DUAL LAYER BURNING for Power MAc G5 dual 2.5

I am trying to upgrade my manufacturer installed superdrive ( PowerMAc G5 2.5 dual late 2005 model) I was wondering if any body could help me choose the right one. I was thinking on buying a Pioneer 16X DL SuperDrive DVR 111D .

Please advice

Thanks

Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5, Mac OS X (10.4.7), 3.5 Gb Ram

Posted on Jul 6, 2006 3:15 PM

26 replies

jaxrad Author

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Jul 9, 2006 12:53 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

The last version I got is 2.1 from their website. I'll try rebooting

jaxrad Author

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Jul 9, 2006 1:15 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

Well. I reflashed with 1.2 version of Pionner firmware. The only thing I noticed is that it Locked the region. Also this drive writes ONLY DVD+R DL, but not DVD-R DL. Any comments about that?? The pioneer 111 is dirt cheap about 40 bucks, but I do not know if is worth it.

Thanks

Jul 9, 2006 11:24 PM in response to jaxrad

The official Pioneer firmware locks the region, as you've noticed. You should be allowed to change the region a few times - about five, as I recall. Unless you watch DVD movies that are region encoded with something other than Region 1, it won't be an issue. If you do, you'd either have to rip the DVDs as region-free, or go back to the hacked firmware to allow region-free operation.

As for DVD-R DL, I don't think it's of much benefit as for DVD Video production, there are some potentially serious limitations with the -R DL format. For instance, there is no way to set the layer break on the -R DL format - the first layer (layer 0) is completely written, and then the second layer (layer 1) is written. With DVD+R DL, you can set the layer break, as long as layer 0 is greater than layer 1.

For general data use, either DL format should be fine, although I've not seen DVD-R DL discs in stores.

jaxrad Author

Level 1

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Jul 10, 2006 1:17 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

The other question that comes to my mind, will the Pioneer 16X DL SuperDrive DVR 111D be supported by the system??Because the 108d writes the DL at 2.4x the 111d is at 8x.

Thanks

Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 5.5 Gb Ram. Nvidia GEforce 6800 Ultra DDL

Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 3.5 Gb Ram

Jul 10, 2006 6:52 PM in response to jaxrad

As of 10.4.6, the DVR-111D would show in System Profiler's Disc Burning section with 'Burn Support: Yes (Unsupported)', but it should still work with no problems. I don't know if 10.4.7 changed that to Supported or not.

Some older versions of the iApps (iDVD 5, I believe) would not burn if the drive was not shown as Supported, but everything else should work just fine. If you burn with something like Toast, you shouldn't have any issues.

Eventually, the drive will show as Supported in System Profiler, but like I mentioned above, even as Unsupported it shouldn't cause any problems. I know there are some reports on these boards of people using the DVR-111D successfully.

I flashed the firmware on my DVR-110D to the official Pioneer firmware shortly after receiving my Quad in December. This caused its status to change from Supported to Unsupported. I still had no problems burning from any applications. I believe 10.4.5 changed its status back to Supported.

jaxrad Author

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Jul 10, 2006 8:25 PM in response to Steve Boultbee

So the new version of iDVD will not burn to the 111D? If I have a iMovie project and can not export to iDVD for burning becomes a real problem for me.

Jul 10, 2006 9:31 PM in response to jaxrad

No, the new one (iDVD 6) should be fine. If for some reason it doesn't work, PatchBurn can be used to create a profile for the drive, causing it to show as "Vendor Supported".

This is generally only needed with older versions of the iApps or with Panther. Since you're on Tiger, you should be good to go.

Sorry for the confusion.

jaxrad Author

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Jul 11, 2006 9:53 AM in response to Steve Boultbee

I bought the 111D for $43 at OWC. I will install it this afternoon, and let you know how that works. Thank you very much for your helpfull advice.

Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 5.5 GB Ram GEForce 6800 Ultra DDL

jaxrad Author

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Jul 11, 2006 3:10 PM in response to jaxrad

Ok I installed, first I hit the wall with the tray . it did not go thru the opening. I'll figure that one later.

But is unsupported:

Here it is

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D:

Firmware Revision: 1.06
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Unsupported)
Profile Path: None
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No
Now I don't know

jaxrad Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 11, 2006 3:34 PM in response to jaxrad

I bought the 111D for $43 at OWC. I will install it
this afternoon, and let you know how that works.
Thank you very much for your helpfull
advice.

Power Mac G5
Dual 2.5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 5.5 GB Ram
GEForce 6800 Ultra DDL

Ok. It says unsupported but I am recording right now using iDVD. WHO KNOWS.
Anyway I took the pioneer face plate off and now it does not get stuck during ejection.
Everything good now.

Thanks

Jul 11, 2006 10:05 PM in response to jaxrad

As you figured out, the tray faceplate has to come off.

The Unsupported status of the drive isn't an issue if you're on Tiger and have the latest version of iDVD. It's certainly working for you. Hope you like the new drive!

You may want to keep an eye out over at http://lasvegas.rpc1.org for an updated version of DVRFlash that supports the DVR-111D so you can keep up to date on the firmware. The current version, 2.2, only supports up through the DVR-110D.

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DUAL LAYER BURNING for Power MAc G5 dual 2.5