Can I replace the DVD drive in a Pioneer 533H-S ?

[gwoiler]

After many great years with my Pioneer DVD recorder.... the unit is all of a sudden struggling to burn DVDs. Many of them it says, CANNOT COMPLETE BURN... or something like that. Is the DVD burner bad? Can I replace it? Except for the TVGUIDE programming which was a pain in the neck... I love this machine. Thanks if anyone can help. Oh... I have been always burning the pro grade 8x silver inkjet Taiyo Yuden. I never use Value Line. I been wondering if I should try 16x ? Oh yes.... When I go to burn a video program from the hard drive to a DVD... the DVD really spins up fast and it sounds like the speed hunts.... and when it will do a successful burn, you can hear the speed slow down a little like it has "locked on" but the rest of the time the disk speed sounds too high. Maybe it is dirty?

Glenn

[[_chef_]]

Yeah, time to clean the drive...

[gwoiler]

OK... I took it all apart, blew a small amount of dust with compressed air, cleaned the lense with alcohol on a Qtip..... and put it all back together and it is burning TY 8x dvd's. I also took a Qtip with water and rubbed the center drive hub where it holds the disc. It would not burn an off brand DVD and I will not try that again. I wonder how long this will last?

[jjeff]

I'm not as sure about Pioneers but with Panasonics cleaning the spindle should be done yearly, depending on how dusty your environment is and how you handle your DVDs. It's not advisable to handle DVDs with your finger in the center hole. Doing so can cause oil from your finger to deposit in the center spindle area of the DVDs which in turn gets transferred to your DVDRs spindle area.

[[_chef_]]

@jjeff,
with "Panasonics" you mean Panasonic standalones or Panasonic drives into standalones?
I honestly have to say that Panasonic drives (Matshita for real) are bad performers. Maybe they are acceptable for standalone devices, but in case of computer drives....they suck, not because of their poor firmware support.
Pioneer drives are a complete other level.

@gwoiler,
do you know which Pioneer drive is inside the recorder (maybe also the firmware revision)?

[PuzZLeR]

I had a similar problem with my 520, but it was corrected with a disc cleaner (the one with a brush from Maxell worked for me). I used to think these things were bull, and figured it wouldn't work, so I was pleasantly surprised.

But, let me ask, does your unit have a DV-Out port? If so, like the 520, you may want to look at this. No disc burning. I could care less now if my burner works or not.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/303504-Pioneer-DVR-520H-video-to-PC-using-the-DV-Ou...o-disc-burning

[Seeker47]

But, let me ask, does your unit have a DV-Out port? If so, like the 520, you may want to look at this. No disc burning. I could care less now if my burner works or not.

If I recall correctly, this was unique to the 520. (Or, with an outside chance that this carried over from the 510 ? But none after the 520.)

[PuzZLeR]

If I recall correctly, this was unique to the 520. (Or, with an outside chance that this carried over from the 510 ? But none after the 520.)

It was definitely unique to a few Pioneer models (low 500 series) in the 2004-2005 era, but wasn't sure which, and 533 seemed close, so I asked.

And if anyone's interested, the quality is indeed superior when compared as it bypasses the MPEG-2 internal chip used to burn to DvD.

I totally lucked out with this. Six years later it's useful more than ever to me.

[gwoiler]

I had a similar problem with my 520, but it was corrected with a disc cleaner (the one with a brush from Maxell worked for me). I used to think these things were bull, and figured it wouldn't work, so I was pleasantly surprised.

But, let me ask, does your unit have a DV-Out port? If so, like the 520, you may want to look at this. No disc burning. I could care less now if my burner works or not.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/303504-Pioneer-DVR-520H-video-to-PC-using-the-DV-Ou...o-disc-burning

I took it apart and it is the ..09 drive. Has anyone had luck with replacing with a newer Pioneer drive? I can not find any A09 or other 09 drives for sale. I was wondering if a newer Pioneer drive would work?

