Big problems with burning dvd's!

[Udbye]

I am having big problems with burning dvd's, i have now been struggling with this for more than three months. The thing is that i have not been able to succesfully burn a single dvd.

The first DVD burner i bought was an ASUS DRW-0804P and then 30 Verbatim DVD+R 8x. All of the about 15 dvd's i burnt with this drive, was done in Nero and all of them was burnt as data dvd's containing video files and burnt at 8x speed, Nero reported all of the burns as succesfull, but non of them was, when i tested them in Nero cd-dvd speed transfer rate test, the curve would dramatically drop in about 1/4 in on the disc and it almost couldn't be read, some of the discs returned an uncorrectable error and some couldn't be read at all. I tried updating the firmware, nero and so on, i even formatted my harddisk and reinstalled windows and all the newest drivers but with no effect.

I then thought it had to be the drive that was defect and got it replaced to a Plextor PX-712A, which is the one i have now. But the problems persists, the picture is about the same, but now the drop in the transfer rate curve is at the end of the dvd's, all of which has been burned in the Nero, that followed with the drive and at 8x speed. I have also tried returning all of the Verbatims, thinking they were defect and got them replaced with new ones, but they do exactly the same. I have also upgraded the firmware to the newest ver. 1.03, but with no effect. I also tried replacing the IDE cable with a new one, that didn't work either.

One strange thing i have noticed, was when i burnt two dvd's in cd-dvd speeds create data disk, which also burned the disk at 8x speed and both were completely succesfull burns, with no drop in the transfer rate test curve. Which has made me even more confused.
I have now tried every possible thing i can think of, but with no succes and i have run out of ideas, to what can be the cause to the problem. Please please help me! I'm going insane.


Here are some pictures from the transfer rate tests.

[budz]

what software are you using other than NERO BURN? Check the PLEXTOR FORUM at cdfreaks.com. They have a FAQ section. It could be a software or hardware conflict that you're experiencing. If you have nforce chipset, intel application accelerator or nvidia chipset they could cause conflicts with the drive and with software you're using. Another suggestion would be to try a different brand of media other than VERBATIM. Plextor did have some problems with VERBATIM that they are aware of. According to Plextor they are working with VERBATIM to get the media to work well with the 712A. Try using MAXELL or FUJI DVD+R media.

[ghoster]

are you trying to play them on your stand alone dvd player or just your pc? why are you burning them as a data dvds? aren't you trying to burn movies? wouldn't you want them burned as dvd video not data dvds?

[Udbye]

I have been using Nero Express from nero 6 and i have also tried CD/DVD-ROM Maker from PlexTools Professional but with the same result. My motherboard is Asus P4PE with Intel chipset and i have tried burning with both IAA installed and unintalled. I have also Checked that DMA is on in both bios and WinXP. Could it really be the Vebatim media, that doesn't work with this burner? I'm a little sceptical about that, because they didn't work with the Asus burner either.


And to Ghosters question

are you trying to play them on your stand alone dvd player or just your pc? why are you burning them as a data dvds? aren't you trying to burn movies? wouldn't you want them burned as dvd video not data dvds?

The dvd's i want to burn, contain both avi videos and jpg images, and i only want to watch them on my PC, therefore i burn them as data dvd's.

[henry97]

I used to have a lot of problem with burning before using nero software. My PC mother board is Asus P4P800 Deluxe. After disable hyperthread in the bios the buring has been going well. You may give it a try to see if it helps.

[Udbye]

I used to have a lot of problem with burning before using nero software. My PC mother board is Asus P4P800 Deluxe. After disable hyperthread in the bios the buring has been going well. You may give it a try to see if it helps.

I don't have have hyperthreading enabled, my processor doesn't support it.

[budz]

Are you using the latest version of NERO BURN? If not, try upgrading it. It sounds more to me that it's a media problem. As I've suggested try using another brand of media. If possible try using the RECOMMENDED BRANDS of media that PLEXTOR supports. I know VERBATIM is on their RECOMMENDED list but when the 712a drives came out there were reports of the media not working properly with the drive. If I remember correctly the media was not burning at the optimum speeds. Take a look at PLEXTOR forum site. They have lots of information that is useful. Particularly with the conflicts of some motherboards. The chipsets like IAA, NFORCE & NVIDIA will cause problems with dvd burning.

[pippas]

You could try using ImgTools and DVD Decrypter - use ImgTools to make an ISO image of your authored DVD, and then burn with DVD Decrypter.

Both tools are free (links from the tools section on this site) so nothing to lose, and it would help isolate your problem as Nero, media, or otherwise!