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KProbe

This tool's primary purpose is to scan burned DVDs for quality (PI/PIF). Great for testing and comparing the quality of your burns with other members. It can also give you media information and has some other nice features as well. All questions in the forum regarding media, burn problems, or playback problems would get a better (and faster) response if you can show your burn results!

• Download, guide, questions, and discussion: http://kprobe.cdfreaks.com/
• Having problems figuring out what a good (or bad) scan is? This will help make it all clear!
• Since you are going to be doing some scans anyway, it would be nice if you could post your results in the DVD Media Tests forum to add to our pool of results for everyone to look at.

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SMART-BURN

This is the first of two tools provided by LiteOn in this guide. It is LiteOn's official media identification tool, and it provides various useful data about your DVD or CD media including the maximum supported burn speed.

• Download: http://www.liteonit.com/global/index...per&Itemid=153
• Questions and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=93914
• Test Version Download: http://codeguys.rpc1.org/utilities/S...RN-3.1.16t.rar
• Test Version Questions and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=177331

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BookType Utility

This tool, also officially supported by LiteOn, would allow you to burn your DVD+R and DVD+RW discs with the DVD-ROM book type. Why would you want to do that? Well, some set top DVD players as well as the Xbox/PS2 will not read DVD+R discs. This is usually not because they cannot read them, but because the manufacturer set the player to block the DVD+R book type! Bitsetting thus increases compatibility. More information about bitsetting can be found here.

• Download: http://www.liteonit.com/global/index...per&Itemid=153.
• Usage guide: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread....09986#media-bs
• As of mid-April 2004, all of the latest LiteOn half-height drives and firmwares support bitsetting! Unfortunately, none of LiteOn's slimline drives (internal laptop drives) currently support bitsetting.
  
  Here are the firmwares where certain LiteOn drives first started to officially support bitsetting. Any of these firmwares and any firmwares released after them will support bitsetting...
  
  Code:

  LITE-ON DVD+RW LDW-401S      ES0K 2004/02/13 15:52
  LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-411S       FS0G 2003/12/17 20:15
  LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-811S       HS0J 2003/12/16 14:55
  LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-451S       GSB7 2004/01/15 10:53
  LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-851S       GS0A 2003/12/15 14:58
  LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-812S      US0J 2004/04/14 11:17
  
  All firmwares for all non-slimline drives released
  after the SOHW-812S support bitsetting. 

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LtnRPC

This tool will remove the region restrictions from most LiteOn drives (so you can play any DVD regardless of region).

• Download and guide: http://dhc014.rpc1.org/LtnRPC/
• Questions and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?p=508389
• Removing a drive's region protection is only the first step in making your system region-free (more info).
• For more information about DVD regions, RPC-1, and RPC-2, please read this guide.

Note: This tool is different than RPCDE, RPCDE2, and liteonutil! LtnRPC is perfectly safe while these other tools can corrupt your drive's EEPROM. If you used one of these other tools, and your drive is no longer responding, you can use the EEPROM Utility to fix it.

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FlashFix

This tool patches the official LiteOn firmware flashers (.EXE) to allow flashing back to an older firmware version and sideflashing (flashing from an OEM model to the corresponding LiteOn model or vice-versa, e.g., flashing a Memorex F16 to a LiteOn SOHW-1633S). The tool is not a flasher in itself; it only patches the official LiteOn flashers to remove the drive name and firmware version checks.

• Download and guide: http://digi.rpc1.org/flashfix.htm
• Questions and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=92999
• Hint: FlashFix will not work if the firmware is set to "Read-only." (Right-click on the .EXE flasher in Windows Explorer > Select "Properties" > Un-check the "Read-only" box.)

Note: This tool cannot be used for recovering dead/unrecognized drives. Only MtkFlash can be used for recoveries.

Note II: We recommend you always back up your current firmware before flashing. See the next two tools for that.

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Flash Utilty

LtnFW is a Windows-based firmware flashing and backup tool that supports 2MB firmware and later serial Flash drives. You can use this tool to flash drives using firmwares in the raw binary (.BIN) format or from and unscrambled EXE flasher. This tool can also be used to make a backup of your drive's current firmware.

