16x vs 8x when burning at lower speed?

[sadrabbit]

I have some important dvd-r discs to burn and will be doing so at a low speed to be as careful as possible. Is the quality difference between 16x and 8x enough that it will matter which I choose to burn on? My theory is that the 16x ones should be over-engineered in general so there'd be less chance of problems down the line, but I might just be over-thinking it.

Anybody have any ideas about this?

[MOVIEGEEK]

In my experience 8x usually has less errors and the 3 min difference in burn time is trivial.The manufactures still haven't perfected 16x media,in fact TY 8x media is better regarded than their 16x.

[ROF]

Unfortunately there are many different theories when it comes to quality of media manufactured with different rated speeds and many different reasoning for burning at the rated speed, above the rated speed, and below the rated speed.

My theory is that my drive manufacturer told me what speeds my drive is capable of burning, the packaging and labeling of the media I purchase tells me at what speed the factory has certified these discs are capable of being burned at. I take those two and choose the lesser of the two and burn at that speed. If I buy 16x media and I have a 16x burner I burn at 16x because my drive and media supplier both say it can do so. If I buy 8x media and have a 16x drive I burn at 8x because while my drive manfacturer says it can burn at 16x my media supplier has asked me not to burn at faster than 8x or do so at my own risk of data loss. If I buy 16x media and I have an 8x drive I again burn at 8x. While the media manufacturer has certified the discs for 16x burning my drive will not be able to achieve such speeds. I would look for 8x media and even spend a little more to get it in order to match both my drive speed and media rated speed.

In short, my theory is that I trust my hardware manfacturer and my media suppliers to let me know the optimal speeds for my burning needs.

[rspar]

You have a drive that will let you burn 16x on 8x disks?

Most people say slower is generally better but that some drives perform better at certain speeds and trial and error is the only way to tell.

[handyguy]

The faster you write the more wobble there is & dvd players don't like reading wobble.