[Seeker47]

I took it apart and it is the ..09 drive. Has anyone had luck with replacing with a newer Pioneer drive? I can not find any A09 or other 09 drives for sale. I was wondering if a newer Pioneer drive would work?

If you are persistent in monitoring eBay for awhile, I think you will see some of these turning up. In the past, they have been more common than certain other old Pioneer burners, such as the 107 | A07 used by the Pioneer 520 DVDR. Once you are seeing some auctions, you will have to luck out in getting one that is not beat up or with too much burning "mileage" on it. To that end, as long as the price is reasonable, it may make sense to get more than one.

My recollection is that 109 | A09 was required for that model. (There was at least one Pioneer DVDR model where you could go one model lower with a replacement burner, but never higher. And there was also an identical Teac substitute model for the 107: I don't know if anything like that ever occurred again.) You can definitely forget about more contemporary computer burners, from Pioneer or anyone else.

[gwoiler]

so then... a Pioneer 110, 111, or 112 will not work in this?... I was hoping someone might have done it. There is a new 109 for sale at $110... I am waiting reply for them to verify it is NEW. If so.... I think it is worth the money to get more life out of the 533.

[gwoiler]

I just started my editing computer which I have not been using much lately and went to devices and whoa!!! I have a DVR-109 in it! I have most likely burned a few hundred DVDs with it and many CD.s but never any trouble..... should I use it? or get the new drive?

I never had trouble until I burned... or tried burning Sony inkjet DVDs from COSTCO. It sounded like someone was learning to drive a standard shift and could not find the gears. Ever since then I have had trouble burning Tyo-Youden. I think I might have burned... maybe 400 DVDs with the 533...

[gwoiler]

If I recall correctly, this was unique to the 520. (Or, with an outside chance that this carried over from the 510 ? But none after the 520.)

It was definitely unique to a few Pioneer models (low 500 series) in the 2004-2005 era, but wasn't sure which, and 533 seemed close, so I asked.

And if anyone's interested, the quality is indeed superior when compared as it bypasses the MPEG-2 internal chip used to burn to DvD.

I totally lucked out with this. Six years later it's useful more than ever to me.

So... the 533 will not play video out from the miniDV firewire socket? Only video "in"?

[PuzZLeR]

So... the 533 will not play video out from the miniDV firewire socket? Only video "in"?

I don't have a 533 so I wouldn't know exactly what it does. But would you know if it's a 4-pin hole?

If so, and you have a firewire port on your PC, you may want to run a wire between them and see if your PC recognizes it after a few moments as an additional "AVC" drive in My Computer. If so, you're in business, and you can look at my guide if you need tips (of which I'm sure will similarly apply to the 533 if it works).

I do agree with you that such machines are worth it to save for a few bucks. Such gold simply doesn't exist any more. Did you try that brush? It may be worth it for $10.

Another suggestion I can recommend, if nothing else works, is to look into a capture box, such as a Canopus ADVC 110 used in VHS capture (or any other high quality unit that accepts content from the unit's RCA and/or S-Video output) and hook it as a mediator between your DVR and PC. You will never have to burn another DvD again with the unit and just work out of your PC from then on with its yeild.

Why do I recommend it? I assure you, capturing to DV is high quality. But even capturing with MPEG-2 with an app like NeroVision still gives higher quality than the FINE/XP streams in the unit you burn to DvD. I've compared with AviSynth previews and can confirm more detail is retained from capturing over burning (at least with the 520). I believe when these units burn, the video streams endure another generation of encoding and kill quality.

If this works for you you will not care about the problematic burner any more that apparently breaks down all the time from what I've read in other posts.

[gwoiler]

I have Liquid Edition on my video editing computer.... So that is in place... the 533 does have a normal IE firewire port as on miniDV cameras.... I should hook up a camera and see if it can record a signal from the 533 when in playback. I did not try a brush on the drive but I did take it all apart and used air to blow it out... ( a little dust ball in there) and I used a q-tip on the laser lense. It seemed to help at first and then it seems to spin up and down 3-4 times and then it locks on and starts burning. I don't know how fast it will last.

