Here is a pic of the new Hitachi HL Data Xbox DVD Drive.
Seems to work with DVD-/+R, DVD-RW, and CDRW. Does not read CD-R.

that thing looks like shit. I bet it barley plays xbox games... the tray looks like the thompson. whats the manufacturer date on that box

Manufacturer Date is 9/24/2004

Anyone else gotten this dvd drive?

any model numbers about?

model number?

Hi Guys

Topic pretty much says it all. Just picked up another xbox to mod dated 2004-11-24. Upon taking the lid off I didn't recognise the sticker on the dvdrom, After looking at it closely it is marked Hitachi-LG Model GDR-8050L. Now I've only ever come across thompsons, samsungs and phillips but never one of these. Is this something new or have I just completely missed boat when these originally started showing up?

Regards Dave

No these drives are apparently pretty new. The first time I heard about one was probably a week or two ago.

ahh ok interesting has there been any reports on the quality of them yet? I've found the phillips 2004 to be a great drive I hope they havn't thrown in another dodgy option in the lucky dip

good question... I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for how these things perform, and we may have another dud or something better than a samsung on our hands possibly. I wouldn't get my hopes up though MS seems to be attempting more and more to crack down on ppl who mod xbox's..And I suppose rightfully so

i believe i was first ti find it!!!

well i sent x-s this info with pics last week when i opened up a new box, i guess they didnt feel the need to post it, also posted it on www.notworksafe.com

the drive sucks, has errors reading the free ncaa2005/topspin disc, put the disck in my phillips drive and everything is fine

cheap! ms!!

argh thats not good news

anyways here's a couple of pics so you guys know what to look for

http://users.bigpond.net.au/dcourtne/hitachi.jpg
http://users.bigpond.net.au/dcourtne/tray.jpg

ominously reminiscent of a thomson

just a quick test

dvd-r no probs
cdr no go

can sum1 plz take a pic of the top of the drive plz?

i wouldnt think it would be good. ms r trying to make more monies, ie the dodgey ram in the new xbox's

that top picture i posted is the top of the drive shows all the sticker details.

I just did 2 more xbox's then after this post and both had this drive in them and both were 1.6's

some thing else to worry about...
people are gonna go nuts over this...

good find.. glad my crystal has a new philips...

just got one of these also. I'm gonna run some media on it, i'll port my results.

Since LG makes this model as a PC drive also.

Would it not be possible to DUMP the firmware, and convert it into the
PC version.

May be a so-so solution for those with DEAD thompson drives, looking
for a cheap replacement.

In canada I have seen the LG PC drives as low as $16 each.

Photos are below. I just opened a PAL console manufacturered on 24-11-04 and it has a HITACHI-LG Dvd drive.

The Tray


The tray is like a thompson but with a wider cutout.


The Sticker


Does anyone know about compatability with these drives? im about to do my own tests.

Thanks, Lawrence

pictures dont work

It seems I cant edit my post.

Here they are, working this time.

The Tray

The Sticker

never seen one before...
but there probably the new thompson

I just did some compatability tests.

They work fine with DVD-R, DVD-RW, CD-RW.

Dosent work with CD-R

Any chance to post a pix of the pcb (both sides)?

ok, so if theres a pc version, would it be possible to get the pc version, and then flash it with some hacked firmware, to run it in your xbox?

probably will be... whats the model numbers on those?

ok here is firmware for Hitachi GD-8000 (16X/40X) the xbox drive is GDR-8050L

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=88

looking at LG doesnt turn up much...

well the samsung 616 is effectively teh same as the sammy in teh xbox's isnt it? so in that case teh pc version has a good laser.

so the lg pc version of the drive you would asssume has a good laser. and if its teh same, we just gotta convince someoen to hack up some firmware for us.

theres anotehr topic going on about this. have a look in there.

Other Topic

I haven't seen anyone post on this yet, but last night I was modding a box for a customer and I opened it up and found a new brand of DVD-ROM. It is a Hitachi-LG unit. Here are the specs from the label:

DVD-ROM Drive
Model: GDR-8050L
Rom Ver 0012AD
Manufactured: October 2004

This came out of an Xbox with a date of 2004-11-02
Here is a pic I snapped with my crappy webcam



This is not a 1.6b xbox because it is using Samsung ram.

I can verify this as being true. I modded a machine i got last night - straight from my local FYE store - mfg date was 2004-11-20 I believe. It was also a 1.6 machine with samsung ram.. it had a white dvd cable instead of the normal yellow or brown one.

