Apex DVD recorder drive swap possible?

[oldfart13]

Anyone tried swapping the drive with a +/- OEM burner? If the standalone recorder has standard IDE connectors you'd think this would be possible, as it can definitely be done with the DVD players and OEM play only drives. Following the thread on some Apex groups but no one has tried this yet...

[txpharoah]

What would be the advantage of doing this?
I never saw the advantage of doing it to DVD-ROM drives.

[oldfart13]

Maybe you can afford a really good DVD recorder but I can't. BUT...if I can manufacture one from other parts, then maybe it will be worth it. Also, once a tech, always a tech. I just want to know if you can do it. You can get a cheap Apex or other Chinese player and keep the firmware functionality but swap the el cheapo drive out and replace it with a better quality OEM one. Isn't that worth it? Ditto on the DVD recorder. Swap the cheapo drive out and put in a better quality one and then you don't have to pay for the brand name recorder (like Sony) that may have the same parts in it anyway...

[txpharoah]

I see the light!

[Gil T Pleasure]

A similar question was asked at the AVS Forum and here's one poster's response:

"That seems highly unlikely to work. +RW and -RW are VERY different (+RW doesn't require finalization, or formatting, and does allow for editing). New firmware would certainly be required to support -R/RW."