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Upgrades Data Storage Hardware

Upgrade Your DVD Writer to Double Layer -- Maybe 213

Posted by timothy from the don't-blame-us-if-the-obvious-risks-strike dept.
Autoversicherung writes "Even if NEC tells you its impossible, German netzine Golem is reporting hackers have created an updated, unofficial version of the firmware providing DVD+DL (Double Layer) capabilities. Currently model 2100A and 2500A are patchable, more will hopefully follow soon. How cool, this enables me to skip an update cycle for burners!!" It's always fun to use the fish, and sometimes to void your warranty.
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Upgrade Your DVD Writer to Double Layer -- Maybe More

Upgrade Your DVD Writer to Double Layer -- Maybe

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  • Sony (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Boinger69 ( 673392 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:17AM (#9180910)
    Now lets get crackin on patches for sony's DRU-series!

    • Re:Sony (Score:3, Informative)

      by ozric99 ( 162412 )
      Too true! Never mind about dual layer, how about multiregion? My DRU-500AX has only one region change left - thank $DEITY for DVD Region Free [dvdidle.com].

    • Re:Sony (Score:5, Informative)

      by shione ( 666388 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @08:56AM (#9182202) Journal
      The patch might already be available depending on the model you have. Many Sony drives aren't made by Sony but are rebadged drives.
      eg.

      Sony DRU-110A = Ricoh MP-5120A
      Sony DRU-120A = Ricoh MP-5125A
      Sony DRU-530A = Optorite DD0401
      Sony DW-U18A = Liteon SOHW-812S
      Sony DRU-700A = Liteon SOHW-832S
      Sony CRX225E =Liteon
      Sony CRX216E = Liteon
      Sony CRX185E1 = LiteOn
      Sony CRX215E1 = LiteOn
      Sony CRX210E1 = LiteOn
      Sony CRX195E = LiteOn
      Sony CRX1611 = LiteOn

      The Liteon 812S and the 832S are almost the same drive - One burns dual layer and the other does not but the one that can't can be flashed up with the others firmware.

  • Pre-babelfished (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:18AM (#9180911)
    From http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pag econtent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.golem.de%2F0405%2F31 325.html&lp=de_en [altavista.com]

    Thus nevertheless? Firmware makes NEC DVD burners dual Layer able
    Unofficial firmware is to make 2100A and 2500A the 2510A

    With a firmware of the not yet available dual Layer DVD burner NEC 2510A emerged in the net now also its are to be able to describe only single Layer able predecessors NEC 2100A and 2500A DVD+R DL media with up to 8,5 GByte data. There it the 2500A-Modelle already for under 100, - euro gives, would be this a very inexpensive, but not revaluation of the DVD burners mentioned which can be enjoyed without caution.

    The beta firmware unauthorized of NEC does not only provide for a warranty loss, it required also that that is operated in each case to flashende drive assembly as master. In the forum of RPC1.org, where the first discussion started around the firmware, some daring firmware Flasher reported that the drive assembly LED constantly flashed and the drive assembly drawer came up for the start - in these cases the DVD burners were operated as Slave.

    Since DVD+R DL media with 8,5 GByte are at least available storage location at present not yet in the trade and will be more expensive at the beginning of also clearly than the conventional single Layer media (4.3 GByte), trying of the modified firmware out is meaningful at this time for the few users. Besides it is not clear whether each drive assembly brings the necessary laser quality for successful DVD+R DL recording procedures with itself, because the requirements for the optics are somewhat higher.

    On CDRInfo.com already a first DL function test was published - the DL medium was described and the used software stopped with 99 per cent write progress - which medium has nevertheless functioned. First signal quality tests would have resulted in partly good, partly strange values, so that one may be strained whether 2100A and 2500A in each case will work as duly functioning DL DVD burners - and the described DVD+R DL media to DVD Playern are as compatible. Conventional DVD media were correctly described with the 2510A-Firmware, how is to be reread in the rpc1.org-Forum.

