Problem with HP DVD740i

[Flasharino]

I bought an HP 740i DVD Dual Layer burner a couple weeks ago after reading some good reviews. I have been using a Pioneer single-sided burner with Nero up to now. After installing the new HP drive I found that when I went to burn a DVD-R (Ritek G04) in Nero, the only speed I could choose was 4x - the maximum speed for the disk. So then I tried a DVD-RW disk I had and when I went to burn, Nero told me that it could only burn at 2x - the maximum speed for THIS disk also. Same thing when I tried burning a CD-R. I had been burning everything at 1x for quality with the Pioneer, but as you can see, with the HP I was not able to select 1x. I tried calling HP support 3 times, but they were not able to help me. The last guy told me to return it, so I did and got another one, thinking that the first one was no good. Well, I just finished installing the new one and the exact same thing is happening.

In addition to trying to burn with Nero, I examined the writer with a program called DVDinfo Pro, which returns a parameter called 'Available Write Descriptor' when querying the media. When I do that with the old Pioneer on the G04 disks I get three write descriptors displaying - 1x, 2x and 4x. When I run against the same G04 disk with the HP I only get the one Available Write Descriptor of 2.4x - the disk maximum.

I have no idea what to do here. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Augestflex]

I wish I had a suggestion for you. Unfortunately I do not. However I can say that I just bought this player and I have been having issues with it.

The player supports 16X for DVD-R. With Maxell 8x DVD-R media it takes me anywhere from 35-50 minutes to burn a 4.7 GB disc depending on if I am using Nero or TDA. I am pretty sure that at 8x I should be able to burn a full 4.7 GB disk in about 10-15 minutes. So something is definately weird.

On a side note, I noticed that Nero detects the drive as a 740b. Even though HP has clearly labeled the drive as a 740i.

I am disappointed with HP because they don't even have a driver page for this model. If you go to their website and put in DVD 740i or 740i, or even just 740, it does not find any matches for this drive.

Don't know what else to say other than the fact that I can't wait for this 25 pack of media to run out so I can try something else.

[DavidEC]

Per-HP and current versions of NERO CDSpeed [4.10] and DVDInfoPro this drive does not support book type setting.. OUCH!

[budz]

the HP 740 drive is either a LG or LITEON drive. check out the LG & LITEON FORUM's at Cdfreaks.com.

[DavidEC]

the HP 740 drive is either a LG or LITEON drive. check out the LG & LITEON FORUM's at Cdfreaks.com.

There seems to be alot of confusion over this drive [at cdfreaks]... and if..
HP DVD740I/b = LG GCA-4166B ???

[budz]

the HP 740 drive is either a LG or LITEON drive. check out the LG & LITEON FORUM's at Cdfreaks.com.

There seems to be alot of confusion over this drive [at cdfreaks]... and if..
HP DVD740I/b = LG GCA-4166B ???

This was posted a hour ago at cdfreaks.com's LG FORUM read post #3:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=163478

From post #3 it says, "I would have to pull the drive but the top of the drive does say: GCA-4166B"

[crb303]

information about the HP DVD 740 writer can be found at this site about half way down the page:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/fastFaqDocument?lc=en&cc=uk&product=352614&dlc=en&d...00001838#N2022

It is apparently all those numbers: 740b, 740i, Model# Q6771A, etc.

I have a question, tho, mine rattles like it is about to fly apart. It's new. Same disk in another burner doesn't rattle. Specs say it has a dust seal on the door but I can't see it??? maybe left off???

[Duff Lightbeer]

The HP DVD740i came with my new HP Pavilion Media Center PC m7288a and it was a lemon from day one.

To begin, it was unable to read the vast majority of data DVD's that had been burned on the Pioneer A04 in my previous PC. In order to read the aforementioned discs, I had to install an old Pioneer 116 DVD Rom that I had kept.

But more critically, the HP DVD740i was unreliable for burning DVD's to the point where it was producing more coasters than successful burns. Although supposedly capable of burning at 8x on genuine 8x media, I rarely, if ever, had success at that speed. I found i had to bump the speed down to 4x and even then it was no gurantee of success.

It also had the nasty habit of changing itself from DMA to PIO so regularly that it quickly became my habit to check the drive's settings in Windows System/Hardware before attempting a burn.

I 'fixed' the problem by purchasing a Pioneer DVR111 and turfing the HP 740i. Instant fix. Not a single coaster from that point forward (using discs from the same spindle of 8x discs that the 740i didn't like)

Apparently the 740i works well on many systems but there are a few systems, like ours, where it is effectively a useless piece of kit.

My advice to you is to replace it as soon as your cashflow situation allows.