[DVGuy]

The MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E in my new "17 PowerBook only burns at 2x using the IDENTICAL MEDIA that burns at 12x on my PC!! WTF? I have tried 3 different media so far. All burn at 2x. Anyone else been able to get 8x out of the "SuperDrive' in the new PowerBook?

[tooki]

Was any of the media you tried proper name-brand media (e.g. Apple, Verbatim, TDK, etc) AND rated for 8x writing? Sometimes the cheaper stuff isn't coded right, and without the right code, the drive will default to a low speed.

tooki

[DVGuy]

RiData 8x Rated (actually burns at 12x on my PC)
Memorex Rated at 4x (burns at 2x)
Beall Rated 4x (burns at 2x)

[OldCodger73]

Unfortunately, not all DVD burners treat all brands equally. Case in point, the 8x LG burner in my G5 burns Memorex 8x at 2x. It burns Verbatim 8x and TDX 8x and the rated speed. So basically you need to experiment with brands other than those you've tried. Verbatim consistently gets good recommendations.

[bighead]

Mine burns Apple 8x at 8x. Won't waste my money on them, tho. (Got one for free)

Haven't tried my Ritek discs yet. They haven't failed me yet...

[DVGuy]

I am beginning to not like MATSHITA drives. My Pioneer drives have never given me any trouble. All the Panasonic drives have been a continual source of frustration.

matSHITa---now it makes sense.

[RonnieoftheRose]

Apart from Apple which brand is guaranteed to burn at 8X?

[tooki]

As I said before, it all depends on whether the disc is coded properly. If it's coded as 8x, then it should burn at 8x. If it's rated lower than 8x, the drive is correct in burning it at a lower speed.

Note that many of the cheaper media manufacturers do NOT correctly code their discs (e.g. they may make the disc 8x-compatible, and label it 8x, but it may have no speed code, or may be coded as something slower), so the drive takes the safe route and burns slowly.*

This isn't a Matsushita thing -- this happens just as much with other drives.

Try some other media (like Verbatim or TDK).

tooki


*This is the same situation with CD-R. A lot of the cheap discs have no speed code, so some drives will assume it supports everything, while others will not allow many speeds. I have not found Memorex to be too good about correctly coding their CD-Rs, and so it would not surprise me terribly to find the same with their DVD-R media.

[TailsToo]

I just happen to have 2x media now, and it burns at 2x. Next time i need discs, I'll try the faster media.

[U n i o n 0015]

I just tried to burn an 8x rated Ritek DVD in this burner and it only burns at 2x. That's really crappy, since Riteks are good discs. Guess I'll go pick up some Verbatim and see if they burn at 8x.

[TailsToo]

Originally posted by U n i o n 0015:
I just tried to burn an 8x rated Ritek DVD in this burner and it only burns at 2x. That's really crappy, since Riteks are good discs. Guess I'll go pick up some Verbatim and see if they burn at 8x.

I bought a pack of Apple 8x DVDs from CompUSA today, and now I can burn at 8x. It's less than 6 mins for a full DVD's worth of data. It's great!

[tooki]

Originally posted by U n i o n 0015:
I just tried to burn an 8x rated Ritek DVD in this burner and it only burns at 2x. That's really crappy, since Riteks are good discs.

If they're not speed-coded correctly, I'd probably revise calling them "good".

tooki

[theJoKell]

Originally posted by tooki:
If they're not speed-coded correctly, I'd probably revise calling them "good".

tooki

RiTeks are great discs, and probably the most recommended brand out there.

[U n i o n 0015]

They burn perfectly fine in my friend's 16x Pioneer dual layer burner in addition to having extremely positive reviews. No one I know has complained about them not burning at full speed in their drives.

I'd say this Matsushita is one fickle drive. I'll try some Verbatim's when I get a chance, but no way I'm going to pay $14.99 for FIVE Apple 8x DVD-Rs. That's just ridiculous.

