BEWARE "2x4all" firmware if your concern is Ritek's @ 2x

[TRILIGHT]

It does not seem to HURT the drive but I just wanted to post a warning if you were considering using this firmware. Apparently (from my experience and that of others), the ONLY firmware that allows Ritek's to burn at 2x on a 104 drive is v 1.31!!

Now this does not mean it WON'T work for you. It might. But there are just TOO many people that it's happening to lately that it definitely does NOT work for them. If you have a A04/DVR-104 drive and want to burn Ritek's at 2x, I HIGHLY recommend you stick to firmware v1.31!! Some of us are now stuck at 1.33 with no way to go back and we cannot burn Ritek's at 2x.

Anyway, as with any firmware update, you should always be careful and understand that if using a hacked firmware, you will void your warranty. I just wanted to give everyone some more info because there is NOTHING out there on that site that says the firmware might not give the desired result with YOUR particular drive. You'll only find out when it's too late.

[wfn1]

I second that.

I use Ritek G03 media exclusively at this time and I kept my DVR-104's at the stock 1.31 level. My DVR-A03 is upgraded with 2x4all v1.68 and I have no problems with it burning Ritek G03 at 2x either.

[sarahjh69]

i use the 2x4all v1.31 hacked firmware
Its good, It works, I'm happy!

[drafty]

Hi ,
I beleive im using 1.33 hack firmware with no problems writing DVD Master ( Rebadged RITEK G03 ) at 2X.
No problem.

:)

[TRILIGHT]

@Sarah and Drafty: That's why I said "Now this does not mean it WON'T work for you. It might." Some drives are fine with it. Other drives are NOT and will NOT allow 2x on the newer firmware.

@Everyone: If your drive is like mine and you've found yourself stuck at 1.33 with NO 2x for Ritek media, there is now a hack so that you can "downgrade" to 1.31 and get the functionality. I don't have the link handy but if you look, you'll find it. It took about 5minutes on mine for it to search out the key and load the 1.31 firmware.

[JustMark]

Trilight/All,

The link to the "fixed" UPGDVD program is:

h++p://firmwares.co.uk/

Like many people, I think Pioneer has done a disservice to their customers by making firmware flashing a one way street ("upgrade" only).

Kudos to the author of the *real* UPGDVD utility, Battousai.

Mark

[drafty]

Hi,
as we have seen most people on this thread seem to be okay at writing 2X on Riteks.
I was wondering how many people are actually having problems? I only know one person personally who has a 104 same as me and he has no problem either.
The drives where bought 6 months apart too....

Could it be something other than a drive issue?

Interesting... :rolleyes:

[TRILIGHT]

The capability of writing at 2x on Ritek's is not the issue. It's whether or not the "2x4all" 1.32 or 1.33 firmware will let you do this on your given drive. It's definitely the drive itself that causes this anomaly as all software would report only 1x for those of us it didn't work for. In our case, we had to use the new "downgrade" to get back to 1.31 which does work for us. If you're ever on IRC, stop into the #Doom9 and #DVDR channels and ask if anyone has ever had trouble with the firmware not providing 2x on Ritek's. You'll see it's not an isolated incident. This is the reason they wrote the other "hacked" firmware to allow for "downgrading" to 1.31 to get this functionality back.

[drafty]

Okay after Trilights comments I have been doing some investigations into DVD's written at 2X. I must say that after initially being very happy with 2X on Riteks I am now not convinced of there reliability. Mostly they write ok but I have noticed several images I have written out latly using this method have had certain minor problems sometimes not in the main feature but on the trailers etc. The mpeg stream would be corrupt for a few secs etc. This has happended several times now. So im am going back to 1X or I may give 1.31 a try to see if there is any difference.

I thought I'd provide this information as this is kind of what we have been talking about.

Regards,
Drafty

[LB]

I've burned 200 Ritek G03s and have not had a single coaster with the A04 at 1.31.

LB

[TRILIGHT]

I'm fairly certain the 1.31 firmware on the 104 is good now. I recently burned a project that was 4,706,107,392 bytes! Yes, I know it's over. Yes, it burned anyway! :) I burned it at 2X on a Ritek and I am able to read it to create an image just fine.

[alexnoe]

H:\Downloads\Brenn-Progs\CDR-Tools>cdrecord-prodvd -dev=3,0,0 -atip
Cdrecord-ProDVD-Clone 1.11a40 (i586-pc-cygwin) Copyright (C) 1995-2002 Jörg Schi
lling
Unlocked features:
Limited features:
scsidev: '3,0,0'
scsibus: 3 target: 0 lun: 0
Using libscg version 'schily-0.7'
Device type : Removable CD-ROM
Version : 0
Response Format: 2
Capabilities :
Vendor_info : 'PIONEER '
Identifikation : 'DVD-RW DVR-103 '
Revision : '1.90'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-R/DVD-RW.
cdrecord-prodvd: This version of cdrecord limits DVD-R/DVD-RW support to -dummy
or 1 GB real.
cdrecord-prodvd: If you need full DVD-R/DVD-RW support, ask the Author for cdrec
ord-ProDVD.
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc-2 DVD-R/DVD-RW driver (mmc_dvd).
Driver flags : DVD SWABAUDIO
Supported modes: TAO PACKET SAO SAO/R96P SAO/R96R
book type: DVD-R, Version 5 (2.5)
disc size: 120mm (0)
minimum rate: 10.08 MB/s (2)
number of layers:0
track path: Parallel Track Path (0)
layer type: Rewritable Area (2)
linear density: 0.267 µm/bit (0)
track density: 0.74 µm/track (0)
phys start: 196608
phys end: 0
end layer 0: 0
bca: 0
phys size:... -196607
copyr prot type: 0
region mgt info: 0
cpm: 0
cgms: 0
last rma sector: 0
application code:64
physical code: 193
last rec address:16621272
part v./ext code:5/0
ind wr. power: 88
wavelength code: 14
write str. code: 11 98 99 80
Manufacturer: 'MXL RG01'
rzone number: 1
border number: 1
damage: 0
reserved: 0 blank: 1 incremental: 0
nwa valid: 1
rzone start: 0
next wr addr: 0
free blocks: 2298496
blocking factor: 16
rzone size: 2298496
last recorded addr: 0

H:\Downloads\Brenn-Progs\CDR-Tools>

=> 2.298.496 free sectors, that is 4.707.319.808 Bytes, so your disc is *not* oversized. The FAQ is just a bit unprecise ;)