>>You do realize the 703 is a 3-disc changer, not a single disc unit,
>>right? Your solution won't work. In fact, it won't even come
>>close to working. Nice try, though :)
>
> Whoops - no I didn't know, sorry for the misleading info :/

No problem :)

> I have found that the choice of media is as-important, if not
> more-important than the burner
> Reitek G03 and G04 dye seems to produce reliably the best results.

Even Ritek's quality has been spotty lately. I have some Ritek +R
G03 right now that has (some) issues on my LiteOn 811S that burns
perfectly fine (and works on the ol' 703!) done in the NEC drive. Go
figure.

> Fully hackED, no.
> Fully hackABLE? If the 703 (for I shall not presume again) is an
ESS 4xxx
> based machine - I would suggest that all of the standard OFFA hacks
are
> readily portable.

Unfortunately that's not the case :(

> > > Either way, good luck.
> >
> >That's not good news. I just retired my Pioneer A03 (2x) recorder,
> >for a LiteOn 812S recorder. I'd like to keep the 703 if possible-
> >but it looks like a replacement will probably be the most logical
> >choice.

I've read the 812 is a totally different animal than the 811,
so...don't fret just yet. Just get the proper firmware for it ;)

> Is there a firmware upgrade for the loader anywhere?
> Otherwise, you may have luck with good media and -> BURN AT 1X <-
> ...A loader is a very different beast from a PC DVD drive ;)

Yeah if there is, nobody has ever stepped forward with it, and I
think the question is, is there a firmware update for the carousel?
Also I burn at 4x (and no faster than 4x regardless of media) on my
NEC with no problems.

> >and 2: What would be a good suitable replacement for the 703?
>
> multi disk? no idea, sorry :(

I picked up a KLH at Best Buy for about $55 on clearance, it's the
same unit at Target which is branded Kawasaki (if you can believe it)
either way, it's a 5-Disc DVD/CD/MP3/VCD/SVCD player, and it's not
made by KLH or Kawasaki it's made by Arco electronics (I think) and
there is a region (NOT MV just region) hack for it. Probably the
closest you'll come to the 703, I guess.