DVR 109 Problems

[Catman209]

I upgraded from a Sony DRU510A to a Pioneer DVR109AL. I never really had any probems with discs skipping with the Sony. I used mostly Ritek. When I bought my new Pioneer I bought some Ritek and some Taiyo Yudens. What I noticed is that the Riteks seem to skip but not the TY. They skip at the beginning of the movie once or twice and then they seem to be fine for the rest of the movie. The TY do not skip at all. I thought the problem was with the Riteks. Yesterday at Costco I bought some TDK 8x and thought I would try them out. Same thing, they skip at the beginning and then are fine. I thought I would try something. I added my old Sony dirve to my system as a second burner and burned the same movie that skipped badly on the TDK. Guess what, no skips at all when being burned in the Sony burner. So why is my new drive causing discs to skip in the beginning and my old Sony drive is not? Seems very weird to me. Has anyone else had this problem with the Pioneer? Im burning with Nero as I always have. Thanks for any info.

Catman

[Bodyslide]

Have you upgraded the 109 to the newest firmware? This might correct the issue.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=140504

[waheed]

Hello Catman209

I recently also upgraded from my Sony DRU-500A to a Pioneer 109XLC Drive. Ive been using TY dvd-r and Riteks dvd-r as well as TDK dvd+r with my Pioneer and they have been fine for me.

Bodyslide is right, try upgrading your firmware. Im on Firmware 1.50 at the moment. I also burn with Nero and with DVD Decrypter.

[Catman209]

Im on 1.50 also. Could it be my stand alone player although it has wokred for everything up until this point? Thanks and I will try the 1.55.

Catman

[waheed]

You can try playing the dvd in different players or on your PC. Try even burning at a lower speed if that helps.

[Poppa_Meth]

It's popular opinion that for the most part the 109 just doesn't like Ritek media. There are several posts on CDfreaks about it.

[Catman209]

I guess thats it then. It also did it with the TDK media also. Thanks.

Catman

[Catman209]

On my bedroom player which is a little newer then the other one, it played perfect. Now im going to try a burn at 4X on the pioneer and see what happens.

Catman

[Catman209]

The player seems to be the problem. Anything burned at 4X is fine. TY burned at 8X is fine. Other then that, they will skip. Thanks for the input.

[SCDVD]

It's popular opinion that for the most part the 109 just doesn't like Ritek media. There are several posts on CDfreaks about it.

Here is a quote from Pioneer that lists the reasons for firmware upgrade 1.55.


Update Information

For Model DVR-109
Firmware Ver.1.55
... Support Multiborder recording on DVD-R DL Media
Support New 16x DVD-R Media
... (12x writing：Optodisc)
Support New 8x DVD-R Media
... (8x writing：DST/Infomedia/Interaxia/RITEK/UmeDisc/Vanguard)
Support New +R 16x Media
... (12x writing：Infomedia/Prodisc/RITEK)
Support New +R 8x Media
... (8x writing：MPO/NANYA)
DVD-R/+R DL Writability has improved
DVD-R/+R Writability has improved

IF you will notice, they list Ritek as one of the media brands that is affected. We have one prolific "opinionator" on this forum that "sees no reason to upgrade from Rev 1.40" but Pioneer gives specific information to the contrary. Listen to Pioneer or listen to him - it's your choice.

No doubt there will be more firmware upgrades in the future as well. The drive makers have no choice. New media often requires an optimized write strategy. Since the drive makers cannot divine the future and accomodate media that is not yet released, they have no choice but to make accomodations for new media as it it released. Keep that in mind when some down Rev. "expert" starts sounding off about so and so's media is "no good anymore".

[Bodysurf]

IF you will notice, they list Ritek as one of the media brands that is affected. We have one prolific "opinionator" on this forum that "sees no reason to upgrade from Rev 1.40" but Pioneer gives specific information to the contrary. Listen to Pioneer or listen to him - it's your choice.

IF you are not having any problems, he sees no reason to upgrade -- not that NO ONE should not upgrade. And I don't think that is bad advice. I have seen times where someone running an "old" firmware without problems runs into problems when they upgrade. In fact, lots of support websites for various computer devices recommend NOT upgrading firmware/BIOSes unless one is having a specific problem.

That is different from what you are implying.

That being said, I am running v1.55.