As this Labs’ sole available proponent of the –RW format, Pioneer has a struggle on its hands getting the public to accept the standard over the faster and more widely used +RW format. The only other -RW supporter is the Panasonic Multi Drive, but this isn’t available in Australia yet. There are fewer compatibility issues with DVD-RW discs in older ROM drives, but our experience this month suggests +RW is the route to take.

The software provided with the Pioneer includes Sonic MyDVD for authoring and VOB InstantCD/DVD 6 for standard writing. However, the VOB software is actually a suite in itself, with a total of seven programs, including backup, copying, packet writing, and basic burning. Two editing programs are also in the suite: InstantWave and InstantMusic. No dedicated video-editing software is supplied, so you’ll be restricted to cutting the start and end from clips in MyDVD and reliant on the very basic transitions included with that software. InstantVideo is included for the creation of video CDs.

Just as this review was going to print, Pioneer informed us that it was discontinuing the A04, and will be launching the A05 by the time you read this. The main difference with the new model will be a much-needed increase in speed – up to 4x for DVD-R, and 2x for DVD-RW. This should make it faster than the current generation of DVD+R/RW drives, and we’ll bring you a full review next issue.