Pioneer A04 latest firmware 1.4 and Princo DVD-r

[flanman]

Hi all,
I am current running 1.31 on my A04, and thinking of upgrading to the new 1.4 firmware. I have heard that 1.4 will not let you burn to some of the 1x speed cheaper media. has anyond done the upgrade and still been able to burn to the princo x1 media (white top/purple bottom?)I have about 80 blanks, and do not want to waste them.

Thanks,
flanman

[gooki]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Why do you want to upgrade firmware if everything is going well?

[svcdentro]

I upgraded with the 1.40 2xall and now wxp doesn't recognize my dvr104 but w2k burns 1x princo media at 2x without problems at all!

[flanman]

Besides the Princo I also have some ritek G03 DVD-r. So far eveyone I have burned stop playing about 1/2 through, if I burn then at 2x. If I burn them at 1x they playback fine. I would like to be able to burn at 2x as that is why I bought the riteks, but I also still have plenty of the princo 1x I don't want to just toss. Supposedly this firmware helps with a lot of the 2x media. I have also read in other forums that the issue I am having with the ritek's are not uncommon.

Flanman

[atreides93]

I don't think those Ritek G03's were really designed for 2X recording.
I don't know why people are taking risks and burning stuff at 2X when half the time it doesn't even work.
You end up wasting more time checking stuff and re-burning them then you would have spent just burning at 1x :)

[rubberman]

I also am debating on upgrading. I currently have 1.32. And was planning on getting some Riteks. One thing it said about the 1.4 upgrade was to have better writing ability and also write at 4x. Wonder if i should stay at 1.32?

[klona]

It seems there is a problem with latest firm2.00 for a03 and firm1.40 for A04 and the Princo media (so also the bulkpaq)
And the worst... I am now on 2.00 and I CANNOT downgrade.

if you succesful downgrade from 2.0, plz post the util you used.

[alexnoe]

@klona: does the way I have explained in the FAQ not work when downgrading from 2.00? Of course you have to fix the date, and use 2.01 instead of 1.91, but it should work. Or did Pioneer compensate for this?

[atreides93]

klona,i thought those princo's were really bad quality though. you use those regularly?

[klona]

yes. tried it...

on dos 8.0 boot disk :
dvra03 , file renamed to 2.01 (or not): not working
DVDupg v. 1.04 1.12 & 1.25c with file renamed or not : Not working

I will try again.

Yes, I use lot of Bulkpaq Gen3 V2, claimed by Bulkpaq as produced by Princo, but with TDK01 Advinfo code.... (probably princo OEMed this prod to TDK...)

[klona]

Did it again, same, and with win98 boot disk also
Here is my .dat for upgdvd.

R3100101.201 // 0: Firmware Filename
PIONEER DVR-S301 // 1: Enter Key
PIONEER // 2: Vendor Name
DVD-RW DVR-103 // 3: Product ID
2.01 // 4: Rivision Level
02/12/13 // 5: ROM Release date
N // 6: N: Normal only, A: Kernel+Normal
H8_3062A // 7: CPU type (H8_3062A or H8_3062R)
ATPIO2.01 // 8: OEM Mark
BIN // 9: Firmware File Format (BIN or HEX)
100000 // 10: Firmware File Binary Size
1003 // 11: Drive Model & Generatoion (10xx --> DVD-RW)
1 // 12: Show the caution


Miss something ?

[alexnoe]

02/12/13 // 5: ROM Release dateFirmware 2.00 has been released later
=> change the date to, lets say, 03/01/01.

[rodlane]

It seems there is a problem with latest firm2.00 for a03 and firm1.40 for A04 and the Princo media (so also the bulkpaq)

I have upgraded my DVR-104 bios from 1.33 to 1.40 (not 2x4all) as I had serious compatability issues (Nero 5.5.9.17, Record Now Max, PrimoDVD 2 and DVD Decryptor 3.1.4.0) with a particular LG, any Samsung, and a Playstation2 (DVD-5 to DVD-5 duplication). They (Princo's) played in the LG, but very jerky from beginning to end. Some didn't play at all and gave disk error messages.

Using Verbatum and 1.40, the DVD videos work perfectly on the Playstation2 and the LG. The LG also plays Cursor DVD's (GigaStorage GSC001) perfectly, which previously had jerky playback.

I haven't tested the Cursor DVD's in the Playstation2 yet, but I doubt that they will work...

On the other hand... all my discs created with firmware 1.33 (Princo DVD-R & DVD-RW, Cursor DVD-R) all played on Diamond, 2 Sansui, Panasonic (flat silver with buttons on top) and Pioneer settop players. I unfortunately cannot confirm the models on these, but the Diamond and Sansui's were the cheapest models I could find.

These all still working with firmware 1.40... so I will stick with it as compatibility seems to be better and more consistant (@ 1x).

I don't trust Princo DVD-R's, but the DVD-RW's seem be as compatible as the Verbatim DVD-R's (maybe just luck).

I am using an ASUS motherboard with the KM-133 chipset (4-in-1 4.37a recommended by Asus), Athlon 1000, 512MB pc133, Western Digital 60GB 7200rpm, Maxtor 40GB 5400rpm, Asus 48x16x48 CD-RW and Windows 2000pro SP3. UDMA is ON in my bios and Windows. The DVR-104 is installed on the secondary master.

I will post my results with re-encoded material here soon... only with Cursor and Verbatim media.

I hope this is of some use.

[alexnoe]

My tests with 12x/16x LG DVD-ROMs....

Vivastar DVD-R: can't read beyond 2,5 GB
Pioneer DVD-RW: recognises disc, cannot read
Optodisc DVD-RW: does not recognise disc at all
Ritek G01 DVD-R: works
Verbatim DVD-R: works
Verbatim DVD-RW: works
TDK G01, sold as "Penmax" (total crap): can't read anything

All written in DVR-A03.

[coogh]

I use Princo 1X with A04 1.40 2x@all and everything is ok, also on my set top player.

[jankster]

I bought 100 packs of Ritek-G03 from Supermediastore 3 times. I have a DVR-104 burner with 1.31 firmware.

The first 100 pack burn failed ~1 out of 8 at 2X speed

The 2nd 100 pack all burn perfect at 2X

The 3rd 100 pack failed the first 2 discs I tried at 2X. I then upgraded to the hacked 1.40 firmware 2Xforall and every disk after burned perfect from the 3rd 100 pack of Ritek G03's. I've done about 50 so far. Also they work perfect at 1X too.

I have not tried any other brand. Not even going to try.

I am very happy with 1.40