Sony DRU-500a wont burn at 4x

[DJPlatinumPlus]

My sony dru-500a has never burned at 4x. I have a p4 1.8ghz with 500 front bus speed. I have 3/4 gig of ddr ram. I have updated windows thinking there was a problem here and I have updated the firmware to 2.0g. Still I cant burn at 4x. If I am using the whole 4.7gigs of space to burn to the dvd-r it takes around 30 to 40 minutes from the HD and if I try to copy disk to disk it takes a whole hour. I am using 4x disks and have tried several and dont know what else to look for or what could be wrong. If there is anyone that could help I would appreciatte it Im sick of my 4x burner burning at 2 to 1x speed.

[rhegedus]

We might be able to help you if you told us the following:

Firmware? (EDIT - sorry, missed this in your post)
Software?
Media?

[sacajaweeda]

I've never burned at 4x with my Sony either but then again I never tried and I'm not in that big of a hurry. If I want to burn at 4x I'll go out and buy an actual 4x burner that burns at 4x right out of the box.

[rhegedus]

Erm..... it does burn x4 out of the box.

[sacajaweeda]

Incorrect. It burns at 2x right out of the box, 2.4x if writing to +RW media. My DRU-500A will not burn at 4x with the firmware it came shipped with. (read: out of the box)

[rhegedus]

Mine burned at x4 for -R straight out of the box. I don't know if it burned +R at x4 because I didn't have any media on which to try until after I flashed the latest firmware.

Either way, those shipped with the latest firmware will burn at x4 -R/+R ......straight out of the box.

[sacajaweeda]

Side note: I can use 4x media and select 4x burn speed in Nero 5, but it takes the same 30 minutes or so to burn a full DVD-R that using the 2x setting takes.

[rhegedus]

That might be due to the media or Nero.

[sacajaweeda]

No, I'm fairly certain it's a firmware issue. One that will eventually be addressed with a replacement/better drive when the time comes that either this one wears out or I suddenly have an irrepressable urge to be able to shave 10-15 minutes off my burn times. This drive works like a champ at 2x and I'm not in a hurry. I have friends who use the same drive but have flashed to the 2f firmware with theirs and they can burn at 4x. They also burn a whole lot more coasters than I do at 2x. I rarely have a bad burn at 2x with this drive, and when I do it it is almost invariably due to a bad blank and it usually has a rather visable defect. It seems this drive is rather finickey about what you feed it when you flash to the newer firmwares and try to burn at the faster speeds. It's eventual replacement will be a much more stable drive at higher speeds. I have my eye on a nice Pioneer at the moment

[rhegedus]

I'm running 2f at the moment too! If you stick with good media (TDK etc) then it will burn x4 reliably with no coasters.

I ahven't tried any of the generic media because my local store doesn't stock it and they only come in 25's by mail order - a lot of $ to waste if they turn out bad.

[DJPlatinumPlus]

I am using firmware 2.0g and am using Nero 6. All media burns slow on my computer Verbatim memorex maxell. I have tried them all and am still getting the same results

[sacajaweeda]

My friends usually buy the 25 packs of Verbatim from Sam's Club. They run about $35 USD but they have good luck with them. They have problems burning the cheaper stuff like what I buy for mine. I've had pretty good luck with this drive in the year or so that I've owned it, and I buy the cheap stuff all the time and don't have problems except for one time I did run across some really awful stuff on sale at Comp USA. I bought a few of the 10 packs they were selling for $9.99 that were supposed to be 2x and it only burned at 1x in my drive, and about half of them were bad. Other than that batch I bought (and returned), this Sony has been a rock burning at 2x. I like being able to stick just about anything into it and not have a problem.

[Dr_Layne]

Check to make sure you are using the drive in DMA mode. The 500a orginally was sold as a 2x - and 2.4x + drive. A Firmware update allowed it to burn at 4x for both media types. The drive was later renamed as the 510a.

Steve

[waheed]

i also have a sony dru500a. sony is very picky about media. some media will burn at 4x (tdk, memeorex) and some wont (ritek).

i emailed techinal support at sony about ritek G04 4x burning at only 2x max. the reply i got was "ritek is not a supported media" and a link to a page of supported medias.

i know one think for sure, when i upgrade my dvd writer (possibly to a dual layer burner in the future), i ain't never buting sony again.

sony sucks!

[movie freak]

i found i could burn dvd's at 4x with my sony dru-500a firmware: 2.0g... the dvd-r's i use at Datasafe Ritek G04's... it burns a full disc in about 15-16 minutes including lead-in and lead-out.
The only problem i do have is burning 2x discs at 2x instead of 1x

[gavmiester]

I am on 2.0e and have been burning happily at x4 for some months now with no coasters......media has not been an issue, as Ive been burning princos and riteks at x4 as well as SKC.....ive also put my burner in an external case and connected via usb 2.0, with no problems...speed is still x4.
There is a Liteon firmware you can flash your drive too as well which seems to work, so you can give that a go.

I will reiterate though that until I went to 2.0e, I most deffinately COULDNT burn at x4....this is not a gloating thread, merely wanted to add that it can be done, so keep persevering.....of course you could just go out and buy a x8 now anyway, but that isnt really the point.

the DMA setting has to be correct, but that had been pointed out already......
cheers
gav

[movie freak]

for some reason my burner has been ripping at 20x!
so it rips an mp3 in like 15 seconds

[handyguy]

Ya know Sony has a live support section of their website.

Call meritline.com & ask them what writes 4x on your Sony & with what firmware, probably going to suggest Accus, which I use (about $74/100). I have two of them, but I don't want to write at 4x cause it can make things unreliable.

BTW: Sony 500a with new firmware =500ax
Sony 510 = Sony 500ax, but a 510 writes dvdrw @ 4x instead of 2.4x (no big deal to me)

[drewson99]

question (kinda related)

I too have the problem where it is not too much quicker at 4x.

my times:

1X: 50mins
2X: 28mins
4X: 24 mins

anyone know why? is the lead-in and lead-out burned at the same speed no matter what maybe?

[rhegedus]

Is the lead-in and lead-out burned at the same speed no matter what maybe?

I'm not sure, but I think that the lead-in and lead-out times are longer for -R than for +R.

[rhegedus]

EDIT - double post

[sumibas]

i hve the burner for more than an year now. i have the frimware 1.0f and it burs discs at 4X. i tried tdk +r and -r 4X and memorex 4X they beurn in 15 min for whole 4.38 gb

[gavmiester]

my apologies. In my previous thread I said firmware 2.0e.......I have infact flashed since then to 2.0g, which is when the x4 finally worked.
Same speed for + and -...my x4 burns usually take about 16mins, which includes the 1 1/4 minutes leadin and 1 minute lead out......but my understanding of this is that the Sony burner is a bit slower than others ... hence the extra minute or so...

the only other hassle I had was that the first couple of times burning, I had to select determine maximum speed in Nero, but have never needed to do that since.....anyway, keep persevering, or sell it and buy a different make and model. Cheers, gav

[movie freak]

how do you upgrade the firmware.... i have tried. But it just asks me to restart the pc all the time. how did you do it? for 2.0g