New Optorite DVD DL Burner Problems

[Richard Townsen]

Previously I had an NEC DVD+R 4X burner that I use with DVD-Shrink and Nero to burn movies. DVD-Shrink worked great and the burner was compatible with just about every software package I came across. The burned disks could be played on any software or hardware player that I own.

Upgraded to an Optorite DD1205 DVD+R 16X DL burner and I am still trying to burn a reliable movie backup.

My problems are;

1. The burner is only compatible with Nero and MyDVD software, there were OEM versions of these software programs in the burner's box. I used DVD-Shrink and Nero in place of MyDVD and the resulting disk can only be played on my Samsung set top player. PowerDVD locks up and won't play these disks and it usually plays just about anything. Can't even get Windows Media Player to play the disks and it locks up.

2. Windows XP Pro set up the burner as a DVD/CD Rom in the Device Manager Profile. The driver is a generic Windows driver dated 2001. No driver disk with the burner and the Optorite web site only has a flash firmware upgrade.

Computer Configuration:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer SiS
System Model 730S
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 7 Stepping 0 AuthenticAMD ~995 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. 062710, 7/15/1997
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Total Physical Memory 192.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 38.75 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB

Anybody got any ideas ?

[jmet]

as for problem #1, what type of media are you using?

as for problem #2, I have XP Pro and Sony's DRU-510A DVD+R/RW/-R/-RW Dual format burner installed, and it only shows up as DVD Drive on my computer.

btw, where in Texas are you if you don't mind me asking, im in texas and know a Richard Townsen

[Richard Townsen]

Ricoh DVD Blanks. I just upgraded to these from the cheap junk I was buying. I've had very good luck with them.

I would have thought these drives would have had specific drivers to control all the various setup parameters. What ever happened to Plug-N-Play ?

I'm from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. There are 4 or 5 RTs in this area. They always get my checks in the mail and I always get their bills !

By the way, my last name has a "D" on the end, not enough spaces in the form.

[jmet]

lol figured there was a "d" on the end. I'm from Longview,TX

Anyway, go here and run a test on your media to see if you have any errors on your disk. You have to download the program first. Green dots = good, Red dots = errors

http://www.dvdinfopro.com/

[Richard Townsen]

Never been to Longview, and I have lived in Texas all my life. If it's like everything else in Texas, I'm sure it's great !

I got that media testing program using a link provided in another forum, thanks anyway. It was provided by a lady in Sweden, can't remember her ID.

This newer Ricoh media I purchased has been a fix for a lot of my problems. You don't really save any money buying the cheap stuff when you have to throw half of them away.

What's strange about my problem, and I didn't cover this in the initial post, is the two disks I made will not run on anything except my set top Samsung dvd player, and it's a cheap one.

I captured one movie from an old VHS tape using the capture utility in MyDVD and an ADS Instant DVD A/D converter. I then used an old version of Ulead Movie Studio to convert the captured MPEG file to DVD format and burn it to a DVD. Movies I have captured this way usually run in full screen format, this one runs in {B}wide screen[/B]; go figure !

The other movie was copied from a DVD Movie disk using DVD-Shrink and burned to disk using Nero Express v. 6.

I threw both these disks in the trash can when I couldn't play either of them on any of my computer's software dvdv players. I read another post were the guy fished his rejects out of the trash and they played on his DVD player. Tried it and I couldn't believe they worked.

I can't help but believe there must be a driver that will work for this drive, even if it is not specifically designed for OptoRite.

[charlypuss]

Hi guys,

This is from cdrlabs.com regarding the "Optorite DD1205 12xDVD +-RW" which I think is the drive that you have. Here is an extract from that site:

HD-Burn does have its limitations. Right now, most PC drives cannot read discs recorded using HD-Burn. According to Sanyo, most stand alone DVD players should be able to read these discs after a modification of the firmware. Unfortunately, most manufacturers have been slow to add this feature to their DVD players. Software support is also quite limited. Other than Ahead Software and BHA, very few software companies have jumped on the HD-Burn bandwagon.

While Sanyo's specs allow for HD-Burn writing speeds as high as 36x, the DD1205 writes at 24x, 18x, 12x, and 6x. This doesn't sound fast. However, we were able to record 1.4GB of data in as little as 7:23. This really depended on the media though. With some discs, it took almost 10 minutes to write the same data. For best results, you'll probably want to stick to the media recommended by OptoRite

Now I ain't a sad B*****D, but I was wondering why you could only use Nero for burning and MyDVD. According to what I read there are no software program restrictions..

As my "compatriot" sfheath would say "why don't you google ?"

[Richard Townsen]

Thanks for the heads up on this review of my DVD Burner. It has helped me make the decision to return this unit to CompUSA.

I'm not against new technology and a company like Sanyo is a long time player, but I get a little concerned when they admit that they still haven't convince other manufactuers to utilize their HD BURN standard. Essentially, I don't want to be the only kid on the block with a burner that isn't compatible with anything else.

I've already wasted enough time trying to make this dog fetch !

Regards

RT