Dual-Layer DVDs (DVD9s)

[vebk]

anyway generally speaking, whether its burning ps2 games or video disks, a slower speed (4x) is more desirable for a better burn. You should choose 16x only for data.

 

[nosh]

I did apply the firmware update and burnt one more - took a little less than 6 minutes to burn 4.2 GB.The article I linked above mentions that the writer is capable of recording MoserBaer 16x DVD+R at 20x. Will have to wait for the next batch to try that out.The drive has a feature that lets it auto-determine the quality of the disk and decide the speed to write at. In Nero the drive's options dialog shows something called SMART-BURN, I'm assuming this is the feature and it has been enabled by default. Maybe it was intentionally slowing things down but I intend to keep it enabled.Will try and run some tests now.

 

[blr_p]

Nero has nothing to do with it, is there any system software incld with the liteon drive ? this is where it will be set...this feature will be mentioned in ur user namual somewhere.

 

[nosh]

Nada. All I got was Nero 7 Express Essentials.

 

[blr_p]

Its called online Hyper-tuning, check the lite-on boards, the tool to enable this is called smartburn and you can find it on liteOn's website. A good place to start for all things lite-on is here

QUOTE(vebmetal @ Apr 10 2007, 11:37 AM) [snapback]86906[/snapback]
anyway generally speaking, whether its burning ps2 games or video disks, a slower speed (4x) is more desirable for a better burn. You should choose 16x only for data.[/b]
Ever wonder why that is ?

Your game console needs to read the disc many times during the game, the easier that is, the less skipping or re-reads it needs to do. So a slower speed burn (for your writer and brand of media used) results in a higher quality write, which is the criteria i use for all written media, i want it to be read easier in the future.

A quality test wil tell you which is the optimum, i got away with 8x speed writes with an earlier batch of MoserB's

 

[nosh]

OK, few more questions for the resident CD/DVD guru. 😀

I upgraded the firmware again, this time it's a patched release with FB & EOS enabled.
Is this a safe practice or should I revert to the stock firmware?
I cut a DVD (avi movie files) at 16x and it got done in exactly 6 minutes.

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/1899/testdm3.jpg

If I'm not mistaken the adjustable speed on the right is the read speed for the test. If I set it to "max" which is the option above 16x then the errors increase a lot and in the end it doesn't even give me a quality % figure. Is this going to be the scenario when I'm reading data off the drive during normal operation (ie: the drive tries to read at max speed and is riddled with errors) Do I need to use Nero's Drive Speed and start it up everytime to make sure the data is always read at 16x? How do I find out my default read speed (the default in Drive Speed is 16x, does this mean this is the speed used even when Drive Speed is not running?)
Also, in Drive Speed there's a setting 'spin down time' currently set at 2 mins, how do I determine the ideal setting?

Jumping into the forum had me pretty lost but I finally found a page that I was comfortable with and enjoyed reading. Also looking forward to reading the PC DVD-Writers FAQ. Finally having some fun with this whole thing. 🙂

One last question. As I mentioned I got Nero 7 Essentials with the hardware, I used Nero 6 previously. I plan to go back to v.6 coz I haven't read of any enhancements to the basic burning technology in v.7. Which writing software do you use/recommend?

BTW, Kprobe2 lets us enable/disable Smartburn features (in addition to Bitsetting, making the drive region free and providing drive & media info... it pretty much does it all 🙂 )

 

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[blr_p]

Can you use a more recent version of cd-dvd speed, in the advanced button just below settings and make sure it shows 1ECC for scanning interval (as thats what Lite-ons use) and set your scan speed to 4x (liteon only) instead of 16x, always use 4x for scan speed regardless of the speed it was written at. You can also enable jitter as well.

The figure that matters besides the quality score is PIF, the safe area is below 4, if you get PIF higer than 4 you will notice the graph rescales itself and the area above 4 is red. Your quality score will also be correspondingly lower, PIFs are what cause skips and re-reads, and its preferable to have it as low as possible < 4 or much less.

The spin down speed has nothing to do with quality test, its used in the benchmark test only.

To quality test, pop dvd in, select quality test tab and then start.

Regarding the firmware, you would have to look at the relevant threads as im not familiar with the state of the firmware for that drive, what do other members in the cdfreaks thread think about it ?

