Planetarion Forums

wu_trax · 27 Dec 2003, 16:17

i have got the feeling i already asked this here, but anyway:
i have got a dvd-writer in my computer ( Sony DRU-500AX). it SHOULD write with 4x speed, but instead of about 15 minutes (as my burning software says) it takes 45-60 minutes to burn a dvd.
the software shows 4x-speed. the dvd is also for 4x-speed. and after that the dvds sometimes dont even work

if i try to burn something with 2x-speed it also takes about an hour !!

does anyone what could be wrong and how i can solve this? its just annoying

PS i tryed with Nero and with Veritas Record now, both the same problem. i also tryed different brands of dvds.

xtothez · 27 Dec 2003, 17:19

Is it actually burning to the disc in all of that time?
When I used MyDVD to write a disc at 4x it spent quite a while arranging, processing and caching files before actually writing the disc, which took 15-20mins. Are you writing standard data CDs or video discs?

wakey · 27 Dec 2003, 17:25

Also what type of discs are you trying to write to?

wu_trax · 27 Dec 2003, 17:48

i tried both, normal data disks and video disks, it doesnt make much of a difference. i also tryed both formats dvd-r and dvd+r, no difference there neither. and yes, the burning takes that long. there is some small light blinking which means that it is burning
the software shows 2x or4 4x speed, but always takes about an hour per disk. i really have no idea what that is about.

xtothez · 27 Dec 2003, 18:10

It could be a redundant point, but all the CD/DVD writers I've ever used have kept the LED on solidly when burning, only making it flash when the drive is waiting for data (eg. when using BurnProof). I'm wondering if your computer isn't supplying the information to the drive fast enough.
The most likely cause for this is Windows setting ATAPI drives to PIO mode by default rather than UDMA. Check the IDE controller for that drive and make sure its set to 'DMA if available', as well as being set to UDMA-5 in the BIOS.

wakey · 27 Dec 2003, 18:29

I have to say i agree with xtothez, my drive certainly only blinks when theres a bottleneck thats caused the Burnproof to kick in and when this happens it obviously does slow the recording down.

wu_trax · 27 Dec 2003, 18:30

currently it uses udma-2, isnt that enough?
ill go and check the bios settings now.

(i also tryed a firmware update just now, but didnt yet check if it makes any difference.)

ill also check the manual if it is supposed to blink or be on all the time while burning.
but how the hell can a hard-disk be too slow to bun a dvd? its even at a raid-controller, which should make the hd even faster than the normal hds.

Luckeh!!!! · 28 Dec 2003, 02:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtothez

It could be a redundant point, but all the CD/DVD writers I've ever used have kept the LED on solidly when burning, only making it flash when the drive is waiting for data (eg. when using BurnProof). I'm wondering if your computer isn't supplying the information to the drive fast enough.
The most likely cause for this is Windows setting ATAPI drives to PIO mode by default rather than UDMA. Check the IDE controller for that drive and make sure its set to 'DMA if available', as well as being set to UDMA-5 in the BIOS.

I've not seen a UDMA-5 DVD burner before

wu_trax · 28 Dec 2003, 10:04

apparently it was the firmware. now everything seems to work just fine.

wu_trax · 28 Dec 2003, 11:01

no, damn, it wasnt the firmware

i first burned a dvd with 2x-speed. took a little less than 30 minutes (thats normal i think). so i thought everything fine.
now i tryed 4x speed again and it took 30 minutes aswell.
nero 6.0 (which is free until the 31th of december, so go and download) has some build-in tool to determine the maximum speed. for reading speed it shows about 32,000 kb/sec during that speedtest (which should be more than enough). once the burning started the reading speed falls to 1x - 1.2x i have no idea why, but it seems you people were right.
now what can i do about it? its not the bios settings or whatever. the hd-speed for normal work on the pc is fine.