    That, which it itches now in the fingers to try the DL firmware out it should realize itself the risks, which read guidance of the respective offziellen or unofficial firmware designs exactly and which to flashende drive assembly as alone as possible (e.g. with taken off Slave) as masters operate. There - as already written - so far no DVD+R DL media to buy are, should daring ones perhaps better after others, every now and then not less interesting changed firmware designs on rpc1.org or herrie.org umschauen itself. Otherwise the DL firmware changed by the "The Dangerous Brothers" is to the Download on rpc1.org. (ck)

  • This is your DRIVE on BAD Firmware (Score:4, Funny)

    by CygnusXII ( 324675 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:18AM (#9180914)
    Just think about all, the extra drives sold, when all the Uber Mensch, fry thier drives, writing the firmware to crap.

  • Translation for lazy people (Score:5, Informative)

    by MBAFK ( 769131 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:20AM (#9180921)
    Not that anyone would bother to RTA :) but here it is in English [altavista.com]

  • This was on techbargains.com (Score:5, Informative)

    by JoeShmoe ( 90109 ) <askjoeshmoe@hotmail.com> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:24AM (#9180928)
    NEC 8x DVD Burner $81 - Free Double Layer Conversion 12-May-04
    newegg has the NEC 8X Beige DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A, OEM Bulk packed for $81.50 free shipping. No rebates. Click Thru to see new price.
    Hack it into a NEC 2510A DVD+R Double Layer burner! (Thanks Ken) Save $120 over a new Double layer burner!

    Here's a link [cdrinfo.com] to the article linked by techbargains.

    And here's a link [rpc1.org] to a page with the firmware (scroll down to NEC 2500).

    - JoeShmoe
    .

    • Re:This was on techbargains.com (Score:5, Interesting)

      by JoeShmoe ( 90109 ) <askjoeshmoe@hotmail.com> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:29AM (#9180944)
      Erm, some point of clarification...the site that techbargains links is an English-language site that actually tested this firmware update and posted the results from several CD info tools as well as the results of a burn. There appear to be no problems going 2500->2510 although they say they did not test 2100->2510.

      Also, on the second link I posted, the NEC 2500 bioses are region unlocked and rip unlocked (apparently most drives slow down on purpose when they detect a video DVD to discourage ripping, these unlocked firmwares will rip at full speed...go figure).

      Scroll down to the bottom to find the NEC 2150 firmware to upgrade the 2500...the one labeled "K0P2 Binaries and Flasher".

      -JoeShmoe
      .

      • Re:This was on techbargains.com (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        apparently most drives slow down on purpose when they detect a video DVD to discourage ripping

        They could be doing this to keep the noise down when you watch a movie. Just a thought.

      • Rip unlocking (Score:5, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:25AM (#9181098)
        I'd just like to clear up a small misconception.

        Many drives do indeed run more slowly when they detect a video dvd (though such detection is a pain - all you can really trigger off of is CSS protection, and you get non-css video discs too)

        The reason for this, however is nothing sinister. It's just that they know that the host application probably wants the data at 1x and so they favour low heat, low noise and more reliable reading over high data rates.

        Soemthing similar is done when playing audio CDs.

        Of course, more intelligent firmware simply acts on the rate at which the host requests data. This does rely on the host application being intelligent and not trying to buffer an entire 4gig dvd, though.
        • Thanks for the explanation, that makes a lot of sense.

          I get really annoyed when my CD ROM sounds like its about to take off while I play MP3s from it. It ought to be able to do it at like 0.2x :)
      • "Also, on the second link I posted, the NEC 2500 bioses are region unlocked and rip unlocked (apparently most drives slow down on purpose when they detect a video DVD to discourage ripping, these unlocked firmwares will rip at full speed...go figure)."

        Actually, they lock the video DVD speeds so that the drive will be nice and quiet while you watch the movie. (High RPM == High Noise.) But I like Plextor's solution to this which can be found on my PX-708A DVD burner: The drive reads DVD video at 2X by defau
    • damn 80 bucks...oh im tempted oh im tempted.

      Dad! Can I borrow your credit card? The math teacher said I need a graphing calculator for statistics in the fall. =)

      -Grump
      • I bought two...and was pleasantly surprised that I got black bezel units instead of crappy beige! And I got them the next day on free shipping! Go newegg and FedEx Super Saver!

        Haven't done the update yet, but the platinum card covers "theft or accidental damage" and given that the several people have apparently done this, I'm optimistic. The real question is whether the mechanics hold up or if it's like Celeron processors where Intel takes all the P4's where the cache failed and presto, Celerons.

