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I'd like to find out the difference between the Pioneer A04 and the 104 and the higher-end ones.
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They are identical, one is OEM (the 104), and the other is Retail (A04). The retail version includes DVD media and burning software. Both these drives burn General DVD-R and R/W discs up to 4.7GB
Higher end models, such as the S201 drive burn authoring DVD's (3.97 and 4.7 GB).
What's the difference between General and Authoring?
The general format uses a different wavelength to record the data, and prevents CSS data copying. In other words, General DVD-R burners prevent bit-for-bit copying of DVD's - hence GENERAL USE.
The DVD+R / +RW format developed by Sony and Philips (among other developers) is a newer recordable format that is VERY incompatible with most players. This will change as newer players and ROM drives adopt the format. It does have advantages over DVD-R, in that it records in both CAV and CLV formats, and can burn faster - but for now, DVD-R is a more compatible format.
DVD-RAM, yet another format is only compatible with DVD-RAM players/drives. It can hold 9.4 GB (2 sided), and is targeted towards people that want massive data archival, or people that want to record a lot of tv shows on one disc.
There is a lot more to this...I'll see if I can dig up some white papers on techy stuff if it's needed...