[kmarketing]

hi,

just wondering if any of you have problems with dvd+r on your powerbooks. On my g5 they work fine, but it seems that the same dvd+r on my 17" 1ghz doesn't work.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[pcummins]

Check what drive you have in the 17" (System Profiler), if you have a UJ-815 you can only read/write DVD-R/W, if you have a UJ-825 and above you can read/write DVD - and + R/W. If you want to upgrade I recommend the Pioneer DVR-K05, this does +, - and DL DVD discs.

[kmarketing]

Hi,

Thanks for the response.

The drive is uj-815. So do you mean that even playing back +r won't work?

Thanks!

[pcummins]

Yes, +R/W on the UJ-815 will not work, it's not supported by the drive (that model was the first slot load DVD burner available, so it's pretty limited). For example, many earlier DVD/CD-RW combo drives like the CW-8122 don't support +R/W either (in the TiBooks or early iBooks). We can thank the warring factions in the DVD consortium for this, so bet on the bottom line that Blu-Ray will not be compatible with HD-DVD and vice versa. (It's unfortunate that companies cannot get along to make compatible products).

As I mentioned earlier, if you're keen to get the facility, you can purchase a DVR-K05 for less than $100 US (from froogle) + whatever it costs to get it installed. (This is what I did, very happy with the DVR-K05 so far). There's rumours that a new model DVR-K06 will be out late September, so may be worthwhile waiting for it, or picking up a cheap DVR-K05 when it comes out.