Superdrive dual layer or not???
 

According to the AppleStore, the Superdrive in my mac (1.8 G5 - Dec 2004) is not a dual-layer drive.

I run profiler and see that it's a: SONY DVD RW DW-U21A which appears to be a dual layer drive. I'm under the impression that someone at Apple saw fit to disable this feature :mad: (probably to allow for a "new feature" on the newer G5s).

Thanks, Heath
I've seen some hacks involving removing the drive and installing new firmware. Does anybody have a solution that seems less reckless?

Also, I have a dual layer drive in my PC (which I hardly ever use.) Where does one look to see if it may be compatible?

Typically Apple will use either the pioneer or the sony drives. You can typically put a retail box or oem drive in no problem.

However, IME, I have had numerous issues with iDVD and non apple drives. So, as long as you do not plan on using iDVD you should be okay in my experience.

Check out this website for more info:

http://www.xlr8yourmac.com

Do we know if Panther had any built-in support for dual-drives?

I'm wondering if the Tiger upgrade I will be doing soon will bring this drive to life...

10.3 added support for + dvd media, but I dunno about dual layer. If the hardware supports it, I bet perhaps a 3rd party app like toast would too.

However, I don't use a mac for burning stuff other than photos.

Panther does not have support for DL. You'll have to use Toast for that. Tiger, however, DOES have support for DL.

The question seems to be: Has my drive had its DL support disabled within its firmware (Tiger or not)? I've seen confusing information about this.

Thanks

With dual-layer discs presently costing about 4 to 5 times what a single-layer costs, what's the rush? I have the LaCie external dual layer (works great) but I'm waiting for price parity.

If you are trying to make long video DVD's, remember that the authouring program needs to support dual layer as well as the burning sw and the drive.

I understand the cost and the why rush issue. I have some laserdiscs that I've been transferring and would enjoy not having to continue the laserdisc experience with multiple-disc videos. I may wait a bit before actually burning them, but I'd like to know that I can do this eventually, or it's off to the pc I go

Apple's web site says that iDVD does support dual layer, so I'm assuming with a Tiger upgrade that should work.

I don't use iDVD, but I understood that it wouldn't make anything longer than 1 hour (copyright issues, incentive to shell out for Final Cut Pro etc.) Which basically moots the dual layer question. Or is it one hour per title?

I believe the 1 hour issue was with the encoder originally used. That has since changed and you can make longer disks.

NEC Dual Layer DVD
 

I typically stick with SONY drives in my Mac as compatiability is always an issue. However, I just purchased a NEC ND-3500A and it works great. iDVD doesn't like it, but TOAST does. I prefer to make ISO's from its companion EZCD Creator on the PC and then burn them on the MAC. This seems like a lot of work, but I need good solid (BOOTABLE in some cases) discs. Very rarely do I have any problems with the media.

My drive cost 57.00 and was worth every penny.

www.imagestore.com

Have a look at patchburn as well if you go for a third-party drive.

xlr8yourmac.com is a great place to look out for other's peoples experience with drives.

here is part of the apple service discussion board. I have no idea if its public or not. If it asks you if you are a service provider check the button that says you are not or no longer a service provider and see if it allows you read the article. Its about the new g5s and supporting dual layer dvdrw drives.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/we...68ad4144!fsi=1

At least with the free Developer-ID, you can't go there.

I'm unable to get at this. Does it give any hints?

It must not be a public document then. It basically says that the newer G5s will ship with dual layer DVD. So, I assume Tiger will support it, and you MUST upgrade to tiger to get native support.

Tiger does support it. I replaced my home SuperDrive with an OEM Pioneer DVR-108. I used Patchburn and everything was fine in Panther, but DL support was only through Toast. After installing Tiger, my drive is now supported natively by the OS.. including DL support.

The Powermac G5 I just got from Apple last month came with Tiger, iLife5, a drive that's capable of DL recording and a SONY DVD RW DW-U21A with DL support disabled in firmware. I've already determined that the drive can be made to work with DL media with a firmware update.

Now the question is if Apple will see fit to release a firmware update that will bring the SONY DVD RW DW-U21A installed in older G5s that will enable DL burning.

I imagine that the week after mine shipped, Apple started using the same drive with updated firmware. But haven't been able to find an reports on what people have found in their DL capable G5s.

DL-SD under Panther
 

Came across this thread under ask.com because I've downgraded a newer G5/DL-SD to 10.3, and now have lost support for any burning under the Finder and all Apple applications that allow for burning (such as iTunes).

Of course, Toast is OK like the previous posts stated.

Has anyone come across an update or patch to give DL support to Apple software under 10.3?

Yes. PatchBurn. You'll find it if you Google for it.

Cool!
 

Thanks for the info. Works like a charm.