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Upgrade Doubles +R Speed For Some Lite-On Drives
Binsbergen writes "Owners of a Lite-On 451S (lowest price $ 69.50) and a Lite-On 851S can load the firmware of the Lite-On 832S and burn their DVD+Rs at 8x speed and also write to double-layer media. Before this seemed impossible, because many manufacturers have told us that upgrading a 4x drive to a double-layer writer was impossible due hardware differences. Of course it's important to note that 'overclocking' voids your warrantee and should be done after have carefully read the instructions. Read more about the procedure, the results and others experiences in the official 451S@832S, 851S@832S -- It works! thread. That's a dirt-cheap upgrade!" (Sounds similar to the NEC upgrade mentioned in May.)
If you don't currently own a 451S don't bother with purchasing one. The mad rush that this is going to cause will only raise the cost and the wait time for this specific unit. After a quick search I found the Lite-On 8x DVD+/-RW drive that does double layered writing for $89 (see here at newegg - BTW, I just did a quick search for Lite-On, I don't work for newegg or even recommend them).
Seems to me that paying $20 more (without even checking anywhere else) to purchase a drive that is meant to write at 8x (apparently in both + and -) and won't void your warranty is a much better deal.
...There are some articles that, no matter how much you try, you just can't think of a funny comment to.
does not need puny DVD recorders in order to burn a disc.
This patch is fine and dandy, but I cannot find any dual layered discs anywhere!
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
I guaranty you that this post has two misspellings.
"Skill shows through where genius wears thin." -Wittgenstein || Religion: uniting aviation and architecture.
I flashed upgraded my Ricoh (OEM) drive a while ago, and it seemed the only change I had to make was to the firmware was the drive ID and the checksum at the top. Add one byte there, remove one byte there.
The TiG4 Powerbooks had the same type of firmware 'fix'. I can't find the link to the upgradable firmware, but it doubled the speed of the MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-815A. Definitely was a major improvement over the standard 1x DVD burning that came with my powerbook.
GroupShares Inc.
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artlu.net
Sort of off topic, though i'm talking about LiteOn
Who are the other major manufacturers of DVD writers? Not the rebranded ones, be careful here, since Sony for instance gets most of their drivers from LiteOn. I am just wondering if anyone has had success writing DVDs with a non LiteOn drive.. because I've gone through 2 LiteOn RMA's and they make shit IMO. Either that or South East US got a bad palette of them...
Unknown host pong.
...obsession to mod/hack stuff? Seriously, aside from the "fun factor", is there any real point to doing it?
:-)
Please don't mod me down
I have the NEC 2500 that can be firmware-upgraded to the 2510 dual-layer model. People have been reporting that the new firmware works fine, but no one on any of the message boards has yet verified that dual-layer DVDs burned with the new firmware will play on standard DVD players. I'd be curious about the same issue with Lite-On models until there is more testing.
Also, dual-layer media is still very expensive. A DL disc costs much more than twice as much as a single-layer.
Can I now use this "dual layered" burner to copy Xbox games??? IS THIS THE HOLY GRAIL of Xboxen finally realised???
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
This is an example of something that I could burn faster with the new firmware.
Any chance the 8x / dual layer upgrade is going to happen on the Sony DW-U14A drive :-)
The "hack" was released around December/January I believe. Kinda late there /.
Anyway, Lite-On has some excellent burners. I got mine during Black Friday and let me tell you, the 4x burns at 8x =)
Load firmware for another drive? Seems to me it's like chopping off your toes to fit into the shoe, Yeah it might look better, but it could also hurt. A lot.
=================
Unix is very user friendly, it's just picky about who its friends are.
Upgrade Doubles +R Speed
Just get a "type R" sticker at AutoZone, glue it on your drive's tray and voilà, instant speed increase. Works with every drive on the market too...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
While the speeds are finally getting there, i think i'll hold off a little further on buying a DVD-RW. I'm also a little angry about the supposed 'dual-layer' capability - regular dual layer discs are 9.6 gb, not 8.5!
Aren't the Sony DVD writers just a re-packaged Lite-on? Or vice versa? Pretty much the same writer I read somewhere, just comes with a different logo and software package.
I have another method which actually produces more increase in speed. Simply affix one of my special "Type R" stickers to the bezel of your drive, and receive an instant 250% increase in speed!
What??? You can copy xboxen games without modchip?
Unless your Xbox is chip'd. IIRC, xbox media is read from the outside in, you need a modchip, or some crazy burning software to make it work. Much easier to just get a hard drive and rip the games.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
http://forums.speedlabs.org/ (membership required) has a series of mods/steps to let your 401S/411S write DVD+Rs (and -Rs when they arrive) at 8X, effectively converting them to a 8xxS drive. Drives thus converted can later be flashed with original 8xxS firmware. (401s must first be "overclocked" to 411s and from then to 8xx).
but which? Type-R or Type+R?
