pioneer DVR-216

rei · Post by **rei** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 11:17 am

Thumbs up--this is one quiet drive!

Their ad copy say 25% more quiet and 4x resistant to dust.

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:05 pm

25% quieter than what? My DVR-215 is pretty damn quiet when playing DVD's.

continuum · Post by **continuum** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 4:47 pm

How's performance? I don't think I've seen any reviews on CDRLabs, CDRInfo, or CDfreaks yet...

NyteOwl · Post by **NyteOwl** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:36 pm

Good to hear. Mine arrived today along with some other parts. When the rest gets here I can start building

rei · Post by **rei** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 7:54 pm

quieter than the previous model.

i haven't had a drive this quiet since i imported at 4x cost from hk the retail 08XL models with the flashy bezel and extra honeycomb chamber quieting.

the tray mechanism is less whirry and much more muted vs my 212. copying doesn't start up a windstorm.

i'd love it if spcr could review optical drives as there seems to be a dearth of reviews for the quiet aspect.

rei · Post by **rei** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 9:30 am

NyteOwl, your impressions?

NyteOwl · Post by **NyteOwl** » Sun Aug 10, 2008 6:05 pm

It's not installed yet. The motherboard and CPU were delayed shipment (hopefully the first of the week) and the memory is on backorder so I'm not sure when that will get here (it was *supposed* to be in stock when I ordered it).

At least I have the PSU mounted in the case, the fans are in, all soft mounted, the HDDs are in their cage and the DVD drive is mounted. I feel like the owner of a kit car that has all the body parts but is missing the engine :/

Will advise when I get to turn it on

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:19 am

I just picked up the 216D yesterday. And does anyone's else make a nice beep when you first turn the computer on? And also it seems to be very very picky at reading discs. When I put a cd or dvd in, it takes like 20 seconds for it to see it and in the mean time its making some strange sounds as its trying to do so. My samsung drive didn't do any thing like this. The one thing the pioneer drive did do was read my scratched up BF2 DVD, which my samsung drive just refused to see which was nice..

NyteOwl · Post by **NyteOwl** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 2:01 pm

Finally all the parts are here and installed. I'll be doing the OS install later this evening. But booted into the install to check the drive noise.

With the case sitting on the desk about a foot away (places the drive at just about ear level) the drive produces noticeable but not unpleasant muffled hum that is accompanied by a soft "whooshing" noise if you open the door (P182). Seeks are fairly unobtrusive with a dull "rubbery" sound.

Based on past experiences with other drives, I would say the noise from the Pioneer would be minimal to unnoticeable with the case on the floor or under the edge of the desk, and at an acceptable level (for me) with the case over at the end of the desk (about 2 feet or so away).

Certainly at the moment the video card fan is the noisiest thing in the case.

yuckhil · Post by **yuckhil** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 1:04 am

The eject button on my DVR-216BK is very unstable and rubbery. It tends to depress downwards instead of going straight in. A DVR-215BK at work has a very firm button with no vertical movement. Does anybody else have this problem? Thanks.

Catapult · Post by **Catapult** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:01 am

falcon26 wrote: And also it seems to be very very picky at reading discs. When I put a cd or dvd in, it takes like 20 seconds for it to see it and in the mean time its making some strange sounds as its trying to do so.

Does it do something similar to tick tick tick tick...?

NyteOwl · Post by **NyteOwl** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:54 pm

Yes the button is a bit rubbery feeling and does have a bit of vertical wiggle room on mine as well thouhg I hadn't really noticed till you mentioned it.

SATA optical drives sometimes take a bit longer to identify the media and what not. Many BIOS setups have a setting where you can adjust this delay.

Shamgar · Post by **Shamgar** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:49 am

This is definitely a quiet optical drive. Possibly the quietest and best drive I have owned (many over the years), save for the aforementioned eject/close button which does have a little vertical movement. Price is good as well. Not as cheap as LG, Samsung or Liteon, but it is a Pioneer after all.

Only big negative I can speak of has to do with the packaging. In Australia, it ships as an OEM and comes in what I can only describe as a lunch bag, even if that--the kind that you pack a sandwich in. They could have at least protected it in some bubble wrapping, hard plastic or cardboard casing as shown here.

Anyway, it is a quiet drive. Highly recommend it if you just need a good quality optical drive for reading discs and playing back DVDs. I generally do not use DVD drives for archiving, so can't speak on its performance qualities. For bearable noise, it is very good.

Edit: Don't know why they still bother shipping Nero with almost all DVD drives. Adds unnecessary cost. Most people can download their preferred software. Nero was once a good package but it is just terrible bloatware these days.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:18 pm

continuum wrote:How's performance? I don't think I've seen any reviews on CDRLabs, CDRInfo, or CDfreaks yet...

The quieter it is the slower performance is going to be. You cant cheat physics. Its the rotational speed that makes them loud.

DataPath · Post by **DataPath** » Mon May 04, 2009 5:48 pm

Aris wrote:
continuum wrote:How's performance? I don't think I've seen any reviews on CDRLabs, CDRInfo, or CDfreaks yet...
The quieter it is the slower performance is going to be. You cant cheat physics. Its the rotational speed that makes them loud.

Which is why all case fans at the same speed sound equally as loud?

Motor noise, cavity size and shape, enclosure thickness and material can all play a role in the physics of the noise emitted by a DVD drive.

Plekto · Post by **Plekto** » Tue May 05, 2009 10:24 am

I had one and can verify that the SATA version(216D) isn't compatible with a lot of hardware and has "issues" with media.

The Pioneer 117D, which is the same thing but in IDE, is a better drive - and just as quiet. No issues with media, mounting/being recognized, or whatever - it just works right out of the box.

Plekto · Post by **Plekto** » Tue May 05, 2009 10:27 am

I had one and can verify that the SATA version(216D) isn't compatible with a lot of older hardware.

The Pioneer 117D, which is the same thing but in IDE, is a better drive - and just as quiet. No issues with media, mounting/being recognized, or whatever - it just works right out of the box.

That said, if anyone wants a perfectly good (couple of weeks old) but won't work with my older Asus MB 216D, and is in Los Angeles, contact me. $20 cash.

line · Post by **line** » Tue May 05, 2009 7:09 pm

I had one and can verify that the SATA version(216D) isn't compatible with a lot of hardware and has "issues" with media.

What media issues did you have? I burn on Verbatim media (Taiyo Yuden CDs and MCC DVD+R) and no problems so far.

The 117 model seems to be an upgrade to the 116/216 and also has a SATA version under the name 217.

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/products/45 ... rview.html

Plekto · Post by **Plekto** » Thu May 07, 2009 2:23 pm

It's picky about using media mostly in that it reports the actual media speed, which is often 4-6x, and it takes a long long time to spin up after insertion.

It does work well - but a lot of older motherboards hate it and won't see it as a SATA drive. Hence my need to get the 117D instead.