Need Major help from an expert!

[jbartosh]

Hello, I have talked to so many people at electronics stores and they know absolutely nothing. I know I can find an expert here who can help me...

I have a 4x speed DVD burning drive, I have good results when recording 4x DVD-RWs. It seems that nobody makes DVD+R's in 4x or even 8x for that matter anymore!

When recording "supposedly" 1-16X DVD+R's they have glitches. They seem to get worse with more viewings, and the data towards the end of the disc seems to be the worst. (I'm think the error of the incorrect speed is multiplied when the surface speed of the disc increases at the larger diameter.)

I need to make 200+ DVDs that WILL LAST for a good long time. I need to know what route to take. 4x's are almost impossible to get, I can get 8x's - the story on those is below

A while back, a remember downloading a driver of sorts that would make 4x drives compatiable with 8x discs. I don't know how I can verify this anymore but I'm sure I've at least attempted this. I made some 8x discs a little over a year ago now and don't seem to have any glaring glithces, but I have seen some small digital glitches with them that concern me greatly.

The question is, should I get 4x discs on ebay somehow, or should I buy the 8x discs that I used a year ago that seem to work and be able to trust that they will work and not degrade - these discs must last a LONG TIME IF POSSIBLE as they are going to people who are entirely non-computer savvy.

I need to make 200 so I need a cost effective solution, if I have to buy a new DVD burning drive, please offer me suggestions, an external of some kind might be the best choice for me. Please help! and thank you for reading this long and excruitiating post!!!!!!

[jbartosh]

Sorry I forgot to mention that the new DVD's I intend to make will be nearly to capacity, and therfore I am more concerned with posibility of glitches in the "outer" regions of the disc.

[stiltman]

When was the last time you check for firmware updates for your drive?

[jbartosh]

I don't know what firmware updates are or how to get them, explain how it would help, also, I am concerned by installing any new drivers/updates that I will lose my 8x driver/update. The DVD writer is an HP 300c. Let me know how to find and how they will help.

[jbartosh]

Just researched and have seem to found that the latest firmware updates are from Jan04 for the HP DVD 300c burner. It mentions 8x write speed, I am downloading this now and will install it tommarow, but I believe this is the firmware updates that I already have in place. Can this be trusted to burn 8x discs??????? Or do I have to buy a new drive?

[freebird73717]

A firmware upgrade may help. Most important use quality media. Especially if you are filling the disc to the edges. Cheap discs can crap out near the edges.

Although if you do some searching online and or judicious shopping you could find a new burner for a reasonable price that will burn faster and have better luck with newer media.

Of course you may be like me...
I'm the kind of guy that will drive a car till the wheels fall off. I don't need the newest or fastest.

[fredfillis]

I wonder how much your 200+ dvd's + your time are worth to you? A couple hundred bucks maybe? For me, it would be a no brainer. Spend the money, get a new burner and stop making coasters!

[jbartosh]

I just found out the the firmware I was downloading is actually older than what I have currently installed. I have a EK47 I believe firmware update installed, so I believe that the drive is as updated as can be. I have some 4x DVD+R's tracked down that I may be able to get cheap. They are HP brand which in theory should work well with an HP burner??? Otherwise I will look for a new burner. Any thoughts on whether or not 8x discs would be safe to use??

[jbartosh]

sorry that was EK24 not EK47.

[stiltman]

Looks like 2004 was the last update

2 0 0 4 ! ! !


spend $30 and get a newer drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010100005%204808&bop=And&Order=PRICE

[jbartosh]

Ok, those prices are pretty good, I think I'm to just get a new drive, probably an internal. Any suggestions on a brand or model out there? I'm thinking the Sony might be the way to go, I'm not interested in lightscirbe or dual layer for that matter. Any comments on the Sony out there? Also, any negatives about external burners??? Thanks!

[Rich86]

I would not buy a Sony drive if they were the last makers on earth. They provide almost no support, and just increase the prices on oem drives because they put their logo on it.

My favorite drive is the Benq 1650 and 1655. Unfortunately, they are not made anymore. But you might stumble upon one on EBay.
Lite-On drives seem to do well also.
I have both a Benq 1655 and Lite-On SATA dvd burner in my tower and they both work just fine.

[budz]

Ok, those prices are pretty good, I think I'm to just get a new drive, probably an internal. Any suggestions on a brand or model out there? I'm thinking the Sony might be the way to go, I'm not interested in lightscirbe or dual layer for that matter. Any comments on the Sony out there? Also, any negatives about external burners??? Thanks!

