Is Burning at Maximum Speed a Problem with ImgBrn?

[TomBrooklyn]

With ImgBrn, can setting the burn speed to maximum lead to problems?

[CWR03]

The general rule of thumb for burning with any program is not to exceed half the rated speed of either the burner or the media, whichever is slower.

You should really use the Search feature more often, as many of your questions are rather basic, have been asked and answered many times before, are in some of the stickies, guides and FAQ's, and don't really need a whole new thread. They can also be answered by a little trial and error (or possibly success) on your part.

[setarip_old]

@TomBrooklyn

I've had no problem arising from burning high quality media (Taiyo-Yuden, Verbatim, SONY [Japan], and Maxell [Japan]) at "Maximum", using IMGBurn or any other burning program.

Have you encountered poor results, or are you simply asking in advance of actually burning? if you've had poor results, it's likely due to the quality of the media...

[TomBrooklyn]

I've had no problem arising from burning high quality media (Taiyo-Yuden, Verbatim, SONY [Japan], and Maxell [Japan]) at "Maximum", using IMGBurn or any other burning program. Have you encountered poor results, or are you simply asking in advance of actually burning?
Hi setarip,
I haven't had any problem. I read a guide (I think it was one blutach made about ImgBrn) that recommended not burning at maximum. Mostly I was wondering if anyone had actully experienced any problems. I also noticed when using Nero for copying or Lightscribe that the burn seem to start off slowly and then pick up speed. I was wondering if I specified some speed that I might actually make the drive burn faster than it wanted to, perhaps at some point in the burn, and by doing that screw it up. I only buy name brand media. Right now I have TDK, Memorex, and Verbatim on hand.

[setarip_old]

I only buy name brand media. Right now I have TDK, Memorex, and Verbatim on hand."Brand name" and "high quality" are NOT necessarily synonymous!

Actually, TDK and Memorex branded DVDs (regardless of actual manufacture ID) have well-known reputations for being of POOR quality...

Burning "guides" are just that, "guides", and have value for providing generalities - but they should not be viewed as "bibles".

As I mentioned before, on those occasions that I've used IMGBurn or other burning programs to burn at maximum speed, I've had no bad burns.

I'm sure that if others have experienced problems that are specifically proven to be the result of burning at maximum speed, it's been due to using poor quality media...

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Don't worry about setting the program to a speed that's faster than the max speed of the media, the drive will only ever burn as fast as its firmware says is supported/possible.

If the firmware only support 8x on a certain bit of media, even if you set ImgBurn to 56x it'll still only burn at 8x.

Software can only work within the boundaries set by the firmware.

[jwo62]

Mostly I was wondering if anyone had actully experienced any problems.

Yes,

I think a lot has to do with the pc specs. my pc is only a 1.4 ghz.,if I burn faster than 4x, I will have playback issues. no matter what media I use.

When I reply to people who are having issues with pauses,skipping or piexation in playback,I first suggest lowering thier burn speed. it usually works.

But you have to try for yourself to know what works for you...

[CWR03]

If the firmware only support 8x on a certain bit of media, even if you set ImgBurn to 56x it'll still only burn at 8x.
I and others I know personally have had a similar experience with burning at MAX, particularly when using 16X media in an older 8X drive. As far as I can tell, it attempts to burn at the fastest rated speed of the media (16X, which exceeds the drive's maximum rated speed), and when it fails it drops all the way to 2.4X, which is below the slowest rated speed of the media. The result has been a disk that is recognized as blank by a PC, or "NO DISC" by a standalone player.

[blutach]

I still reckon there's 4 key things to take care of:

1. As setarip says - decent media - Taiyo Yudens or Verbs only (and very preferably not Verbs made by Prodisc)

2. DMA - on

3. Firmware - up to date

4. Speed - depending on PC, drive and media - 4x to 8x...the few minutes you save at 16x is IMO, just not worth the risk.

Regards

[LIGHTNING UK!]

I and others I know personally have had a similar experience with burning at MAX, particularly when using 16X media in an older 8X drive. As far as I can tell, it attempts to burn at the fastest rated speed of the media (16X, which exceeds the drive's maximum rated speed), and when it fails it drops all the way to 2.4X, which is below the slowest rated speed of the media. The result has been a disk that is recognized as blank by a PC, or "NO DISC" by a standalone player.

Hmmm that sounds a little off to me.

If the drive is only an 8x drive, it'll only support media at up to 8x. So even if you put 16x media in the tray, the drive will (at best) burn at 8x on it. The firmware simply won't allow anything beyond that - and it would certainly never allow a drive to attempt to break it's own specs!
You can only ever overspeed media to the maximum supported by the drive.

Perhaps your 8x drive didn't have a good write strategy for this (obviously newer) 16x media. That's why it didn't burn very well. A lot of drives perform some sort of WOPC to test the burn quality whilst burning and I expect that caused the speed to drop - in an attempt to improve burn quality.

If you want to know what speeds a drive / firmware version supports on a certain bit of media, just put the said media in the drive and look in ImgBurn's 'Info' panel on the right.

It mentions 'Supported Write Speeds'.