How can I tell how fast my Cendyne 105 is burning?

[akrasna]

I recently ran the 1.30 upgrade on my Cendyne / Pioneer 105. Primarily to burn at 2X using my Ritek 1X disks.

I am not able to tell if it is burning faster.
Also not sure if the issue is the DVDs (do ALL Riteks 1X work at 2X or only some)

or that I did the wrong firmware upgrade (it is very confusing which patch is best)

Is there a utility/test that will let me kow the performance.

How long should 4 gb data take to burn (using stomp?) at 1X? at 2x?

Also any recommendation in terms of the firmware (version and if I should use the official or the "less official" versions.

Thanks
Allen

[garryheather]

A full DVD-R will take about an hour to brun at 1x, 30 mins at 2x...

I don't recommend people use unofficial firmware but if you're using one of those any-discs-at-full-speed-and-sod-the-quality type hacks and it's no faster, it's a fairly safe bet the firmware didn't flash at all since the recorder still works.

If the firmware fails to flash half way through or the checksum / data is wrong, you often get left with a dead drive - there isn't usually much inbetween !

[TBoneit]

IMHO, the question to be asked is:

Is the savings of a few cents per disk worth the risk of having to buy a new drive if the firmware upgrade goes bad??

Is the savings worth the time and effort of having to check every disk to be sure they are in fact really ok after the burn? Just because the software says burned successfully, doesn't mean a thing. The video can still be glitchy, data disks can still have errors if no verify pass is run.

I use a different drive and spend the little extra for 4X disks (15 minute burn) because I save time, they work reliable, and I don't have to spend the time I saved burning doing a check of the disk.

I work in a computer store and we have had a stream of customers that never had a problem doing bios flashes before that trashed their motherboards bios. That usually = replace the board unless money is much more important than time. And flashing a drive is more problematic because you are doing it in windows rather than at a lower level like a bios flash that is usually done from a bootable floppy.

However good Luck

[akrasna]

Not that it matters but I used the official Pioneer 1.30 firmware.

besdues telling me to buy 4X disks can anyone help me in terms of a utility to check it out?

BTW sohuld I assume that my firmware upgrade worked if on the burning software it recognizes it as 1.3?

thanks
Allen

[Vejita-sama]

Either just time it (1x = 1350kb/s) or burn with a program like DVD Decrytper which will show the actually burn speed as it writes (and give the average, min/max when it finishes). There's a way to change a setting in Nero for it to show the actually write speed, but I don't use nero (do a forum search it's been posted a few times).

[Alan69]

Ok

First off well, duh, the official Pioneer firmware doesn't let you burn 2x on 1x discs. You need the hacked 1.30 firmware, not the original.

The hacked firmware works very well. Get it, upgrade, and use it.

Is the savings of a few cents per disk worth the risk of having to buy a new drive if the firmware upgrade goes bad??

Is the savings worth the time and effort of having to check every disk to be sure they are in fact really ok after the burn? Just because the

A firmware upgrade is a firmware upgrade, and this is verified good by many users. No more chance of dying than any other, and I or anyone else competent in electronics could pop the flash off this drive and re-burn if needed at a reasonable price. And you have to check EVERY disc anyway, or else consider it not critical. If a disc or two in a pack works, they generally all work fine, and only have the same occasional defect or hiccup as they do at any other speed. You don't have to check every disc any more than you do at single speed, and you either do or don't depending on how critical it is. And when you *DO*, it's done in about an hour and verified, vs only being written and still unknown at 1x. Of COURSE it's worth it.

To the computer store user: Burning 4x discs at 4x should only shorten your burn/verify to 30 minutes. It's absolutely no guarantee that you don't need to verify, to not do so and expect all files to be perfect is a fools game. If you've worked in a computer store for more than a year you already should know this, and suggesting to others that it's not necessary is bad form on your part. Not that it's not fine for non-critical files or video, but the only way to have any reasonable assurance that the disc was written correctly or not is to read it back.

Alan

[akrasna]

thanks Alan,
Of all the stuff I read I never saw that the pioneer does NOT help with the 2X issue
I see there is a 1.30 and 1.33 wihch one should I go for?
Is there a prob going from one (pioneer) 1.3 to other 1.3?
can you give me the URL to the exact location you got it from.

Thanks
Allen (great names think alike)

And I agree with you .. if I have 200 1X disks sitting around I would LOVE t oget them to work 2X

[Alan69]

Here:

http://forum.firmware-flash.com/viewtopic.php?t=12632

Main DVD-R page:
http://forum.firmware-flash.com/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=f98e0bd164fdb83d0857294ba2a1acff


Apparently they've patched the newer 1.33 version to 2x4All. As in 2 times for all discs. Also removes the 2x rip limit and does RPC1. The one I use is basically the same just was v1.30. Read the several threads on it so you know the sticking points of doing the upgrade, and upgrade away..

Pioneer doesn't support burning 2x on a 1x certified disc on purpose, it's not certified. Main reason is really political pressure from some of the disc makers so they can get more for higher speed discs. Haven't thoroughly checked but I believe it was that 4x discs are a bit different, and really not a good idea to try 4x on a 1 or 2 x disc. Someone may unlock that too but I believe it's a very low priority for that reason..

That said not all 1x discs do work well at 2x. But if you're lucky what you have will, and even if not you can get something that works the next batch you get. Probably a moot point within 6 months or a year with 4x discs, but for now it's a great patch..

Alan

[TBoneit]

I guess I wasn't clear, I don't delete the files off of the hard disk until I have viewed the movie in the dvd player on the TV.... or decide I don't care to watch it. at the cost of a blank disk I can afford to put movies I may or may not want to watch on DVD. And If I'm really ambivelent about the content I'll use a Princo instead of Verbatim or TDK. I wasn't suggesting others do as I do, however it may have come out that way. It also may depend on how much effort to get the content to a ready to burn state. Get from Sat to Hard Drive (5 minutes) load into TMPGENc DVD and author 20 minutes unless GOP Fix needs to be done. If so then 20 to 40 minutes to mux and repair and 15 Minutes burn. Take to next room, enjoy

I put them on DVD so I can watch them as well as archive them. most of the videos are movies or series off sat tv, direct HD to Computer hd, run a GOP fixer, if 544 by 480, dvdpatcher author (No quality loss). If 640 by 480, Gop fixer, TMPGEnc (Lose some quality)overnight batch run, to DVD resolution then author and again play fine. Most are older movies, it's recording a 1933 movie right now, that run late night when I'm sleeping and putting them on DVD lets me control playback better and have chapters, and take them to another room for viewing etc.

I don't verify in the computer. I figure why put the extra wear and tear on the burner. It's the single most expensive part in the computer, the Sony at wholesale cost me more that the P4 2.66 (next most expensive.). Same reason I burn Cds on the USB 2 external drive.

Oh yes, the other reason to not verify in the computer is it may burn at 4x but the sony seems to be locked at 2x when ripping and I;m guessing maybe when verifying? If so that would make it a 45 minute burn/verify pass.

Even on critical material (Video) I want to play test it, as the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

And I also don't do what I tell customers to do, Backup the computer, back-up, back-up. I don't have anything I worry about on the machine. I make a CD-R of any programs I buy off of the internet along with a copy of the email with the unlock key. I don't worry about installing windows again, Heck it isn't that hard when you keep drivers, and software organized. If I loose a movie off of TCM or AMC, oh well....

Cheers