Pioneer DVR 105 or 106

[Punx]

105 or 106? Which one do I need to burn DVDs via iMovie and iDVD? I've heard a couple different opinions, but I figured I'd get the right one here. I'm running a G4, 1GHz processor with 10.2.8 which I'm assuming has iDVD with it. All I want is to take small videos off of my digital cam via firewire and burn them on to DVD. So which one is it Pioneer 105 or 106??

[DJ Insomaniac]

i know that the 105 will work, it's what i have. my assumption would be that the 106 will work, as well.

You may not have iDVD. It can be purchased in the iLife package, although i think you'll need Panther (10.3) to run that.

You may have it on one of the software restore CDs that came w/ the Mac, or maybe you can find it online somewhere.

[DonaldR]

I just bought a Pionner DVR-106 last month.

I upgraded to Panther (10.3) thinking that DVR-106 is pretty new and Jaguar might only have drivers for DVR-105 (putting all the odds on my side ). iMovie, iTune and iPhoto are bundled with the OS. However, iDVD is bundled with iLife. So I purchased iLife 04, swapped my DVD-Rom with the new Pionner DVD drive, installed Panther, installed iLife and everything worked flawlessly.

Just remember that for burning data DVD, you need 5Gb of free space on your system drive after everything is installed. This is for OS-X to build the image before burning the DVD. Panther takes 3-4 Gb and iLife take 4-5Gb (with GarageBand) so make sure you have enough disk space because it will be harder later.

So now I can plug my mini-DV camcorder directly into firewire port in back of my 400Mhz G4, transfer video in iMovie, add chapters, export project to iDVD, open iDVD, customize the DVD content and burn to DVD without additionnal 3rd party software or any messing with drivers download or anything.

Send me an email if you need additionnal info.

[Punx]

Is there a different version of the 106 for PC vs. Mac? Or is just a generic device. I'm curious because I'd prefer to get an internal one. Also isn't there some sort of +/- issue with the model numbers?

[cwhite771]

Shouldn't matter if you have a PC or Mac, though firmware updates seem to be easier to do if you have a PC. I've read in a couple places that the versions that start with A instead of a 1 (ex. A05 instaed of 105) are the versions that Apple uses and that these are the only versions that work with Apple apps like iDVD-- I don't believe this is the case but I haven't confirmed it.

Also, I can't remember which version it was 104 or 105 (or both), but one of the drives requires a firmware update when used in a Mac, otherwise you'll toast the drive in 5 minutes if you try to burn at 4X. If you search around the web or piioneer/apple support, I'm sure you can find the info about it

I just picked up a 107 internal here for $122 -- now it looks like they're selling them for $109. Since the 107 is newer, it seems that not all software supports it yet, but it's only matter of time. It does all the +/- R/RW stuff.

I put it into an extra FW enclosure I have and have used it to burn some CDR's and CDRW's-- haven't had time to try a DVD yet (only had it a week so far. Even found a hack that that allows to use iDVD with an external-- not sure if that works yet either, but the app opens now without telling me that it can't find a player and the burn button is enabled.
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[cwhite771]

Looks like it was the 103's and 104's which had the 4X burnout problems.

http://www.apple.com/hardware/superdrive/
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[Punx]

The 107 is the one I think I'm gonna go with cwhite. Thanks!! I saw that the drive is 8x. Any information on problems burning at 8x?

[cwhite771]

Actually, I've been unable to find 8X media so far at any of the chain computer/electronics stores. Guess I should've ordered some when I got the drive. I picked up some 4X for the time being and have yet to burn a DVD-- hopefullly this week.
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[Punx]

I just bought my drive from the same place you did today cwhite. Guess I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed on getting it to work with iMovie and iDVD. Probably have to break down and buy iLife as well.