JammyJim · 28 Dec 2003, 13:04

when making a data cd the light on my liteon stays on continuously

however when using mydvd to make a 'proper dvd' that can play on other things (e.g. a film of flatmates drunk that they can play on their home dvd player) then after much arranging and moving about and processing it finally burns with the light on and then off....

are you 100% certain the dvd disks you have support 4x?

not all do.

incidently it takes me 20minutes ish to burn a cd and then a further 15 ish for mydvd to check the dvd is 'good' after the burn process. however this is on a dvd rw so fk knows if thats the norm.

wu_trax · 28 Dec 2003, 13:28

yes, its even written on them. (and i tried different brands, all the same

)
i just tried to put in another hd to burn something without using my raid-hard disks (thats the only explanation left)
i made a few 'backups' of dvds using dvd-shrink. that programm writes the necessary VTS_x_y.vob-files into a directory and those files you then put onto a dvd. there isnt much arranging / checking or whatever left to do.

edit: no, it wasnt the hard disk

still far too slow. damnit, i have to burn 30 GB of firends episodes, that will take a week or something

wakey · 28 Dec 2003, 16:19

What other processes do you have running which could cause the budder underrun protection to be kicking in. Anything which is using the processor or hard drive can cause the datastream the the writer to drop out. I've noticed that some virus scanners were a major cause of this on both my cd-rw and now my dvd-rw

wu_trax · 28 Dec 2003, 16:51

there is absolutly nothing that uses that much resources ( icq, some other small programs and a browser).
i have no explanation.

flapjack · 28 Dec 2003, 16:56

tough i don't have a DVD burner, i suppose the problems with them and CD-r drives are about the same, i'd suggest turning your internet connection off, then turn your firewall(s) and virus scanner(s) off, it often gives a significant improvement for a lot of things (other then downloading things ofc).

xtothez · 28 Dec 2003, 16:57

Paste-system-specs time methinks!

wu_trax · 28 Dec 2003, 17:38

there is much to say:
MSI K7T-266 Pro 2
Athlon XP 1800
512 MB Ram
2x 60GB (crappy) IBM-Harddisk at raid
1x 40GB WD hard disk at primary IDE
Sony DRU 500 AX at secondary IDE

i dont have any firewall or virus scanner (my firewall is running on another system)

JammyJim · 14 Jan 2004, 00:48

Rightyho....

My dvd writer took around 30-45minutes to make a copy of a dvd (literally copy to copy) after it had first 'iso'd' the files to my hdd.

SOOOOOOOOOOOO

what you might have is the norm. mine is only writing at 4x atm because i havnt got any 8x dvd's...
that will be changing soon me thinks.

wu_trax · 14 Jan 2004, 01:00

no, its not normal. its just that sony sucks

nero even tells me it burns at single speed. it tried everything i could think of. all possible firmware upgrade (btw, here seems to be a good place for firmeware-stuff: http://forum.rpc1.org/ ) but it didnt change anything.
so everyone: dont buy sony, but i read they stoped building these things anyway.

JammyJim · 14 Jan 2004, 02:07

oh dear.

i highly recomment the new liteon

its 8x write 4x rewrite and support dvd+ dvd- cdrw etc (just about everything cept dvd ram)

AND its only 150 quid from dixons or 120 from scan.

cheaper than most of the ones which do the 4x for everything.....

wu_trax · 14 Jan 2004, 10:25

i turned my sony into a lite-on by firmware upgrade

didnt change anything though

but ill keep my sony for a while. the next one i buy will be one of these new dual-layer-things which are supposed to come out this year. it will probably take a while before i can effort them, but i dont want to buy a new one now and then buy yet another one in a year or something. they are just too expensive for me.

wakey · 17 Jan 2004, 14:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by JammyJim

oh dear.

i highly recomment the new liteon

its 8x write 4x rewrite and support dvd+ dvd- cdrw etc (just about everything cept dvd ram)

AND its only 150 quid from dixons or 120 from scan.

cheaper than most of the ones which do the 4x for everything.....

I was going to go for a lite-on one but there was so many reports on the net about problems with them (mainly to do with the incompatability with a huge number blank discs from top selling manufatuers that I didnt bother with it. May have been sorted by now but its something you need to look into before buying one of these imho