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MSI DR4-A DVD Writer Review

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  1. Derick •  January 23, 2004
    Rating: 5/5

    One thing I notice about your review is that you did not indicate the firmware version you are using.

    I’d just bought this writer 2 weeks ago with firmware 2.30 and RPC II by default.

    I use nero 6.3.0.2 to burn 8 discs +/-dvdr (TDK,Maxell,Verbatim) so far without any problem. burning time is between 12 to 15 mins(all discs are burned with 4gb and above data).

    Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  2. Marcus •  March 12, 2004
    Rating: 5/5

    Burns most types of media. Have experienced no problems with this drive unlike my previous NEC and HP drives. Using Prassi software and nero 6 without trouble.8 mb cache does make a difference and the independent cd play is quite useful.

    Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  3. visions •  April 11, 2004
    Rating: 4/5

    requirement not listed, a 1.7+ghz CPU. To burn at full speed it is required to have a 1.7ghz cpu… Otherwise they will only go 2x

    Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  4. R Drivet •  April 18, 2004
    Rating: 2.5/5

    I am having two big problems with my new dvd-rw dr4a.

    The fist one:

    A lot of times when I put a DVD / CD in the device, the system stop working, and I must restart the pc manually.

    I have a Pentium 4 pc (Micro = 2.8 MHz with HT tech. and with 512 mb ddr 400 MHz memory working in double channel) the mother boar is an Intel D865PERL

    Windows XP Prof. SP1

    If I do not take into account this issue, the system works very well.

    The second problem is as follow:

    As I do not know some things about DVDs, I set some configurations trying to understand some things and yesterday I found out that I am not able to reproduce a zone 4 DVD. (I am from Argentina). The systems told to me that I am not having any more chances to change the zone but I do not know when I changed the zone before.

    Some body told to me that I need to update the FW but I do not know where may I get it.

    Could you please advice me in this matter?

    Thanks for all,

    Best regards,

    Ricardo Drivet

    Rating: 5 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  5. Edd •  April 19, 2004
    Rating: 5/5

    check the following link for the firmware, also some writers/players have the problem when you insert in different region coded discs they will switrch to match the region of your disc, keep changing discs r1,2 etc it locks on the last one, most usualyy allow 5-10 changes before locking, if creating backups of DVD’s especially from different regions you should use a programme like DVDshrink, this allows the discs to be ripped region free and either stored on the hard disk for later burning using Nero or straight to disc. hope this helps

    Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  6. DVD man •  May 1, 2004
    Rating: 5/5

    “it seemed to scream through the writing process, but upon finalizing the DVD it stalled”

    This was because of a firmware error. The latest firmware (when this post was made, 1/5/04), there is FW 2.60D out. The DVD+/-R finalizing error was solved a long old tiemj ago.

    Now the latest FW, adds DVD disk compatibilty and RAW modes, that were missing in 2.50D.

    Basiclly, update your FW to 2.60D

    Rating: 10 :: 0 out of 1 people found this user review helpful.

  7. Savage •  May 7, 2004
    Rating: 3/5

    My DR-4A had the 2.30 bios. Had some strange issues with my DVD-R media (coasters) though it had zero problems with DVD+R/RW media. Flashed it to latest 2.60 bios but no percieved improvement in DVD-R handling.

    Rating: 6 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  8. Leon •  October 5, 2004
    Rating: 0.5/5

    after flashing from 2.50D to 2.60D, he does not work anymore. He reads only music CD’s, read no more DVD’s and does not write anymore. Nero gives errors al the time. I used different versions of nero with the same result.

    Rating: 1 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  9. Grant •  October 13, 2004
    Rating: 1/5

    Brought for $350 NZ and now I wish I had waited a little bit longer, using latest firmware and have just got it back from repair because it didn’t complete the writing process. Now it writes DVD’s but they can’t be read in any other drive / player

    Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  10. Steve Sava •  April 13, 2005
    Rating: 4/5

    First bios had problems, but after flash it has been reliable. Writes DVD+R/=R, DVD+RW fine. Had problems with analog CD copies, turns out it was a bad IDE cable.

    Rating: 8 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

  11. m.bressers •  October 16, 2007
    Rating: 1/5

    I have my dr4-a for some years no and did not experience any problems burning CD-Rom or CD+Rom, however burning DVD’s is impossible because it does not finalise at all. Tried different types of burning software but all gave the same disappointing results.

    Rating: 2 :: 0 out of 0 people found this user review helpful.

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