bad burns at 16x media - good at 8x!!!

[smiley]

OK --

I wanted to try out using the Re-Author mode (finally) and used JMETS excellent tutorial. It worked GREAT!!!

I burned the backup at a 4x burn speed, using a Verbatim (heard geat stuff here about this brand) dvd-r 16x. The result: Tons of pixelation. I re-burned it using my TDK 8x media and the result was PERFECT, no pixelation. I then burned it onto a Sony 8x media and again PERFECT.

Is it not advisable to burn at 2-4x using media at 16x?? I hate throwing out all my Verbatim 16x dvd-rs.

[Taelon]

I'd check for a firmware update before throwing out the 16x Verbatims.
What burner/firmware do you have now?

[benbryant]

Hi smiley,

I am not a patient person. Howerver, when dealing with CD/DVD burning, I have to be extremely patient. I always choose the slowest speed available and allowable by Nero (for example: 2x) just to be sure to have a perfect
burn. I don't think that you have to necessarily burn at the maximum speed stamped on the box . When you insert a blank DVD, Nero will recognize what type of media and let you choose the burning speed. You pick the slowest one and that is it

Regards

[rago88]

I have been using verbatim 16x [plus and minus] since they came out with a Plextor 716A and have backed up over 200 movies without a hitch...
Burn speeds are between 14-16x most disks.
I would look elsewhere for the problem...
I think in the old days when CD writers were touchy it was almost mandantory to burn at slowest speeds but burning at slow speeds sure cannot hurt..

I would mention that the Plextor software will instantly slow the burn speed down to half if it detects any burning errors..
Sure beats the days of getting to 98% and seeing "Write failed....
You can actually here it "downshift" when it occurs but again I have only seen that happen a few times...

[smiley]

I am using a I/O Magic external burner, which is about a year old. so far it's been fairly reliable. I'm not quite sure how to update firmare. I see I can do it under the drive tab of decrypter, but after I got to the sight I wasn't sure what to do next.

I am burning at 4x.... not 16x like the verbatim discs allow. It seems odd that I would get a perfect burn with 8x media, but lots of pixelation with the 16x media. Especially when the 16x media is a reliable brand like Verbatim.

[Chewy]

Smiley,
let's back up a litle, usb burners do good just to burn at 4X, that's
all they can handle.
Firmware is how the burner firgures out how to burn a certain media.
Your new media is too new, your drive too old. Even when you tell the
drive to burn at 4x, it's not really happy with the 16x blanks????????
Post a nero or dvdd burn log.

[Taelon]

Yep all the above, we need to know your burner model # and firmware version
You can find the info listed in the DVDDecrypter screen (as long as a disc is in the drive) or from Nero Info Tool, or about 100 other programs.

[Francksoy]

PIE/PIF error testing, as well as transfert rate tests, shows that the paradigm "burn at lower speeds for better quality" is totally flawed.

Actually all good media burn better near their rated speed. Burning 16X rated media @4X can often lead to much lower quality burns.

Also if you drive or firmware is too old it doesn't support the mediacode and burns the disc with a "default" strategy that won't make the best out of the disc.

Update your firmware! These are excellent discs. And guess what? They're among the very rare 16X discs to give good burns @4X. WITH the proper firmware of course ....

Cheers

[smiley]

Thanks for your input everyone! I appreciate it. I think I know part of the problem. I am suspecting that my burner/writer (I/O Magic) is part of the problem. I haven't read very promising reviews from those who have used this same burner. I was able to burn great looking back-ups using these SAME Verbatim 16x, at a 4x burn speed on our "family" computer. The burner is a no-name brand (Hi Val) and I don't think they even manufacture it anymore. The burner is slower than molasses but the burn quality is good.

The problem here is that the family computer is always being used by someone and not very accessible for making back-ups. LOL.

External burners are relatively inexpensive, would it be advisable to buy a different brand? If so, could someone recommend a good external burner.

THANKS!
: )

[Chewy]

I have never opened up a factory assembled external dvd burner,
but I would imagine, considering the open architecture of the industry,
that it would be possible to replace the i/o magic with a good cheap
burner like the NEC 3520/40(40$). A good generic case can be had for
30-40$ anyway. I have mounted numerous cd burners and hard drives
in them, no brainer! Just jumper as master.

[smiley]

I have my external burner hooked up to my Laptop computer; does NEC make an external burner. I've read on these forums that the backups made with the NEC burners play most consistently on a variety of stand alone dvd players.

[Taelon]

I'm pretty certain that with a firmware update your burner will burn better than ever, but you need to find out the model number and firmware revision. All the I/O Magic burners are OEM units (made by some other company). Here's a couple threads with firmware suggestions based on the actual drive model. One of them may apply to you, if you could post the info from Nero Info Tool, or a burn log we'd know for sure.

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=56013

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=56064

To Identify the firmware version of your drive, download and run this small tool Firmware Detective

[smiley]

My burner is an external I/O Magic. Model #DVDRW 1016UI. Firmware is A079. Once I get to the firmware page I can't seem to figure out how to download the update.

Here's the link.

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1913

[smiley]

Here's my decrypter log as well...


I 22:48:23 DVD Decrypter Version 3.5.4.0 started!
I 22:48:23 Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)
I 22:49:34 Initialising SPTI...
I 22:49:34 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 22:49:34 Found 1 DVD-ROM/CD-RW and 1 DVD±RW!
I 22:49:35 Operation Started!
I 22:49:35 Source File: C:\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS\JCYR\DESKTOP\DECRYPTER\FRIDAY_NIGHT_LIGHT S.ISO
I 22:49:35 Source File Sectors: 2,150,684 (MODE1/2048)
I 22:49:35 Source File Size: 4,404,600,832 bytes
I 22:49:35 Source File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink
I 22:49:35 Destination Device: [0:0:0] DVDRW USB 16X A079 (E (USB)
I 22:49:35 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Speeds: 4x)
I 22:49:35 Destination Media Sectors: 2,298,496
I 22:49:35 Write Mode: DVD
I 22:49:35 Write Type: SAO
I 22:49:35 Write Speed: 2x
I 22:49:35 Link Size: Auto
I 22:49:35 Test Mode: No
I 22:49:35 BURN-Proof: Enabled
I 22:49:35 Filling Buffer...
I 22:49:36 Writing LeadIn...
I 22:49:53 Writing Image...
I 23:03:06 Synchronising Cache...
I 23:03:31 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:13:52
I 23:03:31 Average Write Rate: 5,424 KB/s (3.9x) - Maximum Write Rate: 5,572 KB/s (4.0x)

[Taelon]

Don't use that A187 firmware, there's been alot better reports with the 089 firmware which you can get from Emprex here Just right click the link and "Save As" to your desktop.