        - JoeSh
    • newegg has the NEC 8X Beige DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A, OEM Bulk packed for $81.50 free shipping. No rebates.

      Hmm, I wonder if NewEgg noticed this article too? They now have available on their site:
      One Day Sale, Ends 5/18/2004 4:00 PM PST [newegg.com]
      NEC 8X Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-2500A, OEM Bulk $79.99

      Not sure on shipping, when I type in my state it says $0.00 shipping...

  • Rough Human Translation (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:26AM (#9180936)
    Using the firmware of the soon-to-be-released Dual Layer NEC 2510A DVD burner, it is possible to reprogram the single-layer NEC 2100A and 2500A DVD burners in order to record up to 8.5GB of data. The 2500A sells for under 100 euro, which makes this a very inexensive solution, but this is not without risk.

    The beta firmware is not authorized by NEC, and will void your warranty. Further, it requires that the drive be operated as "master" with no "slave" present. On the RPC1.org forums, users have reported that the LEDs constantly flashed and the DVD drawer would keep opening up--but in these cases, the drive was set as "slave."

    Since 8.5GB dual layer DVD+R media is not readily available, and when it becomes more widely available will be far more expensive than 4.3GB single-layer media, this modified firmware is of interest only to a few users. It is also not clear whether the laser assembly has the necessary laser quality for successful DVD+R dual-layer recording, because the optics requirements are more strict.

    CDRInfo.com has published a first test, finding that the software stopped recording a dual layer disc after 99%, but the disc nonetheless functioned. Initial tests of the signal quality were mixed, which makes it difficult to say whether or not the 2100A and 2500A can work as true dual layer DVD burners, or whether the media used was simply incompatible. Convenitional single-layer DVD media worked fine with the 2510A firmware.

    Those who are antsy to try the new dual layer firmware should be aware of the risk, and understand that with the unofficial firmware their drive will only operate as a "master" (without a "slave" present). And, as already mentioned, there is DVD+R dual-layer media is difficult to buy. But, for the daring, you can keep apprised of new firmware on rcp1.org and herrie.org. The modified firmware, created by "The Dangerous Brothers," is available for download on rpc1.org. /not karma whoring

  • It looks to me, (Score:5, Insightful)

    by vyrus128 ( 747164 ) <gwillen@nerdnet.org> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:28AM (#9180943) Homepage
    between the babelfish translation of the article, and a few people's posts, that this is a case of "you get what you pay for." If NEC says you can't do it, maybe it's because you can't do it reliably; that seems to be the case here. I would question the feasibility of taking hardware designed for single-layer disks and using it for dual-layer burns, and indeed the article points out (in broken, babelfished English, but as best I can tell) that the resulting drives are flaky at best. My advice, though I support the development of open/third-party firmware in general, would be to skip this upgrade and go buy the real thing.

    • Re:It looks to me, (Score:5, Insightful)

      by darien ( 180561 ) <darien.gmail@com> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:49AM (#9181170)
      I would question the feasibility of taking hardware designed for single-layer disks

      Just a toy hypothesis: it could be that these drives are in fact internally identical to the dual-layer burners, and that it's only the firmware they ship with that's "designed for single-layer disks." Without a pair of units to compare I naturally can't test this theory, but I wouldn't be surprised if NEC had found it cost-effective to make all the drive units the same, and just charge a premium for the version with "unlocked" firmware. I'm sure someone will remind me when Intel did something similar with one of their processors - was it the 386SX?

      I remember "overclocking" my 4x speed Ricoh CD writer to 6x speed using hacked firmware. Ricoh posted no end of dire warnings, but it worked, perfectly, forever (well, until a 6x speed writer was of no use to anyone any more).

      It's true that these hacked drives do sound like they're prone to strange behaviour; but from the nature of the flakiness that sounds like the firmware isn't quite there yet rather than being a laser problem (e.g. the hardware no longer working as IDE Slave).

      Just thinking aloud.

