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16x DVD Burner Only Burns At 4x: Where's The Limit?

I recently purchased a 16x DVD burner for video editing. I have a Dell Dimension 8300 PC running XP, 2.8 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM.

Trying various 16x media, I can't get higher than a 4x burning rate from my 16x burner. My previous 8x burner never got past 4x either. I'm trying to understand what's limiting the burn to 4x. Is the limit caused by:

(a) My IDE or system bus? How do I know if I have enough I/O bandwidth to drive a particular DVD speed? Could someone explain the relevant bus speeds and DVD speeds to tell me if my system has an upper limit on DVD burning speed?

(b) A software setting? It there by any chance any setting that says how fast my DVD recorder should record at? Where would this setting be kept?

todd_e_bryant

ASKER

I use both Pinnacle Studio and Nero to burn.

When I insert a DVD-R, Nero InfoTool tells me: Write Speed 4.0X. Then, when I burn, I sure enough get <= 4x for the burn.

Pinnacle Studio doesn't report the burn rate, but it's less than 4x.

I had a Sony 8X burner, and now I have an HP 16x burner, but I have never seen more than 4x for any DVD-R media for any burning application. Surely one of these burners would have burned at more than 4x?

Which makes me think perhaps there's a system setting somewhere saying "nerver burn at more than 4x"? Or some other limit?

bryanford

Its generally a good idea to not burn faster than 4x. If i go above 4x when burning video, i get pixelation and sometimes the disc wont read.

todd_e_bryant

ASKER

Actually, a few more tests and I think the problem IS the media. I have been using several 16x disks, but my brand new 16x HP drive can't seem to write them anywhere clse to 16x, and HP doesn't have a firmware upgrade.

I bought a big spindle of 16x DVD-R's of RITEKF1 brand, and according to this web page, may drives don't get over 4x on them. What a suck.

http://www.meritline.com/dvd-r-media-compatibility-chart-ritek.html

todd_e_bryant

ASKER

bryanford,

Just curious, what's the point of a 16x DVD drive, if you are supposed to make DVDs at 4x? That doesn't seem right.

bryanford

beats me... ive had those problems on many pcs, even a 3.2ghz hyperthreading thingy. with different drives and different media.

For data it seems ok though.

But I agree with you, whats the point...

Lee W, MVP

What version of Nero? Have you updated it appropriately?

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Gary Case

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Gary Case

... typo alert: In the 5th paragraph above, "The reason the higher speeds are linearly smaller ..." SHOULD read: "The reason the higher speeds are NOT linearly smaller ..."

Gary Case

... more typo alerts (!!):

1st paragraph: "... whether right speed or ..." should be "... whether write speed or ..."

last paragraph: "... system is configured propertly..." should be "... system is configured properly..."

todd_e_bryant

ASKER

garycase, thanks for the detailed response. I think you're right on.

The drive is brand new, and I tried without success to get firmware updates from HP before I started this discussion thread, so I'm a bit stuck right now. I few vendors got firmware upgrades from the OEM drive manufacturer, but reported problems doing this, so I think I'll just go on a broader media hunt.

Man, I can't believe how incompatible burning (and reading) still is, so many years after the introduction of these discs. It's still a Wild West show out there, for consumers to create DVDs for their friends that will play on their DVD players! How can non-technical consumers possibly navigate all this! Ouch!

Again, thanks for the detailed response!

todd_e_bryant

ASKER

Now my turn for typos: "I few vendors got firmware upgrades" should say "A few users reported on message boards that they got firmware upgrades"...