OfficeMax DVD-R/RW is Pioneer DVR-A05

[dxpaap]

thx - more involved then I expected. Was hoping it was a simple 1 or 2 step process (22 hours to rip a movie !).

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Took the plunge. They still had several at the Hilltop location in Virginia Beach. I didn't mess with the coupon but at $179 after rebate and taxes it's a good deal for the 105. (So much for the Sony.)

 

[John P]

Can someone please post the item # so I can call my local officemax stores adnsee if they have any still in stock? Each of the stores is about 30 minutes drive from eachother and before I waste my afternoon I would like to know if they are still on sale or in on the deal.

Item # for the Cenydyne A05 model on my receipt is 122574348187.

It doesn't hurt to print out the $40 off $200 online coupon and ask them if you can use it, YMMV of course. Just don't get all huffy if they say no. The store I bought mine at let me use it no problem, I just told them I tried to order it online but the drive was not there. Coupon can be found at nonskinny billfold in the forums.

I burned my first DVD with the included disc of some footage shot with my Mini-DV camcorder. Looks great!! Can't wait to get some more discs, ordered some cheap Riteks from hypermicro.com. I don't quite understand all the fuss about having to have 4X discs, they cost twice as much and it didn't take all that long to burn at 1X or 2X or whatever mine burnt at (MyDVD speed was set to automatic).

 

[dade305]

Why haven't Pioneer posted the lastest "firmware v1.21" on their USA website?

I refuse to download from their Japan website!

 

[John P]

Why haven't Pioneer posted the lastest "firmware v1.21" on their USA website?

I would advise to not upgrade the firmware until all the bugs are worked out. Enjoy the drive out of the box for now unless you like experimenting. I did a bunch of reading over on the vcdhelp.com forum on this subject. I am going to wait for a firmware that seems a bit more solid and others have tested before I upgrade mine.

 

[Optical]

Seems like this drive is OOS in the bay area. Anyone have better luck?

 

[may]

Originally posted by: John P.

Why haven't Pioneer posted the lastest "firmware v1.21" on their USA website?

I would advise to not upgrade the firmware until all the bugs are worked out. Enjoy the drive out of the box for now unless you like experimenting. I did a bunch of reading over on the vcdhelp.com forum on this subject. I am going to wait for a firmware that seems a bit more solid and others have tested before I upgrade mine.

I have read on many forums. vcdhelp, firmware-flash, cd freak, and doom9, most people upgraded said good thing about 1.21. I upgraded the second day after I got my drive, seems the new firmware solves some CDR related problem for me (extreme long loading time for blank CDR). So far I burned 5 maxell dvd-Rs at 2x w/o problem and now I am waiting for rima.com's sample pack. So far the only bad disc is one dvd-r I got from CC long time ago. it is a Ritek 1st generation. I burned at 1x. Although recordnow Max verified the disc after burning, it can't pass NERO DVD speed test.

 

[RamaRay]

check out the Firmware Forum for information on the 1.21 bios upgrade (try not to get distracted by the fake TDK disk BS in the middle). it appears the update does improve burning. i upgraded and have not found any issues (cendyne/pioneer 105 unit). as always, YMMV.

 

[taoofbean]

Whichever one of you in the Portland area named Randolph? that saved the last available Cendyne 105 owes me big time. I called early Friday morning and the stock person just happened to find one last one buried in the back. I gave him my name and he allegedly set it aside for me to pick up later today. I show up at this Office Max and they say they have one on hold, but not for me. Somehow, they lost my name adn some guy from one of these forums had this different stock person reserve it for themselves.

Frankly, I wasn't that angry because you know... that is about right. I find the last one of these freaking drives in a 100 mile radius, drive the 40 minutes to get there, and they lose the fact I was the one they were holding it for. Merry Christmas Randolph or Randal or whoever you are.

They are at least going to give me a rain check on the price when they get the drives in again.

PS: There are two sku numbers in the advertisement featuring this Cendyne. The second is for a Verbatim drive that the MIR / IR also apply to. I looked at one of the Verbatim substitute drives adn although it normally retails for $300, the back of the box said it burned at "DVD+RW-R - 2.4x." There were typos on the box but I think it says that it burns both DVDR and DVDRW at some wierd 2.4x speed instead of 2x and 4x.

Ishmael

 

[GoSharks]

DVD +r/rw burns at 2.4x

 

[iwearnosox]

Originally posted by: Optical
Seems like this drive is OOS in the bay area. Anyone have better luck?

Nah. The NPM ratio around here nearly guarantees you wont find one.

(NPM = Nerds Per Million residents.)

 

[RyO721]

Originally posted by: Optical
Seems like this drive is OOS in the bay area. Anyone have better luck?

They have lots in San Francisco, both officemax. The thing is, they charge 279 whereas other places charge 269 and they don't have the $50 Instant Rebate. There is the $50 MIR. I tried both office maxs and they said, "they don't have that promotion." Pretty lame. =( I wanted one too.