2.4 speed and illegal disc error

[jimmyz61]

First, I'd like to say how glad I am the forum is up.

My question consists of a story problem. Until three weeks ago my burner ( NEC 16x DL RW ND3500AG) would burn all 16x brand DVD-R's, but it would only burn them at 2x ( I had the option of 1x or 2x with Nero (5.0 or 5.1 not sure but this will come up later) in DVD Shrink or stand alone Nero burning). Also, all 8x DVD-R's would always burn at 8x if I desired, but Sony's 8x would burn at 16. All other media burned at their rated speed. Over the last three weeks I have purchased Maxell 16x DVD-R's, and Memorex 16x DVD-R's, and embarrassingly enough, I also bought Office Depot branded 16x DVD-R's. :o Each of these media offered me write speeds of 1x, 2x, and 2.4x. Until 3 weeks ago, I had never, ever,with any brand or speed of DVD, had the option of 2.4. Also all of these media (which I have used previously as mentioned before but they burned at 2x only) refuse to burn now. I get an illegal disc error message when Nero kicks in to burn.
Most of the 16x media for sale now has a printed paper disc on top of the spindle that informs the buyer that 16x media may not work with all players blah blah blah and that firmware may need to be upgraded.( oh yes all purchases were spindles, because I have to buy dvd's cheaply or the wife hollers; loudly :D )
So, since the forum wasn't up over the last few days I unfortunately called my computer manufacturer to discuss the problem and for the firmware download. They had me uninstall Nero, it wasn't on my backup cd's, so I am currently waiting for a replacement disc to reinstall my original Nero program, and I have yet to get the firmware download for various reasons.
I read the FAQ section before this post and noticed that buying spindles may lead to lower quality DVD's. Using DVD Infopro it appears these Memorex discs were manufactured by RiteK.
To summarize the question, is it firmware for my motherboard, firmware for my dvd burner, something with nero 5.0 or 5.1, cheap discs on spindles, or something else I have either forgottten or omitted?
Also what is with the 2.4 write speed never before appearing as an option until now and it coinciding with my dvd burner or nero refusing to burn these dvd's. Is that indicitive of a firmware issue
Sorry for the long question, and thanks in advance for any help.

[setarip_old]

Hi!I had the option of 1x or 2x with Nero (5.0 or 5.1The first version of NERO dependable for burning Video DVDs was version 5.5.9...

[LIGHTNING UK!]

2.4x is for DVD+R format media.

Maybe you got the wrong format without noticing?

The speeds you can burn at are determined by the firmware in your drive.

[jimmyz61]

I assume that I at least had the nero version you referenced since I was able to burn DVD's via Nero. In regards to the type of media, they were all DVD-R, on the outside packaging and labeled on each DVD. From other extraneous research, I am going under the assumption a firmware update will solve my issue. According to NEC their DVD drives don't recognize any Memorex media, but I told the tech that mine had been recognizing them until a month ago but only at 2x. He said the firmware update would upgrade the drives ability to recognize some media, so as of yet I am still unsure if this approach will fix my current issue of "illegal disc error" when nero kicks in to burn on these recent 16x DVD-R purchases, since not all of them were Memorex, and not all of them were manufactured by the same company (ie Ritek,Ricoh) Also going to purchase some DVD+R 16x to see if If similar problem occurs. I can't do any of this til my OEM sends me my replacement Nero application which they had me delete the other day and I somehow did not have this on my back-up cd's.