UPDATED WITH BLACK FACE PLATE AND LOWER PRICE HOT!!!Optorite0203 Dual DVD+/- drive

[conehead433]

"What is the best DVD-R/RW or DVD+R/RW media brand? Please give me some recommendations. Thanks."

The DVD +R 4X discs under the Memorex, TDK, and Verbatim names that have been on sale recently have all been ID'd as RICOH discs, which supposedly are made by Ritek. They are some of the best discs you could buy. There is no guarantee you will always get these. Currently Best Buy has the Memorex 25 Pack +R 4X on sale for $34.99 with no rebates. I managed to order one pack online and was at one of their stores but they were sold out, so they let me substitute the TDK 25 Pack.

 

[PrimeTGS]

Well, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered the black one from Newegg last night. Is Nero 6 working for this drive yet?

 

[baloy]

Stop updating this thread........ :frown:



Must resist..... must resist.......
Resistance is futile.

Oh well......

 

[MrNutz]

Originally posted by: conehead433
This has absolutely nothing to do with the Optorite drive. These are not the same drives. The fact that this firmware worked on the Optorite is probably purely coincidental in that they may use the same Bios chips. It's great that some discs will now burn at 4X or whatever for the person that flashed his drive with this firmware, but before you go around recommending flashing your drive with this firmware, maybe you should flash your own and find out if HD BURN still works, and everything else still works as it's supposed to.
If flashing your drive with anything other than the manufacturer's approved firmware upgrades renders your drive useless or damages your Bios chip, then what will you do. You try to get it replaced under warranty as a defective unit and send it in, and get back a message that you caused the damage by using firmware unauthorized for use in this drive. If you get this Bios to work, good for you, but don't suggest to others to do the same.

Settle down there tough guy :Q.....My posts where strictly for informational purposes only. I never told anyone to upgrade because this was the Official Optorite firmware upgrade.....I am just stating that there is a possible "working" firmware upgrade that may fix the problems that people are having. I never even said that I upgraded with it yet....just that someone else did and he states that its working for him. Besides, if the bios chip was the only piece of hardware that is common between the drives, then the drive wouldn't be able to burn a "working" disc.

Well, I finally pulled the trigger and ordered the black one from Newegg last night. Is Nero 6 working for this drive yet?

Works fine for me but the drive is not listed in my Nero's config file....

 

[MrNutz]

New Firmware Ver. 2.14

This firmware version is now listed under Firmware-Flash.com's main firmware page for the Optorite DD0203.

Link

 

[stockjock]

Newegg now has them for 159.99 and 163.99 now

 

[natgas]

I have tried TDK, Maxell, Imation, Sony and can't any of the CD-r's to work with HDBurn! I have tried both 2.11 and 2.14 with no luck; burns dvd's ok but no hdburn! think I might just rma it to NE and check out the Pioneer or Sony

 

[MrNutz]

Originally posted by: natgas
I have tried TDK, Maxell, Imation, Sony and can't any of the CD-r's to work with HDBurn! I have tried both 2.11 and 2.14 with no luck; burns dvd's ok but no hdburn! think I might just rma it to NE and check out the Pioneer or Sony

I was only able to get HD burn on my Fuji Taiyo Yuden CDRs....it wouldn't work with the Memorex Taiyo Yuden CDRs i had...

 

[conehead433]

"I have tried TDK, Maxell, Imation, Sony and can't any of the CD-r's to work with HDBurn! I have tried both 2.11 and 2.14 with no luck; burns dvd's ok but no hdburn! think I might just rma it to NE and check out the Pioneer or Sony"

The Optorite website lists some compatible CD-R's for HD BURN. Try Fuji Taiyo Yuden's. They work just fine. It's not your drive. All the discs you listed are Taiwanese. The list at the website was better at one point. All the compatible discs they listed were either 48X or 52X. You could always visit the Optorite thread at CDRLabs.com and see what others have reported as working.

Optorite

CDRLabs Optorite Thread

 

[conehead433]

"I was only able to get HD burn on my Fuji Taiyo Yuden CDRs....it wouldn't work with the Memorex Taiyo Yuden CDRs i had..."

Interesting. I was able to get one Memorex Taiyo Yuden to work, but any subsequent attempts were failures. I have had no problems with Fuji Taiyo Yuden's or with any unbranded Taiyo Yuden's.

 

[conehead433]

So here's a better list of CD-R's compatible with HD BURN from Sanyo's website.

Sanyo HD BURN

 

[MrNutz]

I just got the following email response from Optorite's Tech Support:

Subject: DVD+R Booktype Setting?

I have your Optorite DD0203 drive and I was wondering if the ability to set
the Booktype for DVD+Rs to "DVD-ROM" will be available in a new firmware
upgrade. And if so, when do you predict there will be a new firmware
release?


Optorite Tech Support:

We do not currently plan to add the ability to change booktype for our
DD0203 drive.

