Both these firmwares are available here.

Pioneer 104/A04 Firmware: v1.40
-Supports 2X writing on New 4X DVD-R media
-Supports 2X writing on NEW SONY DVD-R Media
-DVD-R/RW Writability Improvement
-CD-R/RW Writability Improvement

Pioneer 103/A03 Firmware: v2.00
-Supports 2X writing on the New 4X DVD-R media
-DVD-R/RW Writability Improvement
-CD-R/RW Writability Improvement

When I saw this new firmware was out my first reactions were to ignore it but the curiosity got the better of me and thought �what the hecK� so I decided to update the firmware on my drives to see what if any improvements it would make.

These are the firmware tables for these drives as reported by Gradius from Firmware Forums

A03 version 2.00
Pioneer Video Co.	PVC 10-01
Mitsubishi Chem Co	TDK101
	PVC001001
	MCIG01
	TDKG010000d9
	MCC 00RG200
	MXL RG01
	TDKG02000000
	MCI4XG01
	PVCR001002
	TDK301sakue3
	TDK302saku=3
	TDK401saku=3
	JVC/VictorT7
A04 version 1.40
Pioneer Video Co.	PVC 10-01
Mitsubishi Chem Co	TDK101
	PVC001001
	MCIG01
	TDKG010000d9
	MCC 00RG200
	MXL RG01
	TDKG02000000
	MEI 00V001
	TAIYOYUDEN
	CMC MAG.
	RITEKG02
	SONY MCI4XG01
	PVCR001002
	TDK301sakue3
	TDK302saku=3
	TDK401saku=3
	JVC/VictorT7
	PVCW000001Q9
	PVCW000002A9
	JVC_VictorW7
	PVCW00V00245
	TDK502sakuM3

Well I stuck my neck out again and upgraded both my A03 and A04 I tried to downgrade using the hacked UPGDVD.exe by Battousai and gave up after 1 hour.
I was able to successfully downgrade to my previous firmware by using the UPGDVD.exe from the this latest firmware and using the /F switch this was done in Windows XP in a dos window
The way I did it was
1, Put the required set of firmware files into a folder on their own
2, Replace the UPGDVD.exe with the one that comes with the latest firmware
3, Right click on this UPGDVD.exe & drag to create shortcut �Shortcut to UPGDVD.exe�
4, Right click on �Shortcut to UPGDVD.exe� and select properties
5, Alter the Target from **********\UPGDVD.exe to **********\UPGDVD.exe /F
NOTE THE SPACE AFTER UPGDVD.exe and THE CAPITAL F
6, Double click on the Shortcut to UPGDVD.exe and the firmware will flash using the force option and takes less than a minute

I applied the firmware 2x 4all upgrade and proceeded to do some test burns on my A04

BRAND NAME	COLOUR	ID TAG	SPEED	BURN
Bulkpaq	G4 Green Top	VX...TDKG02..000	2x	BAD
Bulkpaq	Gen 1 White Top	VX...PRINCO	1x	BAD
Bulkpaq	Gen 3r2 Purple Top	VX...PRINCO	1x	BAD
Choice	Blue Top	VX...TDKG02..000	2x	BAD
Datasafe	Maxell White Top	.....MXL RG..01	2x	GOOD
Datasafe	Ritek White Top	.....RITEKG..03	1x	GOOD
Datasafe	Princo Yellow top	VX...PRINCO	1x	GOOD
Datasafe	Gen 1 Blue Top	WX...TDKG01..000	1x	GOOD
Vivistar	unbranded Plain Silver	.....VIVAST..AR.	1x	BAD
E-Proformance	Silver-Grey	.....PRODIS..CG0	1x	BAD
Datasafe	Ritek White Top	.....RITEKG..03	2x 4all	GOOD
E-Proformance	Silver-Grey	.....PRODIS..CG0	2x 4all	BAD

Conclusion
There does not appear to be any improvement in the lower quality media burns but there is a definite improvement in the burns on the middle grade of media in that with my test burns one film that is reluctant to be recognized now plays every time and in this way is as good as the best Ritek media, the outer edge burns are also improved on the better media.
The only other advantage is the main reason for the upgrade is that it will allow 2x burn to the new high speed 4x media

Added:  Monday, December 23, 2002
Reviewer:  Flash

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