      • Re:It looks to me, (Score:5, Informative)

        by Mycroft_VIII ( 572950 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @05:02AM (#9181204) Journal
        That would be the 486sx units. They disabled the buit in 387. In some percentage they were 486dx chips with faulty math-co's, but in most they were not. Later on they produced 486sx's that never had a built math-co (IIRC).
        Of course many boards with a 486sx in them could accept a 487 chip, that while lable a co-processor, was realy just a 486dx with a few pin-out that took over the whole job of the 486sx processor which now just sat there doing nothing.
        More than a few people wanted to find an easy way to re-enable thier 486sx with the 487 in place and use both. Not really doable without having a custom mb made and some tricks pulled. cheaper just to buy one of the dual 486dx boards.

        Mycroft

        • Intel's not alone (Score:2, Interesting)

          by mr_mischief ( 456295 )
          One of the older PC brnads that's no longer around (I think it was Tandy) sold a series of computers with 256k or 512k of memory. The 256k machiens actually had 512k, but a lead or jumper on the board had been cut to make only half available. By opening the case and remaking the connection, you'd void your warranty but save several hundred dollars.

          It's been rumored that currently all Asus-built ATI 9800 cards use the 9800XT chip and memory capable of supporting it. The rumor says it's just a firmware flash

      • Re:It looks to me, (Score:3, Interesting)

        by BenBenBen ( 249969 )
        The Apple Powerbook G4 I have (12 inch) comes with a single speed DVD burner - one firmware hack later, and I've got a 2 x writer. Companies suck when they cripple perfectly capable hardware for marketing reasons, but then I do have a DVD burner, LinkSys WAP, Xbox, TiVo, SonyEricsson phone and car(!) that cost me much less than what they would of cost if they did what they do now, when sold. If that makes any sense. In essence; marketdroids bad, hackers good.
        • No, you've got it backwards.

          If the companies are intentionally cripling devices, you don't buy the damn things. You go with another company that doesn't screw-over their customers. They are getting more and more rare, but there are a few...

          Hacking something is like a mail-in rebate. They give you the device with limited features, knowing that only a few will upgrade successfully. It's a pretty slimy thing to do, and they make plenty of money off of people who plan on hacking something, only to find ou
      • Isn't that why the Celeron 300A was such an overclocker's dream for awhile? Because it turned out that they had made too many chips that binned at 450 and that no one wanted to pay for those, so they just called them 300s?
      • My personal favorite is back in the day when someone (IBM? Somebody else has to know this story, but know it correctly) released some expensive brick of a computer with a given amount of usable memory (This was back in the good ole days; I'm thinking 16k, but it may have been as much as 256k), with full knowledge that that amount of memory would not be enough for many of the users.

        These users could buy a very expensive memory upgrade that a technician from the computer company would come out and install. T

    • Re:It looks to me, (Score:3, Interesting)

      by graikor ( 127470 )

      If NEC says you can't do it, maybe it's because you can't do it reliably; that seems to be the case here. I would question the feasibility of taking hardware designed for single-layer disks and using it for dual-layer burns, and indeed the article points out (in broken, babelfished English, but as best I can tell) that the resulting drives are flaky at best.

      That's about right - I work for a rival DVD+RW manufacturer, and we did a DL firmware upgrade project that got scotched specifically because the OPUs

    • NEC's filing with the FCC says that the 2500 and the 2510 are equivalent electrically, and the only difference is the firmware. It's in the thread within the links. The only trouble with this version of the firmware are:

      1. no bitsetting of booktype
      2. requires the drive to be a master

      Add to this the scarce availability of +R DL media and the fact that the DVD Forum will come out with a -R DL makes me want to wait. I was hoping the DVD+RW Alliance and DVD Forum could cooperate and create one DL standard. Bu

  • NEC 2500A-2510A DL (Score:5, Informative)

    by JaniHalinen ( 770824 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:29AM (#9180948)
    www.cdrinfo.com [cdrinfo.com]
    The firmware page [rpc1.org]

    Two forum threads about upgrading your NEC-drive :)

  • How about a lite-on.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by LilGuy ( 150110 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:30AM (#9180954)
    How about someone hax0r the lite-on dvd rw drives? Being as they are so cheap these days, it would make for an even better deal.

    • Re:How about a lite-on.. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      As far as I know the liteon burners have interchangeable firmwares and I have seen forums where people patched their SOHW-812 to a dual layer version, but they were unable to test it because noone has any dual layer media.
    • No need to, just use the others firmware. :)

      The Liteon 812S and the 832S are almost the same drive - one burns dual layer and the other does not but the one that can't can be flashed up.
    • I've been seeing NEC DVD Recorable drives far cheaper than anything Lite-On has to offer.

