I think DVD-Rs will burn only at 2X, at least in my Pioneer A03. My Sony DR?500? (external 1394) burns DVD+Rs at 2.4X. As for DVD-A not going beyond 1X, you need an expert such as BillyBoy to tell you whether you need firmware updates or something. Don't feel bad though, I have an HP +R that will not burn DVD-A output at all!

A cheap short term solution until DVD-A version 2 is to use Dazzle DVD Complete, about 100 USD. It is very fast, never makes coasters and you can use the split files in other programs. I hardware encode everything and sometimes use DVD Complete to split video/audio stream source files for ReelDVD* projects. I think it also converts AVIs to MPEG2, though I don't know how fast the ratio might be. I guess some people prefer software encode and it is probably better than hardware but with hardware two hours take two hours to encode to DVD Compliant MPEG2.

* which youreally do not need unless you are making DLT tapes for replicators or are a masochist who loves Photoshop and a lot of screwing around.

Peter