So... if I buy this new drive that is supposedly available.... I switch the pc board and connector and I don't have to have a service remote? No codes or software?

There are 3 of these on ebay right now.... 533 and 633's. Too bad there is not an option that lets you pick the maximum burn speed like on my duplicator.

[[_chef_]]

I took it apart and it is the ..09 drive. Has anyone had luck with replacing with a newer Pioneer drive? I can not find any A09 or other 09 drives for sale. I was wondering if a newer Pioneer drive would work?

Could you please post more info from the drive sticker?
Especialy any info about the firmware on the drive used...

As Seeker47 pointed out, from time to time you can find x09 drives on ebay, even unused ones appear from time to time. And for the geeks, even 109XL appears there.

[gwoiler]

I don't have the unit opened up now... but the sticker looked exactly like pictures posted here... I will try to see what the firmware version is......

[Seeker47]

so then... a Pioneer 110, 111, or 112 will not work in this?... I was hoping someone might have done it. There is a new 109 for sale at $110... I am waiting reply for them to verify it is NEW. If so.... I think it is worth the money to get more life out of the 533.

I'm 95% sure the later ones are a No Go. Probably not even the earlier 108 / A08, which seems to be more plentiful in resale than the 109s or 107s. At the price you are quoting, I would certainly expect that 109 to be leftover stock that was unused, and be reluctant to spend that much unless it was. A used one -- it seems to me -- should run more like $35. (At such a price, you could spread the risk by getting 3 of 'em.)

So... the 533 will not play video out from the miniDV firewire socket? Only video "in"?

That is -- by far -- the wager I would make. The DV Out thing that PuzZLeR discovered with the 520 was a fluke -- an experimental feature that was never acknowledged by Pioneer, never documented by them. and apparently only partially implemented. And it was not continued beyond the 520 model, per any reports I ever heard. According to Orsetto (who knows most of what there is to know about these things) it was far from a slam dunk that this would work for any given 520 owner. I happen to own a 520, which is in storage at the moment, but which saw very heavy use for 4+ years. It never suffered a major, sustained failure, just intermittent "COPY ERR" from the burner, but that must be the handwriting on the wall. So, I hope to make use of that xfer feature at some point, since I still like that unit. (But my 640 is better, in several respects.)

Anyway, the 533 has that troublesome TVGOS business, much like the 633 ? If so, that is kind of a ticking time bomb, and may cast a long shadow over decisions requiring you to pump more $$ into it.

For those who may be interested, keep in mind that the Magnavox DVDRs available from Walmart are likely nearing the end of the line. (The more recent models seem to have increased the HDD capacity to 320 or 500G.) They are not Pioneers, but they are the last of this category sold in N. Amer., and I wouldn't count on them still being on the market by this time next year. Supposedly, it is much easier to replace their HDD or burners than was the case with any of the major brand DVDRs that are now long gone.

[PuzZLeR]

Yes indeed it was a lucky break for me utilizing such a feature in the 520 and getting it to work. I work in A/V and spoke to a local Pioneer rep who manages store accounts and is indeed knowledgeable - and even he too didn't know anything about that DV-Out port. It seems like it's a deep dark Area 51 type of secret there.

As far as deep dark secrets are concerned, all this makes me very suspicious if a burner on these units is indeed a quality killer and should be avoided, broken or not.

I can confirm - with all honesty - that the streams captured are of higher quality than their equivalent burned-on-dvd version - a bit noisier but more detail preserved. And this is regardless of which mode was used for recording and/or burning.

This is also true, not only with DV, but with capturing to MPEG-2 as well.

That's why I'm suspicious that the internal streams are of higher quality than those you get from the burned DvDs - I'm certain there's a, rather mediocre MPEG-2, encoding chip at play on its way from HDD -> DvD that hurts quality.

