Decypting varies depending on DVD

[Zig Fowler]

I have a 16x DVD Drive and I've noticed that when I decryted my older movies that some only go at 2-4x while newer ones will go to 6-8x. I assume this has something to do with info stored on the DVD, but I'm not sure. Could someone explain to me why this is and why I haven't seen anything decrypt at 16x. The DVDs are in good condition and the only difference between them that I can find is the date they were made.

[writersblock29]

@Zig Fowler

...Well... not too sure what manufacturer makes your drive, but most of them rip single-layered disks at faster speeds than dual-layered ones. Which makes this particular situation a bit strange, since far more older titles are on single-layered disks than are newer titles. So it wouldn't seem odd if all your rips which are UNDER 4.36GBs ripped at faster speeds than all of your rips that were OVER this amount, if this were the case.

You might do well to insure that your drive's got DMA enabled (you can check using either Nero Infotool or Start/Control Panel/Performance and Maintenance/System/Hardware/Device Manager/Secondary IDE Channel... Right Click... Select Properties, then Advanced Settings). Also make sure your disks are free of fingerprints, dirt, ect, as this will affect readability.

Also be aware that many drives have -- embedded within their firmware -- a type of restriction known as Riplock. This limits the speed of which your drive can read a given disk. (The point, supposedly, is to keep the drive from being noisy while it does its job... but my own drives have riplock removed and aren't all that loud.) There are many firmwares out there that can remove Riplock, and a Google Search will take you far in finding them. Be warned, however, that flashing a drive with unofficial firmware (most of these are hacked, after all) will void your drive's warranty. A bad flash can also damage your drive. :( So if you find a firmware that interests you, download it -- but don't use it until you've done some research on it; who's installed it, what problems they had, yadda yadda. I know it sounds stupid for a drive's manufacturer to advertise a drive's reading speed at 16X, then put a restriction on it that limits it to 8X... but that's exactly what many do. Friggin' advertising!

[Qjimbo]

Couldn't it just be that the older discs have more dust/marks/scratches that slows down the ripping? Though if you say they're in good condition it could be something deeper I guess. Perhaps the older discs were when DVD had just started coming out and so the discs weren't to such a high quality? (like how some 1980s CDs have began to deteriorate)