[DVGuy]

No question about RiTeks being excellent quality. They are rated for 8x, but burn consitantly at 12x in my Pioneer drive on my PC! It is absolutely THE DRIVE and not the media. I understand how media is speed rated and coded, but at least in this case, it is the rough equivalent of Ford blaming Goodyear for an ignition problem. Firmware should be able to fix these problems.

[tooki]

The burning software can choose to override the speed code, and usually it works fine, occasionally it won't. (In Toast, for example, non-recommended speeds are show in italics in the speed menu.)

Again, I maintain that all else held equal, if the discs aren't properly speed coded, they're not top quality. They may be made well in every other respect, but I consider correct labeling and coding to be a quality aspect. An absolute top quality disc, like Verbatim, will always have the correct speed coding.

tooki

[TailsToo]

Staples had a 40 pack of 8x DVD+/-Rs on sale this week for $5 after rebate. Maybe try something like that and see if you can get faster speeds. (Toast will not even let me try and burn my slow media at faster than 2x)

[bighead]

My 8x labeled Ritek DVD-R will only burn at 2x on my PB, but will burn at 8x on my G4, which has a flashed DVR-107. Apple 8x DVD-R burn at 8x on both drives.

Looks like the Riteks aren't properly speed coded...

Edit: I just tried the Riteks on my PB in Toast, and Toast only lets me burn at 1x and 2x. I think it's the media, which I'll try emailing the company about.

[bluearchangel]

Originally posted by DVGuy:
The MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E in my new "17 PowerBook only burns at 2x using the IDENTICAL MEDIA that burns at 12x on my PC!! WTF? I have tried 3 different media so far. All burn at 2x. Anyone else been able to get 8x out of the "SuperDrive' in the new PowerBook?

I have the same problem with my new PowerBook that I picked from Soho NYC.
12�1.5Ghz//80GB/512MB/BT/AE/SuperDrive MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E.
I called apple 1800 2752273 and they had me on hold for a while, then a Lady
was trying to convince me that my PowerBook did not have a SD 8X. She was
asking me where I saw that my PowerBook was a Super drive 8X. Anyway after
30 of guiding her to http://www.apple.com/powerbook/specs.html and showing
her that my model was in fact a SD8X she transferred me to a Real Pro.

The guy told me that this new super drive 8X /(MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E) has
higher standards when I comes to DVD media and to try different DVD media.
Even though when I had the last PowerBook generation 1.33ghz/60gb/256mb/SD4X and
that machine will burn the same DVD media at 4X.

Well today I try this DVD media (TDK DVD-R 8X) with Disk Utility,
I try to burn an image and it will only let me burn at 2x so I was really
disappointed. Then I try to burn the same file with the second DVD from the same package
and first OSX asked me how to open that DVD, so I selected finder and then
the icon of the DVD showed up on the desktop, then I opened Disk utility to
burn the same file and GUESS WHAT ...



IT WORKED. IT LET ME BURN IT AT 8X. I AM SOO HAPPY NOW.

[DVGuy]

Originally posted by bluearchangel:
...she transferred me to a Real Pro.

The guy told me that this new super drive 8X /(MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-835E) has higher standards when I comes to DVD media and to try different DVD media.
Even though when I had the last PowerBook generation 1.33ghz/60gb/256mb/SD4X and
that machine will burn the same DVD media at 4X.

Well today I try this DVD media (TDK DVD-R 8X) with Disk Utility,
I try to burn an image and it will only let me burn at 2x so I was really
disappointed. Then I try to burn the same file with the second DVD from the same package
and first OSX asked me how to open that DVD, so I selected finder and then
the icon of the DVD showed up on the desktop, then I opened Disk utility to
burn the same file and GUESS WHAT ...



IT WORKED. IT LET ME BURN IT AT 8X. I AM SOO HAPPY NOW.

Higher standards? So drives like the Pioneer which can burn most media faster has lower standards. How stupid. What "higher standards" really means is that Apple has managed to get a huge discount on some crappy drives from Panasonic to put in the PowerBooks. I would prefer the Pioneer drive by far, it is better in direct comparison.

