Getting slow read speed on Taiyo Yuden 4x DVD-R...explanations? (edit: I'm a dill)

[Matthew]

Recently I burned some 2x TDK branded discs, manufactured by Maxell (not fakes) and had issues with them not burning properly (reported burned okay but weren't complete). The dye on the back even for the ones that burned okay looked "graded" (progressively lighter shade towards end of disc).

I thought maybe the burner is clapping out so burned a 4x Verbatim (usual brand) and no problems.

Anyway, got the TDKs replaced with 4x TDK discs, manufactured by Taiyo Yuden (code: TYG01). I've burned one and it seems to play fine in a standalone and be 100% CRC okay, but it only reads back at 2x in the DVDrom drive and the computer gets a bit laggy at times when copying the files. And when I say 2x I mean exactly 2.1x consistently - as if the speed of the drive is locked. DVD Decrypter reads it fine for the whole disc, just slowly.

I'm wondering if this could just be a case of the DVDrom drive not liking this particular make of disc, as opposed to a bad burn? It's a fairly crappy Sony, but it does read other DVD-Rs at ~6x average. The slow read speed also occurs in the same model drive housed in another computer. I don't have access to any other DVD drives to test the disc in atm and the burner is only 2x read so that's no good for testing.

All discs were burned at 2x in a Pioneer A04.

Just doesn't quite seem like a bad burn issue because of the rock-solid consistent read speed...

[alexnoe]

A lot of drives are locked down to low speeds when reading dvd-r.

The manufacturers of many drives rather want the drives to read princo discs without jerking (requiring a very low speed setting) than reading proper dvd-r discs at higher speeds...seems they think that post people only use princo :(

It's however weird that this disc type is read slowlier than other dvd-r...however, a pioneer a04 not properly recording maxell dvd-r is a very bad sign. Maybe the burner is broken and writes the tyg01 discs at poor quality for some reason.

[Raster]

When is the last time you updated the firmware?

Usually firmware updates resolve disc compatibility issues.

[Matthew]

Thanks for the replies.

The firmware is up to date 1.41 - so that shouldn't be an issue.

I'll be able to test the TY disc on another DVDROM drive after Easter, if it reads at fast speeds then I suppose that means the Maxell/TY issues are separate and the TY discs burn okay. If not...goodbye burner I suppose...*sigh*

[Matthew]

Okay, tried the disc in another reader and it took only 10-12 mins to copy to the HD.

That indicates that the slow read speed is just a DVDROM issue and that the DVD burner is okay, at least for 4x discs. Yay.

[Matthew]

Turns out when I tested one of my old discs and thought it read back fine...I must have been wrong...was just a crude copy test in windows explorer and I must have done the speed calcs wrong in my head or something. ALL discs are reading slowly (and it happened so suddenly without any apparent reason, too).

Can't believe I was so careless...

BTW burned a couple more 2x Maxells and they seem fine, no change in dye on these ones :)

[Raster]

Is the IDE Channel transfer mode set to DMA?

[theReal]

I guess your problem is the NEW firmware here...

Newer firmware of many DVD drives/burners sets the read speed to 2x for video DVD because they want to please the movie industry and make copying DVD Video slower.

I got a hacked firmware for my Pioneer 106 because it also had that restriction

[Matthew]

AFAIK it's set to DMA, I remember checking that setting ages ago because I knew it was an issue,

I have now burned 5 Maxells without issue (plus a couple of TYs and a Verbatim). The HD was rather defragmented before these burns (did some serious defragging), so it's possible I suppose that it was the cause of the bad burns :o

@theReal, I did update the firmware for the DVDROM drive in the recent past, but it was reading fine for a while. For no apparent reason the speed has just gone through the floor, to less than 2x average (takes 31-32 mins or something for a full DVD-R disc), even for data DVDs. The DVDROM drive reads discs at fast speeds in an alternative install of XP running off a different physical drive. So I can't see that it is the firmware or drive itself that is to blame.

[Joergen]

More often than not, a steady "2X" read on a 8-16X DVD-ROM is due to it being in PIO mode. It's not something you "think it is" .. you have to check if it is DMA or not. Sometimes drives seem to kick themselves out of DMA mode in W2K and WinXP and you can get them back in order (if changing the DMA mode doesnt help) by deleting the primary or secondary ide channel and reinstalling it.

Even if your drives are reported DMA on bootup windows can still force them to PIO.

[Matthew]

Second device on secondary IDE channel was indeed set to PIO. Changing the setting to DMA if available didn't help. Uninstalled and re-installed the secondary IDE channel though and speed is back to normal.

Thanks very much :)

[Raster]

Glad you got your problem solved.

I once sent back for exchange a new burner that slowed down after a while. When I got the replacement, it worked fine and than slowed down after I updated the firmware. When I thought about it, I realized the previous burner slowed down after the firmware update also. Turns out that after the update, windows set it to PIO mode.