      Personally, I stay far away from Lite-On. Not that I've had good experiences with NEC, it's just that they can't possibly be worse than Lite-On. Sure, their CD-RW drives were cheap, but I've had a 50/50 success-rate playing audio CDs on (Older, not brand-new) CD-Players, that were burned at better than 4X on a Liteon drive. Works just fine with better CD-Burners (Plextor, Yamaha, HP, etc).

  • Oh Great... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by xeon4life ( 668430 ) <`moc.serrotnived' `ta' `nived'> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:32AM (#9180960) Homepage Journal
    Now that this news is now on /. (and due to the basic economics principle of supply and demand [pricewatch.com]), this new burner's price is going to skyrocket, or NEC is going to go to a measure that's sure to *cough*happen*cough* piss people off, discontinuation. -Xeon

  • Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pdxdada ( 684092 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:34AM (#9180968) Homepage
    So if I have this strait this is a unsupported beta firmware hack to make a dvd drive write with unknown success to a dual layer media which isn't even available yet, will void your warrenty anyway and may kill your drive?

    Cool! Sorry I'm a sucker for punkrock sollutions.

  • Soon... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Molina the Bofh ( 99621 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:55AM (#9181021) Homepage
    In a store next to you, the new and amazing DVD Perforator.

    This amazing new product allows you to punch a hole through the DVD, allowing you to use BOTH sides of the media. Use your Single-Side as Double-Side disks without paying extra.

    Available in 5"1/4 and 3"1/2 versions.

  • And the followup is... (Score:5, Funny)

    by iansmith ( 444117 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @03:59AM (#9181031) Homepage
    A report that people who use hacks to upgrade their burners produce DVD's that don't last 100 years and are full of errors.

    And people will be *suprised* to read this. Gasp, hacked dual layer DVD's don't last forever!

    And Slashdot will report on this. Once a month. For a year.

    This just sounds like trouble. :-)
    • using cdr/dvdr media for archives is trouble anyway, unless you use RW which has a different ink layer composition (metal-ly based if i remember).

      it's all been covered here before, recently, ad infinitum...

      basically, no difference...

      for true archiving, i just rig up a clockwork orange theater setup, knowing that i'll never be able to get whatever i subjected myself to out of my head...

    • And Slashdot will report on this. Once a month. For a year.

      more likely just twice in one day...

  • NEC 1300 (Score:5, Informative)

    by v1x ( 528604 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:00AM (#9181035) Homepage
    The 1300 & 2500 are virtually identical, except that the latter is twice as fast as the former; and according to the forums on 2510, it is no different in design than the 2500. Although NEC would probably never release any firmware that would allow 1300 users to upgrade to 2500/2510, its simply a matter of time before someone back-ports the latest drivers to the 1300.

  • Is this the same stuff Intel pulls? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:06AM (#9181049)
    Just an uninformed opinion from someone too lazy to RTFA, but I wonder if this is anything like Intel underclocking chips to keep the supply of fast chips low. You know, NEC maybe ships a bunch of dual layer capible drives as single layer drivers to keep the market price up? I plan on getting either a Pioneer or Sony branded drive anyways (yeah, I know they all come from more or less the same few shops, but I've just had less trouble with either of those two brands in the past). Still, if this is what's going on, I like to see companies get bit in the rear for this sort of thing.

    • Re:Is this the same stuff Intel pulls? (Score:5, Informative)

      by TeknoHog ( 164938 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:28AM (#9181107) Homepage Journal
      NEC maybe ships a bunch of dual layer capible drives as single layer drivers to keep the market price up?

      All DVD readers can focus the laser onto two layers anyway. It should be a matter of firmware only to allow this for burning as well as reading. (Though it's possible that second layer burning is slower because of power limitations.)

    • Re:Is this the same stuff Intel pulls? (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Dunno about NEC, but I doubt it. If they could beat us to market with a full dual layer burner, they would.

      What probably IS the case is that the hadrware is theoretically capable of DL burning. After all, it's just a laser.
      The control code to tell it how to do it, however, probably is not yet finalised.

