Pioneer 105 burning problems

[clanger]

Hi All,

I've got a Pioneer 105 drive which I'm having loads of hassle with.
Basically I can burn a disc, but it doesn't work properly afterwards.
I've burn't movies in the past and they've been fine, however lately it seems like anything burned after about 4Gb on the disc cannot be read.

I've used Datawrite dvd-rw's (black and yellow 1x jobbies), but have ended up with 2 out of 5 used being unusable, I can't even erase them to try again, (and they arn't read by anything).
Also some Nanya discs, 1-2x, which I've always been able to read either in a PS2 or my PC, but these stop working after 4Gb, and I've also tried Traxdata dvd-r's, 1x, which have all worked brilliantly in my DVD player (a REC 3000), but these no longer work.

I've got another couple of disks which I burned as multi-session data disks, but the 1st session isn't read, windows reports it as empty, however nero lists all the files if I add another session !

I've been using Nero 6, but have downgraded to the last 5.5 version - same problem. Also tried the burner built into TMPGenc dvd creater, but that gives the same error.

It's now begining to piss me off, have I got a duff drive ? any ideas on what else I can check ?!

(sorry if this sounds incoherant, it's 12.30, and I've been getting very little sleep curtousy of my 7 week old son )

ps, can I get a log file from Nero ?? if so how ?

[defense]

It's not Nero nor your drive..you are using crappy media. Get some high quality media and you won't experience those issues any longer.

Check the media section of the forum for known high quality disks.

[burnproof]

Had the same problem m8 found the problem to be dirty lens and bad media. Since I burn at 2x anyway to avoid bad burns I have been buying 2x riteks for 67p cheaper than 4x datawrites and far better media. Would still say the main problem was the dirty lens.

[m4r1n5]

I've been using Ritek 4x and have great success. I'm starting to use 2x imitation and some others. Haven't had any problems.

[clanger]

cheers for the replies !

I'll try some different disk's and see if that helps, I can't understand why the traxdata's don't work though. According to dvdinfo they are Ritek G03's

Whats the best way of cleaning the lens ? I've got one of those cd cleaning thing's but have read that they shouldn't be used....
the drives only about 2 months old so I'm a bit reluctant to take it apart (although new drives are £50 cheaper than what I paid for it.......)

cheers !!

[defense]

@ clanger, it probably has nothing to do with the lens....don't bother wasting your time trying to clean it or possibly screwing your drive up.

It also has nothing to do with dirt on the disk. If it were dirt/dust/fingerprints then you'd have issues at random points on the disk from beginning to middle to end to anywhere in between. You don't just have dirt at the parts of the disk which happen to be towards the 4GB+ mark....so it's clearly your media. I have no clue about "TRAXDATA"...one thing you have to understand is that media id's aren't everything. Those TraxData disks can be phony Ritek...go with AUTHENTIC DISKS at least to try out FIRST ...do a project on say a TDK/MAXELL disk if you can....or another high quality "AUTHENTIC" disk.

There are also a lot of Grade D Ritek's out there....and Grade D = CRAP ......I wouldn't trust Ritek disks under the name of TRAXDATA .......try any authentic disk...buy just ONE if you have to...to test this out...your disk should play fully all the way through with no problems.....if you try this...let us know your results.

[Fade]

hmmz, I got the exactly same problem, I use datawrite red 4x, and white 4x.

You all say crappy media but I dont belive you, for about a month ago I bought 50 datawrite red and 50 datawrite white.. and not a single disk went bad.

so again I did a new order and after about 10 disks I started to get the same error as described. When I try to verify a burning in stomp the errors starts after about 4.1GB..

kinda sux.. and Yes, even with newest ritek g04 or what it's called

//Fade

[clanger]

I've now tried another 3 disc's, a Datawrite Red 4x jobbie, which failed as soon as burning started and now isn't even recognised by either of my dvd drives (the burner or the ROM), another Nanya, which doesn't play, and a purple bullpaq, again doesn't work.

I know what your going to say, it's the media..... which it could be they are cheapo's
but.....

At least one of these should be usable !!!

