DVD-R media better burnt fast

[silentlight]

I bought a 50 pack spindle of some Ritek OEM supposedly but later found out not to be the case when checked with DVDInfo.

Anyways, I made a backup of Kill Switch using DVD Decrypter v3.2.1.0 burnt at 2x with my Memorex Dual-X1 Memorex fm1.07 (Pioneer 106 Rebadged) DVD-/+RW and I got to a point in the game where they show an FMV which stutters, I tried the original and no such problem exists.

I wanted to experiment so I tried the same backup method but burned it at 1x speed. I read somewhere here that slower is not necessarily better. Well, whoever said that was right, at least for this media and burner combination, the 1x-burnt backup stuttered like crazy even at the title screen.

So I guess, next thing to do would be to experiment the same backup at 4x and see if it's better than the 2x.

Check the attached file for the medium information using Nero CD Speed.

[Snoop]

I've always stated that burning a DVD slower doesn't necessarily make it a "better" burn. I even remember on some Pioneer media that I had, the box stated that it recommended they be burnt at 4x.

[silentlight]

Tried it at 4x, no noticeable difference from the 2x burnt backup. Since the 1x backup was bad, I wonder, then, if a backup burnt between 2x and 4x would be best...

By the way, I said "stutter" but the FMV actually stutters then freezes but goes through 10% of the time.

So to summarize, both 2x and 4x backups stutter and freeze at a certain FMV but goes through 10% of the time. The 1x backup is totally unplayable (boots but stutters like crazy everywhere).

I guess, the only thing to do now is either try burning the backup at 2.4x (doubt it) or try different media.

[uns97]

Maybe for the first look the 4x writting seems to be totally perfect and looks the same as the 2x, but I have very big doubts that a closer look and a harder test won't show any difference. Especially with todays "quality" disks, when they simply relabel some packs to sell the 2x writable as 4x writable.

Snoop: Pioneer suggests that very well. As the revison 2.0 of the DVD Forum simply suggests you burn at 4x. (and those disks fulfils that standard) Not to mention, that V1.0 is only 1x, and 2x is only for disks that Pioneer examined and gave their certification to burn them at 2x. (not that many brands anyway) So when you write something, you have 2 ways to write: if disk is just V1.0 compatible, burning can be done at 1x. (if Pioneer enabled burning that at 2x, then you can go at 2x, OR you have a drive with a hacked firmware (or a drive that gives a **** for Pioneer's disk standard) and so that you can write at 2x) Or if you have a V2.0 disk, you can burn it at 2x or 4x. (using V2.0 disk you won't notice that big difference) The problem is that many drive manufacturers simply ignores the real standard, and enables writing the disks at higher speeds that those really could be, and the result is a very bad quality, out of standard disk. You even can't see the difference but the OPU + the reading hardware/electonics will, and sooner or later you have to pay for that somehow. That is why I suggest everybody avoid from disks like Princo or things like that, as those never fulfil any standard, no matter what they claim. Of course, quality media, like for example Pioneer, or TY, and so on, will always be much expensive but won't cause surprises later...

regards, Stephen

[silentlight]

So what I understand is if I use Nero CD Speed and it states 1x-2x (V1.0) for this drive then I should burn at 2x but if it says 1x-4x (V2.0) then I should burn at 2x or higher?

I think I'll stick to 2x-2.4x from now on, at least on this media.

[uns97]

Well, if the disk is V1.0, and Pioneer certificated it then you can burn it at 2x fine. It does not cause any difference. Too bad as I said, that other drive manufacturers did not follow these rules and made it possible to write almost all (not only the ones Pioneer certificated at 2x speed) disks at the minimum of 2x speed (look at those today's drives that can't write at 1x at all... and look their "quality") Of course many disks do not fulfil Pioneer internal specification for 2x writing and that is why so many low quality disks are created. Then people simply drop these disks in dvd players, no matter wheter they are Ps2s, Xbox's or anything, but they have a hard time reading such disks. Anyway, when most of us today use higher speed disks and these looks better, but still there are problems. The main rule is to use QUALITY disk and you won't have that many problems.

regards, Stephen

[silentlight]

But how do we know if the discs are certified by Pioneer to be V1.0 or V2.0? Is there software to determine this?

[uns97]

It should not be your work to guess what disks are verison 1.0 or 2.0. It should be marked on the package. And if you examine any BRAND disk, you'll notice this for sure. I can't give you advices on noname disks, except that avoid from them, they will be bad in the long run. Anyway, DVDRinfo pro will tell you quite a lot of data about the inserted media, also about its suggested write speed. And also about its speed with the best writing strategy if I can remember correctly. Of course as I said, it is worth nothing, if your drive overrides these parameters and writes at that speed that >you< set (hacked firmware for example) or at the speed that it belives to be good. (this is why there are many problems with noname disks in those drives that can't write at 1x, as they should be written at 1x, BUT as the drive can't do it (hardware limitation) it simply overrides the 1x setting and writes at 2x, which may result in a disk with full of read errors or a track following error (unfinished and coaster, hehe) In the best (and rare) case you will have a good disk.

regards, Stephen

[silentlight]

Oh yeah, the weird thing is that I used the same media and backup method at 1x to backup another game, GunGrave, and my brother beat the game without any stuttering, freezing or whatever problems. So it's not just the combination of the media, backup method, burning speed but also the game, I suppose most people already knew this as I've heard that GTA Vice City, is an especially problematic game to backup because of the way the game streams stuff, etc.

[uns97]

silentlight: Problems with games like VC are because of the media. As streaming simply deppends on readability and ACCESS-SEEK time(s). If that would be a game problem, the original would also cause problems. As GTA 3 VC is a full DVD, almost 4.3 GB, the seek times are HIGH, also most backups are on low quality disks, so reading the game is problematic. Especially as VC read the disk all the time, not as other games that loads a level, and never touch the disk until the next level is being loaded. This easily demonstrates how important to use a quality disk is.

regards, Stephen