DVD/CD drives used in T series

[SpeckledJim]

Anybody have detailed info on the optical drive brands/models used in the T series, more specifically the T43[P]?

After being burned before by a laptop with a Matshita/Panasonic drive, I'm rather keen to have one that can actually be used when travelling - i.e. it won't irreversibly lock after a few region changes. (This happened on my current laptop and I've been unable to find a firmware patch to fix it).

[sktn77a]

The panasonic drives are among the more reliable out there. All drives are RPC2 now, which means you have a maximum of 5 hardware region changes before they lock. There are some software programs out there which allow you to play other region DVDs without taking a hit on the number of hardware region changes.

[SpeckledJim]

There are some software programs out there which allow you to play other region DVDs without taking a hit on the number of hardware region changes.

These products don't work with certain Panasonic drives, hence the question. I think I remember reading that the CDRW/DVD drive is a Lite-On - can anyone confirm?

[SpeckledJim]

These products don't work with certain Panasonic drives, hence the question.

For instance, from

http://www.dvdidle.com/dvd-region-free.htm

"DVD-RAM, Matshita XX-8xxx, SW-9xxx series DVD drives, and Torisan DRD-Uxxx series DVD drives are not supported now, and there is no plan to support them"

Unfortunately my current laptop has a Matshita UJ-811, one of the bad ones.

[mg]

This is the output of Nero InfoTool on a T43p with a DVD-ROM inserted:

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Nero InfoTool 3.00

Drive Information
------------------
Drive                      : MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-822S 
Type                       : DVD-RAM Recorder
Firmware Version           : 1.03
Buffer Size                : 2 MB
Date                       : 41-21-60
Serial Number              : [...]
Vendor Specific            : [...]
Drive Letter               : D:\
Location                   : 1:0
Mechanism                  : Tray
Read Speed                 : 8.0  X
Write Speed                : 2.0  X

Read CD Text               : Yes
Return C2 Pointers         : Yes
Read CD-R                  : Yes
Read CD-RW                 : Yes
Read DVD-ROM               : Yes
Read DVD-RAM               : Yes
Read DVD-R                 : Yes
Read DVD-RW                : Yes
Read DVD+R                 : Yes
Read DVD+RW                : Yes
Read DVD+R DL              : No
Read BD-ROM                : No
Read BD-R                  : No
Read BD-RE                 : No
Read Digital Audio         : Yes
Read CD+G                  : No
Read VideoCD               : Yes

Write CD-R                 : Yes
Write CD-RW                : Yes
Write DVD-R                : Yes
Write DVD-RW               : Yes
Write DVD-R DL             : No
Write DVD+R                : Yes
Write DVD+RW               : Yes
Write DVD+R DL             : No
Write DVD-RAM              : Yes
Write BD-R                 : No
Write BD-RE                : No
Buffer Underrun Protection : Yes
Mount Rainier              : No
Modes                      : Packet, TAO, DAO, SAO, RAW SAO

Region Protection Control  : RPC II
Region                     : 1
Changes User               : 3
Changes Vendor             : 4

For DVD+R you have:

Code: Select all

Write Speed                : 2.4  X

and for DVD-R:

Code: Select all

Write Speed                : 2.0 , 1.0  X

The only specs I could find are in Japanese. The drive itself is still labeled UJ-822B eventhough the firmware is UJ-822S. As mentioned, it seems to be hard to modify the (encrypted) firmware for RPC 1 because apparently the code for the region code check is in (non-flash) ROM, and there are almost no firmware updates available for Panasonic OEM drives.

[edelrc]

All UJ-8xx are what you call the "bad ones". They are basically the only DVD drives in the planet where software like AnyDVD or Free CCS... won’t work.

Many laptop manufacturers (toshiba, Sony,...) uses these Matshita/Panasonic drives. I doubt any software will over be able to read any DVD region on them.

DVD Region is a marketing tool that is in no way related to illegal copyright infringements. If I own DVDs purchased in the US why I cannot see them now in Europe? Sincerely, since I came back to Europe and got stuck with many now-worthless legal American DVDs. The ironic part is that this is what has triggered me to start to rip DVDs whenever I am travelling…

Matshita had interests in wasting the resources in developing this technology. What I blame the most is IBM for paying for it and hampering us. Trust me, after the 4 changes I won’t feel bad returning my DVD drive to Lenovo as defective. It is defective because if I used to watch legally purchased movies and now I can’t.

[SpeckledJim]

That's bad news about the DVD-R, thanks for the info. I found unconfirmed CDRW specs at

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/not ... 963,00.htm

DVD-ROM drive M a t s u s h i t a UJDA755y DVD/CDRW

Browsing rpc1.org it looks like this drive may have problems as well.

[johnmo]

This is the output of Nero InfoTool on a T43p with a DVD-ROM inserted:

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Nero InfoTool 3.00

Drive Information
------------------
Drive                      : MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-822S 
[/quote]

mg, this is the most concise listing of what this drive will do that I have been able to find. My T43 is employer-issue and I didn't have any hand in or idea about what the specs for this machine would be. I haven't found anything as useful as this summary anywhere else.

I haven't been able to get this listing out of the Nero InfoTool, but from what you've posted, it looks like this drive will read and write anything except dual layer discs. Very nice.

Thanks.

[mg]

See also here.

[johnmo]

Thanks again, mg. I picked up the User's Guide link in the other post. I'm just happy to have a DVD burner for the backup capacity. Speed is less of a concern for me, though I may find it bugs me after I've used it for a while, but then everything is too slow after we get used to it...

[kuo_david29]

some brand new T43P had fit UJ-832S





its 9.5mm Driver, and support 4X DVD±R

[bill bolton]

> If I own DVDs purchased in the US why I cannot see them now in Europe?

Because that's the licence agreement you accepted in purchasing the DVD in the US.

This isn't the place to have that discussion.

Cheers,

Bill

[tosh.brice]

Is it possible to buy a different (ie, region free) DVD readerto fit the same bay?