Just sent this to Sony Tech Support

[sidneysides]

I am writing on behalf of thousands of people who are having the same problem.

I am trying to write to Ritek and Princo DVD-R at 4x, but, once started at 4x, the Sony drive defaults it back down to 2x. I have tried many times to speak to Sony about this and I get the same response. "they are not on our compatability list...' Well I've pretty much had enough of this excuse. If they weren't compatible, why does it show that it can write at 4x when the burn options come up? Non 4x disks don't.
NONE of my suppliers sell any 4x disks except Ritek and Princo. (One retailer does sell a Pioneer disk at £4.49!!!!! - why would I pay that when Ritek 4x are only £1.30????)
I have OCCASIONALLY burned a disk at 4x, but the next disk I've tried, same settings, same disk, burned at 2x.
I chose to get rid of my Pioneer drive for a Sony, as I was sick og#f the problems with Pioneers firmware, not writing to particular disks at the correct speed, now the Sony is the same.
I am sure if this fault is not coorected soon, then Sony will lose many customers BACK to Pioneer.
Reading the forums, yes, some people are happy with their drive - writes at 4x to ANY 4x disc, but read any of the forums such as
http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=9390
or
http://www.disqworld.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28724

and you will find many people with the same issues. I know of at least 4 people who have returned their drive in exchange for a Pioneer 105 purely because of this problem.

Please can you update me on Sony;s standing on this issue.

Thank you,

[Bob W]

Good luck I sent them a similar note but never got an answer. Doesn't really matter now since the POS burner died over the weekend.

[Dubber]

I assume you are in the UK, and in the US they can file a Class Action Law Suit to get 'some' attention from the manufacturer and media, to either get the problem fixed or seek monetary damages or such........