All dvd burners now are dual layer so you don't have a choice. SONY doesn't manufacture their own dvd burners, they use rebadged burners from LITEON, LG & NEC. If you want a new internal dvd burner then get a PIONEER 112 or a SAMSUNG 183L (lightscribe) drive, you don't have to use the lightscribe. If you want a SATA dvd burner then get a SAMSUNG 20x S203B drive. It has great reviews on Cdfreaks.com. I own 2 of them and they burn great. I even burned some 4x FUJI TAIYO YUDEN (TYG01) DVD-R media with that drive. It played back perfectly fine with no problems in any of my standalone players.

[ricoman]

First use good media, Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden are the only ones I recommend. Second, at $30 get a new burner. Pioneer 112D is the hot one right now but check CDfreaks.com, they recently did a poll of best burners.

[dfisher052]

I have been using the new Sony/NEC Optiarc burner and am very satisfied with it. I am using Sony 16x minus discs and have burned about 100 discs so far without a coaster. They have been burning at 8x. The same discs burn at 4x in my Optorite burner. Again, no coasters. Believe me when I say I have no love for Sony, but what ever works is fine with me. I've had the Optorite for over a year now & it will burn just about anything, but especially I have the best luck with it burning minus RW discs. I've got about 5 discs that I've re-written on them probably close to 50 times & they still work great.

[overloaded_ide]

Yes, get a new burner and keep that one for ripping DVDs or playing audio disks etc...
I still use my 2X burner allot! But NEVER to burn a disk really, still a great disk reader and saves wear and tear on the burner I do use. And at $200 I paid for it I just can't see tossing it out when it still works fine LOL

Get anything OTHER than Sony!
I'm not up on new drives right now, but I do know Sony has been pushing crap on consumers for a long time now in many areas of their businesses! They can no longer be trusted with anything! They are not the great products they once were, just the same name!

[jbartosh]

Okay so I'm going to go with a Samsung internal burner that is 20X. I am also thinking of getting some verbatim 16x discs, I also have some Memorex 16x discs laying around. Seeing as how I'm not used to having a burner that is faster than discs that I own. I'd like to know what speed discs will truly work best with a 20X burner? Do I have to get some burner software to specify the recorder to slow down to accomodate the discs? (in this case 16x). The burning software I have does not let me set a speed.

[budz]

Okay so I'm going to go with a Samsung internal burner that is 20X. I am also thinking of getting some verbatim 16x discs, I also have some Memorex 16x discs laying around. Seeing as how I'm not used to having a burner that is faster than discs that I own. I'd like to know what speed discs will truly work best with a 20X burner? Do I have to get some burner software to specify the recorder to slow down to accomodate the discs? (in this case 16x). The burning software I have does not let me set a speed.

Just because a dvd burner is 20x speed doesn't necessarily mean you're going to burn them at that speed. What SAMSUNG model dvd burner are you getting? The SAMSUNG S203B is a 20x SATA dvd burner. You'll have to have SATA ports on your mobo or you could get a SATA PCI CONTROLLER CARD. If you're seriously wanting the SATA SAMSUNG S203B model go check out the SAMSUNG FORUM at Cdfreaks.com. FYI some SATA controllers on older mobo's can have conflicts.

Safest speed to burn is 8x- 16x with the SAMSUNG SATA S203B drive using good quality dvd media like VERBATIM & TAIYO YUDEN. Those MEMOREX discs you have are crappy media. Use IMGBURN to burn your dvd media. There's no 20x dvd media available yet. But with the SAMSUNG SATA S203B drive flashed with MEDIA CODE SPEED EDIT you can burn at 18x & 20x speed with TAIYO YUDEN & VERBATIM dvd media.

[jbartosh]

Yes it is the S203B, I just downloaded ImgBurn and plan to use that for recording in the future. If possible I will set to burn at 16x with 16x disks. I'm going to get some Verbatim 16x discs. I don't know if my motherboard supports SATA or not, but I think I can get that figured out when the drive gets here or set is up with a card like your saying. I'll report back when I get the burner and hopefully get it all set up!

[redwudz]

What's the name and model of your motherboard? If you post that, we can tell you if you have a SATA port. But if you have a spare PCI slot, it's easy and economical enough to add a SATA controller card.

