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I'm curious of anyone that is using a Sony DRU500A with DVD-R media as to what speeds you see for average record times with 2X or 4X rated media.
I have used 2X rated media, and record times sit right at 22 - 27 minutes for most DVDs.
I have used 4X rated media, and see exactly the same recording times.
I switched to using Nero for a 4x test, confirmed from the burn status window that 4x was the recognized record speed, but then watched as the record time sat at basically the exact same time as 2x media does.
I tried doing a test burn using Record Now just to write some files back from a test image (.gi) I made. That showed 4x as the record speed, but again, didn't seem to be noticably faster than 2x would be.
I know from observation that the record light on my recorder blinks on and off and doesn't stay on all the time.
I have upgraded to the 2.0g (I think that is the most recent version) firmware, and notice the same thing.
DMA support is on and recognized as DMA mode 2.
ireland
Inactive
17 Apr 2003 6:09 PM
I wonder if your solfware driver supports 4x.
my 4x media burns up to 4x in easy dvd creator-6
under power speed called (power-rec)auto mode
also i do not have your burner,i have a hp-300 which burns at 4x.
this note is to prove that 4x media can burn at 4x. takes me 20 min to burn a disk under ver-1.52 dvdxcopy meaning 2.4 speed burn.i think burn speed is set in dvd x copy.
dengar
Senior Member
17 Apr 2003 9:32 PM
I burn with the Sony. At 2x a burn should take 18-20 minutes. 27 minutes is a 1x burn. A 4x burn should take 12-15 minutes.
To get the faster burn times you need to go to Sony's website and download the newer firmware.
A word of caution: A 1x burn will give you much greater compatibility as well as save you big dollars on the media. IMHO. I burn data at 4x, and I backup dvd's at 1x.
Also, if your firmware is 1g then you can burn Accu dvd-r's at 2x for a 1x price.
If you upgrade your firmware you will lose that capability with Accu, (but even with the new firmware I can burn K-Hypermedia at 2x).
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 17 Apr 03 9:34 PM
shoNoff
Newbie
17 Apr 2003 10:20 PM
I have been burning to Ritek 2x discs. I average around 20 minutes. I am thinking about buying 4x to see if it will burn at 4x. I will let you know when I get the discs.
HP Pavilion XL866
AMD Athlon 1.1Ghz
Windows XP Service Pack 1
NVidia GeForce4 MX 440-SE
512MB RAM
CDR: LG 40x12x40
DVD ROM: Hitachi 12x
DVDR: Sony DRU-500AX
terpfan80
Junior Member
18 Apr 2003 12:00 PM
Dengar - I have the newest firmware, but definitely see burn times (with 2x rated discs) or about 25 minutes.
I don't see any faster burns with 4x media.
I'm running on an ASUS A7V333 board, and as noted, have DMA (mode 2) enabled for the drives.
I've not gotten close to 4x record times on 4x rated media, so I'm stuck trying to figure out where the slow down is.
I guess it could be drive cables or something similar within my system, and have thought about picking up some new "round" cables anyway, since they'd be less obstructive in the case.
I'm just wondering what else I should look at as causing problems?!?
chips144
Member
18 Apr 2003 1:09 PM
There have been dozens of threads on this forum and others dealing with the problem of writing dvd-r's at 4X on the Sony DRU500 family.
I have spoken to Sony support and I have emailed them also. Live support told me that it is not their problem. They said that I have to use approved media (at $4 to $7 per disk) and that I must only use the writing software that came with the Sony. Also, after 3 months, they have still not replied to my email. I suggest they should change the name to Sony NON-Support.
I have tried every combination of firmware (1.0f to the latest 2.0), various ASPI layers, IDE cables, master, slave, added cooling, writing software, etc. Nothing helps.
A full dvd-r disk written at 1X should take approximately 1 hour (at 2X, 30 minutes and at 4X, 15 minutes). Out of 300 disks, I have succedded to write the complete disk at 4X only about 20 times. The rest of the time the disk starts to write at 4X, then after a few minutes drops to 2X and completes the burn at 2X.
Most of the writing software will report an erroneous write speed making you think you got 4X writing speed. Base your speed on the time it takes to complete the disk. DVD Decrypter in ISO write mode DOES report the correct ongoing write speed.
The bottom line is I have spent many hours trying to fix this problem. I have wasted dozens of dvd-r disk trying experiments and I have given up.
The media I have been using throughout has been Ritek 4X and more recently the new Princo 4X.
I have, however, found MY solution. I bought a Cendyne (rebadged Pioneer AO5). It will only write -r/w, not +r/w, but it works great. So far I am 12 for 12 on Riteks and 11 for 11 on Princos. All written at 4X and all play perfectly in my PC and all my stand alone dvd players.
If the +r/w wins the format wars, I'll switch back to the Sony and hopefully it will be more forgiving in that format.
Chips
jasonpi
Junior Member
18 Apr 2003 8:43 PM
im having the same problem....when i first got my sony 500ax i bought 2.4+r and 4*-r media and then got dxc version 1.4(i think) when i burnt with the 4*-r media it took around 15 minutes max to burn, now 3 updates later my new 4*-r (bulkpaq) media is taking 25 minutes everytime to burn even though this media was more expensive to buy then the previous batch.
its not only that my liteon 16 dvd rom drive when installed ripped dvds at an amazing 5-7 minutes now this is taking 7-12 minutes?????????? dma and rom drives have not been altered but i have flashed the sony to 2.0e and updated dxc whats going on man my life just become more complicated.
MojoYugen
Inactive
21 Apr 2003 11:20 AM
I HAD the same problem with my Sony (DRU500a, firmware 2.0e now) and Ritek DVD-R 2X/4X media. I saw no difference in burn times between the 2X and "4X" until I opened a new spindle of 50. My burn times dropped to 14-15 minutes (for a full disc). Since then, with this spindle I've consistantly had faster burn times. I'm convinced that there was either a mislableing of 2X's as 4X's or a manufacturing problem or something like that. It is definately the media itself. I actually changed spindles during a burn and saw the speed improvement (disc 1 on the "4x that is really 2x" and disc 2 on the "true" 4x). The latest batch of discs I got from www.allmediaoutlet.com seem to be the "true" 4x.
terpfan80
Junior Member
22 Apr 2003 1:05 PM
I'd like to know what mobo and/or chipset people are using for systems that are seeing real 4x speeds?
I'm currently using an ASUS A7V333 with XP 2200+ CPU.
I'm wondering if perhaps the problem is media (as speculated above), or is mobo and chipset related.
jasonpi
Junior Member
23 Apr 2003 3:52 AM
i do get 4 speed when using other applications then dvdxcopy. record now, windows burner and sonic and nero and ulead movie factory all burn at 4 speed i think dvdxcopy has just slowed down in this latest version.
my mainboard is a soltek sl-75drv4 with xp 2100+
MojoYugen
Inactive
23 Apr 2003 10:27 AM
I'm at work so don't have all the information on my system here but it's a ASUS main board (a little over 9 months old now). Using a P4 2.53 Ghz processor with 512gb of ram. No firmware updates to the main board since I built it.
It could be possible that some main boards/chipsets limit the speed but it's definately not the only cause since my speed change was related to the media.
It is already over 90 days since last post to this thread, you're not allowed to post here anymore.
