Pioneer DVR-810H and DVD+R/RW burner upgrade?

[GnatGoSplat]

I just got my DVR-810H up and running thanks to StanSimmons. :up:

I let it take the 7.2.0 software update, but since I had it open, I got curious and pulled the DVD-RW drive and replaced it with the NEC ND-3540A out of my PC.
It worked fine as far as playback, and its firmware version was recognized in System Information as "3540A V1.10". I didn't try burning to a DVD-R because I didn't want to waste any (I have no DVD-RW's to play with), but it did recognize a blank DVD-R correctly.
However, all of my rewritable blanks are DVD+RW. Even with the DVD+R/RW capable drive installed, it didn't recognize DVD+RW's as a valid blank media.

Are there any hacks to make it recognize DVD+R/RW as valid blank media?
Being able to support dual layer in the future would be nice as well.

[rmarshll]

This is a Great Question.. DL Support would be very nice indeed.. anyone have any info?

[robomeister]

I've been attempting to replace the DVD burner in one of my Pioneer 810 TiVos as well. The DVD burner has stopped working, so I need to replace it. The new burner (a Pioneer DVR-106D, not that new, but $20 on ebay) will read and play discs, but it won't burn discs. I've tried DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs with no success. I've used the exact same media that works in my other Pioneer 810 TiVos. I think it has something to do with the firmware in the DVD burner. I wonder if there is a way to force the TiVo to load the firmware into the "new" drive, to enable TiVo burning. Like a kickstart code or something.

Regarding dual layer burning, I think this is a function of the TiVo software. I've heard that in some of the newer TiVos with DVD writers, the DVD writer is a Pioneer DVR-109, which is capable of burning dual layer discs. But the TiVo software doesn't know how to burn dual layer discs, so you're stuck. This would probably require a software hack.

[classicsat]

+ and DL are limitations of the TiVo softare, not the drive, so unless you modify the software, you are sill stuck at 4x DVD- single sided.

[jshorr]

anyone else have any success with this?