Or take a look at your motherboard. SATA ports are self configuring with Windows XP. This is what the connectors look like:

[budz]

Yes it is the S203B, I just downloaded ImgBurn and plan to use that for recording in the future. If possible I will set to burn at 16x with 16x disks. I'm going to get some Verbatim 16x discs. I don't know if my motherboard supports SATA or not, but I think I can get that figured out when the drive gets here or set is up with a card like your saying. I'll report back when I get the burner and hopefully get it all set up!

From what I can remember mobo's with Intel chipset sata controllers have no problems with the SAMSUNG S203B drive. It's the older mobo's that have compatiblity issues with this drive. You will have to set your mobo bios sata setting to IDE and not AHCI for the drive to work correctly. Some have had problems with the Jmicron sata controllers as well. If you need to get a SATA PCI CONTROLLER CARD you'll have to get one with the SILICON IMAGE chipset 3114 or 3512 for the drive to work correctly. This has been posted at the SAMSUNG FORUM. I have the 3114 chipset that runs one of S203B drive and works well.

Let us know when you receive and install your drive. Also if you really wanna burn at 16x speed I'd suggest you make sure those discs can playback w/out any problems. I have no problems with burning at 16x spd but then again everyone has different standalone dvd players.

[jbartosh]

I don't know how to find out the serial number of the motherboard without cracking the computer apart, and I'm not ready to do that just yet until the burner comes. But I do see in device manager that it lists "Intel 82801EB Ultra ATA storage controllers" so I am in the clear?

[redwudz]

If you need more info about the internals of a computer, you can try the freeware program, SIW. It should show quite a bit of motherboard info and may have the hardware series listed for IDE controllers, etc:

http://www.gtopala.com/

[lordsmurf]

www.nomorecoasters.com on media

VERBATIM DVD-R are my suggestion.

Verbatim 4x DVD-R are online at gotmedia.com, supermediastore.com or meritline.com

A newer drive for $40 is a good idea, a Pioneer drive.

Your problem is easy to fix.

Forget all the Samsung and Memorex, etc, unless you just want to tinker. What I suggest is easy, quality and works.

[budz]

www.nomorecoasters.com on media

VERBATIM DVD-R are my suggestion.

Verbatim 4x DVD-R are online at gotmedia.com, supermediastore.com or meritline.com

A newer drive for $40 is a good idea, a Pioneer drive.

Your problem is easy to fix.

Forget all the Samsung and Memorex, etc, unless you just want to tinker. What I suggest is easy, quality and works.

LS: The OP already said he's getting a SAMSUNG S203B SATA 20x dvd burner. Read the whole thread over again. :P

jbartosh download that program from the link that redwudz gave to you. That way info on your mobo will be available. It also would be helpful if you put in your computer specs in your videohelp profile. How old is your computer? By just giving the"intel 82801 ultra ata storage controller" will not be enough to find out if your mobo has SATA ports or if the SATA controller chipset supports it.

As I mentioned older mobo's that have SATA ports may have conflicts with SATA dvd burners. Use the link redwudz posted or download CPU-Z and that should give info on what mobo you have.

[jbartosh]

Okay I downloaded the SIW utility and here is the only useful information I could find...

Chipset Model 82865G/PE/P, 82848P DRAM Controller / Host-Hub Interface

South Bridge 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge

SMBus Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller @0400h

[budz]

Okay I downloaded the SIW utility and here is the only useful information I could find...

Chipset Model 82865G/PE/P, 82848P DRAM Controller / Host-Hub Interface

South Bridge 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge

SMBus Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller @0400h

That doesn't give the motherboard model number so download CPU-Z. It will show you what model motherboard you have. Here's what it would look like:




http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
Create a new folder on your desktop & name it CPUZ and then download CPU-Z. Then unzip it to that folder you created. All you do is double click on the CPUZ icon and then it will show what motherboard, processor and memory your computer is running.

[jbartosh]

Okay here is the information......

Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.

Model 'P4SD-LA'

Version Rev 1.xx

[Richard_G]

You do have SATA, see here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00022505&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=&product=351810#N927

[budz]

Okay here is the information......

Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.

Model 'P4SD-LA'

Version Rev 1.xx

You do have SATA, see here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00022505& ... 51810#N927

There you go jbartosh from that link Richard_G posted your mobo should be okay with the SATA SAMSUNG S203B dvd burner. If not you could always buy a SATA PCI CONTROLLER CARD that has the SILICON 3114 or 3512 CHIPSET to use with the dvd burner. Good luck.