having a problem with my Mad Dog external DVD Burner

[Bamahusker]

i bought this at Radio Shack back in March and it's done great up until last night. it'll burn,copy,shrink,etc normally with DVD Shrink and decrypter except when it starts to burn it takes up to a minute. Then when it completes,when i test it out,it either A) won't play B)if it does play it pixelates or sticks a lot or freezes. i have tried with 4 DVD+R's last night and it's never done that until now. under Device manager where it says CD/DVD drives the driver says " CD/DVDW SH-S182D USB Device". I contacted Mad Dog about this but they were no help. Is my burner shot? should i get a new one? Or is there an easy fix? thanks.

[ozymango]

Could be your media -- my sister has a Mad Dog DVD burner which she was ready to throw out because it would do similar things when trying to burn anything, and just for the heck of it I tried a different blank and voila, it burned perfectly. Turns out that that particular burner just doesn't like TDK media, go figure. But it likes Verbatim just fine, so that's what they use now.

Of course if you haven't changed media and you're getting errors, could be the thing's dead. But might be worth buying some different blanks and seeing what happens.

[Bamahusker]

i've used Memorex on it since i got it in March. the thing is as i mentioned i used that drive to do everything. copy,shrink,and burn. Someone thought as i did that for so long on the same drive i wore it out but i don't know. I guess i'll just have to buy another one. and it's $69.99 too. after 8 months and i get this?not cool

[ozymango]

Bummer. Does the drive still work at all for playback, is it just burning that's the issue? Might be worth going to their site and seeing if there's a firmware upgrade for it, might fix things. Or might totally kill it, but what've you got to lose?

As for the price ... you can (probably) get an internal DVD player replacement (ASUS, Pioneer, Lite-On, etc.) for $50 or less that you could then mount inside your current external DVD burner box (i.e. open the external case, remove the dead Mad Dog burner, install new burner) and that should do it, save you at least a few $$$.

[Bamahusker]

well when i played it back on that drive and the built in drive it both can't read the DVD well. when i play it in a regular stand alone DVD player it's just as bad. as far as playing regular dvd's i do not know as i have not tried it but it seems to work ok. ok i just now tried a regular dvd and it plays back fine. one of their suggestions was to update the firmware but when i went to their firmware site,which is http://www.mdmm.com/optical_storage_drivers.php , the bottom firmware is from February 07 and i bought this in march. regardless i downloaded the firmware and executed it and it said it couldn't open the flash,so either it's defective or i have no clue on how to run it.

[Bamahusker]

by the way i just now caught the 2nd half of your post but i have no idea how to install an internal burner. If i did,i'd do it. But oh well. guess i'll just have to buy a new one.

Paul

[Bamahusker]

oh well thanks anyway.

[classfour]

Mad Dog's a repackager - I've seen Toshiba, NEC and now (I believe) Samsung drives in their enclosure.

You may want to read up on the media that you're buying. buy a single (or 3 or 10) pack of Verbatim and see if it repeats. You may want to install a new USB cable before you toss it, also.

If it does, after replacing the cable and using a good brand of disc: It's the drive.

[Bamahusker]

classfour as i stated already,i have used memorex for many months and never had problems until thursday. it plays fine but burning does not work on it. it has to be a drive problem. but oh well.

[budz]

classfour as i stated already,i have used memorex for many months and never had problems until thursday. it plays fine but burning does not work on it. it has to be a drive problem. but oh well.

It's not a drive problem, you're using crappy MEMOREX dvd media. Buy some VERBATIM DVD media which is on sale for $12.99 for a 50 pack spindle at BEST BUY, sale ends today. MEMOREX media id is CMC which is the manufacturer of those discs. CMC is crappy ass low grade media. Buy some VERBATIM and do a few burns. Only then will you truly know if your drive is the problem.

[Bamahusker]

well as i said for 8 months i have used memorex and never had one problem. occasionally it would leave a dark ring but that's only been 4 times but it might have been a bad disc. but 98-99% of the, burned with no problems. I have a couple of DVD+R's from a company called TEVION that a friend gave me once but i have not used them on this burner. If you want me to try a DVD on this to see what it does,i can. but if it doesn't work,it has to be the drive. i still think it is regardless.

[budz]

well as i said for 8 months i have used memorex and never had one problem. occasionally it would leave a dark ring but that's only been 4 times but it might have been a bad disc. but 98-99% of the, burned with no problems. I have a couple of DVD+R's from a company called TEVION that a friend gave me once but i have not used them on this burner. If you want me to try a DVD on this to see what it does,i can. but if it doesn't work,it has to be the drive. i still think it is regardless.

Pixelation and freezing is common with using those crappy MEMOREX dvd discs. If you continue to use those MEMOREX dvd media you'll find out later that those disc will likely become unreadable as time goes by. The cheap dye that CMC uses will likely deteriorate over time thus the disc becomes unreadable. The choice is yours to make but I'm sure if you did a google search you'll see many negative postings about MEMOREX DVD media. If you have important data/dvd movies you're backing up on those crappy discs hope & pray they'll be readable as time goes by.

[Bamahusker]

ok well answer these questions 1)what about that Tevion company i spoke of? will that be ok to try? 2) by the dye making it unreadable,does that mean that it's just doing it for memorex? or do i need to buy a new Burner?

[budz]

ok well answer these questions 1)what about that Tevion company i spoke of? will that be ok to try? 2) by the dye making it unreadable,does that mean that it's just doing it for memorex? or do i need to buy a new Burner?

