DVRFlash 2.1

[willrob]

If you have a Pioneer 109 and want a universal flasher for it, here you go. It will cross flash, if you want to go to the A09, or use the Buffalo bitsetting, etc. And you can go back to an earlier firmware if necessary.

http://lasvegas.rpc1.org/DVRFlash_v2.1.zip

[rotuts]

Will

would you explain the dif between 109 and A09 and what that means to change this? and the warranty implications? Buffalo bit setting etc?

Ive been thinking about the 109 for a while, but have decided to wait until the media comes down a little.

thanks rotuts

[willrob]

Pioneer sells its drives as OEM (plane drive for other vendors to bundle either in cases or in computers—this is the version most end users buy since it is cheaper) and as an retail boxed version, which it bundles with software. This retail version is the A09, but is often labled 109XL. The main difference between the two—other than the boxes and software—is the retail versions ability to utilize the "quiet drive" utility (a bit of PC only software that can be downloaded from the Pioneer website). This utility will unlock the ripping speed of the A09 (from approximately 5x to 12x). In general the A09-XL models also have a quieter case and are quiet during playback, but the quiet drive utility also affects the sound. Converting a plain vanilla 109 (currently around $60) to an A09 via crossflashing firmware obviously doesn't change the case. Bit it does enable the drive to run quieter and to rip discs faster. If you don't backup dvds, this last feature may not be important, and if you don't watch DVDs on your compter, or listen to CDs on your computer, then the quietness may be of no importance either.

[rotuts]

Will
thanks is the buffalo bit the settings that make it quiet?

rotut

[willrob]

No. The Buffalo firmware automatically sets DVD+R disks to DVD-Rom format, which is moe compatable with older (or more finiky) DVD players. Some older players can't play DVD+R media well. One doesn't need Buffalo if you have no problem playing +R media.

[john yaya]

Now, if I cross flash to A09 firmware, I'm guessing I still need a windows machine to actually unlock the faster rip speeds.

[john yaya]

OK, I went ahead and cross-flashed the A09 v1.57 firmware and gained a measly 40 seconds ripping a full, non-CSS DVD-R. At least now it rips DVD-R data discs faster than my 106. I guess now I just get to wait for an RPC-1 or non-riplock firmware to finally get some decent speed.

The ATA-33 bus it is currently hooked up to might be the limiting factor then.

[willrob]

The 109 needs at minimum an ATA-66 bus. I think Quiet Drive is turned on automatically when you flash to the A09 firmware, but it's not set to the "performance Mode" (which produces faster rips); it's in the "quiet" mode for playback. Currently a PC is needed to run the Quiet Drive utility. The improvement in ripping speeds is very apparent afterwards.

[rotuts]

Will
very interesting discussion and Ive learned a lot

I have a G4 dual 1 gz mirrored door model

I didn't know what bus the two dvd drives I have are, one the original DVD-ROm that came with the machine Phillis CDD5101 and a pioneer 107 I got about a year and a half ago.

it says in sys prof ATA-3 bus. is that a 33 or 66?

also do you know how fast the phillips reads dvd's? this is an issue in copying drive to drive dvd's as I have buffer problems if I ask toast to go to fast. I couldn't find that info anyware.

thanks rotuts

[willrob]

I don't know what the Phillips read speed is. Check their web site, or perhaps its listed here in the DVD Writers area.

When I look at my Pioneer 109 in Sys Profile, it simply says ATA Bus, or for protocal ATAPI. I'm running Tiger, but I don't think under Panthr it ever said ATA-3. I'd assume the ATA-3 means 33. If yo select one of your hard drives, does it say merely ATA or ATA-66 or ATA-100.

I have the same model Mac you have, and for my hard disks (all four bays filled) it only says ATA Bus or Protocol ATA.

[rotuts]

Will

Im running 10.39 on my main 66 HD. I have 10.4 on an ext HD and after I finish processing some video Ill boot from there and see the sys prof.

mine says ATA-4 ( lists two HD) I know this is the 33 bay

ATA-3 bus ( the two disk drives)

ATA-6bus (lists two HD) this is the 66 bus

Ill let you know in a while what the 10.4 says.

Ill try to look up the philips I was thinking of putting the 109 in there as the 110 will be a lot more $$ for not much speed improvement.