      The reason for this is simple - hardware design cycles take a long time. So you tend to overengineer them to have funcionality that you think might be useful by the time the design is finished.
      Software,
    • Intel underclocks chips so that they can pass some QA tests. Then, they mark it at the frequency that it passed the QA test at.

      Nothing underhanded here.

      What you do mean is the 486sx/dx debacle. One edition had the FPU disabled (by some hardware, not software, IIRC). The design was virtually identical though.

  • NEC says it does not work and needs laser fix (Score:4, Informative)

    by tronicum ( 617382 ) * on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:09AM (#9181053)
    I wonder why we need to get this from a German newsmag, but heise, a by far more serious newsticker, is quoting NEC officials :

    Wrong double layer firmware for NEC burner [altavista.com]

    Basically NEC insists that the laser needs calibration for such kind of update.

    Another point is that the media can identify itself as "DVD ROM" or "DVD+R DL". The newer "DVD+R DL" seems to cause trouble with DVD Video Players.

  • Ouch on the price of the blanks (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:13AM (#9181063) Homepage Journal
    US$13 for 8.5Gig. CD-r discs are around US$0.50 each depending on quantity. Given that my Plexwriter Premium can almost fit 1Gig on a CD-r, DVD-DLs are roughly 3x the price per MB. Much as I enjoy being an early adopter (*cough*), I think I'll wait until the price per MB comes down to around US$1.

    • Well... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )
      ...you're also looking at discs that simply aren't around in even small quantities yet. I heard they expected there to be a ~50$ premium on the latest ATI cards above the suggested retail price the first couple weeks. Supply and demand, baby.

      Personally, I burn single-layer DVDs. Cost/MB is about the same as CDs, but I get a fraction of the disks to burn, label and keep track of. That's worth it to me. Personally, I wish removable SATA disks (like a huge floppy) would take off...

      Kjella
    • Shock horror: Everything is more expensive when it first comes out. The fact is, single layer DVD+-Rs are already cheaper than CDs on a per gb basis. DL will also come down in price, and means for less disc swapping during backups.

      Here in Europe, I can get DVD-Rs (4.7gb) for €0.50 and CD-Rs (.7gb) for €0.25. This works out at 11c/gb for DVD, 36c/gb for CD. Making DVDs over 3 times cheaper per gb. This is with cheapo DVDs and cheapo CDs, but quality DVDs would still match the cheapo CD per gb pric

  • The great burner death of may 2004 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Willeh ( 768540 ) <rwillem@xs4all.nl> on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @04:36AM (#9181127)
    While i love rpc1.org (been using their custom firmware for my nec-1300A with good results), this sounds more like a mostly untested, evil kludge of a hack. They _might_ be able to stabilize it, but i for one don't welcome our new faster-dvd burning overlords. The last thing you want is a fast deteriorating 2nd layer that dvd players will choke on, and data will become corrupt faster than you can say "Wow, these blanks were expensive". And all for what, the convenience of not having to swap out your pirated copy of lotr halfway through the big smoochy scene between aragorn & that elf chick. I'll keep using my old, boring as fuck single layer burner for now.

    • Re:The great burner death of may 2004 (Score:4, Funny)

      by eclectro ( 227083 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @05:18AM (#9181252)
      Right, it's one thing to lose that theatre-cam pirate copy, and quite another to lose all your important documents and back up data. Reminiscent of a bad eighties commercial;

      This is your data;
      10110010010101011110010010

      This is your data on bad firmware;
      1011.....01....11110000........01....

      Get it????

      Yeah, the elfen chic Liv is pretty hot. I hear she is married now though.

