Burner Issues?

[amatoman]

I have always used Memorex DVD+R disks for burning my movies. Yesterday I puchased my first package of DVD-R -- they are from TDK. Whenever I try to access the blanks of the -R disks from ANY program. NERO, DVDShrink, DVD Rescue, . . . . even the DVD Identifier program.
The prog. freezes and will not close. No matter how many times I click on the X or CTRL+ALT+DEL then 'End Task', I cannot get the prog. to close, have to reboot my computer. I have the newest firmware installed for my burner, tried uninstalling and reinstallling unit, tried new cables, nothing.

Sys Info:

AMD Athlon T-Bird 2100
1 GIG DDR RAM
Win XP Home SP2
Burner is a 3 month old Sony DRU-710A

Is there the possibility that the disks are bad? I have tried multiple disks from different places in the stack all with same result. Is it the burner or my settings? Any suggestions that I haven't already tried?

Thanks.

[Experi-Mentor]

welcome to the forum

guide for your media/burner compatibility :

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDname=DRU-710A&Submit=Search&cdrs=&cdrws=&dvdrs=&dvdrws=&dvdrsdl=&dvdprs=&dvdprws=&dvdprsdl=&dvdrams=&buffer=Any&cdrom=&dvdrom=&orderby=Name&hits=25&Search=Search

tdk -r not listed

[amatoman]

Went to the link. It says that it is compatible with the media and I read some mixed reviews on the burner but sounds like most reviews were just due to brand loyalty, not the actual spec's/performance of the drive.

I did see, however, that out of the people that had problems with blanks the problem was that the drive said that it was empty all the time, didn't find my problem with the prog's locking up. Really weird.

[Experi-Mentor]

## Yesterday I puchased my first package of DVD-R -- they are from TDK ##
the links doesn't have "tdk-r" listed (+r, yes).
also, not many other -r brands are listed

[amatoman]

Wonder why this is. I have read all over these, and other boards that DVD-R has a higher success and compatibilty rate with stand alones, so why such the focus on +R?

[Experi-Mentor]

it's stupid !! i agree

stick with what you know works for you
perhaps somebody can/will develop a firmware for it (if possible).

[setarip]

"Burner is a 3 month old Sony DRU-710A"

Go to the SONY website and download and install the latest firmware update for your DRU-710A...

[amatoman]

Was surprised to find that they have updated the firmware AGAIN, seeing that I just updated it about 15 days ago! But alas this still does not solve my problem. I have since tried another brand of DVD -R disc with the same result so I know it's not just the TDK's but all DVD-R's. Not happy with this product since it says right on the box that it is DVD-R compatible.

Isn't DVD+R a Sony product? Mabye that's!why their drives are tempermental with other formats, they are trying to make other companies look bad to sell more crapola.

[setarip]

"Isn't DVD+R a Sony product?"

DVD+R is a format - that ANY manufacturer of such media may choose. (Just as is DVD-R)

As a matter of fact, SONY doesn't manufacture burnable DVDs any longer, now resorting to third party manufacturers to manufacture them under the SONY label.


"Burner is a 3 month old Sony DRU-710A"

I'd seek to return it in exchange for a NEW replacement unit...


"Mabye that's!why their drives are tempermental with other formats, they are trying to make other companies look bad to sell more crapola."

Naah - I had a SONY DRU500 (seemed to have lasted almost FOREVER) that was quite content burning well over 1,000 DVD-Rs. As a matter of fact, the earlier SONY standalone DVD players ONLY recognized commercial DVDs and DVD-Rs (NOT DVD+Rs).

[amatoman]

"Isn't DVD+R a Sony product?"

DVD+R is a format - that ANY manufacturer of such media may choose. (Just as is DVD-R)"

Misspoke then, however I did find this tidbit on digitalFAQ site:

"Also, I do not trust Sony, as they have a bad habit of bailing out on their formats. Betamax lost to VHS. The
optical drive lost to CD-R. The Memory Stick lost to CompactFlash and SecureDigital. They are one of the
primary backers of the DVD+R format."

If this is truthful then one could surmise that Sony has an interest in making +R looking better.

[setarip]

"If this is truthful then one could surmise that Sony has an interest in making +R looking better."

If it makes you feel better to believe this, by all means, do so...

Bye

[Experi-Mentor]

## I have since tried another brand of DVD -R disc with the same result so I know it's not just the TDK's but all DVD-R's. Not happy with this product since it says right on the box that it is DVD-R compatible ##

did you try a media brand from the list, or did just any brand ?

also, try it with rw (at least to test it).
maybe just your drive is faulty - if so, return it under warranty.

[amatoman]

Called Sony and they said that the two brands that I tried (TDX and Verbatim) are on the top of their recommended list of blank media. Maybe I'll wipe all burning programs from my computer and reinstall, because with the Sony Disk checking tool the -R burned and read correctly so I am now thinking software issue. Weird though how ALL burning programs freeze instead of just one, if that were the case it would be easier to suspect software issue.