Why are you making things so difficult? TEVION is crappy media as well. Just buy the VERBATIM dvd media and try them out on your burner. Look MEMOREX outsources their DVD MEDIA to CMC to manufacture the discs for them. They're just crappy dvd media PERIOD! VERBATIM & TAIYO YUDEN dvd media is good quality dvd media to use. If you wanna just buy a new dvd burner because you wanna continue to use MEMOREX dvd media then by all means do so. :P IMHO what a waste of money when all you need to do is spend $13.00 at BEST BUY for VERBATIM dvd media.

[Bamahusker]

i'm not making things difficult. a friend of mine says all brands of blanks are from CMC anyway. i used different media but even Imation caused me grief. half a case once didn't burn right. personally i don't care what dvd brand i buy. if it burns,it burns. I just want a working DVD Burner but obviously that's not gonna happen until i replace this or buy a new one. anyway...

[budz]

i'm not making things difficult. a friend of mine says all brands of blanks are from CMC anyway. i used different media but even Imation caused me grief. half a case once didn't burn right. personally i don't care what dvd brand i buy. if it burns,it burns. I just want a working DVD Burner but obviously that's not gonna happen until i replace this or buy a new one. anyway...

[Bamahusker]

yourself. ok prove it. show me where this so called list that shows the best and worst DVD's around. if i can get proof of this,i'll take your word for it,and i'll end it here.

[budz]

yourself. ok prove it. show me where this so called list that shows the best and worst DVD's around. if i can get proof of this,i'll take your word for it,and i'll end it here.

[Bamahusker]

yourself. see? you say Memorex is one of the worse discs,but yet you can't prove it. i just figured it out,anyway. you know what it was? it was the last few disks i was talking about and i bought a brand new pack a couple of weeks ago and was going to use them once this pack ended. i copied a movie today and guess what? no errors. played perfectly. did this for 3 movies. again copied perfectly. no pixelations,no freezeups,nothing but 100% perfection. I went back to the old one briefly,and that copied fine. so i guess there was a bad group of dvd's in that bunch. Now i no longer need to worry about getting a new burner.

[hudsonf]

yourself. see? you say Memorex is one of the worse discs,but yet you can't prove it. i just figured it out,anyway. you know what it was? it was the last few disks i was talking about

I think you just found the proof you wanted.

[classfour]

Strange: The last time that I burned coasters - I came to this forum, listened to the suggestions and followed them. Everyone was alot of help; the suggestions didn't actually work at the time, because it was the drive's firmware (which was fixed - and the drive works great).

I've burned many brands of media since starting this hobby five or six years ago; and remember buying el cheapo 1X for $1.50 per disc because that was all I could afford (Verbatim was $5 a disc at the time) only to discover it was likely crap media and wouldn't last. Also bought the TY fake code stuff, and found out personally it was crap.

Bamahusker, as a suggestion: follow my link: https://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia?dvdmediasearch=memorex&dvdmediadvdridsearch=&type=11...+or+List+Media

Irregardless of actual media code, I see tons of mixed reviews for memorex media.

I, and the others here; only offered the most logical means to solving your problem. If you're unwilling to appreciate everyone's help, please refrain from requesting it.

DVD burners aren't rocket science, and the externals only marginally more difficult than IDE or SATA. If you can't crack the case to install an IDE or SATA drive; then you start with media, then cables, enclosure, drive. Pretty much in the order of how much money you have to throw at it.

If you want to know why CMC can be crappy: They have poor QA/QC, re-use knives for cutting their media (yes, DVDs start as a sandwich of polyethylene and a dye based recording layer) that tears the edges or ripples the recording layer - which creates the problems that you're having.

I've paid my dues with crap media - and only use Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden now, and all my stuff plays to the end.

If you ever get your hand on a TY or Verbatim, you'll know before you even burn that you have a quality product. The edges are perfect (Verbatim's are square, TY round) and they don't smell like cheap plastic.
I'd equate most cheap media smell to the plasticky smell that you used to get from an Apex DVD player.

[Bamahusker]

no because when i said "a brand new pack i haven't opened yet", i was referring to "Memorex". the last 20 or so on the current spindle of memorex=defective and the first 3 on the new spindle of memorex=perfect. showing it's not memorex.

[Bamahusker]

you know something,there's a tiny problem with a line you just mentioned,classfour. I tried the advice given. saying "try it" replying "i did but it didn;t work" then saying "if you aren;t gonna take my advice,then don't ask" is like saying "i am having a problem deleting files" then you say "try this" and i do exactly that but it won't work then you say "well if you don't know how to follow directions,then don't ask for my help". makes no sense because i did. but you are right about mixed feelings about different media because i have seen some people burn with Imation,Sony,Maxell,Memorex,etc etc and never had an issue,while some have used at least 2 of these and have problems everytime. For me i started using Imation when burning DVD's at the beginning and they started out ok but after my 3rd or 4th spindle,about every 3 or 4 i used was defective and i no longer trusted Imation. i then went to Maxell i think then i spontaneously picked up Memorex only because it was like a dollar cheaper. Anyway...

[classfour]

Get a TY or Verbatim in your hands, feel it, smell it, burn it.

You won't visit the dark side again.

Re-read your posts: There's alot of arguing in you.

[Bamahusker]

no arguing here. just saying i tried a new batch of memorex and TA-DA! it works

[classfour]

Spotty.

The last time that I purchased media, I bought 1,000 Verbatims for $23 per hundred shipped (yes, shipped), inkjet printable.

As I bought them online - I really don't want the hassle of sending even one pack back.

Some of these will make it into the hands of paying customers.

So, for me: The media has to be the best.

BTW: I've never had one disc returned since switching to Verbatim and TY a couple of years ago. I did have a Crappy TY hacked media code disc that wouldn't play - a valuable lesson.

If you want to pull that disc out, and watch it to the end in a few years: spend the extra 3 cents per disc and get good media.

[Bamahusker]

well so far as i said memorex hasn't failed me much. but anyway i'm just glad i got this fixed. thanks again.