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siem1 · Feb 20, 2003, 03:01 AM

According to system profiler and Toast my superdrive is a Sony DW-U10A, I was expecting the new Pioneer drive (DVR-A05)
Also the Sony specs are a little bit different than the Pioneer specs, I notices when burning a cd Toast told me I was burning on 24 speed thats faster than the Pioneer (Apple) specs (16 speed).
The Sony drive should also support DVD-R and DVD+R media, didn't tried that yet.

Any thougts, experiences???

Thanks in advance

keston · Feb 21, 2003, 06:59 AM

I'd really like to know if other people have this as well. I have been wanting to get the sony drive for a while. If this is true, its one more reason to get the new iMac for me.

Simon · Feb 21, 2003, 09:59 AM

Originally posted by keston:
I'd really like to know if other people have this as well.

I just got a new 1GHz iMac this moring and according to System Profiler I also have the Sony DVD RW DW-U10A.

FishDoc · Feb 21, 2003, 10:37 AM

Just got the 1 ghz iMac, and mine is the Pioneer drive.

Fish

moowriece · Feb 21, 2003, 11:27 AM

Anybody with the Sony Drive, could you please try a DVD+R or DVD+RW disc and see if it works (to prove that Apple hasn't messed with the firmware)?

Simon · Feb 21, 2003, 01:14 PM

Originally posted by moowriece:
Anybody with the Sony Drive, could you please try a DVD+R or DVD+RW disc and see if it works (to prove that Apple hasn't messed with the firmware)?

I can't because I don't have a DVD+R/W but I'm wondering why do you care if they messed with the firmware? +R/W is a bad system and we should be happy to have the standard -R/W. So what is all the fuss about +R/W?

bspahn · Feb 21, 2003, 02:22 PM

It looks like you either get movie writing speed or format compatibility:
comparison

Bill

tr · Feb 22, 2003, 02:36 PM

guys,

there's a thread in the powermac forum about this; apparently, some G4's are also shipping with the sony drive:

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=147354

tr

Astronaut Jones · Feb 22, 2003, 03:50 PM

My 1GHz iMac has the Pioneer DVD-RW DVR105.

keston · Feb 22, 2003, 04:14 PM

Could previous posters note when they placed thier order, and when they recieved it? Maybe there is a pattern, like maybe newer batches have the sony. I think this would be helpful.

ronbo · Feb 23, 2003, 02:44 AM

Originally posted by keston:
Could previous posters note when they placed thier order, and when they recieved it? Maybe there is a pattern, like maybe newer batches have the sony. I think this would be helpful.

Not one of the previous posters, but I can tell you I got the Sony drive in my new 1Ghz iMac and I bought it at an Apple store on 5FEB.

Don't know if that will help you establish a pattern or not.

mysterio · Feb 23, 2003, 08:09 PM

Got one in mine as well

andycroll · Feb 24, 2003, 05:27 AM

I have the Sony drive in mine.

Bought on saturday in PC World Croydon. (OT They are frickin' useless in there!)

Andy

troymurray · Feb 25, 2003, 01:24 PM

How do I tell which drive my new 17" iMac has? I opened the System Profiler but I do not see where it lists what type of drive I have.

Mark E · Feb 25, 2003, 05:21 PM

Originally posted by troymurray:
How do I tell which drive my new 17" iMac has? I opened the System Profiler but I do not see where it lists what type of drive I have.

open up system profiler, click the 'devices and volumes' tab, and click the arrow where it says "BUS - CD-RW/DVD-R". it should open up and tell you what drive you have.

-Mark

moowriece · Feb 26, 2003, 08:33 AM

Would it be possible to hack the drive's firmware to circumvent Apple's restrictions on the Sony? E.g. flash the drive with Sony's original firmware (is there a OS X flash utility? If not, anyone would like to make on?)?

Simon · Feb 26, 2003, 08:38 AM

Originally posted by moowriece:
Would it be possible to hack the drive's firmware to circumvent Apple's restrictions on the Sony? E.g. flash the drive with Sony's original firmware (is there a OS X flash utility? If not, anyone would like to make on?)?

If the drive can do +R/W and it doesn't simply because Apple changed the firmware I'd suppose you could flash the drive with the original firmware that enables +R/W. I have done this with a couple of different DVD-ROMs already to make them code free.

