[bimmerphile]

So I have a bad pun it the title...whatever

I purchased a 100-spindle of Sky DVD-R media from www.yesbuy.net. for $60 I thought it was a damn good price...until I found out that only 1/5 DVDs would burn. I called Apple, and went through all the AppleCare diagnostics, which then led me to take my G5 into the local mac repair shop (because even though I'm an Apple Certified tech, they wont let me do anything because it's my computer. Whatever.)

It would be 3 weeks my G5 would be in the shop, plus whatever time it took them to fix it. Unacceptable.

Having already lost 10 DVDs to my Apple-flashed drive, I decided I'd had enough. www.yesbuy.net said my media was pioneer-drive compatible, so naturally I blamed it on the Apple firmware. It turns out I was right.

After a bit of fooling around on my friend's PC box, we managed to flash the drive back to Pioneer Spec. I reinstalled it in my G5, nowing that what I had done will most likely make my drive not supported by iTunes and iDVD. Voila! It worked!

I can now burn my so-called "cheap" DVDs flawlessly. The drive only spins up twice before the burn, rather than the good 5 minutes of spinning with the Apple firmware. I can burn DVD+R and +RW without hassle, and CD functionality is increased. I ripped a DVD in about 1/2-3/4 the time it took me before I flashed my drive.

Oh yeah, and the drive is still Apple Supported in the i and Pro apps!!!



Needless to say, I'm very, very, very satisfied.



Here's to voiding your optical drive warranty!

-Kris

THE TUTORIAL AND NECESSARY FILES TO DO THIS TO YOUR PIONEER DVR-106 "SUPERDRIVE" CAN BE FOUND HERE.

[the_glassman]

I was just about to order a 100 pack for $49.00, is it the same media?
I wonder if I would have any problems with my A-05?
It would not be as easy for me to mess with since it's in my eMac.

[Eug]

I already posted this in your Ars thread, but here it is again:

I don't waste my time with el cheapo media. If it doesn't burn with the Apple firmware, it's not worth my time IMO.

Even if after the flash it does burn fine, there are potentially many problems with playback later, at least on other machines.

Flashing the firmware is OK (if you're willing to void your warranty), but that's not going to correct all the problems with low quality media.

With my PCs (two of which have DVD burners), my standalone DVD burner (for my home theatre system), and my Mac, I refuse to use anything except good quality name-brand media.

[bimmerphile]

To asnwer both of you:

I used sky media for a year on my dual G4 with the DVR-105 without problems. It plays on my DVD player great. My G5 is also my entertainment system (I'm a student...what do you expect ) so I'm not overly worried.

Every DVD-player thus far I've tried it on have worked too.

As for the eMac, if it boots to OS9, there is a firmware flash utility that I used with my old G4 to flash it if you have any problems. Only problem is I couldn't find it. C'est la vie.