Micro Advantage 16X DVD+/-RW

[TCAS]

Who manufactures the Micro Advantage DVD+/-RW 16X Model No. 16DDVDRW-A13 burner. The drive has the fowwing specs:

Writing Speed: DVD+R at 16X
DVD-R at 8X
DVD+/-RW at 4X
DVD+R (D/L) at 2.4X

CD-R at 48X
CD-RW at 24X
BTW: This drive will be on sale starting Sunday March 6, at Office Max for $39 flat with no rebate.

[TCAS]

To confirm the maker of this Micro Advantage DVD 16X drive, I just opened the package it is Aopen Model DUW 1608 drive. So being Aopen, the $39 for the retail version of this drive is top deal and you can bit it.

[ETP]

Anyone flash this with the new AOPEN FW? This could be a good cheapo for everyone!
Like I need another drive! I have two on the floor.

[CowboySlim]

OK, since my NEC ND-3500 has been out on RMA for two weeks and I don't know when it is coming back, I got one of these for the interem. I'll put it in after the race.

[ETP]

I went to buy one and my wife said those are so cheap buy two. Well I paid for it later. Who needs plastic plants in the house!
Just flashed it to 07 and trying a decrypter burn on a memorex +8R.

[ETP]

Looks like 8x for 10 mins.
So how do you access just link software?
9:20 mins for TY+R also! Shrink to decrypter.

[CowboySlim]

Mine doesn't say AOpen but it is Ser. No. AC01 53312 with FW A05a, if that means anything.

TCAS: Exactly where does yours say AOpen?

ETP: Where did you get the 07 FW? Microadvantage site?

Thanks!

[TCAS]

Mine doesn't say AOpen but it is Ser. No. AC01 53312 with FW A05a, if that means anything.

TCAS: Exactly where does yours say AOpen?

ETP: Where did you get the 07 FW? Microadvantage site?

Thanks!

Hi Slim, exactly on the top of the marking which says model no. that model number says duw 1608 which is Aopen.

ETP; I upgraded my self to A070G from Micro Advantage site, did some testing, the drive is friendly with +R format (burn Maxell +R 8X at 12X) but nasty on -R format (just burn them at 7.3X to 7.9X) with good burning results, also did the testing on transfer rate with Nero CD/DVD Speed with result kind of pyramid type the drive climb to 8.4X at first layer and drops to 4X at second.

Question; have tried to flash the drive with Aopen latest F/W which is duw1608_r107? I wonder if any one has done that, since the drive is Genuine Aopen may be we should flash it with Aopen F/W instead of M/A one. The minimum that will do make drive to be identified as Aopen duw1608.

[CowboySlim]

Mine has two lables on the top: A smaller, stick on type with the model number the same as on the box and a larger real looking one with all the stuff and model DUW1608/ARR.

Going to flash now.

[CowboySlim]

OK, I flashed and ran at test on Fuji/TY DVD+R, 8x which the NEC burned CAV ending at 16x. This jobbie is CLV 4x-8x-12x, without much 12x, for 9.06 min total. Well, if it had been $50, I'd take the POS back.

[TCAS]

OK, I flashed and ran at test on Fuji/TY DVD+R, 8x which the NEC burned CAV ending at 16x. This jobbie is CLV 4x-8x-12x, without much 12x, for 9.06 min total. Well, if it had been $50, I'd take the POS back.

Slim; Look at it as a DVD-ROM + One of the best CD-RW writer available + avarage or even blow avarage DVD writer which does the job for only $39. I have seen DVD writer with 3X price of this one with less performance.

BTW: Did you flash with M/A A070G F/W or Aopen r107 one ?.

[CowboySlim]

I did the M/A A07G. Do you think that the AOpen r107 is better?

[TCAS]

I did the M/A A07G. Do you think that the AOpen r107 is better?

Honestly don't know and I haven't read in any place that some one has flashed it. The Aopen F/W I believe will turn the drive to be labeled as "Aopen" as drive string will change. I also like to point out the quality of burning this drive is really flawless and near perfect if I can't call it perfect. I have burn 3 Video all three are excellent.

P.S. I intend to think the M/A f/w is exactly the Aopen f/w because they both have Jan 05 as release date and may A070 (A stand for Aopen and 07 is same last digit of Aopen f/w). I might even try to flash to Aopen r_107.

[ETP]

Yes! I flashed at the MICRO site and the drive will not burn any 8X faster than 12X so far. So! I have the same question! Will the Aopen FW do a better job with burn speed? And how do you access just link?

Worth $40 for extra drives, but barely as Slim said.

[ETP]

I guess it is time for one of us the do an AOPEN flash and take it back if it breaks.

[pchilson]

I had this drive awhile back.
I don't think you will be able to use the Aopen version of the flasher as the "drive string" is not the same.
However, I believe that is the only difference in the two firmwares.

Unimpressive drive...

[CowboySlim]

I seem to have a problem with this drive that I didn't have with the NEC ND-3500.

I am trying to make Video DVDs from Mpeg-2s that I've captured from my TV tuner card, ATI AIW 9600XT. While I'm trying to develop the process I've been using erased (not formatted) DVD+RWs for the testing using both the ATI software and Nero VisionExpress to burn the DVDs.

With the NEC drives, the burned DVDs could be played in both my DVD players, one a cheapie Cyberhome and one a better Philips.

