the best burning speed for DVDs

[JohnnyBob]

Until recently I've proceeded based on general scuttlebutt and my best guesses about the best burning speed. Namely, the concensus seems to be that it's best to burn as slow as possible if you have the time available. I didn't worry about it very much so long as there weren't too many coasters.

Then a couple of days ago I decided to take a look at a more scientific method using testing software such as Nero CD-DVD Speed over at the cdfreaks forums. After a lot of test burns and scans, I proved to my own satisfaction that my prior assumptions and procedures were incorrect! As luck would have it, bad luck in this case, I had previously chosen the worst possible burning speeds for my optical drives. Sure, the DVDs played OK, but the chances of coasters was maximized and their chances of longevity were decreased.

It turns out that using the new faster DVD burners (16x-20x) and the fastest rated media (16x), the best burns are usually at 12x or 16x speed, generally the latter. So in future I will be burning my DVDs at 16x.

According to my tests with LG GSA-H55N and Lite-On LH-20A1P burners, using Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 16x TYG03 and Verbatim DVD+R 16x MCC004 media, my best burn to date is at 16x speed with TYG03 using the Lite-On drive (see attached graphic). There may be other drives capable of burning slow with good results, but these two drives are not among them! So the new rule of thumb seems to be: when in doubt burn fast (not slow)

[guns1inger]

Some say as slow as possible.

Some say at the highest rated speed of the disc or the burner, whichever is the slower.

The smart ones say whatever speed produces the best results for your burner and media combination

[JohnnyBob]

All I'm saying is that with a modern 16-20x burner and 16x DVD media, in lieu of other information the best burn speed is probably 16x.

The main assumption of that "rule of thumb" is probably that user sticks with high quality media like Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden. All bets are off with cheap media.

Of course it would be advisable to bite the bullet and do some tests on your system with Nero CD-DVD Speed or similar software, but that requires a major self-education effort. To start you must do several hours of reading just to figure out what's involved, then another 10-20 hours of running your own burn and scan tests. I doubt that most people have threaded that needle - but maybe a poll would be interesting: What % of users rely on such rules of thumb vs. what % have run scientific tests to determine what's actually best for their system

[guns1inger]

I run an RPM scan on every burn and find the most stable burns for my combination of Liteon burner and Verbatim 16x printables is around 12x. For this I get a nice smooth curve over time. Burning at 16x intermittently produces instability in the last 20% of the burn. Although I never get coasters, I prefer to take a minute or two longer in the burn and know that I have a better quality burn, than to save very little time and get a lesser quality.

[JohnnyBob]

What software do you use for a RPM scan?

[guns1inger]

DVD Info Pro 4.36

[JohnnyBob]

Thanks. I had that installed for awhile in the past but never got around to using it, too much technical reading required. Maybe I could understand and use it now. It would be convenient with ImgBurn which has a button to click to display the burn graphs with DVD InfoPro. The negatives are pointed out in the reviews of that trialware software and author. I would prefer freeware such Nero CD-DVD Speed, and I guess that would be my suggestion to the ImgBurn author, to include it if possible with its own button in ImgBurn to display the burn graphs.

Re instability during the last 20% of burns at 16x speed, I've noticed that the buffers in ImgBurn may vary wildly during that last 20% of a 16x burn. I worried about it, but so far haven't had a bad burn as a result. That would seem related to computer speed, so slower computers would be more likely to have a problem. I guess mine is fast enough. I suppose my Lite-On would still be OK at 12x burn speed, in general, but not my LG which has significant problems at slower burn speeds.

[guns1inger]

I am running a C2Q 6600 with 2GB DDR2, so speed isn't an issue. The buffers remain rock steady throughout.

The issue seems to be more with the way DVD -R is burned, and the fact that there is not constant acceleration as the laser moves toward the outer edges. You can hear definite changes to the drive and the speed the disc is spinning. I found the same thing with my previous drive - an NEC 2501.

For me though, the actual time difference between 12x and 16x is not a big issue. It is not like the difference between 2x and 4x or 2x and 16x.

While Nero CD/DVD Speed is free, the functions are essentially the same as DVD Info Pro, and I would rather not have anything Nero related on my machine.

[JohnnyBob]

I guess that could be an individual drive thing, luck of the draw off the assembly line. Mine gives a fairly smooth TRT...

[MysticE]

Well I'll throw in my my 2 cents. My discs of choice are the TYG02 8X-R. Priced right and hopefully reliable over the long haul. It was time for a new burner so I decided to try the Pioneer 115D after reading some reviews. It will burn the TYG02@12X.

Here's a Pioneer 115D burn@12X scanned in my BenQ.



Needless to say I'm pleased.

[JohnnyBob]

Looks good MysticE

Now that we've solved all the mysteries of single layer DVD burning speeeds...
How about double layer

I've done a little with this and need to do more. For example:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/1977742-post808.html

Who else?
Surely somebody has already done the legwork here...to save me the trouble.

[JohnnyBob]

[I don't do much bumping, don't really care about most topics, but this one is important to me. So, just once...]

[RickA]

I did not see anyone mention KProbe for checking burn quality. I find it a very nice little program if your burner drive supports it. Readings of PI's under 280 and PIF's under 4 mean a good burn via their website. Thankfully mine are consistently much lower by half or more.

I find my system prefers to burn dvd+r discs at 8x speed out of a max of 16 for quality.

Cheers,
Rick

[JohnnyBob]

Yes, KProbe is an another useful software for testing burn quality, in addition to Nero CD-DVD Speed and DVD Info Pro. I haven't tried it yet, and believe it only works with Lite-On drives.

Only a very few brands of burners provide the necessary error reporting to allow these kinds of burn quality graphs to be constructed, such as Lite-On and Benq. So it's a good idea to have at least one Lite-On or Benq burner available for this reason. For example, my LG drive won't work - but of course I can burn with my LG drive, then run a burn quality scan with my other drive, a Lite-On.

If I understand correctly(?), PIE~PI and PIF~PO when comparing Nero CD-DVD Speed to Kprobe graphs. The numerical scales for "acceptable burns" might be a little different with different software - I'm not sure yet, need to read more... I believe PIE can go up to about 180 and PIF up to about 8 (but preferably 4 or less) with the Nero software and still have a disc that will probably play OK in most DVD players. PIF seems most critical. The total number of PIE's and PIF's in a scan also seems relevant - I'm not exactly sure how, except fewer is better. Smoothness and flatness of the PIE graph, and an even distribution if PIFs (rather than concentrated in a small area), also seems relevant. I've read that a broad collection of PIFs in a small area can indicate a disc defect, but don't know more details.

I don't know if it's proven, but reportedly PIE tends to become PIF over time. How long of a time? I don't know. Also, reportedly PIE and PIF tend to increase over time. Again, I don't know how much time is involved for it to be significant. These important issues relate to longevity of your burnt discs - will they last a few days, a month, a year, 10 years, 100 years? There seems plenty of room for research in this area. For example there's probably some way to subject burnt discs to conditions that accelerate the aging process, for testing and prediction purposes. Maybe a microwave oven, dishwashing machine, and/or a clothes washer & dryer could do that?