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Hi Nate,

Tried that over here and doesnt work..I think I'll give up now..I think the disk and image is OK but I have a feeling the DVD drive doesnt like DVD R's. This is a brand new car with a brand new release of map, so maybe Aisin who make the EU series have some sort of protection in the unit or software.
Anyway, I cant get it to work..

Thanks anyway,

Chris.

 

Why are you bothering to make of backup of the Navigation DVD? Are you expecting to take the DVD out of the drive and handle it on a regular basis? Are you expecting it to spontaneously combust?

If you never take it out of the drive, then it's very unlikely that it will ever get scratches on it, and it's not going to spontaneously combust. And while it may have a shelf life, it's likely to be longer than the life of the car. Even if the materials managed to degrade and become unusable 6 to 8 years from now, you would probably want an update at that point anyway.

 

Yeah, but if one has the ability to make a backup, why not? I agree that it's extremely unlikely that the original (pressed) DVD will need replacement over the life of the car. However, if, for whatever reason, the DVD needs to be replaced, there's always the possibility of your dealer not having a replacement in stock and, thus, having to wait for a replacement. So, with a backup, you'd be able to use the NAV in the interim.

I also wonder whether something like that disk would be covered under warranty. What about the owner of a 2004 whose version 3.1 (3.2, 4.2, or whatever) disk goes bad in late 2006? Would a dealer just hand that owner the latest version (5.2, 5.3) disk free of charge?

 

<Tried that over here and doesnt work..maybe Aisin who make the EU series have some sort of protection in the unit or software.>


Chris, I also made a backup of the EU disk - works perfectly (finally!). I did wind up with a few coasters. Turns out that the brand of blank DVD (read: quality) is really important. The coasters I made were Memorex. Using Nero 6 toolkit, quality of those +R D/L disks is about 50%. Using TDK disks I got it to work without problems (quality level 85%). See http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm for more info.
Nate used Verbatim DVD's - about the best you can get, according to the link above...

 

Thanks Nate, Couldnt have put it better myself. I remember many years ago trying to copy a Sinclair Spectrum program that had copy protection on it. It had me beat for some time, but I coudnt let it go. Finally did it and learnt a lot from it. We didnt need to go to the moon really, but look at all the good that came out of it. Didnt need to but felt compelled to..Funny old life.

Thanks again for all your help. And I will try some other disks, you can bank on it.
For information the last lot should have been Verbatim, but they sent Imation, which are generally quite good.

 

Was this a DVD copy of the new 5.1 version or just a literal backup of whatever version you already had in your Pri?

Further does one lose all save points etc when switching discs? I would assume that would be the case.

 

This is the UK/Euro version 2005-2006 ver 1 and no you dont lose you memory points, all that is stored in the system.
For info Ive now tried Verbatim disks and again the unit will not recognise it.

Chris.

 

Yup done that Nate..These are the Verbatim dual layer disks..Hacked firmware..Booktype is definitely dvd rom..could it be anything else Im overlooking. Ive now tried alchol 120%, winimage/nero, dvd decrypt/dvd decrypt, dvd decrypt/nero, Roxio..Verfication reckons there OK.It just comes up with the same message. "unable to read data, check DVD". We have also tested them in another 05 Prius with the same result. This things got me beat.

Chris.

 

If you've tried multiple versions of burning software and brands of disks and have a correct booktype, then I don't think you're doing anything wrong.. As I said, I was able to burn a copy just using the "Copy DVD" feature of Nero and Verbatim DVD+R DL disks. The only option I needed to set was to burn at the very slowest speed possible (otherwise it would burn, but there would be read errors on the disk when verified). My drive is nothing special- I think it's an OEM Toshiba (I bought it on sale as one of those "no name" repackaged OEM drives that they sell at Staples and Best Buy, etc..)

IMO, your problem could be that the actual drive mechanism in the Aisin unit isn't able to read the +R disks.. If I recall correctly, the -R disks have a straight spiral track, whereas the +R use a "wavy" track that some mechanisms may not be able to track on.. I really don't believe that the disks themselves are "protected" in any manner.. The early Pioneer DVD players had this problem- Pioneer was a backer of the -R standard and for the longest time, their hardware simply would not play disks recorded on +R/RW media..

I've just started seeing ads for DVD-R DL (aka DVD-R9) media and drives around here, but I don't know how well they'll sell given the prevalence and availability of the +R DL drives/media.. Unfortunately, adding up your costs so far in time and wasted media, it's probably not worth pursuing DVD backup any further..

 

Great suggestion. I remember when the Nav diagnostic screen was discovered so we could do an override of the motion block and people stated to play with the other options and were unable to read the OEM DVD. They had to unplug the Nav ECU and also reset it. I am not sure that it should apply here but it may. I would be more inclined to believe that the DVD drive is not happy with the burned rather than the pressed disk. I saw the Nav recall instructions and all the tech had to do is open the cover push the eject disk and replace the disk and it works. No disconnect necessary. May be one of the Prius Master Techs around here could confirm this, since they have actually done it.

 

Thanks for all the help guys, havnt seen any -R DL disks yet but if there are I'll probably give it a go as a last shot. I think its looking like this aisin unit doesnt like burnt disks>

thanks anyway to everbody

 

Commercial DVD, DVD -R, and DVD - RW use different technology in the recording medium that results in somewhat different reflectivity between the ones and zeros on the DVD. Some DVD readers that were not intended to read user produced DVD's may not correctly respond to the -R and -RW reflectivity. I have three DVD readers for my tv's. One reads -R and -RW's that I make on my computer, one reads only -RW's (I think), and the third will not read any DVD I make.

 

I have successfully used +RW SL disc in my NAV though of course I had to limit the data contents to one region. Changing region though locked me out until I put the original DVD back in. I don't have a DL drive so I haven't experimented with burning a DL disc. My dad has one, but then I don't have media. It wasn't cheap last year, and hearing the problems you guys have, I am glad I didn't try. I had used Roxio creator 6.

If you are going up in version, you don't have to reset the NAV, just pop in the DVD. It is user installable. As a matter of fact, to save time for me and the tech, the service writer simply exchanged DVDs with me.
If you go down in version, then you probably have to open the NAV unit and reset it to factory floor defaults, in which it will reload the software from the DVD.

Speaking of software, even if we produce our own data, we still could be suseptable to copywrite problems if we continue to use the same LOADING.KWI file. That is the software itself. Besides map data (which is only one set spanning all regions), you have voice data (so she can speak), POI and business (one and the same?) information per region. Well, I suspect the voice info is not region specific just as the map info is not region specific.