pioneer DVR-111 does it work?

[Lobe]

i grabbed one from newegg to replace my getting very noisey 109. Haven't had much luck at all. Doesn't read most dvds. gives an error when burning about 60% of the time for DVDR.
Is this drive working with Mac OS10.4.8 for anyone? how do i update the firmware?
sorry, been searching online and wasting time on dead ends so an easy way to update this would be very appreciated. thanks!

[schwinn]

Yes, mine worked out of the box no issues nor problems. If you just bought it should have the current firmware. i got mine in August came with 8.26 firmware 8.29 is the current one. Mostly is for running at faster speeds with new media disks currently available. Is it the 111D ? or? Mine came in a retail box labeled DVR-710 but it is the Pioneer 111D and is labeled as such on the drive and in the info. Since it works so well I didn't bother with the new 8.29 firmware which came in maybe late Sept. The 111 has to be updated on a PC so didn't want to bother as well. I did however soon after getting updated to the 111L Firmware 8.23 . This gave me RAM disk burning and Labelflash. Think LightScribe but curently no Mac software for using. I did it for the RAM disk burning. You don't mention the Mac you are using nor which OS. I'm on an old B&W updated to a G4 and with Tiger 10.48 . It does have burn support fully . If you got a bare drive you may have not gotten the 80 wire ide flatwire cable nor perhaps not the manual that tells you this drive requires the 80 wire cable and will not work well with the older standard 40 wire cable. I'm betting that the cable could be your issue. Also works best set to master which is likely the way it came.

[JoachimS]

You can find the latest original firmware here:
http://wwwbsc.pioneer.co.jp/product-e/ibs/device_e/dev00001r_e.html

A PC or an emulation (Virtual PC) is required. When running the updater under Virtual PC, it is necessary to put the drive into an external USB2 case. Firewire cases cannot be used for the update procedure.

I have an external case for a hard drive (Oxford Bridge inside) that has USB2, FW400 and FW800 interfaces. It is easy to use it temporarily for the update process of my internal drive (I remove it from the Quicksilver G4).

Cheers,

Joachim

[NickG]

I just installed this drive in my iMac G4 flat panel (OS X 10.3.9) and it didn't burn at all initially, then I used patchburn 3.1.5 (you'll want to use patchburn 4 for OS X 10.4) and now it burns DVDs just fine. Download it at:

www.patchburn.de

There is still an issue in that it will not make full use of a double layer (DL, 8.5 GB) disc as it should; I can only burn 4.7 GB even on a DL disc. Any suggestions? Had I known about the firmware issue, I would have updated it before installing, but I'm not about to take it back out and update now. Will Pioneer ever make it possible to update firmware on a Mac? My iMac does have the 80 wire cable, so that may still be an issue for you.

Good luck,

Nick