Im also under the impression that as the speeds increase in the DVD drives, the "quality" of the pits might decrease and therefore make a disc that will not "last" as long.

this was from an article in the WSJ about a year ago asking the national bureau of standards on longevity of digital info.

cheers rotut

[rotuts]

Will
you are of course correct: in 10.4.2 the SysProf just lists the bus as you discribed

the philips cd dvdread only suppoosedly reads dvd's at 10x. this from calling philips.

but of note I cannot copy a dvd from that drive to my 107 at 4x. so either the ata-3 bus is really slow or something else is happening.

I tried to lookup the speed of the ata-3 bus at apple, but it does not seem to have a doc I could find online that gave the buss speeds and the downloaded spec I got cannot be read with my version of acrobat reader

I have a dial up and can't download the 25mb file. will wait and go to a friends house.

if you have the time and a dsl or cable will you look into the and report back here? I will try eventually or ask the question at macnn.

rotut

[willrob]

Can you supply a url for the document?

[rotuts]

Here is what I have:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/Apple_Support_Area/Manuals/desktops/PowerMacG4DualSU.PDF

this is the whole manual

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/PowerMacG4_PCI-AGPSetup.pdf

this is the setup for the pci. in the blurb under this at apple it says this: PCI 2-4 33mhz .... slot 1; 66mhz

this may inply that only the one HD pci slot it 66hz

I wonder if therefore our disk drive bays are limited to 33hz and if this means iits pointelss to get a burner faster than : xxx.?

what do you think and does the second ref confirm this?

very very intersting.

rotut

[john yaya]

I'm not sure which generation Mac that is, but I have a late 2000/early 2001 era Gigabit Ethernet with a 400 mHz G4 (which it came with) model and I'm pretty sure the HD bus is 66 mhz and the bus for the optical drive is 33 mhz.

If you have a slot open, you could, of course, get an Ultra 133 card and remove any doubt.


I had no idea this 109 drive was such a predicament. After flashing to the A09 v1.57 firmware, I got a bit of a rip improvement. Considering the bus is was connected to internally is most likely 33 mhz, I put it in a firewire housing and got a further rip improvement, but DVD-Rs are still only ripping at about 7x, even though the drive sounds like it is spinning at a much higher rate. Of course, it is quite possible my processor speed is limiting things.

One basic question, since Windows is completely foreign to me. If I take this 109 (with A09 firmware) in thhe firewire housing to a friend with a Windows machine that has firewire, will I simply be able to connect it and run Quiet Drive to set it to performance mode, or will we have to install a driver on his computer to do this? I'm sure it depends on the OS he is running, but no doubt he has one of the most recent, most powerful ones.

[willrob]

Downloaded the two pds and they don't say exactly what the optical bus speed is. I know the two rear drive bays (where the startup disk is) are ATA-100, and the other two drive bays are ATA-66. Reports on xcelerateyourmac.com seem to say that connecting the optical drive to the ATA-66 or ATA-100 bus improves writing speed. I've got drives in thoses bays, so it's not an easy option for me. The new G5s have a faster optical bus, but I'm not sure what it is either—only know it's faster.

Possibly a PCI ATA-100 card? But is is worth it for a few minutes less burn time. The difference between an 8x and a 16x burn is maybe five to sevenminutes. I can burn at 12X with some media, but I have never gotten the 3.5 minute burns some folks can get. I guess it all boils down to either not caring or throwing money at a solution. At this point I've resigned myself to not caring.

[rotuts]

Will

I agree with you. its on the 33mhz bus and that does limit things. but Im not sure faster is better as I still am compelled to believe that the very fast burns might not last as long as the slower burns.

Id connect my opticals to a faster bus if I could, but its not worth more $$ and if it got connected to the 66mhz bus then my boot drive would then have to be 33.

I do notice a difference between the 33 HD and the 66 HD's.

best to save up and wait for a g5 dual-dual.

its intersting to note that with our setup the 109 may do nothing for us

rotut

[john yaya]

its intersting to note that with our setup the 109 may do nothing for us

It still has dual layer compatibility.

[john yaya]

Personally, I'm not so concerned with faster burns. I'd just like to boost the rip speed.

[rotuts]

correct john, I forgot to mention that

Im just waiting to get the drive afer the price of the dual layer media drop. but rather than get the up and comming 110 the 109 is only about $50 delivered in the USA

[john yaya]

Yeah, that's the same thing for me. I got it on a one day sale from Newegg for $47 delivered. Hard to pass up. I just wish I could get it to actually rip faster than my 106.

[willrob]

Just noticed a similar discussion on the firmware.rpc page. Apprently to get true 16x speeds, the 109 needs to be on the ATA-100 bus, set as slave with your start-up disk set as Master. I'm not sure if a PCi ATA-100 card would offer similar speed.