DVD burn runs too hot, how to slow down reading the source disk

[loninappleton]

I've found that programs like DVDFab can run very warm to hot in doing a DVDrip with extra operations such as subtitling.

Which settings can I use to slow down the read operation? Rip time is less critical than possible dvd damage from overheating. I have ditched one burner that ran very hot and even did a a bit of blistering to the media (media not damaged however.)

Would settings like bitrate or other slow down the read process in DVDFab. I cannot find any how to or guide that addresses this issue.

I've seen my hardware run at 99% of cpu load with a three core AMD Athlon. But I don't know any hardware fixes for this.

If the title for this is clumsy, moderators feel free to change it.

[Baldrick]

You could first just rip/copy the dvd to your hdd and the convert.

[loninappleton]

You could first just rip/copy the dvd to your hdd and the convert.

This is where the problem is: the read from disk to HD to make MKV or AVI is where the heat (laser heat is the only reasonable source) build up is. I run a program called Speedfan (freeware) which shows a steady increase in core temp during one of these operations on a 3 core machine.

[hech54]

You could first just rip/copy the dvd to your hdd and the convert.

This is where the problem is: the read from disk to HD to make MKV or AVI is where the heat (laser heat is the only reasonable source) build up is. I run a program called Speedfan (freeware) which shows a steady increase in core temp during one of these operations on a 3 core machine.

You are not listening and your terminology is all wrong.
A "rip" of a disc is an exact copy of the disc placed on your hard drive. NO recompression to MKV or AVI or whatever. You end up with a VIDEO_TS and an AUDIO_TS folder.
After you have that on your HDD......THEN you convert/recompress to AVI or whatever you want with software like HandBrake or MakeMKV.

[loninappleton]

I have used these tools but with problems-- specifically in adding subtitles in the recode process. This seems to add to the heat up of the drive.

What is needed, regardless of terminology, is to simply slow down the processing speed and therefore reduce laser heat. That's my take on it anyway. If, for instance I knew how to shut down a couple cores for these occasional rips recodes or whatevs, that might reduce the stress on the dvd drive.

For example, if my burner is rated at 40 x but another burner (such as I've seen some listed by Pioneer on your DVD hardware page) is 24x then that is a slower read operation and so should produce less heat though the process might take a bit longer.

I wondered if setting the bitrate lower as it can be in 'configure' in DVDFab might be a solution. There are no hardware settings in firmware for instance that can perform the function that some of the other software like Nero does which asks at which speed you want to run. When the prog. does ask, I always select the slowest with a better copy in mind as the result.

[fritzi93]

I don't think slowing down a rip would be likely to cause less heat buildup in an optical drive, rather the reverse. It may be you have inadequate air circulation in your computer case or simply a bad optical drive. But I'm not certain if you're not conflating that with heat generated by CPU load. BTW, ripping does not put much load on a CPU, while encoding definitely does.

Just rip the disc and be done with it, without trying to do processing directly from disc. Separate the two processes (ripping and converting) as you've been advised to do.

[hello_hello]

This is where the problem is: the read from disk to HD to make MKV or AVI is where the heat (laser heat is the only reasonable source) build up is. I run a program called Speedfan (freeware) which shows a steady increase in core temp during one of these operations on a 3 core machine.

No DVD drive I've ever seen reports it's temperature. They can get a bit warm inside after running for a while but they certainly shouldn't get hot enough to damage discs.
CPU core temperature on the other hand... it increasing while encoding is perfectly normal. Most people rip the DVD to their hard drive and then convert the ripped files. Is that what you're doing? If not, try ripping and then converting. That way the ripping part should only take around 15 minutes.

If you rip first and then convert you'll possibly find the CPU temperature will increase faster and it'll get hotter while encoding. The speed of the DVD drive could very well have been the speed bottleneck at times, and if the bottleneck is removed the CPU might work harder and get hotter. As long as it doesn't get "too hot" though, it's fine. What temperatures do the CPU cores reach when encoding?
I've got an Intel dual core which I don't use for encoding much, but it's only got the standard Intel heatsink. If I encode with it, the CPU will hit at least 60 degrees (which I think means the cores are hitting 65 to 70) and on a warm day CPU temperatures probably increase about 10 degrees. If I did a lot of encoding using that PC I'd invest in a better CPU heatsink/fan.