Pioneer DRV-111 in the USA?

[Jumper1]

For the last few months the Pioneer DVR-111 has been very popular in the CDRLabs DVD Writer Poll. I wanted to buy one but I only found DVR-111D and 111DBK at NewEgg and TigerDirect. I tried some pricecheckers but still didn't find a store selling the DVR-111. Did Pioneer stop making the DVR-111 or is it not available in the USA?

The main difference between the 111 and 111D seems to be that the 111 can write DVD-RAM and the 111D can only read DVD-RAM. Am I wrong?

[Jumper1]

I found this
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=209002

Eventually in the thread somebody stated that the DVR-111, 111D, and 111L have the same hardware and the 111D can be cross flashed into the other two.

I went to Pioneer's website to see what firmware upgrades they have for the DVR-111D. I only saw "DRV-111D & DVR-710 Firmware Update to Version 1.23"

So.... I'm guessing that these people who are cross flashing their DVR-111D drives are not getting their firmware upgrades from the Pioneer website?

[Ian]

Try tdb.rpc1.org

[Jumper1]

If I want a normal firmware (provided by the manufacturer) it looks like Pioneer's UK site has firmware for the DVR-111
http://www.pioneer.co.uk/uk/content/sup ... tware.html

Nothing personal against the Dangerous Brothers- I'm just not sure I want to deal with removing the region counters in Windows and any other software that might keep track of it.

Cross flashing would probably void the warranty, right?

Also, I noticed Pioneer's warning: "Caution! Once the drives have been updated, the drive will NOT be able to be restored to an earlier firmware version." Is that common to all burners or just a quirk of the Pioneer burners?

Maybe I should pick a different drive

[Ian]

Try DVRFlash. That will let you flash the firmware to whatever you want without tdb's mods.

http://lasvegas.rpc1.org/

Yeah, crossflashing will most likely voide the warranty.

[Justin42]

The 111 is an awesome drive. You have very little to worry about with the crossflash, it works very well as long as you follow the directions. With how cheap you can find 111's for if you wait for a sale (I've seen them for $29.99), you could buy 2, use them for a while, and when you're comfortable that the drive's working ok you can crossflash it, and keep the other for a spare.

The 111 has never officially existed in the US, unfortunately... only the 111D and variants of that.

[ala42]

Try DVRFlash.

DVRFlash does not support the 111 drives.

Also, I noticed Pioneer's warning: "Caution! Once the drives have been updated, the drive will NOT be able to be restored to an earlier firmware version." Is that common to all burners or just a quirk of the Pioneer burners?

This is a general restriction of the Pioneer flashers. TDB also patched the flashers to remove this restriction, so you can flash back to older firmware versions. You can still flash the original firmware with the patched flasher.
Other drive manufactures allow you to flash back to older firmware versions without any problem.

[Ian]

DVRFlash does not support the 111 drives.

Doh! Nevermind then.

[evilboy]

Why not the 112 instead?

[ItalianJob]

Why not the 112 instead?

I see a fine MKM003@10X DL burn with 112.
And there's a Pioneer 212 coming (SATA version).

[hoxlund]

we just recently got a brand new pioneer at our store (best buy) in cedar rapids

i can't recall the model off the top of my head, ill check tomorrow and the price