The speed war continues, but the battle lines have moved. Single layer DVD-burning (DVD-R and DVD+R) is reaching its limits. At 16x, it takes six minutes to burn a DVD, but this is a medium that spins at 10,000 rpm. Beyond that, it produces uncontrollable vibrations. Ways of reducing these vibrations have been researched but would be too expensive to incorporate into products that cost less than $200.

The battle for speed will therefore move to new ground, that of the new dual layer technology, even though it has barely gotten off the ground (read our roundup of the earliest dual layer burners here ).

At 2.4x, the initial speed, a dual-layer burner took more than 45 minutes to fill the 7.96 GB available. Pioneer has made the bold move of almost doubling that speed. At 4x, the DVR-A08XLA burner reduces the waiting time to 27 minutes, which is a major difference.

Here are the technical details of the DVR-A08XLA:

DVD Info and Nero Info Tools provided us with some interesting information about the compatibility and specifications of the burner.