CDRlabs.com has posted a review of the new ASUS DRW-0204P/D DVD writer (based on Pioneer's DVR-A06 dual-format drive). Here's a snippet:
Like many manufacturers, ASUS has started to focus on the growing DVD writer market. While an early supporter of the DVD Forum's DVD-R and DVD-RW formats, they've recently added a dual format DVD writer to their product lineup. Announced this fall, the DRW-0204P/D can write to both DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW media and is capable of 4x DVD±R, 2.4x DVD+RW and 2x DVD-RW writing speeds as well as a maximum DVD read speed of 12x. Like the Pioneer drive it's based on, the DRW-0204P/D also has features like 16x CD writing speeds, 32x CD read speeds and support for buffer underrun protection.
When it comes down to it, the DRW-0402P/D's performance was a lot like the other Pioneer based DVD±RW drives we've looked at. With its 4x DVD+R and DVD-R writing speeds, ASUS's new drive had no problems holding its own in our DVD writing tests. The DRW-0402P/D was also one of the faster drives we've tested when reading single layer data DVD-ROM's. Unfortunately, its transfer speeds were much slower when reading DVD videos and recordable media.
With 8x DVD writers starting to hit store shelves, the DRW-0402P/D isn't the fastest DVD writer on the block anymore. However, its 4x DVD+R and DVD-R writing speed will have you turning out an entire DVD in less than 15 minutes. For most people, this is probably fast enough. Of course, writing speed isn't everything. Like the Pioneer drive its based on, the DRW-0402P/D is hard to beat when it comes to media compatibility. Using the latest firmware, the drive had no problems writing to all of our test media at their rated speeds.
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