Now, I'm not sure my quality advantage is due to the fact that I get the streams captured directly from the unit, or it would apply with any other external capture unit box that can bypass this stage, hence why I recommended it as a viable solution if a replacement drive is impossible which could actually be a blessing in disguise.

[gwoiler]

Thanks for the heads up on the Magnovox..... I just ordered one. The reviews said it was easy to use. Yeah... the TVguide feature in the 533 is a pain in the neck... but if it is set to canada and I have at least one timer record program entered... the feature that turns it on to update does not try to down load info.

This morning I was looking around in storage and found 2 DVR-107D burners.... I was hoping they might have been 109's but I have one in my computer so...... The Pioneer has some life left depending on what I do.

I emailed the outfit that is advertising new 109's and they say they are new. So if I swap it with used or new... I will not have any issues... just swap and play?

Years ago... I tried out 5 different DVRs with hard drives before settling with Pioneer. Some had lousy menus for DVD authoring... some of the DVDs created would not be recognized by my DVD duplicator.... and the Pioneer did it all.

I really appreciate all the help!

[orsetto]

Don't be confused by the various burner "cleaning" tips that appear everywhere. The only recorders that can truly be brought back from the dead by a cleaning are the Panasonics: blowing air or cleaning the 109 burner in your Pio 533 will accomplish little to nothing. Basically you killed it dead when you tried to burn the newer crummy Sony media: that pushed the aging laser and firmware over the edge and it won't recover (I've made the exact same mistake- twice).

The Pioneer 531-533-633 are a giant freaking pain in the ass to repair, they are unlike any other Pioneer ever made in this respect (the others are far easier). You absolutely must have the small form factor 109 or A09 replacement burner, earlier models won't fit the recorder chassis and later models use a different internal board which can't be swapped with the board in your original dying burner (required for any replacement to work at all). While I have recommended this "swap the controller board" trick many times in the past for the 510 and 520 models, I no longer recommend it for the 531-533-633. It isn't simply a matter of TVGOS interference, there is something inherently buggy in the 2005 Pio motherboard that makes it go nuts from the moment you disconnect any internal component (burner or HDD). The odds of your 533 accepting the replacement burner on the first try are 50/50, if it fails or acts wonky shortly after you install it your chances of ever making the machine normal again are slim to none. I speak from bitter experience, having repaired over a dozen of these 2005 units. I've had to replace the 109 burner in my own 531 recorder four times over five years, each time it gets harder and the last time it took days to make it work- next time my 531 fails, it goes straight to eBay as "parts-not working". The 533 and 633 are twice as likely to resist a burner swap as the 531, for reasons only Pioneer may know, and even they preferred to pretend they never mfr'd the 2005 models. It just isn't worth the trouble needed to repair them: if you already have a spare 109, its worth a shot, you may get lucky, but don't go out of your way to hunt down a 109 otherwise. Note you may or may not need the service remote and service disc to perform a burner swap: sometimes the unit will insist on it, sometimes not, its random.

Regarding the firewire to PC trick PuzZLeR is so fond of: this only works with the 510 and 520, beginning with the 533 and 633 Pioneer plugged the undocumented bidirectional feature. This might actually be the reason the 533 and 633 are more twitchy to repair than the 531: the 531 has no FW, the 533 and 633 had a newly revised FW connection.

If you find you cannot fix your 533, don't even think of buying another off eBay. Its a dead end design, most of the used ones are already failing, and the 109 burner chokes itself to death if you put even one crummy new 16x blank in it. Unless you can document the machine in question has never been fed anything but 8x media, forget it. As seeker47 recommended, pick up a new Magnavox H2160 or MDR513 instead. They are identical except for 160GB vs 320GB. The 320GB can be had new from Wal*Mart online for $229, the H2160 is often available as a like-new refurb for only $159 including shipping from J&R website. The Magnavox is extremely annoying to operate if you're used to the slick Pioneer interface, but its FAR more reliable than a 533. The burners go for years with no problem, the mfr sells replacement burners for $67, you can replace its HDD with any PC SATA drive, and it has the best ATSC digital tuner/timer in any recorder. It has only one DVD menu style, but its decent. A more expensive option would be a Panasonic "global import" DMR-EH69 at $250-500 depending whether its "open box" or "brand new": these are more like a Pioneer in operation but have no tuner for NTSC (line inputs only). If you're patient and keep a sharp eye, the "global import" Pioneer 560 shows up occasionally at J&R or B&H for about the same price range as the Panasonic. The Pioneer 560 was the last and best Pioneer, way better than the 533. It has an NTSC analog tuner (still useful in Canada) but no provision for ATSC broadcasts.

