DVD Firmware for Rimage/Pioneer DVD-R Duplicator+Questions

[specmike]

DVD Firmware for Rimage/Pioneer DVD-R Duplicator and Other DVD Burning Questions.

Hi all, I have recently purchased a CD Duplicator from Rimage, the DESKTOP 1500 Now, for a MERE $800 per drive you can upgrade to a DVD-R duplicator using Pioneer DVR-106 OEM drives.

Well, I just happen to have 2 of those drives and I have tried everything I can think of to get them to work with the system. I have the newest Rimage software, a late 2003 revision. This includes a driver from Indigita that is an optical drive recognition driver. This driver recognizes the Indigita 1394 to IDE bridge adapter that attaches the DVD drive via firewire to the computer. This adapter allows the computer to see each drive individually while they are daisy chained and connected via firewire. I have gotten them to burn CDs but not DVDs. This setup works fine with 2 Plextor CD writers.

What it boils down to IF their tech guys are telling me the truth is that there is a special firmware they flash with to enable complete functionality with this Pioneer DVR-106 drive. I'm not 100% sure that they are telling me the whole truth but I think that I have eliminated all the other possibilities. I have even flashed backwards from the current Pioneer 1.08 firmware for the DVR-106 to the 1.07, a hacked 1.07, and 2 versions of the 1.05. Another tech guy told me that they even have "special" OEM Pioneer drives just for their machines.

So, one idea to make these drives work with that machine is to find a copy of the firmware out there in the world somewhere. Rimage wants $800 per drive for it, no thanks. Is there a way to pull firmware off of an optical drive and use it to flash another? If so, are there any Rimage owners out there that can hook me up with the firmware? Rimage has not said this is illegal so I don't think I am in violation of any laws by asking for this and using it. Obviously they don't want me upgrading my own machine so they won't give it to me. The tech guys tell me it is not available. It may not even exist, this firmware excuse might just be a bunch of smoke. If I am asking for something improper or illegal please tell me. I don't want to besmirch the reputation of this forum.

OK, on to part #2. I am new to DVD burning and I am using Veritas Record Now DX. I am using this program to burn my DVDs since my Rimage machine won't do it. I am able to do simultaneous burns with 2 burners ( I have 3) and I can select the drive the burners use to create a temporary file on. I have several questions on this:
1. I use the disk to disk copy function as opposed to actually manually creating an image on the HD myself. Can I simply copy the project AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS files to the HD and then burn those files to a DVD as data files?

2. The reason I ask is that I'd like to use 1 machine (Abit IC-7 MAX3 with the data drives 2 x 120gb SATAs on the ICH5R) to burn 3 DVDs at the same time. Will this RAID array have enough data thruput to support simultaneous burning to 3 drives?

3. If I use the disk to disk copy function, I can manually select the caching drive but, Veritas will not allow me to choose seperate caches for the individual burning jobs. Will other programs allow me to burn from seperate temporary caches or seperate RAID arrays?

4. Let's assume I have multiple RAID arrays in 1 system. Can I manually place a DVD file image on each array and then burn to multiple drives? Would I need more than 1 instance of Veritas running on the same computer or is that even possible?

5. Does anyone know the most efficient way to accomplish what I want, burning to 3 or more DVD drives simultaneously from the same computer system?

I am starting to ramble so chew on what is here. If you need more info to answer the questions, please just ask.

Thanks in advance. Mike.

[Barry Smith]

Did you still need an answer on this ?

[hech54]

Did you still need an answer on this ?

8 years later?
EIGHT YEARS

[jman98]

Barry - Seriously. When it's over 6 months old just leave it the hell alone.