• Download, questions, and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=190420
• It is not necessary to reboot after a firmware flash, however it is a good idea to do so if the version/model has changed.
• Looking for firmwares that can be used with the Flash Utility? You can download firmwares from codeguys firmware pages. Remember you don't have to use a raw bin file with this flasher. You can use the flasher EXE files as well.

Note: This tool cannot be used for recovering dead/unrecognized drives. Only MtkFlash and XSF can be used for recoveries.

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LtnFW

LtnFW is a Windows-based firmware flashing and backup tool. You can use this tool to flash drives using firmwares in the raw binary (.BIN) format. This tool can also be used to make a backup of your drive's current firmware.

• Download, questions, and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=83294
• Does not support 2MB firmwares and writing drives with a serial FLASH.
• You should always check "update bootcode" when flashing with LtnFW (this is especially important if you have a NOEEPROM drive)! This option has no effect when backing up firmwares.
• It is not necessary to reboot after a firmware flash.
• Looking for .BIN firmwares? You can download .BIN firmwares from unofficial firmware pages. You can also use an extractor to extract them from unscrambled Windows firmware flashers.

Note: This tool cannot be used for recovering dead/unrecognized drives. Only MtkFlash and XSF can be used for recoveries.

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MtkFlash

MtkFlash is a DOS-based firmware flashing and backup tool (for real DOS, not a Windows Command Prompt). You can use this tool to flash drives using firmwares in the raw binary (.BIN) format. This tool can also be used to make a backup of your drive's current firmware. As the name suggests, MtkFlash can be used on any drive based on the MediaTek chipset (virtually all LiteOn drives use the MediaTek chipset).

By far the best use for this tool is to recover from a "bad" flash (a misflash), such as incomplete flashes, failed flashes, flashes of incorrect or corrupt firmware, etc.

• Download and guide: http://dhc014.rpc1.org/howto.htm#mtkflash
• Looking for .BIN firmwares? You can download .BIN firmwares from unofficial firmware pages. You can also use an extractor to extract them from unscrambled Windows firmware flashers.
• Need help with booting to DOS? The Firmware Flashing Bootdisk might be useful.

Note: This is a powerful tool and can flash your firmware to anything you want, including the wrong firmware! Make sure you are using the correct firmware for your drive before you flash and always back up your current firmware if you can!

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XSF

XSF is a DOS-based firmware flashing and backup tool (for real DOS, not a Windows Command Prompt). You can use this tool to flash drives that use a serial flash using firmwares in the raw binary (.BIN) format. This tool can also be used to make a backup of your drive's current firmware. This utility is for drives based on the MediaTek chipset (virtually all LiteOn drives use the MediaTek chipset) that use a serial flash chip (5S, 6S, 16Pxx...).

By far the best use for this tool is to recover from a "bad" flash (a misflash), such as incomplete flashes, failed flashes, flashes of incorrect or corrupt firmware, etc.

• Download, instructions, questions, and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/f44/liteon-flash-tool-xsf-supports-all-serial-flash-models-160914/
• Looking for .BIN firmwares? You can download .BIN firmwares from unofficial firmware pages. You can also use an extractor to extract them from unscrambled Windows firmware flashers.
• Need help with booting to DOS? The Firmware Flashing Bootdisk might be useful. Also see the discussion thread above.

Note: This is a powerful tool and can flash your firmware to anything you want, including the wrong firmware! Make sure you are using the correct firmware for your drive before you flash and always back up your current firmware if you can!

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XFlash Utility

This tool is designed to extract raw binary (.BIN) files from LiteOn's executable (.EXE) firmwares (the ones that use XFlash). These .BIN files can then be used with LtnFW or MtkFlash. Useful if you cannot find a .BIN copy of your firmware.

• Download, questions, and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=91698.
• If you are not sure if a particular firmware flasher is supported, just try it. XFlash Utility will tell you if it cannot extract the firmware.

Note: XFlash Utility works only with XFlash firmware flashers. Also, XFlash Utility no longer supports the extraction of firmwares from scrambled XFlash flashers.