[macgyvr64]

I've had the best luck with Memorex media..it's only failed verification once or twice through several hundred DVD-R's.

[vinster]

I agree with those that think this drive isn't very good. I have the UJ-825 in my PowerBook and it works fine but just doesn't seem to be a great drive (DVDs take 30 seconds to mount and don't transfer data very quickly).

A couple of months ago, I got a Plextor PX-716 external drive and it's like night and day compared to the Matshitas. Plextor continually updates the firmware revisions to improve performance and add features (and they have a Mac updater utility). This drive burns any media I put into it at excellent speeds (8x TDK's @ 16X) so I can write a DVD in about 5 minutes. I just set the software to burn at max speed and the Plextor firmware takes care of the optimal burn speed and quality. It also supports the new dual-layer formats.

Unless Apple moves away from the Matshitas, I'm going to get combos in any new Macs I buy and leave the DVD burning to an external.

[macgyvr64]

Originally posted by vinster:
I agree with those that think this drive isn't very good. I have the UJ-825 in my PowerBook and it works fine but just doesn't seem to be a great drive (DVDs take 30 seconds to mount and don't transfer data very quickly).

A couple of months ago, I got a Plextor PX-716 external drive and it's like night and day compared to the Matshitas. Plextor continually updates the firmware revisions to improve performance and add features (and they have a Mac updater utility). This drive burns any media I put into it at excellent speeds (8x TDK's @ 16X) so I can write a DVD in about 5 minutes. I just set the software to burn at max speed and the Plextor firmware takes care of the optimal burn speed and quality. It also supports the new dual-layer formats.

Unless Apple moves away from the Matshitas, I'm going to get combos in any new Macs I buy and leave the DVD burning to an external.

Are there any internal drives like this?

[DVGuy]

If you are unhappy, let APPLE know or nothing will be done.

Post to this thread at APPLE'S discussion board:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]

[Chris_G]

So Apple's 8x media (at least the 5 pack I purchased today) is manufactured by Maxell, and as previously stated it DOES burn at 8x. I just ordered some 8x Maxell discs (Buy.com had them in 50 pack spindles for $22)... will find out when I get them if these burn at 8x or not.

Chris

[macgyvr64]

Originally posted by Chris_G:
So Apple's 8x media (at least the 5 pack I purchased today) is manufactured by Maxell...

That's good to know...Apple's media always works great for me.

[Stratus Fear]

This has little to do with whether the discs are correctly "speed coded" or not, as most of them are. What it does concern though, is the fact that DVD burner firmware has what are called write strategies programmed into them for many different types of media. If the manufacturer doesn't add many or is slack in firmware updates (which would seem to be the case with Matsushita/Panasonic) then the drive won't support many newer produced media, and will fall back to a failsafe speed.

For example, I used to have some old 4x DVD+R in my PC. I got ahold of some 8x discs, but it would only let me burn them at 2.4x, despite the fact that hopping into a program like DVDInfoPro showed that the discs were indeed 8x and 4x compatible discs. The manufacturer hadn't updated the firmware for the drive in a long time, either. Later I installed a 16x DVD+-RW which had the correct write strategy for that type of media. They then burned faster than 2.4x.

So basically, Apple and/or Panasonic needs to release a firmware update.

[U n i o n 0015]

Originally posted by Chris_G:
So Apple's 8x media (at least the 5 pack I purchased today) is manufactured by Maxell, and as previously stated it DOES burn at 8x. I just ordered some 8x Maxell discs (Buy.com had them in 50 pack spindles for $22)... will find out when I get them if these burn at 8x or not.

Chris

Definitely let us know how they are, because this whole problem is really getting me peeved. There is no reason this drive should be rejecting what is proven to be high quality media. I think it's a shame that Apple would easily sell these PowerBooks with advertised 8x DVD burning when it only works with a few types of media. I love Apple, but dang, they sure take a while to jump on some problems.

I'm really hoping they wise up and release a firmware update.

