What am I doing wrong? Burning not successful

[Deku Scrub]

Hi guys. Kind of new to DVD burning.

I've been backing up my movies for a couple weeks now, and I'm getting coasters about 70% of the time.
The thing is- I have no problems ripping, shrinking, or decrypting.
I can play it back from my computer and it's great.
But when I burn, it's like rolling the dice. The end result will either not work at all, or it will stop playing about half way through.

I am using a 16x DVD burner, but I only burn at 4x. I use Nero.
I am burning on Memorex DVD+R media.

I would appreciate your input. Thank you!

[mattyboy]

Well try a different media, if you're having these issues with the same spindle or package of discs, thats probably why.
And why are you only burning at 4x? Whats the reason?

[bazooka]

You could also look for a firmware upgrade for your burner.

[mattyboy]

Thats right. What brand and model of burner is it?

[steve2713]

Burner is a liteon, which can be very dependent on the 'right' firmware for a given media to burn right.

Download DVDInfoPro and check the media code of the discs, as I said matching a good firmware with the media being used often makes or breaks these liteon burners.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=44

Take that link for alot of info on Liteon drives and different firmwares for them.

[Deku Scrub]

Thanks for the info.
I downloaded DVDInfoPro. It gives me a lot of information. What exactly am I looking for? Not sure where to look for firmware upgrade....

My burner is a Sony DRU-710A.
I have been burning at 4x because I read somewhere that slower burn speeds can yield better burns.

Thank you for your help.

[steve2713]

The Sony is actually a Liteon burner, so you know. I don't know what model of liteon the drive is off the top of my head. There's alot of info on firmware upgrades for the liteons at CDFreaks.com

http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=44

[adc]

It's the media...almost for sure...

Try Fuji.....I have gone through a 100 pack at 4x using LiteOn DVD burner and NOT a single coaster yet.

adc

[steve2713]

To get the media code, click on the 'media info' button on the top left of DVDInfoPro. Liteon drives often can go from pure crap to good burns just by using the proper firmware.

Let us know what the media code is.

[mattyboy]

The drive is a Liteon 1633S drive.

[sunmiztres]

I have a sony dru 500 and it does not like memorex media at all. ritek is what i use and i have never had a coaster.

[steve2713]

MEDIA CODE MEDIA CODE MEDIA CODE....

'Memorex' doesn't say shet about what these discs are, they could be any one of about 15 different types of media, and that includes Ritek media.

[BetaMaster]

My Lite-On doesn't much like Memorex +R media. Although I got good burns most of the time, the PI/PO numbers weren't exceptional, and they occassionally went over the line. As such, the media would work most of the time, but not all of the time.

I have had better luck with Ricohjpn media codes (Ritek +R, some TDK +R, some Imation +R). I have also had luck with Prodisc 03 +R (Smartbuy +R, some Kodak +R), but other Lite-On users have had less luck with such discs.

[Deku Scrub]

Thank you all for your help.
I will try a different media and upgrade the firmware and see how that goes.

Thanks again; you guys are great!

[winifreid]

You could use kprobe and do a scan of the disks to determine if you have alot of errors. Post a scan so we can see it. Scan at 4x. There are hacked firmware at CDfreaks by the codeguys that might improve the burns.

[Deku Scrub]

Here is what the media code screen says:

Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID CMC MAG E01
Media Product Revision Number 00h
Format Capacity Blank Disc
Free Blocks 405405696
Free Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type DVD+R
Media Type DVD+R
Manufacturer Rated Speed 8.0x 11080KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 8.0x 11080KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 6.0x 8310KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Data area starting sector 30000h
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1

Complete Media Code
00000000 08 02 00 00 A1 0F 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 05 3F .............&.?
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 43 4D 43 20 4D 41 47 00 45 .......CMC MAG.E
00000020 30 31 00 38 23 54 37 10 02 38 6A 02 88 67 15 15 01.8#T7..8j..g..
00000030 0B 0B 08 08 01 19 1B 0C 0C 0C 0D 01 00 00 00 00 ................


I don't want to download any firmware unless I'm sure it's safe. I did some research and read that the wrong firmware can muck up your drive.
I found http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/firmware.htm#710 which looks like it might do the trick, but it also says stuff about uninstalling packet writing software and disabling DMA setting, and I have no idea what any of that means. ???

Thanks again,

[lordsmurf]

Media code/Manufacturer ID CMC MAG E01 = bad media in most cases

Cheap junk.

[steve2713]

Go to this link for info on how to change the firmware for good burns with this media:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=120989

If you look at the scans there, you'll see that with good firmware/write strategies these discs burn extremely well. There's also another thread here on videohelp where koolaidwa followed the link I provided and is also getting extremely good burns after changing the firmware.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256152&highlight=cmc+e01


These ARE good discs with the liteons if you use the right firmware, and they burn extremely well on my NECs and my Benq burners.

P.S. - look at the scan that koolaidwa did in the second link - you'll have a hard time finding ANY media burn that well, even most TY media cannot burn better than that.

[Deku Scrub]

Thanks for the links, Steve.

Unfortunately, much of the terminology is greek to me ...
"1663S flashed to BS41"

"CS0C is much better than BS0R, BS0S and CS02~CS09 for my 1633S"

"Shoud I RMA my 1633?"

I know I'm a freakin' newbie, but I have no idea what any of that means. Seriously.

[steve2713]

These are just different firmware versions. You just need to change your firmware to one of the ones suggested in that thread.

[Gurm]

Bleh.

If you own Liteon and you want to use that kind of media, you will be doomed to an eternity of swapping write strategies.

Do yourself a favor and just buy good media. Fuji (usually Taiyo Yuden) or Verbatim +R's work very well and are usually on sale $20 for a spindle of 50.

Liteon's compatibility with CMC is extremely limited. Just chalk it up to experience.

[steve2713]

Maybe if you PM koolaidwa he'd be able to tell you what firmware to use, I know he's now burning them very well.

[koolaidwa]

yea, i pmed him back,

but for those who are wondering i found the best way was firmware bs41 and prodiscr03 write strag works the best for those on this drive

[steve2713]

Thanks koolaidwa, I don't have a liteon so I thought you'd be better able to give him the specifics, considering you just did the firmware change.

[winifreid]

Kool, what writer do you have? I have the 451 with the latest CG5E and I tried the prodisc swap for cmc and it wasn't any better.
I may end up just burning these at 2.4. Which is fine at noght.

[Gurm]

The best bet for a 451 owner is to go check out codeguys to see what their recommended firmware and/or soft-upgrade is.

http://codeguys.rpc1.org

When I owned a 451, it was softmodded to an 851 - but there are several options available for softmodding now, including the 833 dual-layer.

[Deku Scrub]

UPDATE:

I switched to a different media now (verbatim DVD-R 4x)
and I'm getting perfect burns everytime.

Thank you all for your help/advice.
I really appreciate it