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
...to "upgrade" my existing single-layer 4x DVD-Rs to dual-layer...
I don't know about you folks, but the blank media for DL is still just way too expensive. I can't find anything under $7 per DVD.
There's tons of other burners that can do dual layer with unofficial firmware upgrades.
;-)
:-( Maybe someone else can provide one?
;-)
Even my el cheapo drive (Pioneer DVR-A06) might be able to do the trick, although I doubt Pioneer will release their hacked firmware for it just for the heck of it.
I once knew the link to pages summarizing the recorders where dual layer firmware was available but have lost it since then.
Anyway, if your recorder supports recording 8x discs, chances are that it has a modified firmware for dual layer recording floating around somewhere, as one of the requirements -- a 140 mW laser -- is a common requirement for 8x DVD+/-R burning and DL burning. Philips has confirmed this, but says that in some cases the Optical Pickup Unit is still not of high enough quality. Obviously not always, since DL burning with modified firmware has been done by people upgrading their drives like this.
Finally, it's still a risky business and you might bust your DVD-ROM drive by upgrading to a hacked firmware. And I doubt warranty applies.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
it's amazing how many things run faster by simply doubling the voltage. Blenders, Toasters, Fans, even light bulbs burn brighter!
Now, manufacturers CLAIM their devices were not intended to be used in this manner and that faster devices use different hardware, but just plug it up and see for yourself that they are obviously profit-mongering scumbags!! I see it running faster, what other unseen differences could possibly exist? Why would they even design their products similarly or base one version off another if they werent actually the exact same thing underneath?!
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
if you want a cheaper 451S do a pricewatch search for it, the first link is $53 shipped (in Cali).
Of course +R DL's are more then 3x the price of decent Single layers, so chances are most people are waiting for the media prices to drop, then will see what burners do DL.
Anyone heard about anything similiar for hte Plextor 708a? I paid a fortune for the drive (230$, best price at the time) 8 months ago, and its worthless now :)
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
I have a Lite-On LDW-411S drive, which is almost the same as the 451S, except it uses a different chipset. Is there any remote possibility that there could be a dual-layer upgrade for this model? (Or even the 811S - I know there's an upgrade to convert a 411S to an 811S.)
I have been a HUGE supporter of Lite-On drives for quite a while for this very reason. They are notorious for being easily flashed to higher read/write speeds with out any issues. I pity those fools who pay top dollor for $ony drives when they could just buy the exact same drive from Lite-On for a lot less.
[n8.r0n] http://petesweb.spymac.net/
I've read on various websites that Lite-On uses the same parts as the ones used in similar Plextor drives. Does anyone know if applying this firmware upgrade to a plextor drive would work? Or if applying a Plextor firmware upgrade for a dual-layer writer would work in much the same way on an older burner (ex. the 708a)?
Anyone know a good place to buy dual layer media?
The only thing limiting these drives is a damn software switch, and I have to shell out another $80 because I have the damn 411S instead of the 451S, so the upgrade won't work. Greedy bastards.
https://www.bananapc.com/products/productInfo.aspx ?category_id=1120&product_id=11180
nt
- It's not the Macs I hate. It's Digg users. -
Here is the page you're looking for. Interstingly I just noticed there's some firmware from the 816 which is a few months old and might be useable by 815 people, I'll have to look more carefully. As for the old stuff he had back in 2003...works? Yes and no. I had some minor problems- for example, the Finder no longer remembered that I wanted it to ignore blank CD/DVD media(it asks you, and you have the option of always sticking to that option, and it can be changed later in the Control Panels) and would ask me -every time-, which got to be annoying.
Second, it didn't really seem to double anything. Burn times with CDROMs didn't change at all, despite a supposed move from 8x to 16x, and Toast's time estimation was all messed up; it would be grossly optimistic, which was very suspicious. Further- the drive would change speeds, seemed like it was writing at constant-disk-surface-speed(I forget the abbreviation), not constant disk RPMs...and maybe even switching between 8x and 16x.
These experiences were with a rev 1 17" TiBook. Yes, the mechanism is supposedly the same, yes the firmware "worked", but to be honest, I don't think it provided anywhere near the doubling of write speeds that were promised. Since you can flash the firmware back and forth, I may do some more "time trials", since yes- burning at 1x for a DVD is PAINFULLY slow.
Please help metamoderate.
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Comment removed based on user account deletion
Can I download some firmware to upgrade my Celeron to a full Pentium 4?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Well before the 401s came out, there were rumours - originating from "usually well-informed sources" - that there would be a "leak" to allow it to burn DVD-R media (the 401s is a DVD+RW drive).
