Toast 6 and 4X disks

[willrob]

I read this morning (on the MacIntouch web site) of a problem Toast 6 seems to have with 4X media (used in 4X dives, such as the Pioneer 105). Apparently Toast 6 will burn these media at 1X. The two posters both had external 105 drives.

I'm wondering if anyone here has a 105 as an internal drive (something I've been thinking of upgrading to; or the 106 mechanism) and has succesfully used Toast 6 to burn at 4X.

williamr

[chikanakan]

Just burned 4.4 GB in less then 15 minutes on the 105 with no problem.

[galactica]

Personally dont have 4x burner, so I cant tell you 1st hand but my buddy across the hall has 105 with toast 6 and it worked fine.

what type of dvd-r's were you using. often the brand (ie cheap) can hinder it working properly.

[chikanakan]

Just because the media says 4x doesn't mean it works at 4x. As new media comes out the drives firmware must be updated to support the new media. This is more difficult on the Mac, but if you have access to PC you can easily update the drive. The 105 is up to 1.33

[the future]

I don't think it's *technically* more difficult on a Mac, it's just them lazy f***ers at Pioneer who only write firmware updaters for Windows most of the time.

[willrob]

>>Just burned 4.4 GB in less then 15 minutes on the 105 with no problem.<<

Was this on an internal 105? The report I read was based on folks with internal 105 drives. I'm not sure what barnd disks were invilved. A couple of people reported that Toast reverted to burning the 4x disks at 1X. It might be a firmware update thing, but I think the 105 should have already been able to write to 4X disks since they are 4X drives.

williamr

[chikanakan]

Internal/External doesn't matter. The 105 is the 105 and ATA or Firewire will not make 4x work any better. Indeed, making firmware for the Mac is not any more difficult then for the PC. Pioneer is lazy indeed and Apple is not much better. When drives first come out they only support a handful of media. Other media may work, but it is a gamble. The main reason firmware is updated is to add media support anymore. Manufactures ID and speeds are often hardcoded.

Toast ask the drive if it can burn 4x, the drive says says. The drives see the crap media, the drive says "I can't burn at 4x to this crap" and it gets slowed down. This is life and can't be fixed without firmware or good media. What we need is more firmware for the Mac. It is pretty easy to write firmware flashers for OS X because all the hard stuff is handled by the OS. All one needs is the skill and binary files. Yamaha makes great firmware flashers for the Mac. To bad they stopped making drives.

[willrob]

Today there was a follow up on the MacIntouch site. Someone pointed out that the real flaw (bug?) in Toast 6 is it sticks to the speed of the previous burn. So if you burn a 1X disk and the speed setting says "Best" and then put in a 4X disk, you have to maually select 4X from the speed pop-up menu. Even though "Best" is still selected as the speed it will not use the best speed for a 4X disk, but whatever was used before. So it's not the drive's problem or even the medias. It's Toast 6.

[BernieR]

somewhat off topic but here it goes -- taken from xlr8yourmac:


Latest comments on Panther/10.3 DVD+R/+RW Support - Over the last few months several Pioneer DVR-106 drive owners have commented that the Panther dev. versions have native support for the drive (also noted by a Dual G5 owner which had that model as the OEM Superdrive). One of today's drive db additions from a Pioneer DVR-106 owner commented on Panther/10.3 (beta) support for the drive and DVD+R/+RW media. (Without having to use Toast.)

" Just installed a Pioneer dvd+/-R/RW DVR-106D with firmware 1.05, in my dual 800 G4.
I am running 10.3 7B59, and its working as a charm. Native support in iTunes, iDVD and Toast. Bootable off course.

The coolest feature is that its supported without any hacks or workarounds, AND 10.3 supports DVD+RW discs! Just finished burning a DVD+RW disc with DiscBurner.
Recommed it to everybody. "

[chikanakan]

Well, I tried to burn a 1x disc in Toast burned at 1x. I then put in a 4x disc and Toast burned at 4x. Always set to Best. Seems like Toast is working fine to me. I really question anyone who send stuff to MacInTouch. They are not known to be reliable.

Any yes, 10.3 has DVD+R/RW support. Seems to only support 3 or 4 drives though.

[willrob]

It would be great if it could support the Plexor 708A. Not just for the 8X DVD burning, but the 40X CD-R capability.

williamr

[chikanakan]

Toast supports the 708A.

[willrob]

Does Jaguar let Toast write to DVD+R disks? And is there an internal 708A drive available, or must one canibalize an exterenal drive?

I was hoping that Panther would let iDVD write to this drive (presumably it would have to be an internal device) with both DVD-R and DVD+R media.

And while we're on (or off) the topic: DVD+R seeems to be capable of faster writing for less cost (i.e.- +R 4X disks often sell for the same price as 1X -R media, in instances when the same brand of media is on sale in local stores). Is +R the main format in the PC world and the bigger volume of sales creates a better price?

williamr

[galactica]

Does Jaguar let Toast write to DVD+R disks?

This is the ONLY way it will work! (thus the joy of how Panther "has" native +r/rw support!.

I was hoping that Panther would let iDVD write to this drive (presumably it would have to be an internal device) with both DVD-R and DVD+R media.

So ive read, if you have internal +r/rw -r/rw drive it will work.

And while we're on (or off) the topic: DVD+R seeems to be capable of faster writing for less cost (i.e.- +R 4X disks often sell for the same price as 1X -R media, in instances when the same brand of media is on sale in local stores). Is +R the main format in the PC world and the bigger volume of sales creates a better price?

williamr

Could be! Who knows for sure.

[zone71]

I have a few friends that work for Apple and have also been shown (at the Apple store) the new superdrives are Sony +/- dw-u10a models. the first release of panther should be able to (as they put it) unlock the full features of this drive. They were not to sure about any other brands of dvd +/- models I hope this helps. javascript:emoticon('')