
• This is a writer you can rely on in mission-critical environments. Invest in it. You are investing “safely”.
• The burst speed on the unit is fascinating. Up to 56MB/sec, we have witnessed!

Con’s

• Some very strange SATA channel behavior on certain MID’s without reason. RITEKG04/G05 gave strange errors on one of our production samples up until the most recent update
• CPU usage seemed a little higher than the EIDE unit on the whole. We’d have thought it would be lower.
• Some MID’s are still strangely lacking in their MID speed detection – we still have some concerns about RITEKF1 and up until the most recent firmware update, TDK003.
• Firmware is, as per usual, not something that many of the community can play with easily. Don’t fiddle with it unless you know what you are doing.
• Again, Pioneer fails to ramp up to acceptable CD-R speeds. 40x and we are stuck there.
• Too few 16x MID’s will fly flat out at 18x
• As per usual, Pioneer will not really help you out with end user “tweak” tools. Don’t expect a QSuite or HyperTuning variation anytime soon! We had to hack the drive just for “QuietDrive” utilities to function
• The package does not come with any SATA fittings at all – you are on your own there

[PATA DVR-112] 90/100

[SATA DVR-212] 93/100