Which Burner Should I Buy ? Having problems with OptoRite!

[Mickey79]

Ave,

I have a major problem at my hand and i've tried to ascertain what the real problem is and this is what i have come down to - my DVD Burner. But i want advice whether i'm right or wrong.

I've been encoding, authoring & burning DVDs since almost an year now. In the beginning i never had any problems at all. My DVDs would turn out just fine.. there were some quality issues which i rooted out with help from some of you... but my DVDs never gave me any problem.

Until a few months ago, the DVDs that i burnt started to skip, sometimes pause, and mostly get stuck from where i couldn't proceed.

At first i thought it was my DVD player. I ruled that out after testing DVDs on different players. Then i thought it was my encoding... but for many months i never had this problem and i've been using the standard tools like TMPGEnc, BeSweet, FFMPEGGUI, DVD Maestro and all.

I've tried 3 or 4 different types of Media... from expensive to cheap... and again, till a few months back, the media was not a problem either because it never skipped or paused or anything.

A couple of weeks ago, after much frustration i had a breakthrough when i noticed something. On my DVD Discs, after having burnt them... i could see rings on the edges or some area of the surface.. area a little towards the outset and not the inset of the disc. That's where the skipping occurs usually.. after an hour or so into the movie. Also i noticed in some discs, after burning, the difference in color on the disc surface reached till half of the disc surface... and if i played that disc, it would get stuck or pause after half the movie... llike 1 or 1 & half hours of play. Mostly the last few chapters could never be played. Or they would skip badly.

I've practically changed and tried everything from Software, DVD players, Media to everything else... except one thing. My DVD Burner.

I have an Optorite DVD Burner i got in October last year from NewEgg.Com ... It doesn't give any error during the burning... but this is what is happening.

Has anyone ever had this before? Do you think it's my DVD Burner or something else? And lastly, can any advice me what DVD Burner should i purchase in case i need to get a new one?

Thanks,
Mickey

[Heavensent]

what software are you using to burn the thing?
tried to change it?

goodluck

[Mickey79]

Ave,

Sorry i forgot to mention Burning Software. Well i've tried changing it too. Over 90% times i've used NERO. Before i was using Nero 5 now i use Nero 6.

Mickey

[Faustus]

The dual layer NEC seems to be a popular choice.

[Mickey79]

Ave,

I'm looking into the Dual Layer Pioneer ... the A07 and the A08. Plus i want something under $100.

One more thing i should ask... is there a particular speed at which i should usually burn my DVD movies? I usually use MAX.

Mickey

[Faustus]

Ave,

I'm looking into the Dual Layer Pioneer ... the A07 and the A08. Plus i want something under $100.

One more thing i should ask... is there a particular speed at which i should usually burn my DVD movies? I usually use MAX.

Mickey

If you media quality is good then max speed is fine.

[Mickey79]

Ave,

I'm getting these 2 Burners at the same cost, which in your opinion is better:

1. Sony Internal 16X DVD+/-RW / Double Layer Drive Black, Model DW-D22A-B2, OEM

2. Pioneer Black DVD+RW/-RW Drive, Model DVR-108, OEM (DVD+R DL 4X,16X DVD+R, 4X DVD+RW, 16X DVD-R,4X DVD-RW, 32X CD-R, 24X CD-RW)

Thanks,
Mickey

[midnightsun]

Sony rebadges lite-on drives with crappy firmwares and sells them at +50% price. If you are to buy the Sony then do get the lite-on instead!
Anyway I would go for the Pioneer or even the Nec if I were you. (both are similarly priced, at least over here in Europe)

[Mickey79]

Thanks... I purchased the Pioneer DVR 108 Dual Layer 16X Burner.

Mickey