Newcomer - VERY SLOW burning! (And DVD recoding Q's)

DR_LaRRY_PEpPeR 2006-04-24 05:05:14 UTC #1

Hi all,

I've been reading here a bit for a few months, and had to register so I could ask the experts. I was going to post in the software or hardware forum, but maybe it's better here...

Anyway, I recently got the Sony DRU-820A and just started trying to copy my discs -- beginning with Alias Season 1. It took many tries to get the result I wanted after removing content, and it's still not quite there (more on that after the burning problem).

So, the blanks I have are a 100 Fujifilm 16x +Rs (identified as PRODISC R05). Using Nero 6.6.0, I set it to burn at 16x, and it took 1h30m!! The second one I tried at 8x, and it took 48m! The drive is on ATA-33, is that what's wrong? (The controller is ATA-66, but it's a 40-wire cable.) CD-DVD speed showed a burst rate of only 17MB, on an ATA-33 DVD reader (so I assume the Sony burner would be the same). Ouch, that IS too little for 16x, but what about 8x? I wonder how much faster it would be at 4x... Also, at 8x/16x, the "Buffer Level" was dropping below 50% every 1-2 seconds -- is that supposed to happen? Both discs seem to work OK, other than the DVD content working how I wanted. I can see some rings on the "16x" disc, which is a bad thing from what I've read. DMA is enabled BTW.

Before trying the +Rs, I did a couple CD-RWs and DVD-RWs, which worked as I expected (30m on 2x -RW). So what's causing my problem now, the ATA-33 connection, media, drive/firmware (it has the latest)...?

Let me know if you need any more info. I had a CD burner for a while, and this is my first time trying DVD stuff.

As far as removing content/recoding, I'm using Recode (tried Shrink too). First, it was deleting the commentary track during encoding, but only when using Deep Analysis/High Quality recoding (didn't check if just one option was the cause). Figured out that was caused by it automatically selecting English audio/subs, and deselecting Spanish -- if I manually uncheck Spanish, it comes out fine.

Then, playing the result, when the commentary track is chosen, which is then in the position that Spanish was, it displayed additional Spanish graphics (menus) and the beginning/end of the episodes. Using IfoEdit, I did "Delete Playback" on those problem menus, and the FBI warning. Everything played fine with Nero ShowTime. But when I burned the first 16x +R and tried it in the standalone player (Pioneer recorder), it started, and then stopped where the FBI warning would've been (didn't go to the menu like ShowTime). After manually bringing up the menu, I noticed that all of the "pointer" things were freezing it (Play All menu item, after commentary intro, end of episode where it's supposed to return to menu, etc.) with "Search" in the display.

For the second DVD I tried, I used VobBlanker to "Delete" the same menu items. Then it worked fine in the standalone player too, EXCEPT for the one menu button to start the commentary (the other one for an episode that has a commentary intro works fine)... SO close, although this part isn't a big deal.

I haven't looked at PgcEdit yet, but I'm wondering if that would help get everything working right since it has tracing and stuff. I wonder if it's too complicated since I don't understand all the "inner workings" of DVD. :o I'll check it out soon.

Well, thanks for any help! :iagree: Particularly about what's going on with my super slow burns.

TimC 2006-04-24 05:40:14 UTC #2

Good quality 80 Wire IDE cables are a good idea and on any channel over ata33 they are nearly essential but I'd suspect that your slow burning problem is down to either:-

. DMA not being enabled on some devices. Check this thread
. Severe HD fragmentation. Defragging regularly is essential for good burning performance.

chef 2006-04-25 01:39:11 UTC #3

80 wire cable is necessary here!!

DR_LaRRY_PEpPeR 2006-04-25 04:52:53 UTC #4

DMA is enabled on everything and the HDDs are new and almost empty (and no fragmentation problem; Nero's Used Read Buffer stays at 100% so it's not starving).

I switched to an 80-wire cable, and haven't tried another 8x/16x burn yet, but my read speeds, which I think are poor, didn't improve at all. I created a thread in the hardware forum about the drive problem.

Regarding my DVD content modification, I think I'm getting it more figured out! I was also looking at PgcEdit, and compared the original DVD to Recode's output, and I think I can follow the commands enough to fix what Recode changed, which broke switching off the commentary via the menu. Pretty neat...

weedougie 2006-04-25 07:58:17 UTC #5

Have you retried the burst speed with the new cable. you need at least 24MBs to use the full speed of the burner.
Have you got the burner on the same IDE channel as the HDD?

pinto2 2006-04-25 08:24:06 UTC #6

Sony 820A can run in UDMA-4, ie. ~37-38MB/s burst.

Right now he is able to do a burst rate of 17MB/s. Looks like this drive needs a better home...

sikoone 2006-04-25 16:33:22 UTC #7

To get better quality compression you may want to try Dvd Rebuilder and to minimize errors burn slower. Burning too fast increases the likeliness of errors (freezing, skipping etc) at the end of the burn. If you're concerned about the functions of buttons and such, i think a combination of dvd remake (not free) and pgcedit are the way to go; but you do have to have an idea of dvd structure and be patient if you don't

Ethridge3 2006-04-28 11:25:15 UTC #8

I replaced a NEC burner with my Sony 810 a while back and used the same cable my NEC was on (it was a 16x as well, but was starting to have problems) this is before I knew about this forum and how to look for possible problems with my burns. Can someone tell me the difference between a 40/80 pin cable? Besides the 40 extra pins that is..
I mean visually...so I can check and see if I am using the right cable.

TimC 2006-04-28 15:34:12 UTC #9

Same number of pins but more wires. Visually there are more thinner wires on the cable. Placing one of each next to each other the difference is obvious.
Typically also on the 80wire ones one end connector is blue or red (goes on the motherboard) , the middle connector is grey (slave) & the other end is black (master).

DR_LaRRY_PEpPeR 2006-04-29 05:09:14 UTC #10

About the burning problems, I just posted in my hardware forum thread. Looks like I might have to stick with 4x burns since switching to an 80-wire cable and ATA-66 doesn't seem to have changed anything. Maybe see the other thread, but it doesn't seem like it's even in ATA-66 mode, though the BIOS indicates it is...

AND my new problem is that my +R discs don't want to be read anymore by one of my standalone Pioneer recorders! :sad: :a They worked the first few times, and they work perfect in another Pioneer unit which is basically the same model (one with a hard drive, one not). Again, I posted more details in the other thread.

Yeah, I heard about Rebuilder (haven't looked at it), but it sounds like the encoding would take WAY too long, especially on my slower system (dual 930MHz PIIIs). Nero Recode is faster than I expected (fastest, I guess?), and I was really glad to discover that it (and Shrink) is multi-threaded and actually maxes out both CPUs. Maybe all the programs do (encoders), but I didn't know.

I managed to get the content and menus how I wanted with VobBlanker and PgcEdit! :iagree: I feel like I've figured out a lot of the DVD coding command stuff, and was able to fix what Recode broke (side effect of removing audio tracks it appears). And I thought it was cool to be able to "hide" the menu buttons for removed languages and stuff.

Now if I could just get the Pioneer recorder to play the discs, everything should be good. :doh:

stroppy 2006-04-29 09:08:31 UTC #11

The no-read problem in your +R disks is probably due to crappy media. Some really cheap stuff, regardless of brand, can be so data-volatile they just give up the ghost, sometimes after only a few days.