I did a large and opinionated post earlier about benefits of using cheap DVD drives over things like Pioneer. There is a benefit of paying for Pioneer drive too – ability to flash the firmware under MacOS X.
The software one needs for it is DVRflash compiled for Mac OS X, and a firmware image containing the kernel code necessary to get the drive into kernel mode (that permits flashing) and the (patched) firmware. Kernel code from any version of the firmware would do, as it is only used during the flashing to get the drive into receptive state. Firmware, on the other hand, should probably be either newer then the one you have already, or at the very least same version but with different features.
For the firmware for your particular model of the drive, you should probably look at RPC1.org web site. Also worth looking at are Pioneerdvd and Gradius’s web pages.
Here is the actual flashing session.
#include <stddisclaimer.h> /* Not responsible for anything! */
I’ve put the Pioneer DVR-105 drive into an external USB/FW enclosure connected over FW. Operating system is MacOS X 10.4.1 (Still PPC, not yet mactel :-), drive is connected over firewire.
First I determine that the software sees the drive (as root):
root@gilva:~/Desktop/DVRFlash_2.0/DVR-105 v1.33 - RPC-1 + 2xDVD-R + 12xRip[05:16 PM]# ./DVRFlash
DVRFlash v2.0 : Pioneer DVR firmware flasher
by Agent Smith et al., July 2004
Commandline:
./DVRFlash
Device parameter was not given, detecting all DVR drives:
Device : B:
Vendor : PIONEER
Model : DVD-RW DVR-105
Revision : 1.00
Now run DVRFlash again, from the command prompt, using
one of the device(s) listed above as first parameter
Press the Return key to exit
root@gilva:~/Desktop/DVRFlash_2.0/DVR-105 v1.33 - RPC-1 + 2xDVD-R + 12xRip[05:19 PM]#
At this point I know that drive B: is the drive I want (Drive A is presumably the built in Matsushita combo), so I run the software again, this time with the right arguments:
root@gilva:~/Desktop/DVRFlash_2.0/DVR-105 v1.33 - RPC-1 + 2xDVD-R + 12xRip[05:19 PM]# ./DVRFlash
-f PIONEER R5100004.133 R5100104.133
DVRFlash v2.0 : Pioneer DVR firmware flasher
by Agent Smith et al., July 2004
DISCLAIMER
THIS PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE ABILITY OF THIS PROGRAM TO FLASH A
PIONEER OR COMPATIBLE DVR DRIVE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY
SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
THIS PROGRAM IS NOT ENDORSED BY PIONEER CORPORATION OR ANY
COMPANY RESELLING PIONEER EQUIPMENT AS THEIR OWN BRAND
IF YOU UNDERSTAND THE RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PROGRAM AND
DISCHARGE BOTH THE AUTHOR AND PIONEER CORPORATION FROM ANY
DAMAGE OCCURING AS THE RESULT OF ITS USE, PLEASE INDICATE SO
BY ANSWERING THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:
Do you understand and agree to the statement above (y/n)?
y
Commandline:
./DVRFlash -f PIONEER R5100004.133 R5100104.133
Drive Information:
Description - PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105
Firmware Rev. - 1.00
Firmware Date - 02/10/10
Manufacturer - PIONEER
Drive is in normal mode.
Are you sure you want to flash this drive (y/n)?
y
Switching drive to Kernel mode:
Description - PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105
Firmware Rev. - 0000
Firmware Date - 00/00/00
Manufacturer - PIONEER
Drive is now in Kernel mode
Now sending the Kernel part...
Now internal Kernel reflashing. Please wait... OK.
Now sending the Normal part:
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
|============|============|============|============|
Please hold your breath for about 30 seconds...
Now internal reflashing. Please wait... OK.
Updated Information:
Description - PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-105
Firmware Rev. - 1.33
Firmware Date - 03/05/26
Manufacturer - PIONEER
Flashing operation successful ;)
root@gilva:~/Desktop/DVRFlash_2.0/DVR-105 v1.33 - RPC-1 + 2xDVD-R + 12xRip[05:20 PM]#
So after holding my breath for about 30 seconds, it finished. I went ahead and verified that firmware got updated:
root@gilva:~/Desktop/DVRFlash_2.0/DVR-105 v1.33 - RPC-1 + 2xDVD-R + 12xRip[05:20 PM]# ./DVRFlash
DVRFlash v2.0 : Pioneer DVR firmware flasher
by Agent Smith et al., July 2004
Commandline:
./DVRFlash
Device parameter was not given, detecting all DVR drives:
Device : B:
Vendor : PIONEER
Model : DVD-RW DVR-105
Revision : 1.33
Now run DVRFlash again, from the command prompt, using
one of the device(s) listed above as first parameter
Press the Return key to exit
root@gilva:~/Desktop/DVRFlash_2.0/DVR-105 v1.33 - RPC-1 + 2xDVD-R + 12xRip[05:21 PM]#