PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-103:

Question

Level 1

6 points

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-103:

I've been trying to burn to CD-RW discs -- Memorex (that's all I could find in a hurry). I use Toast 8. When I insert the disc to burn, I get a message telling me to insert a recordable disc. Of course, these are new & blank. Looking thru Total discussions, it seems that perhaps my DVR-103 is too old and should be replaced. True?

I am not a sophisticated buyer of media. I usually just look for CD-R or DVD-R and all have worked so far. I notice now that the Memorex CDs are "High Speed, up to 12x." Does that make difference? I just wanted to copy some documents from the desk top and use them as a source for my laptop in the future.

Thanks for whatever help you are able to give this old man. . . . !

G4 867 MHz, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jun 14, 2008 8:11 PM

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Answer 1

japamac

Level 7

24,400 points

Jun 14, 2008 9:01 PM in response to Lee Lewis

Hi-

First, Memorex is not a good disc. I would hesitate to say it is the drive that is at fault when using Memorex. Use Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, or Sony (made by Taiyo Yuden). TraxData or Infiniti are also usually good.
As for speed, 12x in a CD is not fast. We aren't confusing DVD-R with CD-R are we? Or, are we talking DVD-R. If DVD-R, 12x is way too fast of media for the 103. You will need DVD-R rated at up to 4x only. Again, use Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, or Sony (made by Taiyo Yuden). Faster media, even if recognized, most likely will not achieve good results.

With a change of media, if your results are still negative, it may be time to retire the old 103. It is quite outdated, and finding slower, compatible media is getting difficult to impossible. A new drive runs about $30, and is easy to install.

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Answer 2

Lee Lewis Author

Level 1

6 points

Jun 15, 2008 12:58 PM in response to japamac

Thanks, Japamac. I didn't want Memorex, but that's all I could find to buy at the moment when I needed CD-RW. And, yes, it IS CD-RW, not DVD. I appreciate your help.

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Answer 3

Jun 21, 2008 9:04 AM in response to Lee Lewis

If you attempt to use "High Speed" media in a drive that is not capable of high speed burning, it will not work, may give you truly bizarre error messages, and the expected capacity will be way off (about halfway to a DVD capacity, if I recall correctly). I got "burned" by this issue, and finally found the solution buried on the memorex web site.

There are two classes of CD-R media:

1) those intended for 1x to 4x drives
2) those intended for 4x to 16x drives, so called "High Speed" media

"Slower" drives must use the correct version.

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Answer 4

Jun 22, 2008 8:03 AM in response to Lee Lewis

This article might be of interest to you as well although it does not apply to your specific problem.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/hs/pioneer.html

and a link dealing with Mac is here although if your Pioneer is an Apple rom version I don't believe these updates will work.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/hs/mac_updaters.html

We've had issues in the past burning CD's at too high a speed for use in older slower CD readers so we just dial back to 4X or 8X, and memorex is at the bottom of our list in terms of blanks as well....

You might want to consider upgrading your 103 to the DVR-115 which is a dual layer burner and supported by Toast.

Kevin

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