Maxell blank DVDR won't burn at 1x

musman wrote on 1/19/2004, 10:55 PM

I mentioned this in a thread earlier, and am having the same problem still using this media with my Pioneer 104. DVDA only gives me the option of burning at 1x, but the stuff is recorded much faster. Around 28 min of video are burned in around 10 to 11 min. This seems just faster than the 2.4x that I thought was possible.
Come to think of it, it also burns 23 min of video with some menus and background audio in 7 min 40 sec. Seems to me that the fastest it should burn without dealing with the menus is 23/2.4= 9.58 minutes. If I'm right, this guy is burning at over 3x.
Anyway, my main question is how do I get DVDA to burn these DVDs at 1x. I'm also curious about the burn speeds, but if I get the first issue solved the second becomes pretty minor for me.
Thanks for any help!

Comments

pelladon wrote on 1/19/2004, 11:27 PM

Funny, I get the same problem with the Ritek G04 discs. I'll set it to 1x and DVDA will burn at 4x. Plays fine though. Definitely a glitch.

musman wrote on 1/20/2004, 12:58 AM

Yeah, especially weird as the G04 burn at 1x for me.

farss wrote on 1/20/2004, 1:57 AM

There is NO correlation between the length of the video and how long it will take to burn.
The first issue is you have to consider how much data is being burnt, there will be some relationship between that, the lenght of the video, the encoding bit rate, the audio bit rate and encoding system. Roughly 4.7GBs at single speed will take twice as long as half that amount of data.
Except for another factor I suspect. DVD-Rs need some form of formatting I believe before they can be written to. This process used to take around 60 minutes but has now been dramatically reduced but is still a fixed period no matter how little data is being written PLUS the time to burn the fixed leadin and leadout PLUS the time it spends calibrating the laser.

All that really matters is the right amount of heat being applied at the right spot on a DVD or CD. Too much heat and the pit will be too big, too little and it's too small. Get it in the wrong place, real bad news.

Burning at 1x is no guarantee of a better result than 4x. I've had 4x DVDs give trouble burn at 1x and play fine when burt at 4x.

craftech wrote on 1/20/2004, 5:12 AM

I am not 100% sure that DVDA reports burn speed correctly.
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=237619&Replies=1&Page=10

John

pelladon wrote on 1/20/2004, 7:50 AM

For those with Ritek DVD-R media, here's a interesting compatibility chart:

http://www.ritek.com/products/all-dvd-spec.htm

Also, here's a reprint of the DV article on DVD compatibility tests (dated July 02, Acrobat PDF file).

http://www.maxell.com/Content/pdfs/dv2011.pdf

musman wrote on 1/20/2004, 5:02 PM

Maxell DVD-R 86% for general use. That's sounds pretty hard to beat and why I bought a bunch of them. Still wish they would burn at only 1x but it looks like that's not going to happen.

craftech wrote on 1/21/2004, 6:27 AM

Maxell resells discs made by others, and changes the type frequently and
without warning. The result is that you can buy two spindles with the same
label on different days and get different results.
You need DVDInfo or DVD Identifyer or you will not know what you are buying.

John

pelladon wrote on 1/21/2004, 10:36 AM

Actually the DV article was dated July 02, lots have changed since then.

musman wrote on 1/22/2004, 1:49 AM

craftech wrote on 1/22/2004, 5:21 AM

Great, something else to worry about. Seriously, thank you both for the help. Just downloaded DVD Identifyer and it says the Maxells are "MXL G01". Not sure what this means, but at least it sounds like it is Maxell.
Sure hope the new DV.com DVD test is coming out soon.
==============================================
I think you mean MXL RG01 which is the ID for Maxell 2x media. It should burn at 1x as well as 2x. Read the full media code in DVD Identifyer and it should tell you the Burn speed/s written into the media ID. DVDA probably reads that off the disk and then displays the available burn speeds. DVDA should allow 1x under all circumstances in my opinion, but I'm not sure if the software was designed that way.
Which firmware does your 104 have? The firmware for that drive were good up to firmware 1.31 and then Pioneer screwed up with further firmware revisions in order to make the drives compatible with 4x media.
If you are brave, there are ways to "flash it back", but do it at your own risk.

http://forum.firmware-flash.com/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=abc1717fe8e42e4091e7689640dd9fbb

My suggestion would be to buy Ritek G04. I have switched from Taiyo Yuden (which is very good media ) to Ritek G04 because it is even better.
I have both a Pioneer 104 and a 105.

John