The Nanya's are all from the same batch, ditto the traxdata's, they used to work, now all of a sudden they dont !

anybody have any idea's on how I can test the drive, short of filling it with disc's until one works !!!

I've checked all the DMA settings etc, and have all the latest drivers etc installed btw.

one thing I have noticed is on one of the disks thers a mark in the dye layre (which wasn't there before it was burnt), looks like a small unburnt area, or oil spot or something, but it's not on the surface, more like the dye layer it's self..... very strange.....

[defense]

all I can do is tell you what is likely..if you choose to say you are using media which is fine..then that's your decision. You are also now specifying a problem which you didn't mention in your first post. Your first post was geared specifically towards disks with problems after 4 GB's...now you are saying three of them are unreadable. Do yourself a favor and purchase an authentic disk...burn it...if the problem is still there..at least you can say for sure you've given yourself the peace of mind in knowing you've elimated one option.

As far as the spot you see. It sounds like a "burn" spot which isn't that big a deal. Or at least shouldn't be. I had this early on..with a couple of DVDR's...one of them had "3 burn spots"...I still remember the title ..it was the "BOURNE IDENTITY"..and I wondered how it could have those spots and still play and rip flawlessly. BJ_M , I remember gave me a good course in Error Correction and I read up on E.R and realized why. But that problem uses occurs if there is dust/dirt on the write side of a DVD. There are usually small particles which will accumulate even on DVD's within a cake box. I use canned air to spray any little particles off...and then burn...and I haven't had that issue since.

[clanger]

It's definately a problem after 4GB, I've used Nero's dvd speed proggy to scan a burned disc, first 74% is ok, the rest is unreadable. unfortunately the disk seems completely useless cos it's a burned movie. looking at the output file most of the vobs are damaged, hence the reason why my pc,dvd player and ps2 can't read it. and stupidly I used the same image on all the disks...... doh! (or rather dope....).
This is the report given :

Starting file test
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_4.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_01_0.BUP
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_0.IFO
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_0.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_1.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_02_0.BUP
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_03_1.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_0.IFO
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_0.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_04_1.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_05_0.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_05_1.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_06_0.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_06_1.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_06_0.BUP
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_07_0.IFO
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_07_0.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_07_1.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_07_0.BUP
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_08_0.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_08_1.VOB
Error reading D:\VIDEO_TS\VTS_08_0.BUP
Files: 38
Directories: 2
Size: 3359 MB
Errors: 22
Speed: 1.1 X (1431 KB/sec)
File test completed
Starting surface scan
Good: 73.86 %
Damaged: 0.00 %
Unreadable: 26.14 %
Surface scan completed

I'll buy a decent couple of disk's from pc world tomorrow and see how I get on.

As to the spots, I only really had a good look when I kept getting failures. (again doh!)

The datawrite didn't even appear to have anything burned on it, it started at 4x then failed after about 20 seconds, now nothing can read the disc - even to tell me what make it is (same thing with the datawrite dvd-rw's -hmmm), mind you it just happened to be a disc I had hanging around.

Trouble is it's a bit of a catch 22 situation - I want to burn disks, but dont want to waste anymore money if theres a problem...... but I'll have to !

I'll let you know the outcome.....

cheers !

[clanger]

I've now tried the drive using the following disks, and had the results shown :

Memorex 4x DVD-R (CMC Media), according to the pioneer site these should be ok as cmc is on the recomended media list - drive wont even read the disk, let alone let me burn to one ! tried all 10 in a box and it wont recognise any of them.

JVC DVD-R (2x) (maxell media), again on the pioneer recomended media list, burnt ok with no errors !

Ritek 1x DVD-R, burnt ok according to Nero, scan disk with Nero CD speed, says that 95% is readable, 5% unreadable.

Pioneer DVD-RW. tried formatting disc using INCD. seemed to be going ok, but screwed up halfway thro'. Now the disk is completely unusable, the drive reports "no disc" (as per the memorex ones), so yet another disk wasted.

Having spoken to the suppliers they are under the impression that the drive is shagged. They did say the nanya disk's aren't a good indication of the drive, but the Traxdata's should work perfectly.

