I found these two a recent store. One is the pioneer 104, about 270 dollar, the other was a pioneer a04, about 350 dollar

I always thought they were the same, but what's the difference?

The 104 is the OEM version. A04 is full retail.

What's the diffrence for the full retail? Does it include software and a couple of dvdrw ? They're the exact same drive?

essentially they are the same mate.
one has a nice box and a few disks the other does not.

evade

Thanks for clearing that up.

so basically get the cheaper, as they are the same drive!! :D

Someone might want to check this, but I believe the A04 supports ATA66 max where as the 104 ATA33 max. In which case, not quite the same drive.

Okay that makes sense, but i'm still confuse. I plan on gettting an 105, is there any reason why I should get the a05 instead?

Only if you want the software, and blank discs. If you already have that, then no reason to pay for more.

Okay, thre's this person in the BST forum, he claim you can make an 104 burn at 4x

http://www.**********.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6825
Originally posted by dss
:D :D You cant find a Pioneer 104 this cheap any where!! dont pass this up!!

ALSO HAS UP GRADED FLASH TO BURN DVDR @ 4X SO YOU CAN BURN A DISC AS FAST AS 15 MIN!!!

If this is possibly, why get an 105. Also i don't think the method above is safe, is it?

That is the 1st I've heard of that!!
Sounds questionable at best. Even pushing the 104 to burn 2X on 1X media was a stretch, it works, but this sounds like B$ to me. Anyone else heard of this?

Why doesn't that suprise me.. Or that people would actually send money to such a person.

The 104 can NOT burn DVD's at 4X. It's laser, etc. simply is not capable. The only possibility would be if Pioneer changed models and started using 105 internals on the 104 with a different firmware, such as what Lite-On do. However I have heard absolutly nothing to suggest such a thing.

More outrageous quoates.

Originally posted by dss
Im selling my liteon 32x12x40x CDRW $65.00 (PayPal only) shipping will be Priority USPS with tracking . any questions please use the profile button above to email me!! thanks dss:D :D

Originally posted by ashVID
You might want to add that this drive can be firmware flashed to burn at 48X!!!!
ash =o)

These coming from trusted traders, hmmm. Is there such a method to flash dvdrw or cdrw, if not why are these trusted trader think it can be.

Well a Lite-On 32125W can be flashed to a 40125S/W or a 48125W/S.
The 32123S can only be flashed to a 40125S.

As I said before this is only because Lite-On use the same or very similar components in multiple drives in order to save on production. This way they can sell a 32X and 40X drive whilst only having to produce one. Only the firmware makes them different.

This is why you see model changes with Lite-On. The original 32X drives were the 32123S, then when the 40X and 48X were released they switched to the 32125W.


This is the DVD forum though, if you want to discuss flashing Lite-On CDRW drives, try the CDRW forum.