Pioneer Posts Updated DVD-R/RW Firmware; ".exe" files

Pioneer has posted Macintosh firmware updaters for several DVD-R/RW models that exhibited a widely reported overheating issue when writing 4X media.

The problem fixed in the new update caused the optical lens, which is used to write data to the DVD, to become stuck at a certain location on the disc. After several seconds of direct operation, the optical lens could become too hot for correct operation and potentially damage hardware.

The new firmware updates are for after-market Pioneer DVR-A03/DVR-103 or DVR-A04/DVR-104 drives, and not for SuperDrive-equipped Macs. Representing an inconvenience to most external Pioneer DVD-R/RW drive owners, the device to which the firmware is to be applied must be installed internally on one of the IDE channels. Pioneer offers a glimmer of hope, however, that FireWire firmware updaters will soon be available:

"Although (we) cannot guarantee the availability of such tools, Pioneer is investigating methods to update the firmware in a DVR-A03/DVR-103 and DVR-A04/DVR-104 via IEEE 1394."

All Macs with SuperDrive being manufactured as of late 2002 can read from and write to high-speed media.

Pioneer's new firmware can be downloaded from the company's support site.

UPDATE: Although the firmware updaters are named with the extension ".exe" (generally indicating a Windows executable file), our own in-house tests found that the updaters run and install like normal applications under Classic in Mac OS X 10.2.x, though as noted above, the drive must be on the ATA bus.

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