Thank you,
OptoRite Support

 

[Ziptar]

Ok, this is going to sound like an odd request but could someone measure an optorite for me from fromt to back and tell me how long it is...

Thanks,

 

[Crucial]

Originally posted by: MrNutz
I just got the following email response from Optorite's Tech Support:

Subject: DVD+R Booktype Setting?

I have your Optorite DD0203 drive and I was wondering if the ability to set
the Booktype for DVD+Rs to "DVD-ROM" will be available in a new firmware
upgrade. And if so, when do you predict there will be a new firmware
release?


Optorite Tech Support:

We do not currently plan to add the ability to change booktype for our
DD0203 drive.

Thank you,
OptoRite Support

Whats the deal with changing the booktype? What's the purpose of it?

 

[conehead433]

"Ok, this is going to sound like an odd request but could someone measure an optorite for me from fromt to back and tell me how long it is..."

About 7 1/2 inches.

 

[tigerbait]

Originally posted by: csaddict

Originally posted by: MrNutz
I just got the following email response from Optorite's Tech Support:

Subject: DVD+R Booktype Setting?

I have your Optorite DD0203 drive and I was wondering if the ability to set
the Booktype for DVD+Rs to "DVD-ROM" will be available in a new firmware
upgrade. And if so, when do you predict there will be a new firmware
release?


Optorite Tech Support:

We do not currently plan to add the ability to change booktype for our
DD0203 drive.

Thank you,
OptoRite Support

Whats the deal with changing the booktype? What's the purpose of it?

Compatibility Bitsettings / Book Type Field


For a DVD player or drive to identify what kind of disc is loaded, it queries the so called "Book Type Field" found in the lead-in section of each DVD disc. These few bits, commonly referred to as "compatibility bitsettings" tell the drive which low-level format specification does the media conform to, such as DVD-ROM, DVD+R or DVD+RW.

Most DVD players will read a DVD+RW or DVD+R disc without any problems, however a small minority of them report a disc error when a disc is loaded that is not marked as a "DVD-ROM" disc in the compatibility bits. Ususally, these players are physically able to read the disc (since DVD+RW reflectivity is identical to that of a dual layered DVD-Video disc, which all players must be capable of reading), but their compatibility problems are due to different interpretations of these bits in the various firmware versions. In most cases, the problem can be solved by updating the firmware.

link

 

[Lager]

What is the original firmware version that comes with the dvd drive out of the box?

 

[estae]

Just received a DD0203 from Accupc with firmware v2.09 manufacture date July 2003. Used the DOS flasher from the I/O Magic site to update 2.15. DOS flasher program is 'Optorite v0.04'

HD-Burn using Fuji TY CD-R works fine (9+ mins 1.4GB). Didn't like Khypermedia (Mitsubishi) CD-R .. 'power calibration error'. TDK DVD+RW 2.4X (ricohjpnw01) works fine.

I can see why some people complain about the eject button, it is a bit finicky. Additional 0.5 mm padding behind the button would probably cure the situation. I might start using the software eject a lot more

 

[natgas]

After asking optorite what media to use for hdburn, I purchased the Fuji 48x; still getting power calibration error on those too; going to rma to ne today; no sense wasting any more time on this thing

 

[MrNutz]

Originally posted by: natgas
After asking optorite what media to use for hdburn, I purchased the Fuji 48x; still getting power calibration error on those too; going to rma to ne today; no sense wasting any more time on this thing

hmmm.....Actually what you needed to buy were Fuji BRAND discs but the actual manufacturer of the discs needed to be Taiyo Yuden. To figure out the manufacturer of the disc you have to read the ATIP on the CDR which can be done with tool from here.

 

[thrashev]

Originally posted by: MrNutz

Originally posted by: natgas
After asking optorite what media to use for hdburn, I purchased the Fuji 48x; still getting power calibration error on those too; going to rma to ne today; no sense wasting any more time on this thing

hmmm.....Actually what you needed to buy were Fuji BRAND discs but the actual manufacturer of the discs needed to be Taiyo Yuden. To figure out the manufacturer of the disc you have to read the ATIP on the CDR which can be done with tool from here.

give up on him, it appears that if he has to do any research or anything extra to get something done correctly apparently he can't handle it, let him wait on his rma from newegg and get another burner only to find out that the same will happen

 

[GetInMyFatBelly]

New firmware 2.15 is out.

 

[natgas]

Thanks threshav; very good to have a newbie making those kind of accusations; fyi, I'm an IT administrator who happens to know a little more than you let on. but's that ok--you must be a genius to have that kind of attitude

 

[memo]

Originally posted by: natgas
Thanks threshav; very good to have a newbie making those kind of accusations; fyi, I'm an IT administrator who happens to know a little more than you let on. but's that ok--you must be a genius to have that kind of attitude

ahhh, dont let it get nasty over this fine drive im sure everyone has their own reasons, like natgas may just not want to tinker with this thing and then be out of the RMA time frame which would be more of a dilemma then what media works and what doesnt

 

[thrashev]

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