[tooki]

Something a lot of people here seem to be ignoring is the simple fact that notebook drives (which Apple also uses in the iMac and mini) will never be as tolerant or fast as a desktop drive. A desktop drive has more space for larger, faster motors, and for larger, more sensitive optical assemblies.

Few companies make slot-loading notebook drives, and Apple has a long-standing relationship with Panasonic, and I see no reason for them to change (especially since it would most likely necessitate a switch back to tray-loading drives).

So how about you just buy quality media, and be done with it? That's always worked for me.

tooki

[U n i o n 0015]

Originally posted by tooki:
Something a lot of people here seem to be ignoring is the simple fact that notebook drives (which Apple also uses in the iMac and mini) will never be as tolerant or fast as a desktop drive. A desktop drive has more space for larger, faster motors, and for larger, more sensitive optical assemblies.

Few companies make slot-loading notebook drives, and Apple has a long-standing relationship with Panasonic, and I see no reason for them to change (especially since it would most likely necessitate a switch back to tray-loading drives).

So how about you just buy quality media, and be done with it? That's always worked for me.

tooki

I don't think anyone is asking for them to change drive manufacturers. We're asking that we get the advertised "8x" burn speed on our $1400+ computers.

And we ARE using high quality media. We're using media that has a proven reputation across the board.

You keep bringing up this quality media issue. The media is up to quality; many, MANY people have backed that up. Which makes more sense, that something is wrong with the drive, or something is wrong with most every DVD-R besides Apple brands?

I think the answer is clear; it's the drive.

[Stratus Fear]

Originally posted by tooki:
Something a lot of people here seem to be ignoring is the simple fact that notebook drives (which Apple also uses in the iMac and mini) will never be as tolerant or fast as a desktop drive. A desktop drive has more space for larger, faster motors, and for larger, more sensitive optical assemblies.

Few companies make slot-loading notebook drives, and Apple has a long-standing relationship with Panasonic, and I see no reason for them to change (especially since it would most likely necessitate a switch back to tray-loading drives).

So how about you just buy quality media, and be done with it? That's always worked for me.

tooki

Lasers are lasers, lenses are lenses, and faster motors aren't required -- if the advertised speed is 8x, it should burn at 8x. I won't take "oh well, it's a slow spindle motor" as an excuse. What we have here is an issue of Panasonic either skimping on the controller chip in these drives, or giving the drive a really crappy firmware. Other notebook drives like the NEC ND-6500a burn most discs just fine at 8x, and AFAIK, these drives don't cost any more to produce. Panasonic has no excuse.

And, for the record, a lot of these "low quality" media are made by the same manufacturers that some of the big names use. This was especially true with CD-Rs, where some big names like Imation were using discs made by CMC Magnetics, and most of the small no-name no-label brands were using them too. Everybody would blame most of those no-name, no-label discs as low quality when a drive had trouble with them, but usually it WAS indeed just the drive.

[fortepianissimo]

Originally posted by U n i o n 0015:
I don't think anyone is asking for them to change drive manufacturers. We're asking that we get the advertised "8x" burn speed on our $1400+ computers.

And we ARE using high quality media. We're using media that has a proven reputation across the board.

You keep bringing up this quality media issue. The media is up to quality; many, MANY people have backed that up. Which makes more sense, that something is wrong with the drive, or something is wrong with most every DVD-R besides Apple brands?

I think the answer is clear; it's the drive.

While we're at it, can I add that this new drive is noisy as hell? When it reads lots of small files, It's almost like sitting beside a coffee grinder or something.

[peter_cph]

Originally posted by Stratus Fear:
Lasers are lasers, lenses are lenses, and faster motors aren't required -- if the advertised speed is 8x, it should burn at 8x. I won't take "oh well, it's a slow spindle motor" as an excuse. What we have here is an issue of Panasonic either skimping on the controller chip in these drives, or giving the drive a really crappy firmware. Other notebook drives like the NEC ND-6500a burn most discs just fine at 8x, and AFAIK, these drives don't cost any more to produce. Panasonic has no excuse.

