Burning 2X media at 4X Speed...problem?

[kpoman]

What were to happen if I burned my 2X media at 4X speed? I think this is what is causing the problems I'm having playing back my backed-up copies. They are suddenly freezing and skipping. I previously was using my Toshiba SDR-5002 2X burner with 2X TDK media with no problems. However, I recently purchased a new 4X burner (Buslink, really the Liteon LDW-411S) and I am still using the same 2X TDK media. I burn with RecornowMax at maximum speed (4X). Could this be a problem? Thanks.

[garryheather]

What do you think ?

Burning media at a speed beyond it's rating is asking for trouble, even decent branded media is rated at a speed for a reason. You might get a good batch that tolerates it, but the recorder will not be using the correct write strategy when burning the disc.

[kpoman]

I figured that...stupid me. Didnt even think about it before popping the media in the drive. Thanks for the help.

[Cannonball888]

Burning a DVD beyond it's recording speed capability is most apparent when you get freezing/skipping near the end of the movie because it is near the outer edges of the disc which is moving faster.

[garryheather]

Er... not exactly true, the rotational speed of a DVD is not fixed.

The problem with cheap media is the consistency of the manufacturing process.

A disc is "stamped" with a pregroove and / or timing marks (depending in format) and then spun up to a high speed where a dribble of die is applied to the inner part, allowing centrifugal force to draw the dye out towards the edge.

If the disc isn't level, spun consistently, dirty, or the dye is contaminated, the dye itself will not have an even consistency and not be applied uniformly to the disc. In particular, near the ouder edge, the dye tends to thicken slightly as it dries, which means that the drive calibrated at the begining and then didn't burn this thicker part of the dye properly.

The rotational speed when playing back alters in a similar way to an audio CD does, so that the data comes off the disc at a rate within a specific window. This varies according to players (ie their buffers) and the bitrate on the disc, but the speed of the disc is certainly NOT constant thus the data is NOT coming off the disc faster when it reaches the end. The problem is exacerbated if the player introduces a wobble to the disc or the disc is bent slightly, as any deviance is greater on the outside than at the center.