[koshercuts]

My dual 1.8 Ghz G5 is 3 months old.
Not sure what the speed is of the DVD burner
because I'm not at the computer today.

I was sold a pack of new Maxell DVD-R 8X
and was told that my G5 may not recognize
the disc because of the 8X.

Does anyone know when they started putting
8X DVD burners in the G5 models, and also
is it true that Maxell's are the best brand
to use for Mac burning & compatibility because
Maxell manufactured Apples own DVD-R brand?

thanks in advance for any info.

[Chito]

Your G5 should have a DVR106 which is an 8x burner. If it's a rev 1 machine I think it will have a DVR104 which is a 4x burner. Regardless I burned 8x rated discs in my old superdrive which was a DVR103 which is a 2x burner. No problem. BTW my dual 2.0 has a DVR106. I think 8x burners started in June 2004 with the rev 2 G5's.
As far as Maxell goes I suppose they'll be fine but as far as being the best? I dunno. I just burned 80 DVD's using Memorex 8x discs and not one coaster....not one. I've also used Imation with great success. My rule of thumb is just to stick with a name brand that I recognize and can get on sale. I paid $40 for a 100 spindle of Memorex at Best Buy a few weeks ago. I tried some generic discs awhile back but didn't have very good luck with them, about a 20% failure rate. But they were CHEAP.
I'm sure others will chime in about brands that they've had success with. I think whoever sold you the Maxell dvd's also sold you a crock of poo.....

[Kenneth]

AFAIK, DVR-106 is a 4x SuperDrive.

[Chito]

you're right. I'm wrong. The 106 is a 4x drive.

[koshercuts]

Verbatim has stopped manufacturing
4X DVD-R and supposedly others will
follow. looks like it's time to head to the apple
download page and update the DVD firmware
to read 8X. anyone done this yet?

[davidflas]

If your dual 1.8Ghz G5 has 4RAM slots then it has an 8X burner, if it has 8RAM slots you have a 4X burner, either way you should have no trouble with 8X DVD-R media.

[bighead]

Not true. Apple started doing silent upgrades of DVD burners in the spring of this year. Some machines made after March or so come with the faster DVR-107 as opposed to the original DVR-106. It doesn't make any difference on the number of RAM slots in the machine, as I've seen single 1.6 machines with the faster drives too, IIRC.

Your machine should recognize the 8x discs OK, though I've seen an occasional 8x disc recognize as 2x on 4x drives. I use Ritek media, and I have not have any speed burning problems with them in any of the drives I burn with. I'd recommend their CD-R and DVD-R media over anyone else.