The problem is normally just to get the proper firmware. I think OS X flash utilities are around.

moowriece · Feb 26, 2003, 09:34 AM

I think I found the region-free firmware of the Sony drive at http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1504

The problem now is to get a flash utility in OS X to flash the drive.

Simon, can you give a link to such a utility?

Simon · Feb 26, 2003, 09:37 AM

Originally posted by moowriece:
Simon, can you give a link to such a utility?

Well, there used to be such a utility over at opuscc.com, but now they want money it seems. I'll check at home again. I think I might have another link. But I'm at the office now.

moowriece · Feb 26, 2003, 09:47 AM

Hmmm, I looked into the zip file. It means you have to flash the drive in a PC (exe application to flash).

Therefore, it would mean to decouple your Sony drive from your iMac (is that doable?), place it in a PC, flash it and then put it back (taking some riscs).

I wish there was something not so complicated, or that Apple just gives us full support for the Sony drive. You have to pay quite some amount of money for the iMac, therefore you expect the full capabilities and don't have Apple babysit you ("you shall not use DVD-RW/DVD+R/DVD+RW"). Let the users make a choice which media they want to use, as this drive permits!

troymurray · Feb 26, 2003, 07:41 PM

Originally posted by troymurray:
How do I tell which drive my new 17" iMac has? I opened the System Profiler but I do not see where it lists what type of drive I have.

DVD-RW DVR-105

Simon · Feb 27, 2003, 03:12 AM

Originally posted by moowriece:
You have to pay quite some amount of money for the iMac, therefore you expect the full capabilities and don't have Apple babysit you ("you shall not use DVD-RW/DVD+R/DVD+RW"). Let the users make a choice which media they want to use, as this drive permits!

Well I don't agree with that, but regardless I think Apple isn't betraying buyers here:

- they never advertized the drive as doing +R/W. You buy it only knowing that you will be able to do -R/W. They never promissed more.

- Apple is part of the DVD-R/W forum. They of course rather push this format then another competing "format".

- Similar to other competing standards (like FW and USB2) you can expect Apple to support the one they are pushing - even more when companies like MS are on the other side

- If Apple wouldn't cripple the firmware they'd probably be in for some law suites. Imagine if the people who bougth a new iMac and got a -R/W drive suddenly hear that others got -R/W and +R/W. They could argue that Apple isn't treating people equally. Since Apple is using different manufacturers for their drives, they probably have to make sure that they all have equal features.

I really don't think Apple is cheating anybody here.

If you need +R/W (why exactly, speed, price?) I think you should be able to buy an external drive. I saw an ad for one in the paper this morning actually. Hook it up to your iMac via FireWire (or USB if you can stand the slow speed) and burn away.

Mark E · Feb 27, 2003, 08:36 PM

i hope a DVD region-free firmware hack is released at some point.. one that doesn't involve a PC in any way. anybody heard anything more about this?

-Mark

Simon · Feb 28, 2003, 03:27 AM

Originally posted by Mark E:
i hope a DVD region-free firmware hack is released at some point.. one that doesn't involve a PC in any way. anybody heard anything more about this?

Mark,

I haven't found a region-free firmware for the Sony SuperDrive in my new iMac yet, but I can give you a hint to watch other region DVDs in the meantime: Get the freeware app DVDBackup. You will be able to rip the DVD to your HD. The app can strip the region code and the scrambling/protection off the DVD. You will then get a folder on your disk that contains all the files on the DVD (movie, sound, subtitles, etc.). You can use DVD Player to watch the movie from your HD or you can burn the folder from your HD to a DVD-R.

Of course this isn't like region-free firmware, but at least it's a get-around solution til we get region-free firmware for this new SuperDrive...

Mark E · Mar 2, 2003, 10:11 AM

Originally posted by Simon:
Mark,

I haven't found a region-free firmware for the Sony SuperDrive in my new iMac yet, but I can give you a hint to watch other region DVDs in the meantime: Get the freeware app DVDBackup. You will be able to rip the DVD to your HD. The app can strip the region code and the scrambling/protection off the DVD. You will then get a folder on your disk that contains all the files on the DVD (movie, sound, subtitles, etc.). You can use DVD Player to watch the movie from your HD or you can burn the folder from your HD to a DVD-R.

Of course this isn't like region-free firmware, but at least it's a get-around solution til we get region-free firmware for this new SuperDrive...

wow, thanks very much for that link! i was under the impression that you needed to change the region code to even access the disk on the hard drive. i'll check it out..

-Mark