X-bit labs

Pioneer BDR-101ABK Blu-Ray Burner Review (page 3)

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 06/06/2007 | 02:26 PM ]

Closer Look

This drive doesn’t differ externally from ordinary DVD drives. The Blu-ray Disc symbol on the try is the only thing that betrays its special functionality. The front panel of our sample of the product is made of black plastic. The tray has two icons denoting the device’s capabilities. Lower on the face panel there is a vent slit, a LED indicator of operation mode, and an Eject button. On the rear panel of the case there are power and interface connectors, a jumper with pins for setting the device’s status in the system, an audio output and a fan.

The support of Blu-ray media is the main feature of the drive, of course. It can burn single-layer BD-R (Blu-ray Disc Recordable) and BD-RE (Blu-ray Disc Rewritable) media at 2x speed. It can then read such media, together with single- and dual-layer BD-ROM (Blu-ray Read-Only Memory) at a speed of 2x.

In the DVD area, the drive can burn DVD±Rs at 8x, DVD±RWs at 4x, and DVD±R DL at 2.4x. It can read DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW media at a speed of 8x. A speed of 5x is available for DVD-Video.

The specified access time is 250 milliseconds for BD-ROM and 150 milliseconds for DVD-ROM. The buffer for BD media is 8MB large. The DVD-ROM buffer is 2MB large. The drive has an ATAPI interface (ATA-5, SFF-8090) and supports UltraDMA-66 data-transfer mode. It can work with BD-ROM (version 1.0 Single & Dual Layer), BD-R (version 1.0 Single Layer), BD-RE (version 2.0 Single Layer), DVD-R, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R DL, and DVD+RW media. As you can see, CD media aren’t mentioned at all. The drive can be positioned horizontally as well as vertically. Its max power consumption is 25.4W. The dimensions of the device are 48 x 42.3 198 millimeters; its weight is 1.1kg.

The average retail price of the drive is $850.