Pioneer DVD-R/RW drives tend to burn

Not in the way you'd prefer

By Thomas C Greene in Washington DC • Get more from this author

Posted in Personal, 17th September 2002 19:40 GMT

Free research: Application platforms, the state of play

An overheating problem among drives used with new high-speed discs can destroy both the unit and the medium, manufacturer Pioneer is trying hard to avoid saying. Using soon to be available 4X discs for DVD-R and 2X discs for DVD-RW with the following drives is thought to be risky: DVR-7000 DVD recorder; PRV-9000 Professional DVD recorder; DVR-A03 computer drive; DVR-103 computer drive; DVR-A04 computer drive; DVR-104 computer drive.

There is a firmware update available, along with the company's intentionally-vague bulletin, here.

In addition to the items mentioned, several OEM units are affected, but Pioneer won't say which ones. You'll just have to contact your box builder and ask them if they have a fix.

Keep in mind that the discs currently on the market won't cause the failure. But you do have to apply the firmware fix before using the newer, faster ones to avoid the inconvenience of smouldering equipment. ®

Update

Reader Dave Park reports that the DVR-A03 and DVR-A04 drives are used by Apple under the 'Superdrive' mark, but Pioneer's link to the fix brings one to an 'under construction' warning. Perhaps pestering Apple will prove a more fruitful approach. Reader Tim Ward reports that the Pioneer update app doesn't support Win-NT. At this rate it sounds like us Linux heretics will be SOL indefinitely....

Free research: Application platforms, the state of play