Also, it wont read or right any of the CD-RW's i've got either, just makes weird whiring and clicking noises before giving up.

[defense]

@ Clanger...your symptoms you are specifying now are completely different from what you posted originally. Had you posted the clicking noises originally...it would of been clear there was an issue with your Burner. With the info you gave, the most likely solution was to purchase higher grade/quality media. Now that you are giving these other symptoms...yes...your burner must be defective. I'm sorry to hear that..hopefully it's still under warranty and you can get it repaired.

But what...this is a PIONEER drive which has gone defective...my..that's not possible..only SONY drives become defective....I think it MUST be something else. I mean, you are only the hundredth person i've read who has had an issue with a Pioneer drive...of course...the hundredth or Sony sony posts i've read seem to have complete morons who feel the need to comment as if they have a clue. I wonder why nobody ever makes a big deal out of the Pioneer drives becoming defective...I've read it on this very forum countless occasions....but those posts go almost under the radar. However, the Sony defect posts...look out....lmao...unreal.

Don't mind my second paragraph clanger....it's just amusing to me....as I said though...hopefully your drive is still under warranty. If not..hopefully the solution to fix the problem won't be that costly. But chances are..if the drive isn't under warranty...you'd be better off purchasing another one because of the cost to repair your A05. If anything...that will give you a reason to go with the A06 if you can afford it.

[clanger]

I hadn't tried a cd-rw before tho', it only seems to make the noises if you use them. Almost like the head can't focus or something ! I hadn't tried them before because I'd got some dvd-rw's, it was more of a "hmmm, they don't work, I wonder what else doesn't...." sort of thing.

Mind you, you can only hear it if you put your head next to the drive (or pretty close anyway !). It's only because it took so long to try to read the disk that I bent down to look (my pc's a tower thats stood on the floor), that I could hear it. It doesn't seem to do it with dvd's tho.

It should still be under warranty, I've only had it since May (just before the sony's and dvr 106's were either dropping in price, or had been announced - typical, if I'd waited another month.... !)

I agree with your second paragraph tho'. In looking to see if others had the same problem it's amazing the amount of people that put up with it, whe they wouldn't if it was a different make. Very strange !
could be a price thing, the pioneers are what about £100 now, the sony's more than that. It's almost like people accept it if it's a cheaper drive. If you get my drift.

[defense]

@ Clanger, glad your drive is still under warranty. Yea..that is exactly what I would've done too...checked all types of media in that situation. Well..now that you have more info....you know not to waste any more media. After I responded with the "TRAXDATA" post...I did some research...it appears that the TraxData Ritek's are also very High Quality disks. I initially said I wouldn't personally purchase Ritek disks under the TraxData name...but after reading many posts regarding TraxData..I retract that statement.


As far as why the Pioneer defective drives don't get as much heat....you mentioned it may have to do with the fact that the Sony drives are more expensive. That's really interesting..because I said the same exact thing a few weeks ago on another thread. If you read enough posts around here..you'll see a good number of people post the same B.S over and over. Such as certain posters who have 1500 posts..but 700 of them say "SONY SUCK" ..lol. Very valuable contributions to the site. And even more people want to convince themselves products are the best because they are cheaper and that's what they purchased.

People do it from everything with the Pioneer drives to PHONY Maxell media. It's interesting to read...anyway...yea...the price is a factor. I'd just figure every now and then..someone would respond to one of the defective Pioneer posts people have had. Instead...it's like people don't respond so that the posts go to the bottom of the pile so to speak.

At any rate...I hope you get your drive repaired promptly.....keep this post updated if you get a chance..and let us know the status.

[MeTaLgEaRsOoTy]

most of the datawrite reds and bulkpaq tangos 4speed,were all faulty batches.
they should never have been certified 4speed from any manufacturer.
but now i believe the problem is fixed and different suppliers have been getting these discs out to the stockists.
i bought 50 of each,and had a lot of probs,then returned them for more of the same brands,and recieved a letter from the supplier telling me that they were now GUARANTEED 4speed.
and the problem was resolved.
if you do get bad media,take it or send it back.