Help! My Pioneer PC DVD-R116R DVD-ROM Won't Play Recent DVD NTSC R1 DVD Releases

I'm having trouble getting my Pioneer DVD-116R Sony
Vaio OEM DVD Rom to play newer official DVDs.
My Pioneer DVD-116R drive will play all of my DVDs
and DVDRs except for recently released titles such
as Iron Maiden Visions Of The Beast 2003, Led
Zeppelin 2003, Futurama Vol. 1& 2, and Socrpion
King 2002.

My Pioneer DVD Rom scans the Table of Contents of
these discs, but then locks up for a few seconds,
and refuses to recognize the discs. DVD Rom Drive is reported as
empty,even when discs are in the drive.

I've tried DVDgenie, Region Killer, WinDVD Tweaker Pro 4.31, and DVD
Region Free, get the same result with all 4 apps.

I updated my drive to the proper hacked region free
v1.22 firmware found at
http://pioneerdvd.rpc1.org/#PIONEER_IDE , and my
Pioneer Drive played the Zep and Maiden discs
perfectly, with full menus, audio options, and all.
I had DVD Genie, DVD Region-Free 2.18 demo, and
WinDVD Tweaker Pro 4.31 running in the background.
Something triggered WinDVD 5 Platinum player to run
the discs, so I know that the DVDs are compatible with my DVD ROM.
Then I rebooted my PC after 12 hours or so and my
Maiden and Zep disc were no longer recognized by my
Pionner DVD-116R drive. No idea what happened.
I used the same 4 region free apps, and no luck. I've
tried WinDVD 4/5, Power DVD5, and Media Player 9.
I've also updated my ASPI drivers to the latest revisions.

I'm in the USA and use NTSC Region 1 DVDs and hardware. I've verified
the NTSC Region 1 compliance of all of my DVDs.
I've tested out the Maiden and Zep discs on U.S. X Box, and PS2 game
systems.Both game machines play the discs back perfectly.

All of the titles that I own are 100% official, factory pressed DVDs
obtained from major merchants.

I am running XP SP1.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
This problem has been driving me nuts for weeks!

Thanks!

Milan

 

Ummmm. Looks like it will only play BAD movies

Dr. Speedbyrd :>

 

"So, Mr Slumpy you *really* are the perpetual comedian, aren't you ?" I
threw back my head and roared with laughter as Hunter continued:

Waste no more time, get a new one, anything other than /not/ beiung able to
watch the best music DVD in the World ever ;-)

 

Is this a combi DVD Rom and CD Writer?