Plextor 740A Burning Trouble (not up to speed)

[funnel71]

This seems to be a great drive, but just recently, if I tell it to burn @ 8x, it takes 18 minutes to finish instead of 8 minutes. 4x finishes in 14 minutes as normal. I thought at first it might be the media, but 2 of the same discs gave different results, one normal and one slow. The media was NexxTech 8x media. At the time, was using Nero to burn DVD video files.

Any suggestions on what to look at?

[budz]

Check to see your drive is set to DMA MODE.
It sounds like your drive is in PIO MODE.
Your drive is a REBADGED BENQ 1640.
Here's a link on enabling DMA MODE:
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7625

[funnel71]

IT's definitely in DMA mode, and per suggestion, changed the driver of the channels from intel to the standard. No help there. I'm just wondering if this burner doesn't get along with Nero (7.0.1.4)

I tried burning images with Alcohol, and that has yet to fail, but DVD Decrypter's burner, and Nero have posed problems of one kind or another.

[funnel71]

I've just thought of another question while I'm here...as you mention, the Plextor 740A is the same as a BenQ 1640. I've read about flashing the Plextor with BenQ 1640 firmware for improvements. I'm wondering if anyone has done this, and what kind of results you got. The read speed on this drive is incredible, and I was hoping not to lose that.

[budz]

I've just thought of another question while I'm here...as you mention, the Plextor 740A is the same as a BenQ 1640. I've read about flashing the Plextor with BenQ 1640 firmware for improvements. I'm wondering if anyone has done this, and what kind of results you got. The read speed on this drive is incredible, and I was hoping not to lose that.

Check out the BENQ FORUM at Cdfreaks.com for more information. There is a thread there on crossflashing the drive to official BENQ FIRMWARE. I've crossflashed my HIVAL drives to the official BENQ FIRMWARE. Also have crossflashed my I/O MAGIC drives to BENQ 1620 OFFICIAL FIRMWARE.

Crossflashing you need either WINDWFLASH.EXE (FLASHER PROGRAM) or BQF's FLASHER program. Look for the downloads at the BENQ FORUM. You'll also need the CVT.FILES for the FLASHER PROGRAMS. Download them from here:
http://hoppy.tk/dvd-rw/1640/

you'll need to download the IE TAB extension if you're using FIREFOX BROWSER or open up that link in INTERNET EXPLORER.