Slow DVD Burn with Nero 16x disc only 8x burn? Graph included.

I am using a 16x Pioneer DVR-111DBK with 1.29 firmare.

These discs were bulkpaq, have used many others, takes a long time to reach 16x only by the end of the burn. PC is quite high end with 2gb ram and 3.4ghz processor.

Please help me why.

PS im new here hope its good!

This is how it works. It is limited by physics.

It reached 16x, it cannot start burning faster than that.......

ah ok, can it not reach 16x any faster?

Hi Ommid, welcome to CDFreaks!

No, all optical drives and media are limited in how fast they can spin, so the maximum burning speed is limited by the maximum rotational speed.

When the discs spins as fast as it can, the burn will look like your graph above and is called Constant Angular Velocity (CAV) burn. It doesn't get any faster than that, unless the drive can sustain a faster rotational speed like e.g. a 20x drive. Even such a drive will show the same type of graph, only starting at about 8x and ending at 20x.

There are some 16x P-CAV burners which start the burn with higher rotational speed and reach 16x before the end of the disc, but your drive cannot do that with a 16x burn (it can do it with 12x burns on 16x rated media however).

ah ok im with you so what are the little dips?

The drive briefly stops writing to check whether the laser is calibrated correctly for an optimal result, and if the burn speed needs to be lowered. This is also known as Running OPC (Optimal Power Calibration) as well as under other specific names for specific optical drive makers.

It's nothing to worry about - it's there to improve the quality of your burn.

ok so its all good so what is the benefit of the custom firmware?