Burning at 8x question

[Mike777]

I am a little bit puzzled because when I try to burn dvd-r (or dvd+r) 8x certified media like Sony or Verbatim at my NEC 2500A burner which is capable of burning at 8x speed, it takes a couple of minutes longer than it should in Nero 6 (remaining time countdown reaches zero when dvd is only at 70-80% ready). Is there anything I can do about it? I have upgraded NEC burner's firmware to the latest official version, but it didnt help.

Any hints why it is so?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[blutach]

NERO 6.3 had a bug in time calculation. Upgrade to 6.6 if you want this fixed.

Regards

[dickturpin2402]

I've got the same problem with my NEC and i had the same problem with an 8x lite-on , it's still burning as if it's 4x, even though it says it's buring at 8x and takes the same amount of time too. I installed the latest nero update being "nero 6.6.0.6 and it's made no difference.
During quick copy when the burn reaches 3% or 4% the buffer drops down to 50%, then when the burn reaches about 25% the buffer then goes back up to 100% again, but it still burns as if it's 4x. It's the same when i burn directly from my H/D.

I currenty haven't used any firmware as i don't think it will make any difference, it's definatly a nero problem, i might have to start looking at other software.:(

ive got my dvd-rom set as master and the NEC set to slave, thats always been my usual setup thats worked in the past, both on a single IDE cable.

If anyone has any ideas about this, please feel free to jump.
I'm completly lost :(

[dickturpin2402]

I spoke to a computer expert today who suggested i use a 80-conductor IDE ribbon cable, he says that will fix the problem, at present im only using a 40 conductor ide cable. He says that with a 40 the information cannot stream fast enough for the writer. If it works i'll post again on this thread. fingers crossed:)

[blutach]

Definitely update your firmware. It might be that the disks are unrecognised by the burner - even though you may have used that brand in the past. Brand is meaningless. See here (http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm).

I never use Nero anymore. Use ImgToolsClassic v0.91.4 (available at http://www.coujo.de/ib/index.php?act=html_include&incl_name=download) and make ISOs.

I would tend to reverse your setup and have the burner as master and ROM as slave. And don't ever copy "on-the-fly". It's risky and prone to coaster making.

Regards

[dickturpin2402]

ive always copied off the fly, it's faster (12min per disc)at 4x and it's rare that i get any errors. and to put your mind at rest i used the latest firmware, (rpc/riplock removal) the latest one and it made no difference at all to the buffer. im off this morning to buy a new ide cable and new writer, i'll let you know the results.

so far ive tried 2 new 16x dvd writers with the same buffer problem, therefore i can rule out the writers itself.my pc is more than up to spec and kept clean and de-fragged, so you can rule out the cluttered pc theory.

ill post later

[blutach]

@dick

If speed is more important to you than safety, then fine. Hope it works out 4 u. My mind definitely is at rest. I won't lose sleep.

Regards

[Paulcat]

It depends on what the specs of your PC ARE, I have a 16xDVD/40xCDR burner (LG) and when I burn a CD there is no difference between 24x and 40x (the speed may say 40x but the burn time is the same).

The bottleneck is in my system not my burner or software, and I have the same "still burning with the time at 0:00" as you.

[blutach]

@paulcat

Nero 6.3 had a bug in calculating the remaining time. They supposedly fixed this in 6.6. I know that on those occasions that I do use Nero, this time calculation error isn't there anymore.

Regards

[dickturpin2402]

The IDE 80 strip cable did not work at all, but it has made a slight improvement on the speed of the burn by about 2 minutes.
To be honest speed isn't important, but i'm rolling upto 20 full dvd discs per day, i can't be bothered to wait 30 minutes to complete one disc, 15 minutes to create the image, then 12min to burn the thing, it's just too much hasssle.
As for "burnig on the fly" it's very seldom i get burn errors, in fact the only time i get them i when i over-load the pc with various tasks while burning, of course ive stopped doing that now.
It seems that this whole problem could be down to my motherboard, so ive been told, i took my whole tower down to the pc shop today and paid them to fit a the new 16x writer, they had the same problem i did and was unsure of whats causing it as my pc is more than up to spec.

ive search the web high and low looking for the solution, but found nothing, maybe i'll just have to buy a new/better motherboard.

thanks to the people who have jumped into this topic,:D

[blutach]

You're welcome dick. Good luck

[Paulcat]

At 4x speed, I can burn a full DVD in about 14 minutes, and at 8x speed it takes about 7.5 minutes. If your system takes longer than this for either (regardless of what Nero states) then you do have a bottleneck somewhere, otherwise you are fine.

