Pioneer DVD drives are too hot to handle
Published: 18 Sep 2002 07:30 BST
Pioneer Electronics said on Tuesday that its DVD rewritable drives can cause PCs or DVD players to overheat when recording on certain high-speed disks.
Representatives from Philips Electronics USA, based in Long Beach, California, said that writing to blank 4x DVD-R and 2x DVD-RW discs can cause its DVD-Rewritable PC drives and DVD recorders to freeze.
If the drives or recorders remain frozen for longer than five minutes, the optical lens, which writes to the discs, can overheat and render the hardware inoperable.
To fix the problem, a user must download new software that can manage the system's hardware. The update is available on the Pioneer Web site.
Pioneer's drives, which are also marketed under the name "Superdrive," are used in personal computers from Compaq Computer, Apple Computer and Sony Electronics. Andy Parsons, senior vice president for Pioneer, says PC makers plan to release their own fix for the DVD problem soon.
Drives and recorders that are affected include Pioneer's DVR-A03, DVR-103, DVR-A04, DVR-104 computer drives and Pioneer's DVR-7000 DVD and PRV-9000 Professional recorders.
Pioneer has sold over 1 million computer drives and about 10,000 recorders in the United States, according to Parsons.
Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum.
Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.
Did you find this article useful?
38 out of 61 people found this useful
Digg
Slashdot
Del.ici.ous
Stumble
Reddit
