Asus/Pioneer the same thing?

[dbminter]

I just ordered a Pioneer Blu-Ray burner to replace my dying LG.  I found a post of MYC relating to the drive and it seems to indicate the drive as an Asus/Pioneer.

 

 

Are Asus and Pioneer essentially the same thing? 

 

 

I only found 2 Pioneer drives on NewEgg because LUK said I should try them next time I needed a Blu-Ray burner.  I also found 1 Asus Blu-Ray drive there.  The rest of the drives are LG's.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

The Asus will probably be a copy of one of them. I'd be leaning towards it being a copy of an LG though. Assuming latest models of course.

 

Which pioneer did you get? A 208 or a 209? I got myself a 209EBK the other day. The 'EBK' one does BDXL too, the 'DBK' doesn't.

[dbminter]

I got something called a BDR-2209.    It's an XL, too.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Yeah, I believe that's the same thing as our 209EBK. We just have a different naming scheme for some reason.

[dbminter]

At least, we believe you have this drive, unlike the LG I had. 

[dbminter]

Looks like I got one of the last ones NewEgg had!    It's now listed as out of stock.

[dbminter]

And looks like they quickly restocked. 

[dbminter]

BTW, LUK, do you have any firmware updates for your drive?  I did a check for firmware for this drive in ImgBurn and there were no hits for its ID string on the firmware site ImgBurn uses to check for firmware updates.  If you do have any, can you direct me to the page where you found them?  I did a Google for the returned string as well as the model string number printed on the drive.  The drive label itself says its BDR-209UBK.  ImgBurn sends PIONEER BD-RW BDR-209M to firmwarehq.com for my drive.

 

 

Thanks!

[dbminter]

Well, I don't think I'll be getting another Pioneer in the future.

 

 

Its write strategy for Verbatim 8x DVD+R DL (Disc ID: MKM-003-00) is all over the map!  Its write rates keep fluctuating.    It starts at 6x then goes to 8x for a very short period of time.  Then, it drops down to 6x.  Then it kind of fluctuates all over the spectrum.  Then drops to 0.0x at the layer transition.  Then back to 6x.  Then very briefly ups to 8x.  Then back to 6x.  Then down to 4x for the last 2 minutes!    It stays at 6x more often than anything else! 

 

 

I 17:20:56 Average Write Rate: 7,939 KiB/s (5.9x) - Maximum Write Rate: 10,929 KiB/s (8.1x)

[dbminter]

Wow, my second DVD+R DL burn was even worse!  Stuck at 4x the entire time!  Pioneer drives really suck. 

[dbminter]

Well, my third DVD+R DL burn was more like it.

 

 

It started at 6x for a minute or 2 then moved to 8x and stayed mostly there.  It dipped sometimes to 7.9 or 7.7 but mostly stayed at 8 until the last 3 minutes when it dropped to 4x only.  However, dropping to 4x at the end of a burn was also on my USB LiteOn, so I guess some drives do that.  The LG didn't but it also didn't always go to 8x.  That drive appeared to set varying rates of write maximum based on the size of the image.

 

 

I 19:46:10 Average Write Rate: 8,714 KiB/s (6.4x) - Maximum Write Rate: 10,935 KiB/s (8.1x)
 

 

So, I'll see how this goes. 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Look at the write speed graph. I'm sure the changes you're seeing will make more sense.

[dbminter]

Not really.  I still can't make sense of one of those bloody graphs! 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

It's a simple graph of progress against speed.

 

If the drive doesn't burn at a single steady speed, it'll either ramp the speed up slowly as the drive burns from the inner ring to the outer ring or it'll step the speed up in stages. i.e. burn up to 1gb at 4x, then switch to 6x for 1gb to 3gb and then 8x for 3gb to the end of the disc (or layer).

[dbminter]

Yeah, I've seen the graduated speeds on other drives before, like my LiteOn USB.  I just don't understand why some strategies/drives write at the full 8x, like Sony/Optiarc and the LG, and some do this steps thing, like my LiteOn USB and this Pioneer.

[dbminter]

One thing I have noticed is the 99% Finalising disc on DVD+R DL.  This is a drive where it doesn't jump to 99% and stays there for like a minute.    The percentage gradually climbs as it does its thing and only stays at 99% for a few seconds.

[dbminter]

I checked the graph of the last DVD+R DL burn.  You're right, it is a simple time versus speed.  I was thinking of something else.    I was thinking of one of those quality scans.  Those are the ones I still haven't figure out how to read. 

 

 

The graph pretty much just bears out what I noticed.  It climbs to 6x, stays there for about a GB, jumps to 8, stays there for 5.5 GB, drops down to 6, stays there for about half a GB, then drops to 4 where it finishes out under half a GB.

[dbminter]

Well, after some initial misgivings given my first results, I've decided to keep this drive. 

 

 

I've completed most of my other tests and this drive does pretty much what I need it to do.  I haven't tested it with Ritdata 6x DVD-RW, Maxell 4x DVD+RW, or Ritek 4x DVD-RW, but it does write fine to Ridata 8x DVD+RW.  So, even if it doesn't write to this media, as some LiteOns don't write to Ridata 6x DVD+RW, I can use something else.  I had no problems writing to Ritek Memorex BD-RE so writing to Verbatim BD-RE, which hasn't been tested, shouldn't be a problem.

 

 

There are some things I wish the drive did better.  Like the jumping between 4x, 6x, and 8x speeds on writing DVD+R DL, but I've had LiteOns do the same.  I've also had Optiarc/Sony and LG that jump straight to 8x.  I also don't like writing 8x DVD+RW at 6x first then jumping to 8x.  But, I've only ever had Optiarc/Sony that jumped straight to 8x, so, I can live with it.

[dbminter]

For some reason, the write strategy on DVD-R's I use goes to about 8x, then drops down to 0 for a few seconds before resuming climbing back up to where it was when it dipped. 

 

 

DVD-RW also has an odd idioscyncrisy.  It seems to Verify at a slower rate than any other media.  DVD-RW verifies at about up to 8x only.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

That's probably the drive performing WOPC.

 

Speed wise, lots of drives read different discs at different speeds. I.e. DVD-R at 16x and DVD+R at 12x. Blu-ray drives are typically more conservative than straight up DVD drives.

[dbminter]

Yeah, my LG was slower at Verifying everything. 

[dbminter]

The Device Buffer on this Pioneer is also different from my other drives.  I don't think I've ever had a drive where the Device Buffer ever fluctuated from 99 or 100%.  This drive does.  It jumps all over the place from 70% to 100% during a burn.  However, some drives apparently just do this and it's not an issue, from other posts I've seen in the past.

[dbminter]

That's probably the drive performing WOPC.

 

 

What's WOPC?

[LIGHTNING UK!]

walking opc

 

Basically, calibrating/adjusting the laser power as it goes in an effort to get the best quality burn possible.

[dbminter]

Discovered this drive doesn't like Ritek 6x DVD-RW.  It will write to them, but the discs cannot be verified because the contents cannot be read!  Insert them into any drive just causes the drive light to keep flashing.  But, most drives don't like these discs, anyway!    Only the LiteOns seem to write to these discs correctly.