Hello. You mention the NEC ND-6500A "superdrive". I am very curious about that, because I have recently bought a Matshita UJ-825B CD/DVD "superdrive" for my G4 Titanium Powerbook at Newegg.com.

Unfortunately the drive was defective after only 2 months, and I returned it to get a replacement ... but now Newegg tells me that they don't carry that particular drive anymore, and they offer me a NEC ND-6500A instead.

However, I don't know if that particular drive is compatible with my Apple Titanium Powerbook.

Can you help me? Will the ND-6500A work in my Mac? It is a Titanium Powerbook 667 MHz with OSX 10.3.8

Thank you in advance.

Peter

[bighead]

Originally posted by peter_cph:
Can you help me? Will the ND-6500A work in my Mac? It is a Titanium Powerbook 667 MHz with OSX 10.3.8

Looks like that drive is a tray-loader, so I'd say it won't work in anything recent from Apple (except maybe a hacked up Pismo, but I won't go there.)

[asxless]

In my new PowerBook 8X drive, Memorex 8X DVD-R's show 2X in Finder's Burn Disc dialog but will actually burn a full DVD (4.2+GB) in roughly 30 min. (i.e. 4x) if I select Maximum.

I thought that Memorex was a 'name brand' DVD-R media vendor with proper speed coding, but apparently my PowerBook's 8X drive doesn't

-- asxless in iLand

[U n i o n 0015]

Originally posted by asxless:
In my new PowerBook 8X drive, Memorex 8X DVD-R's show 2X in Finder's Burn Disc dialog but will actually burn a full DVD (4.2+GB) in roughly 30 min. (i.e. 4x) if I select Maximum.

I thought that Memorex was a 'name brand' DVD-R media vendor with proper speed coding, but apparently my PowerBook's 8X drive doesn't

-- asxless in iLand

Welcome to the club, we're all having problems with this drive. It's extremely fickle about media, even brand name.

Please post over in Apple's discussion so that they can become more aware of this issue.

[DVGuy]

Originally posted by U n i o n 0015:
Welcome to the club, we're all having problems with this drive. It's extremely fickle about media, even brand name.

Please post over in Apple's discussion so that they can become more aware of this issue.

Yes, please do. I started a thread in the DVD section with the title REQUEST FIX HERE.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/[email protected]

I need an 8x drive, so I may be forced to use an external while I wait for the fix (if it comes), but one thing is sure. Without hearing from us, nothing will ever be done.

[wizz0bang]

The OfficeDepot in my area has Maxell 8x DVD-R 25 packs on sale for $9.99. I bought two. Also, according to the burn utility in the Finder, Fuji 8X media (Made in Japan - identified as Yuden) will burn at 8X, though I haven't paid attention to weather it is actually burning at 8X or just saying that it will.

It bothers me on this forum (and many others) when people bring to light a possible hardware problem and receive the knee-jerk response "It must be your _insert gadget/media/software_..." The responses are sometimes down right hostile to anyone who just may have found a problem with anything branded by Apple. It's no secret Apple sometimes has some really crummy hardware and is often behind the times. Why hide the fact or get upset at those who want it fixed? Why just pretend Apple=perfect and go through life with your pink iPod colored blinders on. My 12" PB has a dubious (though functional) DVD burner, a low quality (annoyingly so compared to my friends cheap Dell) 12" screen and is slower than my four year old desktop PC... yet I still love it.

Sorry to rant... but it made me feel better. Thanks for listening... Until Apple gets around to kicking Matshita in the gonads for new firmware, go out and buy Maxells (if possible) for high speed burning. AND APPLE: please stop shipping inferior hardware on your PowerBooks, it's embarrassing! (and why your at it, please make Macs less finiky about RAM!)

[tooki]

Originally posted by asxless:
I thought that Memorex was a 'name brand' DVD-R media vendor with proper speed coding, but apparently my PowerBook's 8X drive doesn't

I've always considered Memorex media to be second-tier (not no-name, but not top-notch). Many of their blank CD-Rs seem to be incorrectly coded, so this is nothing new.

