Gettting terrable burns with new burner, have tried all fixes read here and still....

[Dj Eclipse]

Hi all, great site by the way!

I have a bran new LG GSA-4160B burner and I can't get anything close to a good burn wit it.

I have read all the documentation on this site about some kind of fix, I've made sure the burner is set to DMA instead of PIO, I completly uninstalled nero, using all the tools on the Nero website, no updates for drivers etc., I've even tried that little program on the nero website that is supposed to allow nero to give you the option of all the speeds the burner is capable of... And still I get skipping, freezing and in some players it won't even play at all.

My system is kind of old but should handle 2x and even 4x fine. It's an AMD durron 955hz with 769mb of ram.

The first problem I had was the first medium i was using wouldn't allow me to burn anything slower then 4x, my only options were 4x and 8x.
So I got a different medium and it allows me to burn as slow as 2x. I would like to try a burn at 1x, even though it will take an hour if it works then it's worth it, but I don't even have that option.

I gave up on nero since everything I tried still resulted in bad burns, even though the buffer was always between 100% and 95%. So I decided to give Alcohol a try.

With Alcohol it shows you the CPU usage and allows the system to build 100% buffer before starting the burn. I burned at 2x speed (the slowest I can go) and the CPU usage was only around 10% which tells me it's not a CUP problem.

I'm starting to think it’s the burner, when i burn console games they seem to work fine, just not movies, and I've tried in meltable players that have all had no problems playing DVD-r's before.

Is it the burner itself? is there anyway to test if it is the burner? I always ask nero to verify the data and it always seems to think the data is ok, but something isn’t working right here. As far as I'm concerned I bought myself a $150.00 paperweight.

Is there anything I can try before taking it back to the store and trying a different burner.. maybe sony?

What about media, memorex?

Please help,
Thanks,


Edit: The nero I am using is 6.6.0.1 enterprise eddition., and the Alcohol is 1.9.2

[setarip]

Although you haven't said so, I presume your problem is related to duplicating commercial movie DVDs that you own.

What software and procedures are you using to copy/compress the original DVDs?

[Dj Eclipse]

Although I don't think it's a problem of actually copying and compressing the actual files themselves (I believe it's a burner/burn process problem)... I am using DVD shrink 3.2.0.15 to make the back up files and as I said Nero and just recently Alcohol to burn. I don't think Burning in DVD shrink would fix this problem.

Thanks

[cynthia]

Memorex is not a good media.

To find out if it is in the burning process or in the playing process you have your problem - do this test;

Download www.dvdinfopro.com (freeware) insert one of your burned disc and selelct the option "Test your media for CRC read errors" - if you only get green dots you know that your burning is ok and it is the player that causes the problem. If you get any read dots - you know something else.

[Tim Who?]

I looked in the manual that came with my LG GSA-4160B again and saw something I hadn't noticed before, as I just went to the installation instructions. A list of recommended media, which I'll reproduce here.

I also noticed that the burner recommends 512mb RAM. A dumb question, but I guess me having only 256mb explains why mine won't use DMA? A 2.4ghz processor is also recommended.

Recommended media
CD-R : LG, Mitsubishi Chemical, Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, TDK, SKC.
CD-RW: LG, Ricoh, Mitsubishi Chemical, Verbatim.
DVD-R: Maxell, Taiyo Yuden, JVC (I use Datawrite Grey and they're fine)
DVD-RW: JVC, Mitsubishi Chemical, TDK
DVD+R: Mitsubishi Chemical, Verbatim
DVD+RW: TDK, FujiFilm, Ricoh
DVD-RAM: Maxell, Panasonic
DVD+R DL: Mitsubish Chemical

[cynthia]

Try this: are you using the latest firmware? http://se.lgservice.com/index_b2c.jsp

256 Mb should work out fine.

[Tim Who?]

I'm using the firmware that came with the drive, which is the firmware they told me to use when I first contacted them about problems. A301, from memory. They still haven't got back to me on the DMA issue.

[Dj Eclipse]

Originally posted by cynthia
Memorex is not a good media.

To find out if it is in the burning process or in the playing process you have your problem - do this test;

Download www.dvdinfopro.com (freeware) insert one of your burned disc and selelct the option "Test your media for CRC read errors" - if you only get green dots you know that your burning is ok and it is the player that causes the problem. If you get any read dots - you know something else.

Thanks for the reply.

I ran the test on a few DVD's I made that I was having problems with and they were all green boxes, no red boxes.

So I assume this is supposed to mean that the data is written fine? But then why such a difference, one movie will kind of play and one won't even be read my the player at all?

I've also noticed that the burns I do with Alcohol seem to preform Better then Nero.

cynthia, Why is the memorex DVD-R media so bad? it seems to be the best playing media I've tried so far.

