Burn faster using 1x media?

[Smeggin]

Howdy all, I've picked up 20 discs for about $50 (Aussie, $25 for you Americans) and they're all 1x rated - burnt a few of them so far and they're all turning out great.

What I'm wondering though is, can I burn faster than 1x? I'd like to give 2x a try, and see what the results might be. However, Nero refuses to give me the option of selecting anything other than 1x. Can I do it?

I'm using the Sony DRU-510A as my burner.

Thanks

[Gazorgan]

That's because the disks ID themselves as 1x (unless you have a true 1x burner?). Some of the firmware upgrades you may have read about change this.

Basically each piece of blank media has an ID. The firmware in teh disk drive reads the ID and uses that to calibrate the laser. It's like this: Say the dye in the disks needs to hit some temperature X to 'burn' at 1x. If you increase the disk to 2x, but don't change the laser setting, then you only get 1/2 the energy you needed and it doesn't burn enough to be read. The reverse is also true, if you need Y amount of laser to burn at 2x, but the disk is only spinning at 1x, then you may heat the dye too much and get a bad burn. Kind of like leaving the bangers in the pan while on the computer....a burnt mess when you get to the kitchen.

Now if you stop to ponder, you can see inherint problems with burning some 1x disks at 2x; it's a laser calibration issue. While many of these disks burn, the quality of the burn is poor. The best analogy is the difference between a studio masterd VHS tape and one you recorded at home on your own VCR, one is sharper than the other, although you can barely tell. That is you can barely tell for now, throw in a less than clean laser head or a finger print and BAM....lot's more read errors.