With the MicroAdvantage drive, only the Philips will play. The Cyberhome displays "DVD-R" whatever that means.

Note that the NEC does not have bitsetting/booktyping, it just works. If the M/A has such, I don't know about it and therefore haven't invoked it.

[TCAS]

Slim; According to the drive specs and several reviews including CDRLabs

http://www.cdrlabs.com/reviews/index.ph ... Conclusion

The drive is capable for bitsetting on DVD+R, DVD+RW and DVD D/L disk format befor you burn try to set the disk you are burning at DVD-ROM to make it possible to played in every DVD player.

[CowboySlim]

I checked the manual with my Cyberhome player and it claims compatibility with DVD+R and +RW.

Now I just ran another test using the ATI S/W to transcode and burn with same result as NVE. No on Cyberhome and yes on Philips.

What I'm trying to do is make DVDs of the NASCAR races to replace VCR/VHS business. To catch it all on one tape I have to use 6hr EP and then the quality suffers and sometimes even then I don't get it all. If I'm gone and there has been a rain delay and the race ends 8 hours after the scheduled start, too bad.

So there is one other thing that cropped up now that I have a real race to work with that I didn't notice prior to the start of the season when I was testing with other programming. That is, with the race NVE refused to burn and the error log said:
[21:14:43] NeroVision HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\AllocateCDROMs : 0 (Security Option)
so I don't know what that is but I wonder if it some kind of DRM lock put on by Fox for NASCAR races that isn't on other captures. I set it to 1 and NVE burned OK.

But for the burns that are working the quality is excellent!

Do you know how I can reset the bitsetting to DVD-ROM?

Thanks

[TCAS]

I checked the manual with my Cyberhome player and it claims compatibility with DVD+R and +RW.

Now I just ran another test using the ATI S/W to transcode and burn with same result as NVE. No on Cyberhome and yes on Philips.

What I'm trying to do is make DVDs of the NASCAR races to replace VCR/VHS business. To catch it all on one tape I have to use 6hr EP and then the quality suffers and sometimes even then I don't get it all. If I'm gone and there has been a rain delay and the race ends 8 hours after the scheduled start, too bad.

So there is one other thing that cropped up now that I have a real race to work with that I didn't notice prior to the start of the season when I was testing with other programming. That is, with the race NVE refused to burn and the error log said:
[21:14:43] NeroVision HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\AllocateCDROMs : 0 (Security Option)
so I don't know what that is but I wonder if it some kind of DRM lock put on by Fox for NASCAR races that isn't on other captures. I set it to 1 and NVE burned OK.

But for the burns that are working the quality is excellent!

Do you know how I can reset the bitsetting to DVD-ROM?

Thanks

Open the Nero CD/DVD Speed ( With blanck DVD in the drive) click on extra, click on bitsetting and set the DVD+R and DVD+RW to DVD-ROM.

[CowboySlim]

OK, I just don't see it. Using Nero CD-DVD Speed 3.12. I'll check for new one.

[TCAS]

OK, I just don't see it. Using Nero CD-DVD Speed 3.12. I'll check for new one.

Down load the Nero CD/DVD Speed version 3.70 from here:

http://www.cdspeed2000.com/

And do the setting.

[ETP]

Mine is set to ROM and I don't remember doing anything to change it to booktype=ROM. So it works fine so far. Maybe a setting in Decrypter and Nero.

[TCAS]

ETP/Slim;

Despite some complaints and negative comments from some this drive is prity decent in burning and performances, look in to the following tests that I did with this drive using second rated Teon 8X (Media Code CMC MAG E01) on burning and transfer rate (ripping). Not bad for $40 drive.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=129517

[tig2002]

I purchased this drive yesterday at Office Max. I was so impressed when I saw the price in their weekly ad, and the most important – no rebates! Plain $39. I upgraded the firmware to latest version A070G as soon as I installed the drive in my computer. Burnt two DVD’s with no problems so far: Vanguard 4x DVD-R at 4x and Maxell 8X DVD-R at 8X. I agree that for what I paid for the drive, I should look at it as well performing 48X CD-RW / 16X DVD-ROM, not to mention its 16X DVD+R / 8X DVD-R / 2.4X DL DVD+R capabilities. But no matter how much we pay, we don’t buy burners for using them for couple of months and switching to newer ones. Therefore I don’t mind paying an extra $16 and buying famous NEC ND-3520A burner at New Egg, and I will have 16X DVD-R vs. 8X and 4X DL DVD+R vs. 2.4X. So having a good CD-RW / DVD-ROM for $39 is not a point simply because I need a good performing DL DVD burner, and not a good performing CD burner / DVD reader. Is this a good burner? While 8X DVD-R vs. 16X does not make big difference for me since it still takes a while for any drive to start burning process and end it with lead-in / lead-out times, 2.4X DL DVD+R concerns me because burning 8.5GB disk at 2.4X vs. 4X will make a big difference. I am also concerned about MicroAdvantage’s poor website. The firmware update has no comments and I have no idea what this update is about: speed improvement (16X DVD-R), better media support, better burn quality? If I knew that the new upgrade will make it 16X DVD-R and 4X DL DVD+R, I would keep the drive with no doubt. Does anybody know if this drive can be upgraded to 16X DVD-R and 4X DL DVD+R with firmware upgrade? I still have 13 days to decide…