Also, is installing the fimlmware hard? I've read the instructions and I’m afraid of destroying the burner all together. How can I find out my current version of filmware? I just bought it 2 weeks ago so maybe I already have this update? The LG site doesn’t really tell you what the filmware update is supposed to do, it just says

Model:GSA-4160B
Ver:A301
Improvement Point: Enhanced the recording quality of DVD+R 16X & DVD-RW media
Refer to the attached file

That just sounds like it’s for DVD_r’s and won’t help me with my DVD-R issues. Is this right?


Tim Who?, good find, I guess I should actually read the manual for once, lol. Maybe I'll go try some Maxell DVD-R discs and see if they are any better. But me question is are they recommending these brands because they have some kind of partnership with the companies that make the media or are they really recommending them because they work better with the burner?

I assume you're having the same problems I am having with this burner? Let me know how you make out.

I'm still trying to figure about all the little tricks you can do with DVD shrink, I wish I didn’t have to worry about the problems with my bran new burner.

Thanks.

[Tim Who?]

My only real problem is working out how to get it to use DMA, as the last few discs I've burned have been fine. Once I've got that sorted out, I'll be happier. As for the media question, if they had a partnership with any brands they would have recommended the same brand for all types of disc?

All in all I'm wishing I'd bought the Pioneer I was considering. Good luck with your problems.

[charlypuss]

Hi Tim Who?,

Read this link about DMA. As with the manual read all of it. Just setitng the secondry IDE to DMA does not mean that it will actually do it. So give the Registry a kick with the info in the link and see how it goes...

http://forums.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43070&highlight=DMA+and+registry

[Dj Eclipse]

Originally posted by Tim Who?
My only real problem is working out how to get it to use DMA, as the last few discs I've burned have been fine. Once I've got that sorted out, I'll be happier. As for the media question, if they had a partnership with any brands they would have recommended the same brand for all types of disc?

All in all I'm wishing I'd bought the Pioneer I was considering. Good luck with your problems.

I am thinking I should have done some research about DVD burners before I bought mine... foolish me to think that since they're all new and the same price they all should be able to work for what i want it to do....

Is it too late for you to take yours back? I think i can take mine back still... you say the Pioneer is better?

Good point about the media...

[Tim Who?]

I bought mine after reading reviews, which is the annoying thing, and bought it online so I don't think it's worth sending it back. It produces watchable discs most of the time, now I've found a brand that works, but hassle with the PIO issue and frame skipping are getting on my nerves a bit.

Charlypuss - I've tried the registry option, to no effect. Thanks though

[Dj Eclipse]

Originally posted by Tim Who?
I bought mine after reading reviews, which is the annoying thing, and bought it online so I don't think it's worth sending it back. It produces watchable discs most of the time, now I've found a brand that works, but hassle with the PIO issue and frame skipping are getting on my nerves a bit.

Charlypuss - I've tried the registry option, to no effect. Thanks though

But really, is the brand of media actually working? Is skipping considered working? I don’t know about you but I can't stand watching a movie that skips all the time, it was driving me insane! I'm the type of person that if there is a spec of dust on the TV I have to clean it or it will bother me to death.

I wonder if there are people having the same problems with the Pioneer.

You’re right, reading the comparisons the LG seems like it''s the one to buy, but seeing how many people seem to have issues with the burns actually playing in DVD players it's clearly not.

[cynthia]

Originally posted by Dj Eclipse
Why is the memorex DVD-R media so bad? it seems to be the best playing media I've tried so far.

Based on other posters problems in the past - Memorex has been the weak point.

The link to the latest firmware for your burner was offered to you earlier. The new version will cover more mediacodes (brands of discs).

[Dj Eclipse]

Originally posted by cynthia
Based on other posters problems in the past - Memorex has been the weak point.

The link to the latest firmware for your burner was offered to you earlier. The new version will cover more mediacodes (brands of discs).

This was the quote about the newest filmware update from their site.

Model:GSA-4160B
Ver:A301
Improvement Point: Enhanced the recording quality of DVD+R 16X & DVD-RW media Refer to the attached file

Now it sounds like this is only to fix problems with writing speeds of 16x, not fix the problems with all media. since i'm not trying to burn at 16x, I just one a good burn at 2x, I just want something to work for once.... it sounds like this is not an update for me.

Today I tried to copied a movie my buddy backed up becasue it plays on all 3 of my DVD players at home. I wanted to try this just to see if it was the burner or the media. I made a .iso and then burned it onto the identical media as the original was burned onto.. and of course the copy I made skips like mad and his plays nie and smooth. And he burned it with an old 4x burner.