Sony DRU-500A

[tallboy]

I've had the Sony DRU-500A for a few months now. The only problem I'm having is I can't make it write at 4x. I'm try with Ritek G04 DVD-Rs. I've tried firmware from 1.0c to the current 2.0e I can make it write at 1x or 2x but no 4x. I'm useing XP Pro on an AMD 2G with 512M RAM. Any ideas where the bottle neck could be?

[rkorkie]

I'm having the exact same problems. I can't burn at 4x with the G04's either. It sucks. I've read the forums and others are having the same trouble. I've read things like putting the drive on Secondary slave using an ATA100 cable. I've heard that firmware 1.0d works, but nothing afterwards because Sony intentionally banned the Ritek's from burning at 4x. Needless to say, moving the drive to secondary slave didn't work, and I am going to try the older firmware soon. Let me know if you have any luck. Thanx.

[dante the dutchman]

u must use the new firmware 2.0f with this media,otherwise it won't work.

[rkorkie]

I have been using 2.0f for the last week. Still no dice. I'm sure it's a very picky thing to get it to work, whether it's your software and/or hardware and/or firmware configuration. Obviously no one single thing works for everyone with this problem...

[dante the dutchman]

Have u tried the media on other 4 speed burners then? I also had the problem with arita 2 speed dvd-r in my pioneer a-05 they only burned at 1x and and in the sony burner at 2x. have tried the pioneer 4 speed dvd-r in the sony burner?

[rkorkie]

Actually, you make a very good point. I haven't tried either of those. Maybe I will send off a 4x to my friend who has a Pioneer, and maybe I'll buy one Pioneer 4x. But damn they are so expensive for just one!!!

[dante the dutchman]

Yeah i know their expensive,but here in holland the ritek are pretty expensive. the datawrite 4 speeds are 25 for 44 euro(dollars) and they work great. I usely use the datarite 2.4 speeds +r but kno wi go for the 4 speed datawrite and if they are good i will always use them. I burned about 800 datawrite +r and they never failed me.

[dante the dutchman]

this ti rkorkie,try the firmware 1.0f it works with the riteks,a friend of mine also had it with the datwrite claasics 4 speed and changed it to 1.0f and work flawless now.

[rkorkie]

ok, I'm willing to give anything a shot. I'm tired of burning $1.73 discs at 2x when I could have had them for only $0.75!!!!!!!!! Thanx.

[dante the dutchman]

if u burn an image with smartripper,what kind of brand is shown.
with the 4 speed datawrite it says princo manufactering(bad media usualy) so if your ritek shows the same then it's the media's fault.
i didn't burn much of the 4 speeds datawrites but i hope i don't get same problems wich i had with princo.
also the 4 speed dvd-r should be darker on the burning side and if they are almost as light as normal dvd-r 2 speeds then it's also crappy media i think. i once had expensive datawrite 4 speed for about 3€ each and they where perfect and much darker on the write side. can u tell me if the firmware also worked with your burner.