Firmware?

Burness Speakman · Post by **Burness Speakman** » Fri May 20, 2005 12:45 pm

What is the advantage of upgrading the Firmware in my TSST cd/dvdw ts-h552B? Will it make the end product any more recognizable? more faster?

Que?

GeorgeW · Post by **GeorgeW** » Fri May 20, 2005 12:53 pm

it could make it more compatible with different types of discs and/or software. Also, there could be some minor issues that have been corrected with the burner when applying the firmware update.

check user forums for your burner make/model to see actual reports from users after applying an update.

also, check this site for info on your burner:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters

Blue Canary · Post by **Blue Canary** » Fri May 20, 2005 1:02 pm

Check the advice from the manufacturer's website. Usually the advice from the manufacturers is to only update if you are experiencing the issues that the firmware patch attempts to fix. GeorgeW is right, most firmware upgrades for optical burners are simply to make the burner compatible with more brands of media.

From personal experience, some optical drive firmware upgrades bring wider compatibility at the cost of burning accuracy/quality (tested by using a program such as Nero's CD Speed Disc Quality Test - works for DVD as well as CD). So these days I will put off upgrading until I actually come across an issue.

ugadog · Post by **ugadog** » Fri May 20, 2005 11:21 pm

I have the exact same burner that you mentioned. I upgraded to the latest firmware because of burning/playback problems with certain media brands. Also, to get the 16X speed out of the drive for the latest media on the market, you will have to upgrade. The older versions of firmware will default to lower speed settings if you don't apply the firmware that can identify the higher speed media code. Originally, I bought some 16X media and was dissappointed when I saw the drive writing at a maximum speed of 2X.

Also, the drivers available (and recomended) from my computer manufacturer's website were extremely old versions and would not have done much good. I went directly to the drive manufacturer site (Sumsung) and got version TS09 firmware, instead of the 04 version (I think) on the computer manufacturer's site.

In researching this, I even ran across some software that lets you "edit" your firmware to increase the drive speed values of specific media codes. However, I am not that adventuresome and chose to just install the latest firmware from the manufacturer.

THoff · Post by **THoff** » Sat May 21, 2005 7:36 am

One good place for firmware is RPC1.org. There you can find the latest firmware (which often is from a different source than you might think because of OEM and rebadging deals), as well as firmware to enhance the drive's operation (such as making it region-free, or increasing read and write speeds).