Invested in an RNS-E friendly DVD burner

[Adrian E]

Hi all

For those who have or are considering buying an RNS-E for their D2 '8 I have just bought a DVD burner which is known to specifically work burning navigation DVDs for the RNS-E, which is notoriously difficult without the right DVD burner.

I have a small supply of media (Verbatim DVD+R DL) and images of 2012 and 2013 navigation maps. I also have a hacked version of the 2013 maps which adds speed camera locations, although I'm yet to test it.

Not looking to make a profit from these but will need to cover my costs as I don't have an income at the moment to pay for discs or the burner I just bought lol. Donations of beer tokens welcome.

Final note on compatibility - RNS-E lasers are quite weak power output - they are more than adequate for a factory DVD, but whether by accident or design they struggle more with reading the darker surface on a home written DVD. I will always test discs before sending out if requested, but I'd advise inserting once and leaving it in there as much as possible to prevent dust or scratches getting onto the disc. If it doesn't work reliably try cleaning the DVD lens with a CD lens cleaner (NOT a DVD one!) the Ixos ones seem to work quite well. Failing that a new laser may be required which can be bought on ebay for around £100.

Clearly only those people whith a genuine disc wanting a back up copy would be interested in such a service

Hope mods are happy with this but if not feel free to edit/remove/amend as necessary

Any questions PM me

Adrian

[Adrian E]

I've now tested the version with hacked speed camera locations and this is also now working. Can supply either version and also DVD2 from the set.

For info DVD1 covers:

Andorra, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Nederlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland

DVD2 covers:

Austria, Croatia, Czech Republik, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Sweeden, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Vatican City

To turn speed camera locations on you just go into POI and select it. Don't think it gives you a warning, but not been near a speed camera to test it lol

[manca]

If you ever get an MMI version I'm keen..

[Adrian E]

2G version? If so will see what I can do. Bare in mind though that there's no 2013 map update available yet - it's been delayed for some reason. I believe there's nothing fancy about writing the media so long as good quality single layer discs are used. You can use -R or +R in most models, although -R seems to be preferred for MMI whereas RNS-E REQUIRES +R DL!!

If I find it I'll drop you a line.

A

[manca]

Yes 2G. Thanks for that

[Adrian E]

No worries - you're quite local to me by the looks of it so once I find something could maybe meet up and see if it works?

I'm guessing there may be issues with outstanding MMI updates if the map update requires previous MMI upgrades to have been done?

[manca]

Hello Adrian

Yes that sounds good. I am fully up to date on MMI, RichardRacer kindly lent me his 5570 discs. I do have 2012 maps on board at the moment which I bought cheaply from a well known auction site. However the nav will randomly stop displaying and tell me to check the navigation disc. Doesn't happen often, but always when I least need it. I'm hoping a better disc, burnt at a slower speed might work properly

[HPsauce]

Adrian,
What about backups of DX CD's...........
(do you have any to save us posting the valuable and in-use originals to you?)

[Adrian E]

Originally Posted by manca

Hello Adrian

Yes that sounds good. I am fully up to date on MMI, RichardRacer kindly lent me his 5570 discs. I do have 2012 maps on board at the moment which I bought cheaply from a well known auction site. However the nav will randomly stop displaying and tell me to check the navigation disc. Doesn't happen often, but always when I least need it. I'm hoping a better disc, burnt at a slower speed might work properly

Generally seems Verbatim are considered the safest bet for reliability - part of the issue with using copy discs in a factory DVD drive is the fact they're designed for pressed discs only so don't need the power of a PC reader/burner to function as intended. A slightly flaky drive and/or poor media will cause issues sooner or later.

My RNS-E has been run on copy discs for the last 2 years, which I bought through someone I found online - initial quality was fine but I would get disc read errors after about 9 months use, especially in hot weather, so hence the decision to make my own.

Sometimes helps to run a CD lens cleaner to remove dust deposits but could be the laser is past its best.

Originally Posted by HPsauce

Adrian,
What about backups of DX CD's...........
(do you have any to save us posting the valuable and in-use originals to you?)

I've been reading the comments on the issues with cloned discs - I can't see why it's proving difficult for people selling these on ebay unless they're literally downloading any old rubbish and burning it to disc in the vague hope it works. I could do with someone local to me that I can test discs with without the hassle of posting them out. I have someone I can possibly ask - burning a CD is so quick it'd be easier to try a few options with a car here to find what works.

I've been busy generating 4 DVDs of RNS-E 2013 data so will have a look at the Blaupunkt stuff as well and see what I can knock up. I don't have any really high quality CD media, but have some Sony which ought to be OK for testing at least.

Will let you know when I have something

Adrian

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by Adrian E

I don't have an income at the moment to pay for discs or the burner I just bought lol.

So it makes a lot of sense for us here to put "business" your way rather than random eBay sellers.