Verbatim DVD+R DL MKM003 vs MKM001

[Edmund Blackadder]

Hello everyone. Well, the moment came that I feared would come. I have a Pioneer DVR-A09XL with firmware 1.58 (the latest October 2005 update), and I'm always able to select and successfully burn Verbatim DVD+R DL with the media code MKM001 at 2.4x, 4x and 6x speeds.

Today, for sh*ts and giggles, I decided to buy a 5 pack of the new crop of Verbatim DVD+R DL that are rated up to 10x speed with media code MKM003. And what do I discover? The only speed I can select with these DVD's and Pioneer DVR-A09XL is 2.4x .

Now, naturally I was not expecting them to be better than 6x on this burner, but it's quite a setback that I can't even burn them at 4x anymore. And knowing Pioneer I'm almost positive that since this burner is a little over a year old they will not release any more firmware updates. That means that if God forbid Verbatim stops making MKM001 and switches completely to MKM003, I will have to burn my DVD+R DL's at the same 2.4x speed I was burning them in 2004 when it all just started with DL! This would suck bug time. I know some of you might say to get a new burner, but this one works nearly flawlessly and really is the best DVD+R DL burner I've ever tried.

Any thoughts? Do you think Verbatim will eventually stop making MKM001? After all they still make 2x DVD-RW's and 4x DVD+RW even thought they already manufacture RW's with higher speed ratings. I just hope they don't stop the MKM001 production in the reasonable future.

[lordsmurf]

I'm sure a burner upgrade will happen in short order. Be it an official one, or one from a firmware hacker. Keep an eye on the Pioneer forum at cdfreaks.com is all I would suggest.

[OneSickPup]

As LS says, there may be a firmware change forthcoming. In the interim you could use the MediaCodeSpeedEdit (MCSE) tool. Your drive is in the supported list. Here's the link for tool info:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=153213

Here's the link to peoples results reporting on strategy changes they attempted:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=153211

You could always try the easy test of burning MKM003 with an MKM001 strategy. Good luck!

[Edmund Blackadder]

In the interim you could use the MediaCodeSpeedEdit (MCSE) tool. Your drive is in the supported list.

OneSickPup, I have already tried the MCSE tool. However, all it would permit me to do is to replace the existing write strategy to something else. It would not let me add (paste) a new media code and assign an existing strategy. For example, there's only one DVD+R9 MKM in A09 1.58 firmware, and it's MKM001. The only thing that MCSE permits me to do is to replace MKM001 with something else. Please let me know if I'm missing something, but I can't seem to find a way to add a new media code through MCSE.

By the way here are the KProbe scans of MKM001 and MKM003:


MKM001 burned at 4x with Pioneer DVR-A09XL:




MKM003 burned at 2.4x with Pioneer DVR-A09XL:




The both layers of MKM003 play very well on all my players, but as you can see from the scan - the writing strategy could be better.

[OneSickPup]

Edmund,

Sorry - I thought that was fixed in current versions of MCSE. I have not used it in a long time. Here's a paste from a prior section of the MCSE changelog (I highlighted the key statement):

1.0.7.0 23 Oct 2005
- added support for Pioneer 109/110 family drives
Special thanks to >NIL: and TDB, also to the brave alpha testers
PumaUK, agent009 for testing the patches.

Current version supports:
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-110D1.22
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-110D8.22
other 109/110 firmwares are supported read only until tester
have checked them.
+R, +R9 and -R9 strategy swapping is lossless, so the source
media code is still available after swapping.
-R, -RW and +RW strategy swapping renames the source media code,
so it is not available anymore.
4x -R media seems to be locked at that speed.

- added support for NEC DVD_RW ND-4551A
- added support for PHILIPS DVDR1628P1 Q2.2
- verified support for LG 4167 DL12
- verified support for LITE-ON 1693S KS0B
- verified support for C0deKing's 1693S KC1B quality patched firmware

I'm at work now. I will try to research a bit when I get home later tonight.

[OneSickPup]

Finally found out why you cannot do lossless swapping on your drive. Go to post #99 in this thread:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=153213

Ala42 never implemented this feature for Pioneer drives for DL+R and DL-R media. I do not have a Pioneer drive supported by MCSE currently. I knew I had done this before on a Benq 1620. Oh well...

I find it odd that MKM003 isn't included in the 1.58 firmware. It's in the 1.37 firmware for the DVR110d according to a friend of mine. It's dated a couple months older than 1.58 if I'm not mistaken.

[Edmund Blackadder]

Finally found out why you cannot do lossless swapping on your drive. Go to post #99 in this thread:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=153213

Thanks for the research, OneSickPup.

I find it odd that MKM003 isn't included in the 1.58 firmware. It's in the 1.37 firmware for the DVR110d according to a friend of mine. It's dated a couple months older than 1.58 if I'm not mistaken.

I don't really find it that odd, because I think all it means is that Pioneer wants us to buy either DVR110 or DVR111 drives if we want a dedicated firmware support for MKM003 media. Oh well, as I already said, I just hope that Mitsubishi will still make MKM001 media for a long-long time. I generally don't burn faster than 4x with any media, but 2.4x with DVD+R9 is a bit long of a wait (plus verification time) after being used to at least 4x with MKM001.

I've also noticed on other types of single layer media that Pioneer A09 defaults to really weird slow speeds if it doesn't recognize a media code. For example, I have some older Japanese genuine 2x speed TDK DVD-R's that my other burners recognize as 2x (including Pioneer A03), but Pioneer A09 only gives me 1x speed. Same thing with good old Ritek G03's. And what if for example TY or MCC will come up with some new and super-duper-improved 16x media? Will Pioneer A09 automatically default to 1x writing on those as well just because they are not listed in the firmware? I hope not, and I hope there will be hacks for such issues.

[OneSickPup]

I don't really find it that odd, because I think all it means is that Pioneer wants us to buy either DVR110 or DVR111 drives if we want a dedicated firmware support for MKM003 media.

I hope not but you are probably quite correct on that assumption.

I've also noticed on other types of single layer media that Pioneer A09 defaults to really weird slow speeds if it doesn't recognize a media code.

That Pioneer annoyance is not unique to the A09. My 108 does the same thing and I agree it is quite annoying. I had some old (but very good) Maxell 2x DVD-R's that I wanted to use up and had the same problem. Funny how quick you forget how slow 1x burning can be. The only positive I had was the burn quality at 1x was very good.

Good luck and sorry I could not be of any assistance.