 

[nosh]

It says 8ECC and is grayed out.
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/5003/8eccgj7.jpg

There wasn't much discussion on cdfreaks coz this drive is relatively new. My tests came out very similar so I reverted back to the stock release.

One thing that totally crapped out the quality was the online hyper-tuning feature available in the latest (beta) smartburn utility. This is different from conventional hypertuning which works well. Others seem to have had this problem too.

Funnily enough, I discovered that my Sony CRX230E which has mostly served me well is also a Liteon. 🙂

 

[blr_p]

I guess you can ignore it according to this thread.

Enable statistics in cd-dvd speed settings so you will know what ECC is used, should be close to 1.

 

[nosh]

Here's a couple of scans for the most recent burns.
I got my hands on some DVD+R disks from Sony (OEM) & Moser Baer. The cost is the same as the DVD-R media (Rs.16.50 a piece) if you buy around 50 loose.

Both burns were at 8x.
One thing is certain: DVD+R seems to fare way better than -R, atleast with Liteon.
Which of these two do you think is superior? The Sony seems to be much better overall, except for the one PIF spike that went to 4 which reduced its quality rating. I'll be comparing more scans before I form any hard opinions but I want to know if PI errors make a difference, coz the MB media was far inferior in this regard, (don't let the graphs mislead you coz the scales for PI errors are different). Even the PIF on the Sony are far fewer, despite the fact that it contained more data.

MoserBaer DVD+R burnt @8X
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7193/moserbaer8xhc1.jpg

Sony DVD+R burnt @8X
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3554/sony8xgu8.jpg

Though all media are 16x, the MB DVD-R and Sony DVD+R allowed me 18x burn speed with overspeed enabled. The Moser Baer DVD+R let me burn it at 20x, which I did. Here's the amazing outcome! :d
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/2334/moserbaer20xcg5.jpg

 

[blr_p]

+R in general is better than -R for moser-baer. Other drives like pioneer or LG do better with the -R.

Another thing you can do in conjunction with the QS is the transfer rate test, F2 in nero's cd/dvd speed. Regardless of the quality score, if you get a smooth curve here, then the disc is good. Make sure the drive spins up for 10 s, before the test starts, so you will see speed starting at about 6x and ending around 12-16+x

For acceptable PIE's & PIFs you can use

for 8/1 ECC (ie Liteon)
Max PIE

 

[nosh]

I had tested transfer rates too - haven't kept the graphs but the Sony started at 3x (going to 6x almost instantly) and ended marginally above 16. The MB started at 6, ending slightly lower than the Sony. Both curves were equally smooth, almost identical.Sony also beat the MB pretty good on other counts - it has faster access times and (marginally) lower CPU usage. I'm sure you'll get better results with a Sony +R too. They also feel more durable, though that's probably me being biased. I'd manufactured a whole lot of coasters with MB CDs after which I've stayed away from that name until recently.Will run 4x and 16x tests and update this thread. btw, the 'post your scans here' thread gives me a dead link, never got to view that page.The MB that I wrote @20x is running without any snags. If I hadn't run scans I wouldn't have noticed the difference in burn quality. I assume the errors will start creeping in as the dye fades. I asked some of the biggest sellers on Lamington Rd. for TY yesterday, was planning to pick up a couple of rewritables if they were not astronomically priced. Nobody had even heard of them. The TY FAQ says they smell like peaches... I'm fxxxing curious!!

 

[blr_p]

Heh, that scans thread is one of the lost ones here 😡

If you want, start another and i'll post in there.

TY, if you got any friends coming from the US, tell them to shop at rima.com and bring you a 100 pack. They work out to approx 30 cents each, similar to what you pay for MBI here. I'm not sure whether those are the value line TYs or the premium.

 

[nosh]

16x burns - Sony DVD+R vs. Moser Baer DVD+R

Moser Baer
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/6628/moserbaerdvdr16xcx5.jpg

Sony (Note: PIE scale is not the same as the MB scan)
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2537/sonydvdr16xpm9.jpg

Moser Baer
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9279/benchmoserbaerdvdr16xxq5.jpg

Sony
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1566/benchsonydvdr16xia5.jpg

MB access times were slightly faster but it contained less data (160 MB difference).
Sony DVD+R, once again is the clear overall winner... better quality and speed at 16x.

4x scans up next.

 

[blr_p]

The trt for that moser baer looks decent for QS=64 burn !!4x is bit slow for writing, 8x & 12x would be more practical.