I know you want to, but wait...
Written: Sep 20 '01
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Pros: You can write to a DVD! Reads and writes many different media.
Cons: Inflated cost, lack of a standard.
The Bottom Line: It's a great, versatile product, but not worth the risk or cost until the market settles out.
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| TrickQba's Full Review: Pioneer DVR A03 DVD-RW Burner |
The moment has arrived, we can write to DVDs. Enormous capacity, varied media, digital movies...the world is bright. But be careful about jumping too early.
Needless to say, this is a great drive and a wonderful thing to have. This particular drive is very nice because Pioneer intelligently included the possibility of many different medias, including CD-RW and CD-R - not to mention all the varieties of CD-ROMs that it reads. This drive can replace your CD drive.
However, even the stripped down DVD burners are $500-$600 because of demand (and some higher manufacturing costs). The high quality and versatility of this drive will keep its price at about $900 for a couple months. If you have money to waste, go for it, but if you are like me, when I was evaluating this drive for my company, you should be cautious.
What's wrong with it?
I hesitate to say something is wrong with this single wonderful drive, but there is a problem with the industry right now. There is no current standard regarding the manufacturing of DVD-Writable drives or media. All DVD is not the same. Some companies are offering DVD-RAM discs that can hold over 9GB per disc. That's a great amount of storage, but the discs are largely unstable. Other companies have boxy ZIP disc-esque media that feeds in like an 8-track. Pioneer has a good chance of sticking around with their DVDs, since several companies, including Sony, have adopted the same standard, but it is still a risk.
Each disc will hold over 4.5GB, so it is a great deal of storage. Right now, though, it is not too fast, if you are planning on backing up your computer; and it is not as cheap as other methods. This will get better! Right now there is very little competition in the market and there is no clear standard. A DVD-RW would be a fun toy, but if you wait you might be able to play longer for less. If you are looking at this and know that you absolutely have to burn a large amount of data onto DVD tomorrow, go for it. If you think it would be "fun" or "handy" do yourself a favor and tolerate the inconvenience until the DVD-RW market starts to look more like the CD-RW market.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 910
Operating System: Windows
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Epinions.com ID:
TrickQba
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Member: Trick Cuba
Location: St. Louis, MO
Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 1 member
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