Hi, I'm not sure when I first noticed this, but when I burn a DVD+R with Nero 7 - with a selected speed of 16x, the write speed starts at 2x after the Lead-In, and then very slowly increases to about 7-8x by the time the disk has been written completely and never goes above this.
Haven't tested CD-Rs yet, and could anyone recommend another burning program to test - I have only ever used Nero!
The burner is a Plextor PX-755A, and it's using UDMA 2.
Any idea why the write speeds are so slow?
Try going into the drive options in Nero and turning off the Power Record for the drive, this can sometimes slow the process down Plex will use its autostrategy to write to the disk in the speed it thinks is best as to have no errors. Burning at 16x is really not a good thing, especially if the media is questionable. Also make sure you have checked at the Plex site for the latest firmware for the burner. I have found with my Plextor drives that certain media does not always agree with them, case in point is Sony which will burn at below the rated speed. According to Plex support this is not a recommended media for the drive, they recommend Verbatim.
Thanks for replying - I have the latest firmware (1.05) and I am using Verbatim (Taiyo Yuden) DVD+Rs (16x). I will try turning off "Power Record" next time I burn. As for the "which speed to burn at" debate, I have never really found a definitive answer as to whether there are significant advantages to burning DVDs at low speeds or not. I have heard that some people only burn DVDs at 2x! And some people believe that it is best to burn at the rated speed. What are your thoughts on this?
I have 2 Plextor 716a's one external and one internal. I have burned at 16x on them but mainly stick to 8x it could be preference, but I find the drive does fine at that speed and I have no problems with my backups on playback om any standalones. Some standalones can be picky so I just don't take any chances. I have no problems with Verbatime or Fuji 16x media burning at the rated speed. I did have problems with Sony 8X -R media and Maxell 8X +R printables, the Sony would only burn at 4x and the Maxell would start at the rated speed but slow down to 4x somewhere in the middle. I took out my PlexTools and disabled the Power Record in Nero which seems to have helped the problem. The Power Record will slow the drive down when it encounters what it perceives as imperfections. According to Plextor if the burn slows it still does not make any difference in playback or quality, but for an expensive drive this is annoying. Also, I would not burn a single layer disk at 2x with my drives, too slow for them. I will, however, burn a dual layer at 2.4x as I found this rate to work best for playback, and no errors.
Quote:... I have never really found a definitive answer as to whether there are significant advantages to burning DVDs at low speeds or not.
Well I'm from the burn at rated speeds crowd. It does require you to use the correct media though. If your burner is reviewed at CDFreaks they always test various media at their rated speeds and post the quality results, making it easy to choose the right media for your burner.
For me the Verbatim 16X -R printables (MCC), readily available at my local warehouse club, burn very well in both my LG and Benq at 16X with no playback problems in a large variety of standalones.
Haven't had time to continue the write-speed investigation yet, but I have noticed that the DVD-ROM READ speed does the same thing.
According to PlexTools the DVD-ROM read speed is "6x-16x CAV" - I know CAV is constant angular velocity, as opposed to linear (CLV) but I'm not sure exactly how it works. Anyway, I have tested the read speed (with PlexTools) and it starts at 3x and very slowly increases up to about 5x and doesn't go any higher.
My Lite-On reads the same disc at 12x.
