The SuperDrives in the new G5s

messiah

Anybody noticed that the Pioneer DVR-107D SuperDrives that shipped in the latter Rev. A G5s, and the new Rev. B G5s have A707 firmware?



This firmware seems to limit the SuperDrives DVD writing speed to 4X. I've tried various different brands of 8X DVD-Rs and the maximum speed that Disk Utility reports is always 4X.



I can understand Apple using A707 to disable 8X in the Rev. A machines, because officially you were only meant to get a 4X drive anyway ? but the G5s are sold as 8X units.



I reflashed the firmware on my SuperDrive using DVRFlash and Pioneer's official 1.18 firmware, and it now burns at the full 8X speed without any problems. In fact, I haven't had a single coaster with this drive...



I just wondered if anybody new why the drives ship with A707 as standard?



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drumsticks

I just checked my Rev B tower, which is supposed to be 8X SD and it also has the A707 firmware. Never tried burning at 8X before as I still have a stack of 4X DVDs unused. I can burn DVD+RW (yes, plus) at 4X no problem when my previous 4X SD (on another machine) only burnt the same discs at 2X.



Can't answer your question, but I would like to know the answer too. Guess I'll have to change my firmware when my current stock of blank DVDs run out...