Is it better to use a DVD-ROM or DVD Burner to test media?

[NIIDeep]

Hello All,

I've recently been bitten with some bad burns.. not really sure if it's the media or ther burner. I have a Plextor PX-716A TLA#0304. Read the thread about safe burning speed so you can trust the burn.. interesting.. kinda implicates that no matter what.. media can't be trusted.

So anyways.. I've got some Ritek G05 MIT Maxells that I'm testing so I can trust it.. burned at 8x and used Nero CD/DVD Speed to test . Thing is.. if I use my Toshiba DVD-ROM.. I seem to always get bad fluctuations after the 3.5 GB mark. I take the same disk and stick it in the original burner drive.. the Plextor I get a perfect curve. what gives?

So these fluctuations.. if they do happen (regardless of the drive), where it drops down to like 2x or less.. should I be concerned? Is the disk reliable or not?

also has anyone have Nero CD/DVD Speed "freeze" on you? I hate it when this happens because it's so bad that I have to do a hard reset...

an example.. so I was trying to compare a Plextor burn to a NEC 3520a burn of the same image burned by DVD Decrypter... The Plextor burn completed Nero's test all the way.. but showed bad fluctuations after the 3.5 GB when reading with my toshiba DVD-rom as mentioned above. Tried to test the NEC burn.. but Nero crashes or freezes at the 2 GB mark for no apparent reason.... the speed curve was trending to a perfect burn...

If the media causes a freeze in Nero does it mean it's bad.. or is it a s/w issue.

guess I'll try Plextools for PI/PIF scans..

I'm so paranoid now.. I can't seem to trust any of my media.. Need some help...

Sorry for the long post.

Thanks in advance.

[BetaMaster]

I have had much the same experience. It seems DVD-Rom drives aren't as good at seeing the media as DVD+- drives are. For example, I have had some damaged discs I have used Isobuster on. The DVD-Rom drive can't resolve about 900 errors on a DVD+RW, but the recording drive saw about 100.

As such, I generally confirm my media in my DVD-Rom drive after burning it, because if it can't be read in that drive, it's pretty much useless to me.

However, I run pi/po scans in my recordable drive because I use K-Probe and that's the only drive it runs on

[NIIDeep]

Thanks for the response... that does explain the different results I get between my DVD-ROM and DVD Burner.

As for my Ritek G05 issue, I think I've resolved it to media... I guess.... I just did a burn at 6x as suggested in the thread I mentioned above. Nero speed results turned out real well with a near perfect curve.

Lesson to learn here... don't trust the media.

[MOVIEGEEK]

The reason Nero CD-DVD Speed freezes up is because it doesn't(officially) support NEC writers yet,try DVDInfo Pro.