That is a good assumption to make, but we will have to wait for confirmation from new Power Mac owners.

Yes it's exactly the same. There is a 109XL or something that's has some little feature better, i think it might be this in some of them... but they are all flashed the same.

Regardless any old sap can get this drive for $60, it's a damn good drive too very whisper quiet.

The actual cost on this drive (through ingram micro, a disturbuter is $21 FYI) Meaning it probably cost able maximum of $20 to add these into the powermacs...

The economics of scale are simply amazing. Remember the prices for the first DVD burners or the price for the G4 733/SuperDrive?

I just got the DVR-A09, the retail version of the DVR-109.

16x write speeds for DVD+/-R and Double Layer recording at 6x

I love it, it's WHiiiSPER quiet and fast. Burning in Tiger is working great with Toast. Haven't used the iApps yet.

Awesome, how is it recognized in System Profiler under Burn Support? Apple Shipped/Supported?

i asked this same question to a person who got the new powermac on the apple forums and it is the dvr-109. here is the info he posted from profiler.

Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-109
Revision: A912
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal

I'd like to upgrade but I want to maintain full compatibility now and in the immediate future... so basically the DVD-109 and the DVR-109 BK like they have on NewEgg are exactly the same drive?

Yes they are the same. BK only refers to the drives color, black.

I used to have a DVR-106 in my PowerMac which did not come with it and when it was installed OS X picked it up like an Apple shipped drive and I'm sure it will be the same in this case.

under the ~newest~ cat~ OS, under Disc Burning category in ASP, this is what it says about the DVR-109:

and btw I believe there's a firmware update (that can be applied with a PC) for my drive, supposed to enable faster ripping. 1.40 I believe?

Cool. Thanks everyone!

(I posted this same information in the Peripherals forum before I saw this thread). I have a DVR-109 and installed Tiger today. I get the same as you in the system profiler, but it will not burn DVDs or CDs. If I try I get an error message saying the drive is unsupported.

Patchburn says they will have a Tiger version of their software soon. I hope it fixes the problem!

Mine burns DVDs and CDs just fine in Tiger. I posted over at xlr8's database too.

that's strange.

It gets stranger. It seems to work now. There may be a bug. The only thing I did between the first tries and the second tries was I rebooted back in Panther for a few minutes (on my backup drive) to look up some unrelated e-mail settings. After I booted back into Tiger I saw your post, tried it again, and voila! it works.

Beats me.

[QUOTE=SimeyTheLimey] I have a DVR-109 and installed Tiger today. I get the same as you in the system profiler, but it will not burn DVDs or CDs. If I try I get an error message saying the drive is unsupported.

I have exactly the same problem with my new "Superdrive" in my G4 FW800 MDD. It plays CDs & DVDs, but won't burn. I get the "unsupported" error message as well and I have rebooted dozens of times and nothing changes. I'm using Panther and this is just ONE of the many problems I'm having with it. The Profiler reads:

PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-109:

Manufacturer: PIONEER
Model: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-109
Revision: 1.17
Drive Type: CD-RW/DVD-RW
Disc Burning: Not Supported
Removable Media: Yes
Detachable Drive: No
Protocol: ATAPI
Unit Number: 0
Socket Type: Internal

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks all!

Are you using Toast 6 now? If you do, upgrade to 6.1, and it will work with Tiger.

Here's what's in my new dual 2.0 G5:

SONY DVD RW DW-Q28A:

Firmware Revision: KAS7
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No

WEIRDNESS! I opened Roxio Toast and waited for it to ask for a disc... when I complied, it worked just fine. Don't know if that's an every time thing, but I'll be happy with what I've got! Hopefully, someday, someone will come up with an explanation. I sure would like to know what's up in case it happens again!

Thanks all!

I recently got the DVR-109BK. It came with firmware version 1.17, I updated on my gf's pc to 1.40. The firmware update is to support more types of media, at faster speeds. The drive is supported natively in Tiger, however I had to use PatchBurn 3.1 in Panther. I've tested it with iTunes, Toast, iDVD, etc.

One note: in iTunes, set it to burn at 24x (iTunes' fastest supported burn speed), not 'Maximum'....also, iTunes' 'time remaining' estimate for burns is darn wrong with this drive, at least in Panther.

Another note: make sure you are using Toast 6.05 or higher for dual layer support. (actually maybe 6.03 or higher)

Great purchase though!

Oh, and yeah...my friend recently ordered a dual 2.3ghz and the drive that comes with it is a DVR-109.

My new dual 2.7 arrived with the DVR-109 installed:
PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-109:

Firmware Revision: A912
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipped/Supported)
Cache: 2000 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -RW, +R, +RW, +R DL
Burn Underrun Protection CD: Yes
Burn Underrun Protection DVD: Yes
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: No

Will be installing my Newegg ordered DVR-109BK into my dual 2 G5 this weekend.

Anybody know how to remove the face plate?

The backside of the Toast update, is that you can't burn what you have downloaded from iTune Store, or am I stupid

Well, for my MDD, all I had to remove was the actual tray's bevel, not the whole face plate. The bevel slides and snaps off, no worries. As for the faceplate, it's locked into the metal body of the drive by little plastic tab arms that you have to push in. You'll see them.

A side note: Anyone interested in Lightscribe will be happy to know that Pioneer has licensed the technology from HP.