stoopid noob question

[cjice]

I have a dvd burner which i am pretty sure is a x2 speed burner. I have seen some x4 speed media very cheap and was wondering if it's possible to use x4 speed media in a x2 speed burner. Obviously i know they wont burn at x4 speed, but would like to know if a can buy x4 speed media and then just burn them at x2 speed in my x2 speed drive.

[Capmaster]

4x media is backwards-compatible - you can burn it at 2x or 1x. It's usually more expensive so if your burner is really 2x stick with 2x media.

[Gil T Pleasure]

4x media is backwards-compatible...

Unless we're talking about 4x DVD-RW media. New DVD-RW discs that record 4x max speed do not support recording on drives with a top speed of 1x or 2x.

[iooi]

I I have seen some x4 speed media very cheap .

Sounds like you are heading for trouble.... Care to mention which brand or a link to where the disks are from ?

[johns0]

Check to see if there is newer firmware to support burning 4x dvdr with your 2x dvdr burning,sometimes firmware comes out thats will fix burning problems with 4x dvdr media on 2x dvdr burners.

[Capmaster]

4x media is backwards-compatible...

Unless we're talking about 4x DVD-RW media. New DVD-RW discs that record 4x max speed do not support recording on drives with a top speed of 1x or 2x.

You're absolutely right. I had narrowed in on DVD-R for some reason. RW is a different story.

[Roderz]

Unless we're talking about 4x DVD-RW media. New DVD-RW discs that record 4x max speed do not support recording on drives with a top speed of 1x or 2x.

I take it the same is not true for +RW, I'm using a x4 +RW and burning @ 2.4 just fine.

[Capmaster]

I have heard about some drives actually getting damaged trying to write too slow with DVD-RW. Not sure about +RW.

[disturbed1]

It depends solely on the drive.

Both -R and +RW 1st/2nd generations drives can have issues with newer generation media.

With the Pioneer A03/A04 you can ruin the drive using 4x media with out the proper firmware update.

With some +R 2.4x drives, the write quality will be horrible, mostly unreadable by anything, unless a firmware update is done.

If your DVD Burner has the newest firmware, then you shouldn't have any issues. Goto www.rpc1.org to find firmware for your drive.

[cjice]

The drive in question is the quite awful matshita sw-9851, i have applied the B102 firmware for it but don't know how recent that is.

The media i have seen is Datawrite Professional yellow top x4 speed @ £8.75 inc VAT for a Tub of 25.

[Pacman75]

I have an LG GMA-4020B which has a max burn of 2X, and I recently got a sample of Ritek G04's, which are rated up to 4X. They worked great. I have the A108 firmware for my burner, and it only burned at 2X, but they worked. At blankmedia.ca, the price of 100 of these has gone down to $110 Canadian! They don't even have any 2X in stock, so it looks like I'll be getting the 4X's.