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LiteFirm

This tool is designed to extract raw binary (.BIN) files from LiteOn's executable (.EXE) firmwares (the very old ones that do NOT use XFlash). These .BIN files can then be used with LtnFW or MtkFlash. Useful if you cannot find a .BIN copy of your firmware.

• Download: http://zdenek.myftp.org/litefirm.html
• Questions and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=56285

Note: Unlike the XFlash Utility, LiteFirm does NOT work with XFlash firmware flashers! Starting from the latter half of 2003, LiteOn moved to using XFlash flashers, so LiteFirm does not work with any of the recent flashers (this includes all of the DVD-writer firmware flashers).

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OmniPatcher

A very easy-to-use graphical do-it-all firmware patcher to examine a firmware's media support, adjust burn speeds (to allow DVD media overspeeding), reassign write strategies, increase reading speeds, enable crossflashing, and many other things. A must-have for anyone looking to mod their LiteOn DVD-writer.

• Download, questions, and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=97590
• For more information about and results of the write strategy changing feature of OmniPatcher, please refer to this thread.
• For more information about drive crossflashing using OmniPatcher, please refer to this guide (and this list) and the crossflashing-related questions in the LiteOn FAQ.

Note: If you are using OmniPatcher to overspeed media, please keep in mind that burning media above its rated speed may sometimes produce undesirable results. Overspeeding is not for all media types, and you should check your results with KProbe to make sure that the quality is acceptable. Additionally, it is highly recommended that you overspeed media through the use of strategy switches, as that generally produces better results than just ticking the high-speed boxes.

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MediaCodeSpeedEdit

Like OmniPatcher (see above), the MediaCodeSpeedEdit tool can be used to view a drive's DVD media support list and to modify the speed settings of each media code. Unlike OmniPatcher, MediaCodeSpeedEdit cannot reassign write strategies or perform any of OmniPatcher's patches, but it works with drives made by NEC, BenQ, and a number of other companies.

So when should you use MediaCodeSpeedEdit and when should you use OmniPatcher? When it comes to LiteOn drives (and rebadges of LiteOn drives), OmniPatcher is better because it can do everything that MediaCodeSpeedEdit can do and more (such as write strategy reassignment). If you want to patch a NEC, BenQ, or some other drive that is not a LiteOn or a rebadged LiteOn, you should use MediaCodeSpeedEdit.

• Download, questions, and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=114269

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EEPROM Utility

A very easy-to-use graphical tool for EEPROM-related operations.

• Download, questions, and discussion: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=112103
• Feature: Backup your EEPROM to a file and flash you EEPROM from a file.
• Feature: Reset learned media calibration.
• Feature: Performs the 401S@811S and 411S@811S crossflash using ala42's calibration calculation algorithm. For more information, please see this thread.
• Feature: Can perform certain other crossflashes (this is an alternative to using OmniPatcher, which you should use for any crossflash that the EEPROM Utility cannot perform). For more information about crossflashing, please refer to this guide (and this list) and the crossflashing-related questions in the LiteOn FAQ.
• Feature: Repair EEPROMs that have been damaged by RPCDE, RPCDE2, or liteonutil.

Note: It is a good idea to make a backup of your EEPROM and store it in a safe place!

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Z-Mod

This tool was developed by a team of enthusiast members to perform the 401S@811S and 411S@811S crossflash. This tool uses jitter's calibration calculation algorithm (which is different from the algorithm by ala42 used by the EEPROM Utility (see above)), and it is unclear at this point which of the two algorithms is better in terms of burn quality, though the Z-Mod is more difficult to use.

When performing the 401S/411S@811S crossflash, you must use either the EEPROM Utility or the Z-Mod. Choose only one. Do not use both!

• Download, guide, questions, and discussion: http://www.speedlabs.org/
• There is a CD Freaks thread about the Z-Mod here.
• The Z-Mod does not work in Windows XP SP2 (in which case, use the EEPROM Utility instead).
• You must register as a member at the Speed Labs website in order to download the Z-Mod.

Note: For all other crossflashes (e.g., 451S@832S, etc.), you must use OmniPatcher or the EEPROM Utility.