Hello there from Italy.
Being a newby, I'm counting on your knowledge for a issue I have. I just bought a Pioneer DVR 111D with the latest firmware (1.29). Recently I also bought some DVDs  double layer named Platinum which say they can go up to 8x. But using Nero 6.6.0.13 I only can select 2.4x. Can you tell me please if this issue is caused by
a) DVD drive
b) Nero
c) the media (which I don't think are somewhat of a high quality, though).

My bests

Michael

I don't do a whole lot of DL burning, but when I do, there is only one media type for me and that is Verbatim.  I'd have to guess that it could be a combination of all three... But the thing that stands out most is that the drive does not recognize the media (perhaps with a future firmware update).

That said, find some Verbatim DL media or just deal with the 2.4x speed for now.

(in reply to michaelm)

Hi friend! Your media is probably based at Ritek, can you please give us more information by using CDSpeed? Probably Pioneer has reduced at 2.4X wriitng speed to give you good burn

(in reply to SithTracy)

Thanks Alexmacris, for your help and SithTracy too. I will get the CDspeed info and posted them later.
My bests

Michael

(in reply to alexmacris)

Alexmacris,
here's the cdspeed log:

Nero CD-DVD Speed: Disc Info
Informazioni di base
Tipo di disco:      : DVD+R DL
Book Type           : DVD+R DL
Produttore:         : CMC
MID                 : CMC MAG D04 (000)
Velocità scrittura: : 2.4 X
Capacità vuota      : 7.96 GB
                    : 8152 MB
                    : 8547993600 bytes
Informazioni avanzate
Layer               : 2
Interruz.layer      : 3.98 GB
Strategie scrittura : 9 X - 3 X
Stato disco         : Vuoto
Dati grezzi
Physical Format Information (00h)
0000 - E1 0F 32 10 00 03 00 00 00 FC FF FF 00 22 D7 FF - ..2.........."..
0010 - 00 00 03 43 4D 43 20 4D 41 47 00 44 30 34 00 40 - ...CMC.MAG.D04.@
0020 - 25 25 37 0E 02 20 64 02 20 64 18 16 09 08 12 13 - %%7...d..d......
0030 - 01 01 01 20 00 18 16 09 08 12 13 01 01 01 20 00 - ................
0040 - 04 00 33 7B 5C 02 17 69 64 21 1D 0C 08 20 02 01 - ..3{\..id!......
0050 - 01 00 02 37 69 84 21 1D 0C 08 20 02 01 01 00 44 - ...7i.!........D
0060 - 04 00 02 28 69 7A 21 1D 0C 08 20 02 01 01 00 00 - ...(iz!.........
0070 - 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ................

Sorry it is in italian but it says the max speed is 2.4x. It is definitely a rip off because they are sold for 8x.....

Michael

(in reply to michaelm)

You can use Media Code Speed Edit (MCSE) to customize the v1.29 firmware.
http://ala42.cdfreaks.com/MCSE/

What you can try is to change the "CMC MAG 01" to "CMC MAG 04" and Set it.  Then double-click on your new "CMC MAG 04" line and swap it with a different one that you will hopefully never purchase... like the "RITEK S04".  Unfortunately the firmware does not support loss-less strategy swapping so you might have to repeat the process in the future.

FWIW, in the future try to stick with name brand media like Verbatim, TDK, Fujifilm, etc.

(in reply to michaelm)

you're right tqhoang. I should have stick to better brands. Ok, got the lesson!

Thanks for the link abut firmware tweaking. Will give it a try...

Bests

Michael

(in reply to tqhoang)

General Information
Drive: _NEC    DVD_RW ND-3520AW
Firmware: 2.U5
Disc: DVD+R DL (CMC MAG D04)
Selected speed: 5 X
PI errors
Maximum: 1942
Average: 232.81
Total: 4867220
PI failures
Maximum: 17
Average: 0.70
Total: 23779
PO failures: n/a
Jitter: n/a
Scanning Statistics
Elapsed time: 25:22
Number of samples: 189913
Average scanning interval: 1.00 ECC
Glitches removed: 1

I had burnt it with same burner, at 4x burning speed.

Conclusion: Don't buy DVD+R DL from Opus Supplies Deutschland. They sell craps only (DL I mean)! For the rest, they have (mostly) Ritek DL, and that's even worse than this CMC MAG D04.

(in reply to michaelm)

Quite bad stuff indeed:

General Information
Drive: Optiarc DVD RW AD-7173A
Firmware: 1-O2
Disc: DVD+R DL (CMC MAG D04)
Selected speed: 8 X
PI errors
Maximum: 1414
Average: 266.32
Total: 7656745
PI failures
Maximum: 86
Average: 2.97
Total: 54286
PO failures: n/a
Jitter: n/a
Scanning Statistics
Elapsed time: 20:14
Number of samples: 32600
Average scanning interval: 8.00 ECC
Glitches removed: 12

(in reply to almodovaris)

I've had good luck burning CD-Rs at 52X using Verbatim media, but I'm not so sure about the boatload of Imation media. Seems that some of them have a clicking sound near the end (80-minute CD-Rs) at about the rotational speed of the disk. The clicking starts out barely noticeable and progresses to the point at which it is very annoying.

Using a strong light and using reflections to look for scratches or flaws, I can't see any on any of the disks that have the clicking. Is this an indication of poor CD-Rs??

(in reply to almodovaris)