[gwoiler]

Thanks orsetto for all the information. HAs anyone ever tried firmware for a 510 in to a 533? Would be nice if it could be flashed to a previous model!

OK.... The Mag is ordered. I just know I will not like it though. I am soo used to trimming and working with clips in the pioneer.

Thanks again.

Glenn

[orsetto]

These are the biggest annoyances with the Magnavox operating system, compared to Pioneer or Panasonic:

1. The editing window is infuriating: it continually loops back to the beginning of the title you're editing when it reaches the end, and you have to practice how to make it work more like the Pioneer. On the plus side, the video preview in the Mag edit screen is twice the size of the ridiculously small Pio preview.

2. No copy list memory.

3. Cannot select a custom thumbnail image for HDD titles: it always defaults to the first frame! Whoever came up with that bonehead idea should be shot: it kills half the convenience of HDD nav.

3. Entering title names will make you want to throw the thing under a bus and jump to a TiVO: the most tedious titling system I've ever seen, and half the characters of a Pio or Panny because the Mag insists on including the date.

4. The method for selecting custom thumbnails on your DVD copies made from the HDD is so totally ass-backward you won't believe it. Since you cannot select a custom thumbnail on the HDD (see above), after dubbing a title to DVD you must remember NOT to finalize the disc before dropping into the DVD setup screen, which does allow you to select a custom thumbnails on the DVD itself. These tend to shift a couple frames, you can't nail them as tightly as with a Pio, but it works.

5. Only one menu style for finalized DVDs, its OK in a generic sort of way (blue background with thumbnails and title names, 3 titles per page). Unfortunately Magnavox insists on including an "Empty Title" on each DVD that reflects how much unused space is left, even after finalized. This single bug bothers more folks migrating from other recorders than anything else, because it actually does title the thing "Empty Title". The only way to get rid of it is to run out the recording clock on all remaining disc space, then delete the unneeded extra title before finalizing.

6. No MN or FR recording speeds, it jumps directly from an excellent SP speed that averages 130 mins per DVD to a compromise 150 minute speed which drops resolution. Next comes a three hour speed, then four and six. For all practical purposes, the Mag is an XP/SP only machine. Its refined encoder shines at those higher speeds.

7. The front panel display is utterly useless except as a nightlight.

To be fair, the Magnavox has many good features as I noted previously, particularly reliability, ease of DIY repairs, excellent DTV tuner/timer, and very high-end encoder chip that is way better than you would expect on such an affordable unit. Whenever it aggravates you with its idiosyncracies, just remember it costs 50 to 70% less than your 533 did. I've bought two this past year from the $159 refurb sales, at that price you really can't complain. I've persuaded all my friends and family to grab them as well, and they're very happy with it since they never owned a previous recorder and didn't have to "unlearn" another system. The most popular Magnavox feature is its very clever 6-hour continuos buffer: a flexible, automated "pause live TV and control/retrieve it" subsystem.

[Seeker47]

OK.... The Mag is ordered. I just know I will not like it though. I am soo used to trimming and working with clips in the pioneer.

Aren't we all. (Spoiled by the Pio interface, I mean.) But, I never used the Toshiba or Panasonic DVDRs, so I'm coming from a more limited experience than some of you. I do get the impression, though, based on what I've read, that Pioneer had the best balance, overall. Not necessarily the absolute best features or performance, in one particular or another, but quite good and highly usable, without having to be a whole lot more proficient at video stuff than I am.

