High-speed are available on the market which allow DVD burners to record at a higher speed. Pioneer has discovered that some of the DVD burners it has already supplied are not compatible with these media and that use of these kinds of high-speed media can even cause damage to the burner hardware. In order to keep the burner up to date, it is very important that you carry out a one-off update of the firmware on your system.
As a result of the DVD hardware used in the Casablanca Prestige and Casablanca Kron, MacroSystem Digital Video AG must also react to the current market situation. That is why we are providing this firmware update, which installs the new files provided by Pioneer onto your system.

Excerpt from Pioneer's Internet pages:

"As the DVD Forum releases the specifications for new high-speed discs for DVD recording, Pioneer Electronics (USA)  Inc. announces that many of its DVD-R/RW computer drives and DVD recorders will require a firmware update in order to avoid  potential damage to the units and discs. The update… is extremely important for owners of  these products to make sure it is completed prior to using any new high-speed discs for recording.

 The DVD Forum has established new standards for high-speed recordable discs (4X for DVD-R and 2X for DVD-RW). Various media manufacturers have begun production of these discs that will soon be available in the marketplace. The source of the problem is a  firmware “bug” in certain Pioneer DVD-R/RW recorders and drives, and not with the high-speed media itself." [1]

"What is "firmware"?

In simple terms, firmware is the internal software code of a DVD-R/RW Recorder / Writer drive that realizes the proper behaviour of the actual hardware.” [2]

The following hardware types installed in the Casablanca Kron and Casablanca Prestige require a firmware update:

• Pioneer DVR-A03/DVR-103 DVD-R/-RW burner
• Pioneer DVR-A04/DVR-104 DVD-R/-RW burner

The Firmware-Update Software is free of charge.

The burning speed is not effected by the use of high-speed DVDs.

You will find a PDF-file documentation in the download section.

[1]  From: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/hs/

[2] From: http://www.pioneer-eur.com/eur/support_update.jsp?category=support/update/qa#Q3