Burning Software
 

It's been a while since we have talked about this subject. What is everyone using to burn and copy their non-commercial DVDs? I was using a Nero OEM program I received with my burner and it did a good job. I decided to upgrade to Nero 6 and recently been getting a lot bad burns. This never used to happen. I'm using TY discs.

DVD Decryptor does a great job in ISO mode, but I find that it writes really slow for me (2X). I can't seem to figure out a way to speed it up. Yes, I've checked for spyware and viruses. Just curious what everyone else is using and if there is a better way.[;^)]

Try RecordNow 4.5 I think is the number, I noticed the Nero 6 tends to be crappy vs 5.5 which was excellent but 5.5 does not support a lot of new burners

I use a Mac for all my burning and on that its Toast 6 but that does not mean much to most people lol

Marcus, I use DVD Decrypter for all of my burns at 4x, 8x and 12x. Do you have UDMA setup on your controllers? I was restricted to 2x until I figured out how to enable the higher speed UDMA mode on one of my systems.

As far as data dvds, I use RecordNow DX - came with one of my burners. Works great for me, seems to recognize my drive okay. You can update the underly engine online from their website.

What burner?

Padre2 I have a question. Are you talking about the IDE ATA/Atapi Controllers? Mine are set for DMA versus the other option PIO. How do you get them to go UltraDMA. Mine does say if available (Ultra DMA) but it doesn't show as an option.

Any help you would suggest to spend up Decryptor (writing) would be appreciated. One thing I need to point out is that I have a Toshiba Laptop and use an external Toshiba burner SDR-5372(which I love by the way).

Marcus, it sounds like you've got it set right. Some BIOS will say UDMA vs. DMA. Either are preferred. UDMA is mostly used by hard discs. I was going to ask if you were using at 40 pin IDE cable vs. 80 pin cable, but your burner is external.

Your external dvd burner, is it USB 2.0 or 1.1? Something else? Not familiar with that model.

I use a USB 2.o cardbus adapter for my external burner to plug in to my laptop. Some tech guy at a DVD burner reseller told me that it's a big lie about the speed difference from a 1.1 port to a 2.0 port. I can tell you from experience that there is a big difference between the two.

There is a speed difference from 1.1 to 2.0, but the 2.0 being "faster" than firewire is the lie. Firewire has faster sustained speeds, USB 2.0 is just faster peaks, but much slow sustained. He was just mixing them up, I bet.

Nero -- when needed
DVD Decrypter -- most of the time, particular when the image is stored of the HD
Alcohol 120 -- some times, but not often
1:1 external dvd duplicator

Marcus, I'm wondering if it's just a i/o and bus performance limitation with the laptop through the pcmcia card, to the USB drive. Laptop hard disks are not generally known for high performance (4000 rpm or less is not unusual, where desktop drives go 5400 and 7200 or more). It could just be the underlying architecture is holding you back. What's the CPU speed?

I've sort of thought the same thing Padre. My laptop is a 2001-Toshiba Satelite- 1.00 Mhz, 256mg ram, and a 20 Gig harddive; I'm not sure what my busspeeds are. I have about 14 gigs free. I'm looking at getting a new laptop and have felt that I would start getting the burning speeds the others are getting. I'm looking at getting a Toshiba 3.2 Mhz-Intel-processor, 512 ram, 80 gig.I believe Toshiba makes the best laptop out there today.

The speed issue is definitely related to the PCMCIA card. I used to run a Pioneer 107 in a USB 2 case and burn speeds topped at 2-4X, don't remember exactly.

I later moved that drive to my internal PC and speed almost doubled. USB 2 is fast, but it's bottle-necking on the Card Bus adapter.

Thanks Phillip, I might be time to get a new cardbus adapter. The Pioneer burners have had a common complaint in regards to their write speed. I had the external Pioneer 108 and just couldn't get it to go faster than 2.4X. I sent it back and got my Toshiba burner. It's been great.

I was just thinking about this topic and forgot to point out that I do get faster write speeds when I use Nero 6 (4X with TY 4X-Rs), but nothing faster than 2.4X with DVD Decryptor. May be the problem isn't with my laptop?