Drives > Pioneer Drives > by Read Speed

Advantages: Cheap, Fast, Quite
Disadvantages: None

...decided to go for another Pioneer drive as I have used them in the past and had very few problems, although it was marginally more expensive than some of the others at £18!! When it arrived the first thing I noticed was that it was the same size as a normal DVD drive, over an inch shorter than my previous one. I'm not aware if all new drives are this size but it may be a consideration if you have a smaller case and are short of room. As I'm using ...
...jumper on the back to slave mode so that the computer would detect it properly. This was easily done which a clear set of instructions provided (once you find the right language!), the jumper was also quite easy to get hold of and pliers weren't necessary as I normally find they are. Once plugged in I turned the computer on and windows detected it no problem and installed the correct drivers within seconds, after restarting it was ready to go. As ... Read review

Advantages: Very fast
Disadvantages: Not compatible with Kodak media... reliability issues

...error message comes up. Pioneer came up with a whole heap of suggestions... none of which seem to apply to my situation... I'm pretty sure it just needs a firmware update as Kodak is not listed in the approved media list. I guess I can try some other media just to check if the problem exists with all media or only with the Kodak media. Unfortunately I don't have any other media at the moment... and specifically use Kodak because it has a scratch ...
...a bit suspect... but the PIoneer is by far the fastest burner I've used. All the other burners also seem to suffer from the same problem (the laser not working as well as it did when new). Overall however there is really no alternative to the Pioneer. I have regretted it each time I bought anything else. The Pioneer has a 2 year warranty... so if anything does go bang... at least you can get it repaired. They also don't seem to quibble much about ... Read review

Advantages: High DVD/CD compatibility after firmware update, it's Pioneer need another reason?
Disadvantages: Before flash update the drive sucks, 4 speed is dated now

...it has served me well. Pioneer is a well known and respected name in the world of electronic entertainment, not as big as Sony but they can hold their own. The drive itself is very plain on the front and is light grey instead of the classic beige colour of PCs. Although it's simple, it isn't ugly or boring to look at at all, a very nice drive to have seen on your PC. This is a DVD-RW drive so it is only compatible with DVD-R and DVD-RW media, not ...
...However, the big wigs at Pioneer released a firmware upgrade for this drive and software upgrade for the Instant CD/DVD v6.5 application, and after a quick upgrade it becomes super compatible with almost all types of DVD-R media thrown at it. Be it Verbatim, Bulkpaq, Packard Bell, Philips, etc, it works with all of them and reads them great afterwards. The firmware upgrade will update the firmware to version 1.33, both the firmware and the program ... Read review

Advantages: Reliable, Quiet, Easy to use
Disadvantages: Not good with poor quality CD media, slow by todays standards

...great. Unfortunately there are no Pioneer firmware upgrades for dual layer or faster writing speeds. The write performance is fine for a 4x drive I am very happy with the unit. I used this drive with Nero 6 and after some minor tweaking managed to get it to overburn normal CD's. 4 stars overall, 5 stars for better media compatibility and new firmware. For an early drive its a great piece of kit. ... Read review

Advantages: Easy to Install
Disadvantages: Failure to Work

I bought this drive from Ebuyer, it installed fine but once I started using it, the problems began. Firstly, burning failed thrice over on a standard XP Media Center PC, I tried with several types of DVDs and none of them worked, it failed to read DVDs and CD reading was poor, Audio CDs played back with awful quality. After attempts at fixing it with updated drivers from Pioneer's website, it stopped working altogether, I followed all the instructions, ...
...installed, but it still didn't burn DVDs or CDs. After a while it stopped working altogether, my PC didn't recognise it and I took it out and sent it back for being faulty. Looking on Computing forums, many people have had the same problems. If I were you, buy a different drive. ... Read review