I've read the forums, and I've only drawn two conclusions. The Verbatim DVD+DL media is the most proven in making 360 backups and that the Pioneer drives seem to be the best burners.
My questions are as follows,
1) Is there a difference in which Pioneer drive is used between Pioneer 111d and Poineer DVR-111 dbk, is either one better, newer, anything?
2) Is it necessary to flash the drives to increase performance/reliability/whatever of xbox360 backups? If so, what do I flash each drive with?
3) If I do flash the drives with said firmware, will it impede other uses of the burner? (ie, poorer performance of non-x360 backups, like movies and data)

I've still got a bit of time before my 360 arrives, so there's no rush in answering these questions, however I would appreciate it. On a side note, I noticed that these drives are either beige or black, I'd really like to paint them silver if possible, any advice on that?

Thanks,
MR

DBK is simply the black bezel version of the Pioneer 111D (hence DBK).

Oh, alright, not bad, thanks a lot. Anything on my other questions?

MR

pioneer 111d with 1.23 firmware from dangerous brothers... never let me down, even at 8x on a 2.4x verb

What he said ^^^

Ok, well, that sounds good thanks a lot for the posts, but I'd still like to know about other stuff you use the drive for, like movies and data. Is it still as reliable?

man.. yes. yes, and yes.

ive burned everything from regular cds, mp3 cds, single layer dvds, dual-layer dvds, xbox 360 games...

its fine.. its cheap... it works... what more could you ask?

Hahaha, thanks a lot for the info, sorry for all the questions. I only purchase drives when I have a LOT of info on them, since I only want to buy one dvd+/-r dl drive for my computer in total I just wanted to be sure. For example, my last dvd reader, yeah, i bought a regular dvd drive, I researched the hell out of them to make sure I found one that accurately, and quickly bypasses almost every protection, reads audio cds to unimaginable perfection, and is quiet (it's the latest ASUS dvd drive). I also have one of those Samsung drives flashed with kreon .8 (I was in the UK for a while visiting a month ago, you can't find that stuff in the states).

Once again, thanks for all your input, I guess all that's left is actually buying it, hehe.

MR

Yup, I use mine for multiple applications as well. Excellent drive.