Pioneer DVR-219LBK 24x Internal DVD/CD Writer with LabelFlash

My old computer has a Pioneer DVR-108 burner that makes write once and rewritable DVD s that seemed to be compatible with any player, especially a set top Pioneer DVD-343 player from the year 2000. The owner's manual of the 343 does not claim compatibility with any recordable media.

Write once discs burned on my new computer work poorly on the old 343. They work on newer DVD players that claim to be compatible with recordable media. Oddly, the rewritable discs made on this machine work well on anything. Rewritable discs are supposed to be the troublesome ones. Updating the burner's firmware helped, but did not fix the problem. DVD+R discs may have been better, but still had problems.

I bought this Pioneer DVR-219LBK from Amazon in the hope that it would burn write once discs that would work on the old 343. They do, and I am now very happy. I have not tried the Labelflash feature.

Before you buy this model, beware: This is an OEM model. There is no owners manual and no software. Also, it has only the up to date SATA signal and power connections. It will not work as a replacement burner for older computers. Pioneer has other models that will. This is why I couldn't just put the old Pioneer DVD burner into the new computer.

I've installed 5 of these and have 4 more on order. It fits my need in low to moderate use for software loading, backup and audio/video entertainment.

I didn't see the lack of quality others mentioned but it's not impressive either. I've been using it in general purpose computers and would probably choose a much more expensive Blu-Ray compatible product for a media intensive application.

Update:

In the second order of 4 there were 2 bad drives. They were recognized by Windows and Linux but wouldn't see disks. The tray went in and out, seemed to spin but that's all.

Fortunately I had spares to definitely diagnose it as a drive problem. I swapped cables and SATA ports, tried 2 operating systems, changed BIOS (AHCI/IDE and CD/DVD boot in EFI). Everything behaved the same until I swapped drive twice.

I lowered the rating from 5 stars to 2 stars because I feel this is an unacceptable failure rate on arrival.

I now have 5 installed and working the longest about a month. I have no complaints about those.

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Was unimpressed with this drive when I first received it. I've used Pioneer burners for years but every once in awhile they release a real dog of a drive. This one is a dog.

Felt flimsy from the minute I took it out of the box. Pioneer burners of my past always felt like they were built like a battle-tank. Not this one. Can't quite put my finger on it but it just reeks of cheap. Installed fine and worked like a champ for almost 2 months. Then...

Tonight, less than 60 days from purchase, it up and died on me. Put in a disc and you get a resulting loud "clunk" emanating from the drive. That doesn't sound good, nope. Alas it won't even detect a disc that's inserted. *sigh*

Oh well, it happens and they're cheap enough. Went with a new LG 24x burner in its place. I bought LG's new Blu-ray burner last week and I really like it, hopefully their DVD burner is every bit as good!

Sorry Pioneer, but this is where we part ways again for awhile.

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Replaced the original DVD recorder in my HP with this Pioneer unit as I wanted to burn dual layer DVD's. The recorder works great. No errors. No new cup coasters for the house. It is fairly quick on recording discs and it has good play back qualities. Roxio programs recognized it properly.

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Needed this to replace a drive on a industrial disc replicator. It matched the drives that came with my machine so this was a great replaecment and has worked fine in an environment where thousands of discs are being burned.