DVD Speed not Burning at maximum?

cliveports · Post by **cliveports** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 7:49 pm

Anyone know why, despite telling VS to Burn my DVD aT 8X (which is the speed of my blanks and th recoder can handle it) it still burns at 3x (or shows on the screen its 3x) and I've tried MAXIMUM SPEED and 8X in the Burn settings but it still only burns at 3x?

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:25 pm

I can't tell you why that is happening, but if I were you, I would be thanking your burner for NOT burning your DVDs at maximum speed. I use 12X blanks, but never burn my *video* DVDs at anything more than 4x. (Archive or data DVDs are different.) The slower the speed, the better the laser signal is embedded in the disc. The higher the speed, the 'weaker' the embedding, and thus the greater the chance that a variety of stand-alone DVD players may have difficulty playing your DVDs if you intend to give them to friends, family etc.

I am a little puzzled, though, since I have 4 DVD burners, all of different brands (Pioneer, Sony, LG and ASUS), and none of them have ever shown a 3x speed. Instead, they will go 1x, 2x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 12x, 16x.

I might also add as a footnote that regardless of what a blank disc may be rated at on its label, the burner may see another speed. Some of my 12x discs, for instance, are seen -- only occasionally -- as 8x by two of my burners. And I have also, in the past, had 8x Ritek blanks seen as 12x by one of my burners. But I repeat, regardless of any of this, I still only burn at 4x.

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 1:12 pm

You need a firmware update on your DVD Burner in order to resolve your 3X issue, or if you have drivers like the Starforce copy protection Drivers on your system that are on there protecting another software application or game, then download the latest version of those Drivers. But, as Ken rightly says, when burning video and audio to DVD, I wouldn't burn faster than 4X anyway. I have a 16X DVD burner, but I burn in Video Studio at either 2X or 4X in order to avoid problems with low end stand alone DVD players.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 9:25 pm

Terry -- amusingly, I burn at low speed for precisely the opposite reason -- to guard against the pickiness of *high* end stand-alone DVD players!

My own $50 cheapie, and similar ones my friends have, seem happy to play anything round, silver and with a hole in the centre. On the other hand, other friends with much more expensive brand name players seem to have the most difficulty with 'home made' DVDs.

TDK1044 · Post by **TDK1044** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:04 pm

That's interesting, Ken. It hadn't occurred to me that the high end players would be a problem, but what you say makes sense. In any event, burning at a max of 4X is a smart move for any Video Studio user, even though I suspect many burn at a higher rate with no prpblems.

Post by **Ken Berry** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 10:10 pm

I'm sure you're right. I used to burn at 6x and occasionally at 8x, and mostly that worked. But I got one or two which would not play properly on my own player, and not at all on a friend's brand name player. So I burned these discs slower, and this time they worked. So since then, I consistently burn at 4x and have never had any problem with the DVDs I distribute to friends and family...

cliveports · Post by **cliveports** » Mon Jun 19, 2006 7:10 am

Thanks to you Both, And I agree, its a case of Ain't Broke, So Dont Fix! So I'll keep to the lo-speed of burning, after Kens comments about quality of burn I may just wind it down to 1x and go off to make supper!! Its not a driver issue and as the DVDs are playing I wont worry, I was just trying to reduce DVD production time. And I find the same as Ken - Cheapo DVD/CD players seem to play anything I to throw at them but my hi-end Denon is quite fussy!