Rip/Burn speeds slower with buffer issues

[jbenj01]

I'm basically multi-tasking--ripping one DVD while burning another and surfing the net.. I used to be able to do this while maintaining stable ripping and burn speeds.. But now, for some reason, I'm not...

If I begin ripping a DVD to the hdd while burning, let's say, at 4x, I notice that the "buffer size" starts fluctuating drastically, i.e., from as little as sub-1x to ~2x..., and my rip speeds take much longer..

Why is it that i was able to accomplish this with reasonable success before but now am unable to so?? Is there a way to tweak my system to successfully do the above?? I realize i'm asking my system to do a lot but... I have a P4 3.0G, Asus mobo, 1G DDR400 RAM, WinXP Pro, DVD-ROM and couple of Pioneer burners..

So after experiencing these problems for a couple of weeks and not being able to correct, I just did a fresh re-install of WinXP Pro over the weekend.. but still no success.. I just can't figure out what the heck I did wrong.. ???

I've got 2 hdd's--a 37G WD Dig Raptor SATA, on which I installed OS, and a 160G hdd for data only. DMA is activated.. Everything is working nicely now but this morning, I was burning at 4x to DVD-R and then started up DVDDecrypter to rip and sure enough, my burn speed immediately dropped to ~1-2x. wtf?!!!

Any tips to troubleshoot now, given a fresh re-install of XP?? And I just read about "burn-proof".. is that do-able with Pioneers A05 and 106? Thanks.

[jeremymacmull]

have u got the two dvds on the same IDE channel ?

if yes thats why

basically what drives are on what channels and which are sharing

JEREMY

[jbenj01]

After putzing around so much, I can't remember.. But I think the 106 is alone on primary IDE; the Lite-On DVD-ROM and the A05 as master and slave, resp., on the secondary...

I was thinking about just getting a separate "card" (forgot what you call them??) and set each piece of hardwar on a separate channel.. is that recommended? Or if you could, just advise as to what optimal setup should be.. thanks, Jeremy.

[jeremymacmull]

Could u describe the layout of all your devices ie mine is

SATA 0 74 gb raptor
SATA 1 80 gb hitachi
IDE 1 Plextor PX708A master and Liteon CDRW slave
IDE 2 30gb Maxtor master and 80gb IBM slave etc

like this cos im not sure which drive u are ripping with and which u are copying with etc

could u also say things like ripping from IDE 1 plextor to HDD SATA 0 raptor and burning from Hitachi SATA 1 to Liteon (would be an example (this would not work as my lite on and plextor are on the same channel but if you described yours like this it would help me a lot)

sorry for the confusion

AS for the other question yes if you get another PCI IDE card and have everything on its own channel then definately it will solve your probs but there is probably a way to do it without resorting to buying extra stuff

JEREMY

[jbenj01]

OK...

SATA 0 37g Raptor
SATA 1 160g Maxtor
IDE 1 Pioneer 106d
IDE 2 Lite-On 166S and Pioneer A05 (can't remember which is master/slave)

I rip from IDE 2 Lite-On (always use to rip) to SATA 0 Raptor; then re-encode from SATA 0 Raptor to SATA 1 Maxtor; finally, I write from SATA 1 maxtor to either IDE 1 106d or IDE 2 A05.

The thing is, I'd like to rip/burn/re-encode simultaneously. I'm confused b/c I was able to do this previously but all of the sudden I was unable to.. I ran a degrag overnight and will see if it did any good tonite after work.. thanks!

[jeremymacmull]

well if you rip from IDE2 to SATA raptor

then fine if u encode from RAPTOR to Maxtor at same time should be fine

if you burn from maxtor to IDE2 A05 then ull have probs as the burning and ripping are from drives on the same channel.

but if you burn to the 106 on IDE1 then all should work perfectly at the same time

Basically everything should work perfectly provided u dont burn and rip from the two drives on IDE2 simultaneously.

However if you still have probs it might be something else

Check your IRQ settings in device manager and check that all the channels are on Different IRQs cos if two or more are sharing (ie the IDE1 and the SATA 0 for example) then they could be probs there too.

bar that if everything checks out fine then ive no idea u could try the IDE PCI card so u have everything on its own channel but it should not need to be done.

JEREMY