Funniest looking scan ever? DH20A4P 9P57 firmware

[OC-Freak]

I just got this BenQ scan out from an TY T03 disc written at 16x.

Well, this has to be the funniest looking scan I’ve had in a while.

Including scan done with the Lite-On as reference.

There is several possible reasons to why this scan looks like this, not sure which one that applies.

1: Scanning/reading “issue”/compatibility problem with the BenQ drive.
2: Poor writing quality from the 20A4P.
3: 9P57 firmware is not compatible with my drive thus resulting in low quality burns (Also my drive completely refuse to write TY T03 at anything higher than 16x even if it’s possible to select up to 20x).

I’ll be looking further into this, but comments/thoughts would be welcomed.

[OC-Freak]

Same disc scanned with an DW1640. BenQ drives are for sure VERY variable as scanners, but still some of the same pattern can be noticed on this scan.

The difference in scans between DW1655 and DW1640 makes me pretty unsure about how useful an BenQ is as an scanner since the results are so inconsistent from drive to drive.

[DrageMester]

The same pattern exists for (some) 20A1 series drives when burning at 16x and higher and scanned in Nexperia based BenQ drives.

I have such scans myself from discs burned on my 20A1P and scanned on my BenQ DW1655.

It’s better to be safe than sorry so as a consequence I don’t burn faster than 12x on my 20A1P except for testing purposes.

[OC-Freak]

[QUOTE=DrageMester;1977958]The same pattern exists for (some) 20A1 series drives when burning at 16x and higher and scanned in Nexperia based BenQ drives.

I have such scans myself from discs burned on my 20A1P and scanned on my BenQ DW1655.

It’s better to be safe than sorry so as a consequence I don’t burn faster than 12x on my 20A1P except for testing purposes.[/QUOTE]

I only write discs for testing purposes

Think last time I wrote an DVD for anything else than testing was 1,5 years ago when my sister begged me to copy an DVD she had borrowed from an friend.

Feel free to laugh, but I do not really have anything to backup and my ADSL internet speed doesn’t make huge downloads any fun.

[DrageMester]

[Off-topic]
Regarding variability of BenQ as scanners. Have you noticed that sometimes reported PIE/PIF will drop enormously after a TRT?

I use BenQ as a second-opinion scanner only for DVDs due to a number of scanning peculiarites. For CDs they are my favourite scanners, however.

[SonnyUnlocker]

[QUOTE=OC-Freak;1977949]I just got this BenQ scan out from an TY T03 disc written at 16x.

Well, this has to be the funniest looking scan I’ve had in a while.

Including scan done with the Lite-On as reference.

There is several possible reasons to why this scan looks like this, not sure which one that applies.

1: Scanning/reading “issue”/compatibility problem with the BenQ drive.
2: Poor writing quality from the 20A4P.
3: 9P57 firmware is not compatible with my drive thus resulting in low quality burns (Also my drive completely refuse to write TY T03 at anything higher than 16x even if it’s possible to select up to 20x).

I’ll be looking further into this, but comments/thoughts would be welcomed.[/QUOTE]

Have you tried disabling smartburn using the smartburn utility to see if the drive will burn TY T03 at higher speeds then 16x? I have memorex ricohjpnr03 which don’t burn over 12x no matter what speed i select and when i checkmark every single box in smartburn utility they burn fine @18x speed, with good results. Also, try clearing the opc after checking every box in smartburn utility and then try to burn the disc at maximum speed.

[OC-Freak]

[QUOTE=SonnyUnlocker;1978010]Have you tried disabling smartburn using the smartburn utility to see if the drive will burn TY T03 at higher speeds then 16x? I have memorex ricohjpnr03 which don’t burn over 12x no matter what speed i select and when i checkmark every single box in smartburn utility they burn fine @18x speed, with good results. Also, try clearing the opc after checking every box in smartburn utility and then try to burn the disc at maximum speed.[/QUOTE]

I have tried disabling smart-burn yeah, enabling all the others I’ve not yet tried, but usually enabling all the others make the drive slower than an 12x writer due to all the quality checks, so whats the point

Also cleared OPC etcetc

[SonnyUnlocker]

Well, I had bought some philips dvd-r “cmc mag am3” and memorex dvd+r “ricohjpnr03” and both of those mids would burn @12x maximum no matter what speed I would select, however, after checking all the boxes in smartburn utility, meaning disabling smartburn and enabling everything else, would make the same mids burn @18x full speed withought any slowdowns and with great results. Another thing I noticed is (probably a bug in the firmware) that you have to checkmark in this sequence, ht, oht, os, and then at last smartburn, if I just checkmark all the boxes from top to bottom as they are shown, I for some reason will get a coaster, but using that sequence works fine. Also, the first time you disable smartburn and enable all the other settings, the drive won’t remember the settings after you reboot, this only happens after the first reboot of the computer or power cycle of the drive, you have to checkmark all the boxes again, but it won’t happen after that, the drive remembers the settings fine.

[Cressida]

Looks to me like the high (>12.something) Jitter reading is causing the illogical PIE/PIF, as it is often seen in these scans (used to be a BenQ phenomenon, but now affects Lite-Ons as well). And many A1/A4 drives have a (mechanical?) problem in the first 0.5 to 1.0 GB, this has been shown extensively.

I put the same firmware on my original LH-18A1H and I’m getting very high Jitter readings with the A4 firmwares, making the scans completely useless. Example below, the drive is on USB but reaches 16X no problem with other firmwares. Oddly, my drive seems smoother, less vibrations with 9P57, maybe just an impression. Can’t use it like this anyway.