4x media on DVR-104?

[ericdudeus]

I have an aftermarket DVR-104 installed in my G4. Should this drive be able to use 4x media? I have read some posts that sound like it should, but when I put in a 4x disc, Toast 'loses' my burner and says 'no recorder found'. Any ideas?

[willrob]

It's a 2x drive, so while some brands of 4X media will burn (at either 2X or 1X), none will burn at 4X and some might not even be recognized. Check the DVD media forum here (under lists to the left of this window) for which brands work well.

[ericdudeus]

I realize that it's a 2x burner and can't burn faster than that. The problem I have is that it won't recognize 4x media. I have tried TDK, -R, 4x discs. Toast launches, but gives a 'no recorder found' error and the only way to get the disc out is to reboot and press eject during startup.

Could it be Toast needs updated? Could my DVR firmware need updated?

[willrob]

There was an Apple updater for this drive. I don't recall exactly what else it did, but one thing was to get the drive to recognize/burn certain media. It might still be avilable on the Apple website.

[terryj]

yes, it still is:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86130
and all it does is make the DVR-104 drive ( aka Superdrive)
recognize the media to allow 1x Burning, NOT 2x.

another reason that with media in most local stores
being replaced with 8x media as the standard,
now is the
time to upgrade your burner to at least a DVR-108/109.

[rumplestiltskin]

The problem with the -104 (without the update) was that it would not know what to do with any meda faster than 2x. What the burner does is write a tiny bit of data to an unformatted DVD, then attempt to read the result. This would tell the burner what speed the disc was. As the 4x media was released after the 2x-burning -104 unit, the results of this tiny burn were not identifiable so the -104 would repeat the process...and repeat it...and again...until the unit would burn out; sayonara, arrivaderci, and off to the big roundup.

Assuming you got to update it before it encountered a 4x disc and fried itself, it changed the behavior as follows: If it doesn't recognize the media as 1x or 2x, it's treated as 1x. Problem solved...except where can you even find 2x media any more?

I believe there's a firmware update at one of the sites that may change the behavior so that it will permit "any speed" burning; what I mean by that is the burner will no longer do a speed test on the blank DVD. It will simply permit you to select 1x or 2x.

Hope this helps.

[terryj]

Assuming you got to update it before it encountered a 4x disc and fried itself, it changed the behavior as follows: If it doesn't recognize the media as 1x or 2x, it's treated as 1x. Problem solved...except where can you even find 2x media any more?

For that matter, many retail chains are closing out older media
to keep up to the current level technology. Just two weeks ago,
the local Target Stores in my area were the remaining source
of 4x media..now, they have begun clearancing out 4 x media
in favor of stocking 8x media as the norm.
My local Best Buys and CompUSAs only carry 8x media
as a standard, and are starting
to "test the waters" as it were, by carrying 16x media.

You can still online find some media outlet suppliers like
superstoremedia, allmediaoutlet, shop4tech, and meritline
that carry media rated "1x-4x", but the best speed you can
get with those is 1x.

Best to upgrade to a newer burner.

[Richard_G]

DO NOT under any circumstances try and use 4x media in a Pioneer 103/A03 or 104/A04 unless you have flashed the Firmware. It is quite likely that you will damage the burner. Pioneer issued a warning about this problem a couple of years ago. See here:

http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/support_update.jsp?category=support/update