Originally posted by Stratus Fear:
Lasers are lasers, lenses are lenses, and faster motors aren't required -- if the advertised speed is 8x, it should burn at 8x. I won't take "oh well, it's a slow spindle motor" as an excuse. What we have here is an issue of Panasonic either skimping on the controller chip in these drives, or giving the drive a really crappy firmware. Other notebook drives like the NEC ND-6500a burn most discs just fine at 8x, and AFAIK, these drives don't cost any more to produce. Panasonic has no excuse.

That's plain and simply not true. In a notebook drive, power consumption IS an issue, so smaller, lighter lenses are used (they may introduce more distortion), the optical assembly is smaller (again, it may be less accurate), and it may use the absolute minimum laser power necessary. The motors are slower (again, power and size come into play), increasing seek times. Overall, the notebook mechanisms are less robust, and thus less tolerant of media that it doesn't believe to be ideal. Maybe Panasonic decided it's in your best interests to suffer a slower write speed than to burn marginal discs.

Originally posted by Stratus Fear:
And, for the record, a lot of these "low quality" media are made by the same manufacturers that some of the big names use. This was especially true with CD-Rs, where some big names like Imation were using discs made by CMC Magnetics, and most of the small no-name no-label brands were using them too. Everybody would blame most of those no-name, no-label discs as low quality when a drive had trouble with them, but usually it WAS indeed just the drive.

Yes, they may be made by the same plants, but that doesn't mean they're the same quality disc.

For example, Verbatim and MAM-A are widely considered to be among the best of the best manufacturers. MAM-A even has an extra high grade disc, one that's from batches that have tested to be of superior quality.

There ARE differences in media, and in the care taken to make them. Any company can take the same blank media stampers, a given dye formulation, and press some blanks. But the best companies will make a new stamper with updated speed codes every time, so that the drive knows correctly what it's dealing with. (Blank media has a speed code and a dye code, so that the drive can choose the best writing strategy for that combination. Some manufacturers cut costs by not updating the stampers with the correct information for that model of disc.)

tooki

[asxless]

Originally posted by tooki:
I've always considered Memorex media to be second-tier (not no-name, but not top-notch). Many of their blank CD-Rs seem to be incorrectly coded, so this is nothing new....

No offense Tooki, but so far EVERY brand that anyone has had trouble with does not meet your criteria of "top-notch". Furthermore, you have only recommended THREE brands -- Verbatim, TDK MAM. And by inference a forth brand Apple.

If there really are only FOUR brands that actually burn at 8X in these new 8x drives, I'd say that it's time to quit blaming the media

So in the interest of avoiding further argument in the absence of data....

Could everyone please post the brands of DVD-R media that _DO_ burn at 8X in the new PowerBook's 8x Drive.

-- asxless in iLand

[tooki]

Frankly, most of the blank media I've seen out there ISN'T up to par -- this has been a huge complaint of mine for many years. Think that all the manufacturers all follow the specs, all the time? Think again. Even the top brands have capitulated and first dropped making gold discs (as the CD-R standard is supposed to use) and switched to silver discs that oxidize. Only MAM-A still makes real gold discs (all other brands' gold discs are just silver ones with yellow lacquer.) Then everyone started making 80-minute (700MB) discs. They're not part of the standard, either: they're supposed to be 60-minute (550MB) or 74-minute (650MB). Anything larger is exceeding the CD standard, at the cost of reduced margin for error in both writing and reading. (It's particularly ironic that we sacrifice data reliability for nothing: Yamaha did a CD-R study and found that CD-Rs are, on average, only filled 1/3 of the way.)

MAM-A is also one of the few companies still making 74-minute CD-Rs.

Don't get me wrong; I buy cheap media for everyday stuff, and for the car, where they'll get scratched soon anyway. But for important stuff, I am super-picky about media.

tooki

[Stratus Fear]

Originally posted by tooki:
That's plain and simply not true. In a notebook drive, power consumption IS an issue, so smaller, lighter lenses are used (they may introduce more distortion), the optical assembly is smaller (again, it may be less accurate), and it may use the absolute minimum laser power necessary. The motors are slower (again, power and size come into play), increasing seek times. Overall, the notebook mechanisms are less robust, and thus less tolerant of media that it doesn't believe to be ideal. Maybe Panasonic decided it's in your best interests to suffer a slower write speed than to burn marginal discs.

