Customer Reviews

PIONEER DVR-A09XL Internal Double Layer DVD Writer - Beige Bezel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have had the drive for one month and it is a good drive. Here is some advice that may help you with the drive.

Go to the Pioneer main site and download the firmware update. Make sure you read the instructions prior to the download.

Here is some very helpful advice for those who dont know how to back up their DVD's that they have bought.

1. Go to www.doom9.org and download DVD decrypter and DVD Shrink
. These are both free downloads and great programs that you can make copies of DVD's with.
2. Go to www.allmediaoutlet.com and purchase Ritek dvd's, these are a real good brand and only cost 21.50 for 50. It is a great site for purchasing all your media needs.
3. Look up www.generetic.org and join for $12.00 per year to make DVD covers. Read instructions from this site and it will tell you how to download the pictures using another program.
4. Make sure you only make copies of things that you legally bought. The fine is huge if you get caught doing this illegally.

Hope that helped,
Dave

I bought this unit for a new build and was thoroughly disappointed. Upon attempting to load my OS for the first time, the disc was not recognized. I loaded my OS through another drive and had no problems. After getting the system up and running, this drive was very selective about the discs it read. It would not even read the software CD that came bundled with the unit. My biggest complaint is really about Pioneer's customer service. After countless calls troubleshooting with them, they tried to tell me the rest of my hardware was defective. This is simply not the case seeing as the system works fine without this drive. After a great amount of debate with Pioneer and their insistance that I incorrectly installed the firmware update, they have been generous enough to offer to look at it if I pay shipping! I expect to come across a defective unit now and then, but I'm appalled at the quality of the customer service.

I have read on that some users have experienced difficulty installing this drive because the drive door is too wide, being the same width as the drive. It is almost as wide and, if your system housing front overlaps where the unit "sticks" out this could be a problem. Many units that I have seem don't but you should be aware of this. From my perspective the unit was easy to install and has worked just fine, even on some of my scratched DVDs. Its relatively fast,although not the fastest, in writing but I'm most interested in error correction which it seems to handle fine. I'd like to see what its realiability is a year from now with all the plastic parts but for now it is great. I bought the retail version and the software that came with it was so-so and conflicted with other software on my machine so I am using the Nero software instead which works great. Because of this I would recommend the "bare" version of the product.

Doug

Couldn't get my system to recognize the drive via plug n play. Pioneer does not have phone tech support. Have had the drive in computer for weeks and haven't been able to use it, I'm probably going to have to pay someone to set it up. I've owned PC computers since 1986. I've installed cd drives a half dozen times over the years and this is first time I've run into a problem.