PuzZLeR, what you said about losing a step in quality, just by taking it to DVD is intriguing. (Keep in mind that I believe Pioneer changed their encoder chip a couple times, over the run of models between the 420 and the final 6xx.) Just eyeballing the output is probably sufficient to appraise this, but to really understand what is going on there I suspect some type of waveform analysis might be required ?

These are the biggest annoyances with the Magnavox operating system, compared to Pioneer or Panasonic:

. . .

5. Only one menu style for finalized DVDs, its OK in a generic sort of way (blue background with thumbnails and title names, 3 titles per page). Unfortunately Magnavox insists on including an "Empty Title" on each DVD that reflects how much unused space is left, even after finalized. This single bug bothers more folks migrating from other recorders than anything else, because it actually does title the thing "Empty Title". The only way to get rid of it is to run out the recording clock on all remaining disc space, then delete the unneeded extra title before finalizing.

But actually filling up a disc is not recommended. Does this method avoid that ?

. . .

To be fair, the Magnavox has many good features as I noted previously, particularly reliability, ease of DIY repairs, excellent DTV tuner/timer, and very high-end encoder chip that is way better than you would expect on such an affordable unit. Whenever it aggravates you with its idiosyncracies, just remember it costs 50 to 70% less than your 533 did. I've bought two this past year from the $159 refurb sales, at that price you really can't complain. I've persuaded all my friends and family to grab them as well, and they're very happy with it since they never owned a previous recorder and didn't have to "unlearn" another system. The most popular Magnavox feature is its very clever 6-hour continuos buffer: a flexible, automated "pause live TV and control/retrieve it" subsystem.

That last part sounds sort of like a very scaled-down Tivo, minus all you get from the Tivo subscription. (Contrary to the trashing Tivo has received from some posters here, it does have one of the better User Interfaces to come down the pike -- much more accessible to certain portions of the customer base, like the tech-averse.)

Anyway, my Magnavox is presently set-up in a third-ranked location, where it has seen very little use. But your rundown was very helpful, and at some point I hope to have some time to get more comfortable with the use of this unit. I could have sworn I saw a 500G. version of this at the Walmart site, but I may have been misreading. If you can replace the 160 if & when necessary with a 320G or a 500, and the firmware doesn't care, then there's really no reason to think I should have waited a bit for the later model. (The 160 capacity on my 640 has seldom been that much of a problem.) It's too bad we can't put in a more Pio-like firmware for these, but revising / replacing firmware on a device like this is more in the realm of sci-fi. So, take it for what it is.

[PuzZLeR]

PuzZLeR, what you said about losing a step in quality, just by taking it to DVD is intriguing. (Keep in mind that I believe Pioneer changed their encoder chip a couple times, over the run of models between the 420 and the final 6xx.) Just eyeballing the output is probably sufficient to appraise this, but to really understand what is going on there I suspect some type of waveform analysis might be required ?

I still haven't figured it out myself why this is so - even when I never "change the quality" on a sample burn. Could it be the internal streams are in some raw, uncompressed or less-compressed video format?

Anyhow, I'm at the office now, but will do a capture session sometime the next couple of days. I will post a couple of small samples of the exact same stream captured with the DV-Out port and the equivalent one with the burner. You may want to unearth your 520 after this.

@Orsetto: Another great post.

[orsetto]

There are several possible reasons why the DV tap from a 510 or 520 might look "better", or at least different, from the finalized DVD version. The 510 and 520 use a rather severe encoder that emphasizes detail above all other image factors, sometimes this detail is false or just sharpened noise. Depending on the source, the results can look really great or really "early DVD recorder". Since the video signal in these models is so twitchy to begin with, it doesn't surprise me to note slight differences between the HDD recordings and DVD dubs, or the DV out. Also, it is not widely understood that the 510 and 520 firewire subsystem adds an extra analog encode-decode stage: it actually isn't "pure digital". This additional processing step may be what PuzZLeR is seeing. I believe Hkan at Pioneerfaq once circulated an old Pioneer internal engineering memo that described the workings of the DV ports in Pio recorders.