If this is true, the drive shouldn't be advertised as an 8x drive. Obviously some of the things you listed come into play, but when other notebook drives I've seen aren't having problems, and Panasonic's are, then it's not just a media problem. Like I said, check out some of the NEC stuff. And, for starters, to see how this likely IS a firmware issue, I suggest some research and questioning on the forums at rpc1.org.

Edit: To add to the thread (didn't want to make a new reply), while the drive burns SOME discs (very few) at 8x, which technically makes it an 8x drive, it practically doesn't burn at 8x, since it seems that most media don't work at 8x in it. This is practically deceptive advertising, and this is why it's an issue. That said, I've been lucky enough to have a stack of 8x discs sold by some company named "Teon" that do burn at advertised speed. I'd prefer if everything rated at 8x would burn at 8x, though, and honestly, they should. If Panasonic can't burn 8x discs at 8x without having problems, then it's not an 8x drive, IMO. While I'm not having many problems, I support the people that are.

[tooki]

I disagree. The drive is doing the right thing in not burning at 8x on media that it cannot guarantee will handle that write speed. If people were burning coaster after coaster, they'd complain even more. Most users will never even notice the slower speed, but they'd notice a failed burn.

It's no different than so many other products. For example, a car will get best fuel economy with the correct octane rating gasoline. If it gets a bad batch, or one of the wrong octane rating, a modern engine will adjust its timing so as to burn that gasoline without causing engine damage -- but the fuel efficiency and performance will be reduced.

And for anyone who thinks that this only affects Panasonic drives, today's Macintouch has a report of someone having the same problem on a Sony desktop DVD burner.


So sorry, but I definitely blame the media.

tooki

[macgyvr64]

Originally posted by tooki:
So sorry, but I definitely blame the media.

I second that... I buy brand name media off a store shelf and have no problems. I don't trust any of those RiData, Princo, Piodata, etc. names.

Buy big name media - Memorex, Verbatim, Apple (Maxell media, someone said). It costs a little more, but it's solid.

[asxless]

Originally posted by macgyvr64:
Buy big name media - Memorex, Verbatim, Apple (Maxell media, someone said). It costs a little more, but it's solid.

Maybe you didn't actually read the thread before making your list.

Because I have already reported that 8X MEMOREX DVD-R media, which BTW is on your list of "solid" "big name media", does NOT burn at 8X on these drives! In fact, the Finder (read Disk Utility) disc burner reports it as only capable of 2X. But then actually burns a full DVD-R at 4X (i.e. approx. 30 min).

FWIW I have no problem purchasing "name brand media" in order to get 8x, as long as I actually have a _choice_ of a reasonable number of vendors AND I don't have to spend significant time/money playing russian roulette with various "name brand" media to see which ones will actually burn at 8X.

Once you filter off all of the 'you should buy better media' rants ...

... the ONLY 8X DVD-R media that has been _confirmed_ to actually burn at 8x in these new PowerBooks is Apple's

-- asxless in iLand

[macgyvr64]

Originally posted by asxless:
Maybe you didn't actually read the thread before making your list.

Because I have already reported that 8X MEMOREX DVD-R media, which BTW is on your list of "solid" "big name media", does NOT burn at 8X on these drives! In fact, the Finder (read Disk Utility) disc burner reports it as only capable of 2X. But then actually burns a full DVD-R at 4X (i.e. approx. 30 min).

FWIW I have no problem purchasing "name brand media" in order to get 8x, as long as I actually have a _choice_ of a reasonable number of vendors AND I don't have to spend significant time/money playing russian roulette with various "name brand" media to see which ones will actually burn at 8X.

Once you filter off all of the 'you should buy better media' rants ...

