Mandatory Now-a-Days
Written: Jan 29 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fast, easy to install, works
Cons: None really
The Bottom Line: Got a PC that doesn't have a DVD recorder, but isn't ready to be retired yet?
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| nad_masters's Full Review: Pioneer DVR-112DBK Burner |
DVD-RW drives are now available even on the most budget-oriented computers and laptops, so if you're desktop PC still don't have one, maybe it's about time to get one.
My company have a few HP Compaq dx2000 machines that only came with plain-jane ATA CD-ROM drives. They also only came with a mere 256 MB of RAM (a few were already upgraded to 512 MB of RAM) and 40 GB hard drives. It was obvious it was time for an upgrade.
The Intel Pentium 4 CPUs were plenty fast enough for office tasks, so they were left alone. 40 GB of HDD space is also plenty for Word and Excel files. You shouldn't be downloading MP3 s and videos anyways.
So the components we decided to upgrade were the memory and the optical drive. Mostly because a few had failing CD-ROM drives, we decided to kill two birds with one purchase order.
Since DVD recorders are now cheap as dirt, and... well... the users justified DVD recorders with the notion of "backing up data", we decided on getting them what they "needed".
There's really no research, actually. We just turned to CDW's website and searched for the cheapest DVD recorder. Originally, my manager didn't care what color the drive was - the white one was cheaper than the black, and he was about to submit the white ones to order. I talked some sense into him and got the black ones for only 50 cents more each drive (we were only upgrading 5 machines). The HP dx2000 cases were black, so the black Pioneers would match. I'm sure the users would appreciate that.
Installation
The Pioneer DVR-112DBK drives were purchased as OEM so there wasn't any retail packaging to deal with. Because of this, software and cables were not included either. So with just the drives themselves, it requires you to already have an IDE cables as well as drive screws already on hand.
Before you place the drive into the computer case, you must set the jumpers. Because these are IDE drives, you must set them to either Slave or Master (or Cable Select if you have the right cable). I rarely use Cable Select since I find that they don't always work. Since the Pioneer is going to replace the CD-ROM drive outright, it will be the only drive on the IDE channel. Thus, I set the Pioneer drives as Masters.
If you have installed a standard 5.25" drive before, then installing the DVR-112DBK is no different. Since installing a drive differs from computer to computer, it's hard to give you step-by-step instructions. For example, with the HP Compaq dx2000, you need to secure the screws onto the drive on one side before you insert the drive into the chassis. This is a different installation procedure compared to most computers.
On most computers, you'd have to make sure the blank plate that covers the 5.25" drive bay is removed. You must then slide the drive in and position it so that you can secure it with screws on all four sides.
Depending on the chassis, you might find it easier to plug in the IDE cable and standard molex power plug into the drive before you slide it into place. You must do this on certain chassis because of the tight space. On other cases, you might find it easier to slide the drive in and screw it into place, then maneuver the cables into the drive. In those cases, there enough room for your hands to move around.
All that is left is to power the PC on, get into the BIOS and make sure it detects the drive. You might even want to set the Pioneer to boot first (a personal preference).
In Use
Once installed, the Pioneer DVR-112DBK pretty much acts and performs as if it was installed from the factory. Windows detects it and assigns a drive letter, and will show up in Windows Explorer (or My Computer, whichever one you use).
The front facia of the drive is plain. There is no headphone jack or volume knob. Just a single activity LED and an eject button. The emergency eject hole is visible on the front as well. This allows you to stick a straight thin object (I usually use a straightened paper clip) into the hole and eject the tray when you cannot power the drive up or if the eject button refuses to cooperate.
As with most modern DVD recorders, I find the Pioneer to be quick to read and write. Unfortunately, because it was a mass upgrade, I did not have time to benchmark the drive. We were more concerned with getting them up and operational. However, every HP dx2000 we upgraded booted up and detected the DVR-112DBK just fine. We installed Nero Burning ROM 7 on all of these PCs, and Nero was able to see the drive. We were able to make a few test DVDs and CDs with a couple of the PCs, and all of the written CDs were read successfully on other machines.
The drive doesn't seem to get too loud at speed. You can definitely hear the fast disc, but it isn't as loud as other DVD drives I've used. With the mini-tower on the floor, and in a quite office environment, the sound of the Pioneer revving up isn't annoying at all. In fact, it's rather soothing.
Conclusion
The Pioneer DVR-112DBK is a great IDE DVD-RW drive that is able to read and write all DVD formats (plus, minus, and dual-layer). If you have a PC that isn't quite ready to retire, but don't have a versatile DVD recorder, perhaps it's time to get one!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 35
Operating System: Windows
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