Everything seemed to go smoothly with it though.

here's some pics i got.




sorry for the huge-ness - i dont have photoshop on this machine

well, you know what we're all gonna want to know... Does it read cd-r?

i didn't have time to check mine last night - as it needed to be mailed this morning. Plus i only had cromwell on it - so that didn't really help things. I was seriously thinking of swapping another drive out w/ it and saving it for testing - but just didn't have enough time

Oh well. Im sure these new drives will be appearing everywhere and we will know soon enough.

Here are some other models:

http://www.lge.com/catalog/prodlist?catego...ntId=CTG1000439

I'm assuming this drive works in all of the XBOX's like all the others, right?

How are you guys modding these systems? Not only did this 10-05-2004 xbox have a hitachi DVD-rom, the motherboard has been completely redesigned.
I think these things qualify as xbox 1.7 motherboards, because they are completely incompatible w/ the lpc rebuild kit, and I do not have the experience to track down the d0 point myself. I took pictures of my bro's motherboard, if you want hi-res pics PM or email me, otherwise here's the pictures I posted on photobucket that are limited to 250kb. It's cool to find something new sometimes, but this time I really need directions on where the heck to solder the d0 point and lpc rebuild points since my bro is going back to japan in 2 weeks.
Xbox 1.7 Pictures
easy identification of the new boxs, the feet now have grooves on them, and are made of a different, shiny material. Torx screws are still silver like the 1.6b's

the pads are nothing new, ive seen thos on every version ehre and there (same withthe silver screws)

and maybe im missing somehting but the pics just look like a 1.6 to me

Oh crap, you're right. Haha, it is a 1.6b, the lpc rebuild kit works fine I was just having a retard moment and I flipped it the wrong way. Anyways, so no 1.7 yet thank god, I'm out to mod this thing, thanks again.

umm yea - it's just a 1.6 with the new drives we're talking about... apparently you've never done a 1.6 machine before - cause you have the lpc rebuild on the wrong way... turn it around and you wont have a 1.7 anymore... then hit yourself on the head a few times

.... you read my post that I realized it was a 1.6 and it was a dumb mistake right?
anyways, its fully working, everything is going good. here it is booting w/ the cromwell and everything:




Compatibility for the Hitachi DVD drive so far:

Memorex DVD+R 4x [works]
FujiFilm DVD+R 8x [works]
generic no label CD-r [doesn't work]

if I get some DVD-R's this christmas I'll test those, this is all the media I had to throw at it right now.

ok, this isnt making any sense to me. ms changed over to dodgey ram a while back, and yet were getting new xbox's with samsung ram and teh lg-hitachi drive in them.

that doesnt figure

I just got my first one

October 04 drive in a 11/04 Xbox

Has a white connector cable instead of yellow

maybe they switched back to samsung ram... maybe the hynix had problems...

then again, there are what, 5 different xbox plants across the globe... maybe one got the lg drives, and hasnt ran out of samsung ram yet...

I modded a few Xbox's the other day and noticed that 2 had Hitachi dvd-rom drives. They are the first two I have seen! Has anyone else run acroos these drives, and how are they on backup media?

Never mind i found another thread where this has been mentioned!

If someone can open one of them up and take some pictures of the chips, and then download the firmware off the drive. I will use that information to attempt a something similar to sd-616t mod on the GDR-8160b and the gb-8000, if the chipsets are the same/similar and the firmware sizes are the same.

i'd be happy to help out - but the only places selling consoles around me (the one store that has any inst stock still) is only selling them as "bundles" - meaning you have to buy the console and a $50 game and a controller...
I know i can use the console for a premod - but the extra $100 is just a big dent in my pocket.
Until people get these things stocked again i think we're all going to be waiting for more info.

A LG DRD-8610b may also be a fit. If someone opens this drive up, check and see if the following are the same/similar.


The ICs for DRD-8610b are:

EliteMT 100MHz (4Mbit DRAM 25ns) 256Kb x 16-bit (Used for buffer)
M11B416256A -25J
FZP3N0355 0047
http://www.esmt.com.tw/datasheet/M11B416256A.exe


MediaTek (Servo/Decoder/uP IC for CD-ROM/R/RW/16x DVD-ROM/DVD-RAM read)
MT1329E
0139-AYB
M8W05
http://www.mtk.com.tw/product_lines.htm


MediaTek (16x DVD-ROM RF Amplifier)
MT1326F
0139-AYS
M8W40
http://www.mtk.com.tw/product_lines.htm


Mitsubishi (DC to DC controller)
129 M63
00J 022
FP


SST (Flash Memory 1Mbit 70ns) 128Kb x 8-bit
MPF
39SF010-70-4C-NH
S137058-D
http://www.ssti.com/products/pdf/394-39SF5...0-03.000-DS.pdf

(not sure if links are allowed here so h's taken off the beginning.)

**MOD EDIT**
(put h's back for convience since he probably wont make the 15 min edit deadline)