  • NEC 1300A (Score:4, Informative)

    by MikeHunt69 ( 695265 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @05:25AM (#9181266) Journal
    I own an NEC1300A 4xDVD +/- rewriter. The 1300A is *very* sensitive about which media you use. I bought some name brand DVD-R's from PCWorld when I first bought the drive a year ago and they wouldn't work. I then bought 25 cheap blank disks and they didn't work either. I thought the drive was faulty, until I bought the Ritek G04 dye (purple) disks. They work like a charm and I've had no problems since.
    Do these same problems exist on the 2500? (I assume yes, since they are supposed to be the same drive, except the 2500 is faster). If so, I imagine it's going to be a PITA to get this drive burning reliably with hacked firmware and potentially incompatile disks.
    • Besides the hacked Herrie version, [herrie.org] NEC released an official new 1300A firmware [www.necd.de] that fixes most of the -R compatibility problems. I haven't had problems writing to any + or -R disc, and I buy the absolute cheapest possible.
    • Finding good DVD media is a hit and miss on all drives in my experience. That's also why you see so many forums and web pages devoted simply to matching burners with known good media. Different brands work with varying success not only between drives and manufactures but also vary from one firmware version to the next. The trouble compounds when newer firwmare is not always better and may in fact render previously good disks unusable.

      Anyway, for the NEC 1300A there exists RPC1 firmware that has been hacked
    • "I own an NEC1300A 4xDVD +/- rewriter. The 1300A is *very* sensitive about which media you use. I bought some name brand DVD-R's from PCWorld when I first bought the drive a year ago and they wouldn't work. I then bought 25 cheap blank disks and they didn't work either. I thought the drive was faulty, until I bought the Ritek G04 dye (purple) disks. They work like a charm and I've had no problems since. Do these same problems exist on the 2500? (I assume yes, since they are supposed to be the same drive, ex

  • Babelfish translates: There it the 2500A-Modelle already for under 100, - euro gives, would be this a very inexpensive, but not revaluation of the DVD burners mentioned which can be enjoyed without caution., which for one, is extremely hilarious and secondly conveys the exact opposite of what the German author wanted to say. The correct translation of the last half-sentence "which can be enjoyed without caution" would be "which should not be enjoyed without caution", to keep in fish style. No idea where the

  • German magazine c't wrote yesterday:

    http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/47428

    "Laut NEC funktioniert die Firnware hingegen nicht mit dem ND-2500A, da für das Bespielen einer DVD+R DL die Laseroptik genau justiert werden muss. Diese Justage müsse bei der Herstellung erfolgen und könne nachträglich nicht durchgeführt werden. Daher sei es nicht möglich, dem ND-2500A das Beschreiben einer DVD+R DL nachträglich per Firmware-Update beizubringen. Selbst wenn es vereinzelt k

  • Blank Media? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Volatile_Memory ( 140227 )
    I have a dual-layer burner and have been unable to find any DVD+R DL media. Kinda moots the whole point of the drive...

    Anyone have a link to dual-layer blank DVD media?
  • Hack your firmware for increased storage? Maybe to make backup copies of your kid's Disney movies, but is that really the foundation you want for backing up your company's financial data?

    Right now, we're in a window of transition towards finding a dominant medium for backing up computer hard disks. Most likely, the winner will fairly soon be: not DVD, not tape, but simply other hard disks. Right now, the minimum "nice" size for a backup device is 40GB, and by the time a recordable dye-based disc can reach

  • Last article like this killed my writer. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tcc ( 140386 ) on Tuesday May 18, 2004 @12:21PM (#9184561) Homepage Journal
    I remember when I saw a similar article a few years ago, and people were pointing to a site where to upgrade my MP7040 to 7060 (4x to 6x). The flashing worked, the firmware and everything was recognized perfectly, wrote one cd, then after that nothing worked correctly, in the end, I was left with a cheezy CDROM instead of CD-RW.

    Of course, maybe the drive was already on the edge of giving up and I just gave it the tap it needed to pass out, but then again, I am not going to blame anyone but myself for doing this because I knew what I was getting into.

    Yes some drives have "features cutted back" but remember also that sometimes (might be or not be applicable in this case) if they are selling a drive as a "4x" and it's the same layout as an "8x", maybe there's not only capitalism in the equation, remember intel with their processor validation, etc.. it's not because we've got our 300A celeron to 450 and our dual 366MHZ BP6 motherboard to dual 550 Celerons that we'll always be that lucky.

    So if anyone out there has doubts, I'd seriously suggest against going for it until you see sufficient number of people reporting that it works, because if you were doing this to prevent an upgrade cycle, you might actually force yourself into being an early adopter and that is a double loss.

    Just my 0.02$

  • One thing left out of the announcement, and the posts in cdrinfo, is whether or not one can back up the DVD and play the backup on a typical DVD player.

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