[Eug]

See here.

Matshita DVD-R UJ-816
Firmware revision DXJ3

The previous models had the Matshita DVD-R UJ-815 with D0C4, D0CB, or DWDB. And some of our hacked ones have D101.

Thx to all2ofme for the heads up.

[all2ofme]

I really hope that screenshot hasn't been doctored

BTW, Eug - I've never had anyone reply to a post so quickly

[all2ofme]

Some more to look at (DVD-RW listed on Apple's developer notes here )

[Eug]

Originally posted by all2ofme:
Some more to look at (DVD-RW listed on Apple's developer notes here )

Re-linkified to the pertinent information.

Code:
Media          Read                                                Write
DVD-R          4x (CAV max)                                          2x (CLV) 
DVD-RW         4x (CAV max)                                          1x (CLV) 
DVD-ROM        8x (CAV max, single layer) 6x (CAV max, dual layer)    - 
CD-R           24x (CAV max)                                         8x (CLV) 
CD-RW          12x (CAV max)                                         4x (CLV) 
CD or CD-ROM   24x (CAV max) �

So it seems the new PowerBooks can write to DVD-RW, and support 2X DVD-R burning too. (NB. The old 12" AluBook and 15" TiBook owners can write 2X DVD-R and 1X DVD-RW with the D101 firmware. It also provides 16X CD-R burning, which the new 15" AluBook lacks.)

Still no DVD-RAM though.

[S|ntax]

is it going to take a firmware update to bring it that high, if so is it available somewhere

[Eug]

Originally posted by S|ntax:
is it going to take a firmware update to bring it that high, if so is it available somewhere

Bring what what high?

[forcelite]

Yes, thats what the old 12" and 15" TI's had to do, a firmware upgrade.

It just came out a month or so ago.

Basicly someone hacked a linux firware for the same drive and ported it to osx. The linux version already suported the maximum performance of the drive.

For some reason apple bumps down thier laptop drives. Maybe its for reliability, or maybe its to bump up next models sales, altought the former to me is less likley becasue they older AI's have the same specs and this is the time to release the "new"dvd-r 2x support. Also, there are going to be significant speed bumbs in dvd-r burning in the near future (like cd-r did at about this time in its life), so I dont see why apple would hold out on this any longer.

Just be glad you do have a 2x dvd-r drive and when someone does the firmware patch like last time you can use those speeds.

[Eug]

Originally posted by forcelite:
Just be glad you do have a 2x dvd-r drive and when someone does the firmware patch like last time you can use those speeds.

Not sure if I understand you, but it seems from the specs that the new UJ-816 can already do 2X DVD-R.

[Cop Rock]

An interesting note on the public specs (this doesn't concern the max dvd-r speed):

The public specs show max cd-r speed as 16x while the developer specs show max cd-r speed as 8x.

[ae86_16v]

* Combo drive (DVD-ROM/CD-RW): reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 24x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 10x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed

* SuperDrive (DVD-R/CD-RW): writes DVD-R discs at up to 2x speed, reads DVDs at up to 8x speed, writes CD-R discs at up to 16x speed, writes CD-RW discs at up to 4x speed, reads CDs at up to 24x speed


So the Combo drive could burn CDs at 24x, while the Superdrive could burn CDs at only 16x.

And of course the SuperDrive could burn DVDs at 2x.

Why can't it burn CDs at 24x too?