Regarding the workaround to get rid of the "Empty Title" DVD menu item in the Magnavox: I wasn't suggesting you record continually past your desired material to fill out a DVD in a single pass. While that does kill the "Empty Title", as seeker47 says it is not recommended to record a single program until the DVD shuts down at capacity runout (due to quality issues at the outside edge of most media). Instead, you would dub your trimmed HDD title to the DVD, but before finalizing switch to "direct dvd" record mode and begin a second "dummy" title which will run out the disc. Delete this placeholder title before finalizing, and you will get a nice clean DVD menu design. Note this dummy recording must be of an active video signal: it can't be dead air. Also, if you record the dummy title at XP it will finish faster.

[gwoiler]

A sweet surprise......

A few weeks ago, I bought a 50 pack of TDK 16x at Radio Shack on sale. I never opened it up because I was told here to only use 8x TY. For years I have been using 1000's of TY 8x silver inkjet DVDs... (for duplication) and NOT value line either! I get the premium only. So this morning, the 533 would not even burn a TY 8x. I think... what the hell... I'll open the TDKs and.... wa-la! It burned one without a hickup... nice and quiet with no hunting.

My thoughts... I have a Pioneer 109 in an editing computer and I burn with Nero. However... I always have to choose 8x as the burning speed because once reading the empty DVD it defaults to 12x and I get unreliable burns at that speed. I noticed this morning that the 533 sounds to me to be spinning the 8x disks as fast as it burns the 16x TDK. I wonder if all these years the 533 was burning 8x DVDs faster.. but reliably and today it can not? ahhh....

I have a new Magnavox on the way but really don't want to use it. Maybe TDK is the way for me to go for the near future anyway?

[[_chef_]]

Again, which firmware is on that 109 drive(s)?

[orsetto]

The firmware of the 109 is immaterial: the recorder will not accept the PC version of the drive and thus cannot accept updated or different firmware (not that Pioneer firmware hacks ever worked all that well anyway). When you replace the 109 drive in a Pioneer 531-533-633, you are either using a complete drop-in replacement from Pioneer (rare, excruciatingly expensive) or you are transferring the controller board and firmware from the original recorder burner into the chassis of a generic 109 burner mechanism meant for PC use. Either way, you are limited to the DVD-recorder-dedicated burner firmware from early 2005. And in any case, no update that I know of will make a 109 burner work reliably with todays often-cruddy 16x media: these discs are designed for very quick PC-hosted burners, period, that they work at all in any DVD recorder made before 2006 is a bonus, not a guarantee.

gwolier, what you are doing now is shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. Your 533 is failing, and when they fail there's no predicting how they'll react to various discs. It is typical of how utterly wacky these models get that the damn thing would suddenly develop a taste for TDK 16x, now universally despised as the worst rock-bottom crap media you can buy, running neck-and-neck with Memorex (these brands have not been actually alive for six-seven years: they're all shell names bought by junk media mfrs). If you have priceless stuff on the HDD of your 533, take advantage of its momentary compatibility with the TDKs to back up all your shows. Just don't expect miracles to last forever: TDK is notoriously incompatible with most DVD recorders, eventually the laser will get disgusted and start wonking again. This might be tomorrow, or it might be next year: totally unpredictable. Make sure you immediately back up each new archive recording from HDD to DVD, don't leave stuff sitting with the assumption, "oh, it works with TDK now". TDK compatibility varies from disc to disc in a single pack, and each pack comes from a different factory in a different country.

[gwoiler]

Again, which firmware is on that 109 drive(s)?

OK....
VERSION: RELEASE 239
TUFLCON: 849.000
DRIVE: 1.54a
DEVICE: PRISM2 ES2
REGION: 1