Pioneer/ Piodata DVR 108DX

O.K. Guys here is one for you, I have just received my second, what I thought was Pioneer burner. It has a label on it saying it is a pioneer DVR108DX, but when I look in device manager it says it is a PIODATA. Who the hell is that? I rang up the company I ordered it from, they claim they are one & the same. But there is a Piodata website. Does anybody out there know if I have a Pioneer or just a spurious burner with a pioneer label on it? The front bezel is slightly different, there are no vents in the front like my Pioneer, but the cd transporter is the same. My other Pioneer comes up as a pioneer in my device manager. I'm not paranoid but, well, I am actually!! Pioneer doesn't have a DVR108X model on its' website. HELP!! before I pull out the rest of my hair!!!!!

 

Howdy,
I've just bought the same model (DVR-108DX) which was offered to me as a Pioneer. But the Pioneer site specifies their model as DVR-108, without the "DX" bit. My guess is that Pioneer might have setup a new computer division as "PIODATA"? But can't be sure, their website is quite empty. There are no downloads for the drives firmware. I tried upgrading the current firmware on the drive (V1.10) to Pioneer's V1.14 (specified for the DVR-108.) but no go, it doesn't seem to be compatible. To me it appears that the drives may be mechanically equivelant but differ in their electronics. Don't know if that's good or bad. We'll just have to wait, pull out a hair wait a bit more, pull out another hair and then baybe we'll see!!!

 

OK, I was trawling the internet the other night & I found that it LOOKS like Piodata IS a subsidiary of Pioneer. The logo Piodata uses is the same style as Pioneer, & pioneer appear to recommend Piodata discs. I succesfully flashed it to use 1.10 firmware with no trouble at all! I decided not to flash it with 1.14 because although my Pioneer reads & burns OK, when it plays back on WinDVD 4 it plays it at high speed! I'm still on the fence as to whether it is a Pioneer or not , but the more I look the more I am convinced it is a pioneer. I am still annoyed with the supplier, as I paid for a Pioneer NOT a Piodata. Whether or not it is, or whether or not it works is NOT the point. I wanted a Pioneer.

 

Pioneer and PioData are both companies owned by
ID Interactive Ltd. out of Taiwan. Piodata DVR-108DX is basically the same as Pioneer's DVR-108. There are rumored to be some minor differences in the drives... the 108dx doesnt have the Quiet Drive technology which reduces the operating noise by about 75%, front is slightly different (plainer looking)

I do believe they are both running the same main chipset from NEC

 

please inform us when an updated firmware for 1.10 is found .. my drive is very touchy about the disc I use .. I hope the next release is better

 

I have just bought the same drive and have the same problem as Capacitor. Could Pulsar tell how he managed to flash the firmware to 1.10 (what firmware was in it originally because mine was already 1.10)as I have tried DVRflash without any joy.

 

I just flashed it with the 1.10 version available from Pioneer. I haven't tried to flash it with 1.14 yet. It doesn't come already flashed, if it has, then it sounds second hand to me. It will still read dvds unflashed, but will not, obviously, burn unflashed!

 

want to know the differences? get it from here : http://store.e-tronicdepot.com/dvddrivrec.html

 

hi guys, big noob here.

i bought this same drive PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-108, i was just wondering - is it any good ? ive had alot of trouble trying to burn my stuff (sims unleashed, yes i saw another thread about it but the technical jargon blew me away)

so yeh, i paid a decent amount for it so i expect it falls under the '2-sheep' category ?

also, where shud i be getting my firmware updates from ?

i been trying to use alcohol 120% to make 1:1 backups cus im burning stuff for a friend, but i keep getting these read errors and its going extremely slow. shud i be using a different program ?

thanx guys, any help u can give would be much appreciated

 

I returned my piodata 108dx to shop4tech for a refund because the only disc that I could burn was dvd+rw .. all others got errors while writing .. even cdr would not burn .. I have never had a drive that bad .. I will wait for the plextor 716 drive .. I don't like to spend lots of money for a drive but I guess I must if I want one that will always work correctly

 

Howdy,

So far I haven't had any trouble with my 108DX, I've burned DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW all seem to be working well. To me it sounds like dvdnut9 might just have got a dud. This doesn't surprise me considering the rate that these drives must be punched out into the market. I've managed to score the latest firmware for this drive which seems to be working. I mean I haven't flashed it yet but the setup goes further than the Pioneer firmware versions where it reports something like "cannot find source". It actually detects the drive. I haven't gone any further with it yet, still trying to find out what changes there are b/w v1.10 & v1.14. I had the firmware file emailed to me by an Australian supplier: http://www.apd.com.au
File name is quite specific to the drive too, DVR108DX_FW114EU.exe, specifies the DX bit. Don't know why they can't just post it on their website. Anyways, keep the goss coming. - cheers

 

I have the 1.10 which includes the kernal and also the 1.14
You can find it on my site http://flashman.rpc1.org under Pioneer 108

 

I also bought 3 for my Acard duplicator. I do not see any difference from the 108 I have in my PC.


It did said it made by Pioneer in Japan.


For me Piodata / Pioneer is the same.

 

From what I have seen the Piodata are the same as the Pioneer but with a different firmware. I recieved the firmware from Acard so that I could get their dup working. I could not get it to work at first so I emailed Acard and they were very helpful, it did take them 48hrs to reply which is rather reasonable as they are in a different timezone to us.

I did try to contact one the distribution channels of Acard but they were of no help!!! If you want the firmware pls PM me I will send by email.

 

All very interesting.
Just to set everyones minds at ease, I've purchased an actual Pioneer DVR-108 which I'll be setting up in another PC, and compared it with the Piodata DVR-108DX. On disassembly, I found that appart from the face plate the two units were identical mechanically and electronically. All pc boards were the same as well as all the IC's, appart from the buffer memory IC, Piodata being Samsung type 60ns and Pioneer some other brand at 80ns. Lasers were both identical as well as all motors and the sled assemblly. Both appeared of equal build quality externally and internally. They are the same drive.

Now we can all go to sleep and grow some hair.

Good night, over & out.

 

That's all very well. But I have nearly lost all of my hair, what do I do? I am just annoyed that it is sold as a pioneer NOT a Piodata. This is the problem with buying over the internet. I want a third DVR108, but I want a Pioneer. (This is because of firmware updates etc, I like to keep everything nice & simple) If you went to buy a Ford & the salesman gave you a Wartburg, I assume you would be pissed off. I would! So what do I do? If people sell them as pioneers then I am screwed!

 

http://www.pioneeraus.com.au/computer/unauthorizedimporters35.html Check this site out it may help i discovered it looking for info on my pioneer 108d as it shows as a piodata dvr 108dx

 

you can find a lot of information about differences at rpc1.org and if you want to flash your piodat follow this link http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1948, good luck

 

http://www.piodata.com/new/downloads/try this site

 

http://www.piodata.com/new/downloads/ try this site