My system is an HP Media Center PC with an ASUS DVD-E616P3H DVD drive. When uploading movies on my HD using DVD Decrypter yhe read speed will be anywhere from 4x to 10x but never less than 4x. Lately no matter which movie I'm trying to copy the speed will never get higher than 1.7x. I can actually hear the drive attempting to spool up to speed and then slow down though. Data is sucessfully transferred but at the slower speed. Is the drive broken??
check to see if the transfer mode is DMA, not PIO... here is a guide for that you can also see what your firmware is here using dvd decrypter( the top circle next to the drive's model number) and check for updates here or go to the asus website to check for an update
Sorry, still don't understand what you are talking about. The problem is with read speed not burn speed. There is a second device on the PC that does the burning and it's working fine. Why would a reader that worked perfectly suddenly need a "firmware" update to continue doing what it's always done? It's not like it's being asked to do something new...Like I said , Pls forgive my ignorance... I'm a plug and play kind of guy.. ZZ
Your drive is slowing down because the error correction system in it is not confident that it can read any faster than 1.7X. That could be a function of the error correction circuitry, the balance of the disc, the quality of the recording on the disc, the balance of the drive, compatibility of the tracking mechanism and the strength of the guiding track (known as "push-pull"), or several other factors. If your drive copied faster with the same discs, then something changed with your drive. If the discs are different, then it could be either the discs or the drive or the compatibility of both. It is always better to record to the HD because of error correction. Recording on the fly will often ignore minor flaws and record them improperly. Firmware is the set of instructions for the drive that are stored in an electrically reprogrammable chip on the drive. A firmware update can do any number of things, even just alter the error correction algorithms of a drive. CD-ROM or DVD-ROM players also have firmware, but most people are familiar with firmware for recording drives since their also includes write strategies and M-code tables matching media with their own write strategies. Try transferring a disc that once transferred quickly. If it is also no faster than 1.7X, then your drive may be going through its drive menopause before it expires completely.
Drive menopause... that's a good one and it pretty much explains what's going on. I suspected drive deteroration might be happening and i think I just proved it. I have one "test movie" I use repeatedly. I only purchase very cheap DVD players because the kids here usually burn them out with a lot of scene jumping and fast forwarding. So I take my test disc which I've burnt myself with me to the store when trying out a new DVD player. If that disc plays in it then I'm confident any movie I copy with my system will play in it as well. My test movie has always been a product of a Decrypt copy to HD, a shrink with 3.2 and then a burn. This movie which used to upload to the HD at 8x now only hits 1.7x...Instead of just swapping out the drive I picked up an external Rewriter on sale at Future Shop... It's an LG product, hooks up thru USB port and is fast like a rocket. I decrypted and uploaded the test movie at a blisteringly fast 10x and burnt it successfully at 15x for a total turnaround time of less than 20 minutes. This test indicates to me my internal drive is just about kaput. I'll get around to changing the internal drive sooner or later.
dont know if it will help but you might wanna check and see if that drive slipped out of DMA mode and into PIO only?
Thanks Mrmeaty and special thanks to 300bowler. I read your guide to the DMA PIO and with heart in my throat "cause i never feel good about uninstalling something i know nothing about I did it anyways... well well, success!!! DMA is back, the drive is back to normal. Now I have that extra external one...OH well, live and learn. Thanks guys, you've been great.