Since we don't know your computer specs, what else can we say? Slow hard drive? Low BUS speed?

[blutach]

To add to Paulcat - check that DMA is on for all IDE channels and ports.

See here (http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44808).

Regards

[candsh]

I am not familiar with NEC burners but with my Pioneer A108, the new firmware (1.18), points out that certain disks cannot be burned at the disk rated speed. Many of the 16X disks can only be burned at 8x, some of the 8X at 4X and some of the 8X will burn at 12X. You could be facing a self imposed speed limitation by the disk manufacturer on certain media. I am more concerned with the 8X at 12X and always specify the rated disk speed when burning. For example, the 16X Ridata disks can only be burned at 8X with this new firmware.

[dickturpin2402]

Hi guys

DMA on my pc is set to "dma if available" "ultra mode 5" the secondary is "Dma mode 2" but none the less they are both switched on. Ive tried 3 types of grade a media all with the same results.

at one stage after re-aranging the ide cables setting the hd/s to master and the 2 optical drives to slave the speed picked up a bit to a ten minute burn set at 8x. but the used read buffer was reaching 100% then falling to zero then back up to 100% and does this throughout the burn, and the buffer at the bottom stayed around 85 - 90% but did drop quite a few times to zero then filling up again. to be honest i find that too erractic for my liking, and although the film plays fine on a dvd player i wouldn't trust the disc unless i watched it all the way through, the discs also had a darker inner ring round it after the burn finished. this is all new to me and i don't think it's normal.

but none the less, ten minutes is still too long for an 8x burn, when i think 7 minutes is the going average.As it goes ive been looking at second hand 4x writers, all the new writers now are 8x +.

pc spec

lite-on shod 167t dvd rom
pioneer 108 16x dvd writer
40gb H/D
200gb Second H/D
1gb ram
2.66ghz processor
windows xp v3.04
service pk 1
hewlett packard


cheers guys.

[blutach]

disk - I used to burn at 8x (now, I never go over 4x) and the best I got was 9 minutes. Why worry over a minute.

One thing though. To optimise things, have your hard drive on the primary and your optical drives on the secondary - the burner on the master (port 0).

The secondary is not ultra DMA. This does mean it has stepped down a bit. Remove it and reinstall it and reset it to DMA if applicable. See the link in my previous post.

Regards and good luck

[dickturpin2402]

hi guys
thanks for your replies.
the speed of the burn isn't important to me, but if i pay for an 16x writer i expect it to do just that, in fact i wouldn't burn faster than 8x anyway, but thats not the point.
If the writer isn't burning at the correct speed then there's a problem that needs workin' on.
As for bottlenecks within my pc, well i doubt it, everything's well up to speed and i aint noticed any decline in performance.

I'll try what you said about the dma cables.

thanks again

[JeremyIrons]

I've had issues with various manufacturers of DVD media, whether it was DVD-R or +R. I have a Pioneer 108 and a LG burner. Both report different burn rates, even though the media clearly states its maximum speed. It didn't matter if the media was first rate brand or the cheapo jellybean stuff. Go figure.

[Paulcat]

I just burned some stuff this past weekend onto a SONY dvd-r that was rated 4x, I burned it at 8x with no problems.

Changing my IDE cable DID make a difference to me, before whenever I put a cd or dvd in the drive, I had to reboot the system to get it to recognize the disc type. Once it recognized dvds, I could keep changing dvds, but then if I put a regular cd in, I had to reboot again. Now it works fine...go figure.

Computers, supposed to make life EASIER aren't they?!!