And, yup, that's exactly what happened. Yes, DVD-R support is still somewhat shaky and, the whole thing is mostly a result of volounteer work. But Lite-On has, at least from what I hear, been pretty supportive.
Lately though, they seem to have pulled the plug because of pressure from other manufacturers and patent attorneys (those drives are officially DVD+R drives so Lite-On would not be paying royalties to use the DVD-R standard).
OK, now will someone please figure out a way to get my LG GSA-4040B writer to write at 8x.
KTHXBYE.
At this site. What you need to know There are two methods of modification here: 1. The firmware hacking method 2. The EEPROM correction method These need further explanation I feel. The firmware hacking method disabled the sentinel or checking routine so the firmware is forced onto the 812S hardware. Pro's Its easy. Any pleb can find a hacked firmware on the lamerWeb. Also, there are lots of really cool hacks and write strategy adjustments being worked on. If you are into tweaking - this might just be for you! Con's LiteOn are sick of this behaviour. They are now considering making it SO hard to hack the firmware, soon, these methods of hacking will be made useless. It is a little minature war which, in the end - the hackers will fall in. The EEPROM method entails you extracting your EEPROM and having it custom checksummed to make the drive a "REAL" 832S DL drive. Pro's You have a REAL 832S on your hands - no need to worry about cross flash protection or hacking woes for you!!! This is as cool as it gets. Con's It requires the process of checksumming, which requires the EEPROM to be sent to me - then returned. It also requires the use of LTNFlash - which some users are unacquainted with.
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I can't believe crap like this makes the front page, but when Red Hat stock dives 20%+ on news of restated earnings, CFO resignations, and rumors of book-cooking, it's completely ignored.
Unbelievable.
I guess Linux companies are incapable of doing wrong around here.
I found a different firmware that says it will change my CDRom into a CDWriter...lets load that and....
Just flashed my LDW-851S. Everything is ok so far... yay :)
As shown here, Sony does use Lite-on for this drive.
So how fast does it go if you add a "Type -R" sticker on the front bezel?
Does a "Type +R" go any faster?
Steven V>
I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
According to http://www.pricewatch.com/ at http://www.bananapc.com/promo/general/0428_liteon_ pw/0428_liteon_pw.htm, - well it is $63 but should be $53 with coupon code W/ coupon code SH425L applied .
Just flip the disc over and use a standard hole punch to punch a half circle about an inch down from the top right side. Ta-da! You've just doubled your storage capacity!
Wait, what are we talking about? Isn't this 1983?
I have an 812S, can I use the the 832S firmware in my drive to get dual layer? I haven't been able to find any info.
>>Sig under construction
I own one of the 451S drives, but this is a non-windows house (well, I have some, but they are made of regular flat glass).
.rar format, and I'd assume that if I can unpack them, a quick session with dd would feed them to the drive.
I've got the patches, in
Does anyone know of a unix/linux x86 version of unrar?
Cheers, Gene
According to LiteOn's website they have exactly the same feature set:
451S
411S
As an owner of a 411S , i would be most interested to know if i could firmware upgrade it.
Sounds similar to to the good old days of mainframes.
Back in the day boxen were often sold underclocked by 50%, and we would charge a huge amount to "double to speed". Only one problem, a customer spotted an engineer just reaching inside and flipping the switch, and went mental that he had paid $HUGE_AMOUNT for this.
So after that every "upgrade" was a two day job, involving removing many panels and many parts, and making the job look as hard as possible, oh and of course flipping the switch when no-one was looking!
I was shipped a 451 instead of a 411 that I ordered about 7 months ago. Talk about a mistake, whew!
:-)
:-)
...Michael...
I recently upgraded my drive to 8x and even modded the ROM to boost some 4x media to 8x. I had some trouble with a custom mod I found (nero couldn't find the drive), but once I did the mods myself, which was easier than chewing buble gum and walking at the same time due to the great tools out there, I have been trouble free. I have had one coaster burning 8x on 4x Ritek media which costs me a whopping $.50 a piece.
While Lite-on doesn't encourage this, they are benifiting from it. I know 3 other people at work that bought a Lite-on, partly due to the active development community.
Once DL 16x is common, there really isn't much question which brand I will be buying, unless I can just upgrade the firmware, of course.
Who knows maybe the lite-on can be upgraded to blue-light.
Sounds like an upgrade to a IBM mainframe. They just came in and changed a few jumpers to enable the memory that was already there.
In this case, Lite-on used good parts and the smarts or foresight to design & build a cost effective and market effective unit. No redesign or tooling = cheaper units.