Pioneer DVD burners are the WORST!
 

My Pioneer external just went bad. This is the third I've given Pioneer DVD burners a try and been sorely disappointed! You geeks need to get real!

Unfortunately, I'm giving another one a try. I put a max bid of $30.00 on ebay and believe it or not I won. I believe the word is out and that is about all they are worth. dang! I found a Toshiba external burner later and was hoping I would get out bid on the Pioneer. Toshiba externals are going for a minimum of $60.00. They were great!!!:(:([xx(][8][}:)]

Cant agree with you on that Marcus, I have had 3 (the A103, A105 and now A110) and all have been going strong. In 2 years I have had 2 error'd burns

The 110 and 105 are in external firewire boxes and have been for years.

Apple has been using Pioneer exclusively since 2003 as the "Superdrive" and never had a recall or complaints

You just must be cursed lol

Yeah, I've been using the 109 myself for a pretty long time as well. I do have an external Sony "superdrive", and it also works beautifully.

Don't care what you guys think, you're all wrong-LOL! I stick by my original comments I've had nothing but trouble with them. I loved my Toshiba 5372.

But the price of this latest one was so cheap! I'll take another chance!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

If I were to buy another one again I would look for the A109 or A110

Also remember to update the firmware, sometimes the Pioneers ship without the best firware and they so they can have issues with more recent media codes/etc

NEC is best ;)

It is more likely an issue with your computer (your USB or Firewire ports) not cooperating with the external enclosure chipset. It's a common problem, but is not the fault of the burner or the enclosure. You just have a more selective (picky!) computer.

I've been using internal Pioneer burners since 2001. The 103, 105, 109 and 111 have all been outstanding drives for me. And friends and family have long used those and other Pioneer models. The only complaints I ever get are from non-Pioneer burners.

NEC is good too, but Pioneer and NEC are using so many of the same parts these days, they are virtually the same drives.

And actually, Apple used the Pioneer 103 as the first SuperDrive in 2001. My friend still has his in his G4 tower.

That could be LS, but the DVD burner was still showing up on my C drive as active. I got the following again:DVR-S111B Pioneer External 16x Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW Drive USB 2.0.

I still believe my Toshiba burner was a better burner. I could just about read anything, and would read at between 12X and 16X. I still may get it again. It was the Toshiba 5372. The strange think is that it goes for about twice the price as the Pioneer.

Toshiba and Samsung are essentially the same drives, by the way. The TSST drive. I have no problems with the Samsung, though I've not used them much at all. They're fairly new, compared to NEC and Pioneer and others.

I hear you there. I have a NEC 1 to 3 and I've burned 1000's of DVD's on it and it's still kicking. :D

I have two pioneer burners and Ive not had any problems with either one.

Does anybody know where I can get a firmware update for a DVR-S111B Pioneer External 16x Dual-Layer DVD+/-RW Drive USB 2.0? I think it is 1.29??

Marcus, if you continue to have issues with it, you may want to consider purchasing a 5.25" enclosure and putting an NEC drive in it.

An enclosure can be had for $20 or less from newegg as well as the NEC for around $30.00

Just food for thought.

I use this with my laptop. It's strange, but even the new one doesn't read with my laptop (Toshiba).

Well after badmouthing Pioneer I have to recant my complaints. After I had spent countlesss hours trying figure it out. It turns out to have been one or both of the following two reasons:
1) I had some electromagnetic feedback causing the problem (pulled the battery and let it sit for a couple of hours, or
2) I had a bad AC adapter and power cord that wasn't giving it enough power.

Anyway problem solved. I still miss my Toshiba 5372 burner, but the Pioneer does burn DL discs faster.

Awesome.

Ok, Pioneer just sort of sucks! Although the price is so cheap!

The problem is waiting for a replacement power cord and AC adapter from the distributor. You can't find these things from places like Radio Shack, Best Buy, or Office Max or Office Depot.

I take it back they do suck! The new Pioneer DVD burner now makes a terrible sound when you put in a disc to read or write. It goes to unwind the disc and makes this screeching sound.

Unwind the disc? Are you using a VCR?