... the ONLY 8X DVD-R media that has been _confirmed_ to actually burn at 8x in these new PowerBooks is Apple's

I did read it, but it was several days ago...forgot.

Regardless, it's not really Apple's fault. They don't build the drives.

And have you tried other burning apps, like Toast?

And are you sure the drive is fully functioning?

[asxless]

Originally posted by macgyvr64:
...Regardless, it's not really Apple's fault. They don't build the drives.

And have you tried other burning apps, like Toast?

And are you sure the drive is fully functioning?

Spoken like a true Apple Apologist.-- "Gosh Dr Pangloss this must be the best of all possible worlds 'cause Steve says so".

"it's not really Apple's fault. They don't build the drives." And the don't build the CPU , the LCD, the hard drive, etc. In fact, Apple doesn't even _assemble_ these PowerBooks. But Apple did SELL me this PowerBook stating that it had a 8X DVD burner. To date the only DVD-R media that has been _reported_ to actually burn at 8X comes in an Apple box. But of course, it's not their fault that this media actually works as advertised. Because they don't build that media either

No I haven't tried any other burning apps. One of the reasons I bought this PowerBook because it had that feature built in the OS and I expect it to work as advertised.

Actually, I am pretty sure the drive is NOT fully functioning. In case you hadn't noticed, that is the main gist of this thread -- the 8X drives that Apple spec'd for their new PowerBooks are not fully functioning

-- asxless in iLand

[Chris_G]

So I received the Maxell 8x DVD-R spindles from Buy.com, and low and behold, the discs are recognized at 8x. Unfortunatly, like the Apple DVDs, this doesn't mean that it actually BURNS at 8x. What I have found (at least in Toast... I cannot vouch for any other method of burning) that the drive doesn't actually burn at 8x... but somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4x. As I mentioned at a disscussion over on Apple's boards, Toast begins to burn my DVD and the clock reads 6:32 (i.e. it should take 6:32 to burn the DVD), however, the clock doesn't progress in real time (i.e. one second of progress takes 3-4 real clock seconds). Someone over there mentioned that had seen this before, and that it seemed as if there was a bug either in the OS or the firmware. Kind of a bummer... hope someone figures out a fix!

Cheers!
Chris

[asxless]

Originally posted by Chris_G:
So I received the Maxell 8x DVD-R spindles from Buy.com, and low and behold, the discs are recognized at 8x. Unfortunatly, like the Apple DVDs, this doesn't mean that it actually BURNS at 8x. What I have found (at least in Toast... I cannot vouch for any other method of burning) that the drive doesn't actually burn at 8x... but somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4x....

Chris,

I've read your posts on the Apple discussion boards. Apple's media clearly has a Maxell code (MXL RG03). So I was hoping that you had unlocked the key to finding another 'brand' of 8x media that actually burned at 8x with these new PowerBook DVD burners.

Could you do another test on your Maxell 8x DVD-R media using the OS X built in DVD burning (aka Finder / Disk Utility)? The OS X burner stores a temporary disc image that it burns in one fell swoop. This may allow for faster burns on the same media.

For example, I just retested the Apple 8x media by burning 4.1 GB using the Finder Burn Disc technique. The Finder took well over 18 minutes to copy the data from an external firewire drive into the temporary disc image. BUT it only took (just over) 12 minutes to burn this disc image to the DVD-R So Apple media did burn this 4.1 GB at roughly 8x.

FWIW this is the same technique I have used for all of my DVD-R burns since getting my new PowerBook. Memorex 8x DVD-Rs have consistently burned at 4X while Apple 8x media burns at 8X.

-- asxless in iLand

[Stratus Fear]

Originally posted by tooki:
And for anyone who thinks that this only affects Panasonic drives, today's Macintouch has a report of someone having the same problem on a Sony desktop DVD burner.

Sony's burners, from what I read, aren't that great. Honestly, I'm not surprised. Some people had a lot of problems with Sony's first dual-format burner a couple years ago, IIRC. Maybe Panasonic's aren't that great either. Hmm...