Here is another guy with the same problem with Time Computer. Having tried to burn disc with Studio Programme and tested Packard Bell and Verbatim discs. To make sure it was not a disc compatibility problem I have tried DVD-R/RW also DVD+R/RW. I did get one Verbatim -RW to write OK but never managed to get a second to work. Anyone want buy a barrow load of discs??? lol.
Hi again, Since my last entry I have looked at the Pioneer 106 and read the reports and feel I should cut my losses and miss out Time and change to the Pioneer. Would any one tell me not to do this for any reason (appart from not getting at Time)? I am using Pinnacle Studio 8.10 and Win XP £84.99 is the best price I can see so far on the web for the Pioneer 106. Any help or sugestions are very welcome!!! Bill.
hi i have one of these matshita dvd-ram in my new system and i was wondering whether there was any difference/problem using dvd-r or dvd+r? what is the main difference between these two "designs"? thanks, nuevadvd
The difference is that dvd-r WILL work in the drive and dvd+r WILL NOT work. You don't need to know any more than that
neuvadvd, I have had the same question and told that it is similar to beta and vhs in the tape world. The + and - formats are battling it out and the rccommendation is use a dual format writer untill we see who wins the battle. As for your' particular dvd burner I hope you have more luck than me, and those who have gone thro' 8 pages of this thread. Let us know how you come on.
Hi all Just a quick one to say been there done that with TIME same machine same problems and absolutely no help from time in the end they got it back told them i was not gonna pay for it cos it simply does not do what it says on the box, still havent heard anything from them. Ended up building another setup with a Pioneer 106 and no problems Superb drive whatever media i throw at it even the cheap stuff
All is not lost. I don't know if the disk has been mentioned earlier, but I've managed to burn to a Maxell dvd-r (1.49 - richersounds.com). Used dvd shrink 3.1 and nero 6. Don't give up!
Hello all, Foolishly I decided to give Time a go, even though I knew they weren't the best. my mistake! I too have the Matshita drive, while I can use to burn and copy cds perfectly, I can't get it burn dvds. I've tried using and Arita dvd-rw, the drive does recognise the disl and capacity, but everytime I try to write to it I get a error message. This is an extract from the error log: Reading destination disc information ... Creating table of contents... Writing track 1 of 1 track(s) Starting track 1... Resetting destination device... --------------------------------------------------------- An error occured while writing track 1 at position 0. --------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- Extended information:#1Device: Matshita DVD-RAM SW-9581 (D 70 00 03 00 00 00 00 0A 00 00 00 00 31 01 2A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 Please someone help, you're my only hope!
Sorry guys looks like 'Time' has taken another foolish victim! I got my machine back in Oct 2002, with the fameous matSHITa drive fitted. Till now I have only burned CD-Rs. I thought it was about time I backed up all my Divx and Xvid films so I bought some DVD-RWs, just to find the drive does like them at all! GOD DAMMIT. And who said technology was brillaint? I reckon we should all bomb Time with complaint Emails regarding this issue, its the only way something will be done. Sunny
I am using the Matshita SW 9581 and it works OK for backing up DVD movies using 321's dvdXcopy (I bought it before finding this excellent resource). I can play back the movies on my PC drive but when I put them into my Toshiba SD330E - the player just freezes up after the 321 warning screen is displayed. After reading this thread, I got nero and dvddecrypter and I can now play DVD's on the Toshiba 330 so thanks very much. Can anyone explain what is going on as the 330E is not supposed to be able to read DVD RAM? Only problem is I made a lot of movie copies using dvdxcopy - can I do anything with these or are they coasters.
I agree that the drive can be tempramental but I've burned around 20 dvd's and many cd's with it. Occasionally it does go awol and wont recoognise a blank dvd but I found that reinstalling the driver has always worked for me. I've been burnig disks mostly with Pinnacle but have also used Nero. Both happily reside on the pc without any apparent problems. Hope this is of some encouragement to those of yu having trouble! Hopefully this will work for you too
I also have this drive in a 'Time' PC. (From around last July) Firstly the drive; I've burnt many DVD's with very few problems. Hardly any coasters. I get the odd 'power calibration' error message, but that doesn't create a coaster. I've used eproperformance, Panasonic, & now settled on Ritek X2 printables (the latter from Lynxdv.com - good company to deal with) Using Ulead DVD Workshop, & Nero Express. I've downloaded the firmware update as posted earlier in this thread, but as yet haven't tried it. 2ndly, 'Time'; I bought my first ever PC from this company, many moons ago. They were an OK firm to deal with. Boy has that changed!! My latest purchase arrived with a dent in the top lid. I phoned the shop straight away, & was told to ring the No on the receipt. It was a quid a minute No, to report a damaged delivery?!! After much arguing/threatening, the manager at the shop agreed to have a new lid posted there, & I would just exchange it for my damaged one. Sensible? Think again. 3 weeks later, no lid. I go back to the shop. He rings head office chappie. "The person that managed the dept that deals with that has left". The new guy won't stick to the same agreement because "He'll end up with a case without a lid"???? Instead they now want to take my whole unit back & exchange it. (what are they gonna do - panel beat the damaged lid!!?)By now I've got around 100 gig of client's video files on the thing so it very definitely ain't going nowhere. Eventually (more high blood pressure) I agree to a new unit being sent to the shop. The shop staff will then change over the lids themselves. All this instead of just posting a new lid? The end result is still gonna be a case with a damaged lid isn't it? Why have they got chimps in management positions? After 2 months, no sign of this getting done. I just gave up with it all. And I have definitely given up purchasing anything from Time computers!! The PC wasn't bad, but the company is s**t!!
Time really are a poor company. £1 a min is a joke, i was told the the fx card was higher spec then 5200. Happy enough with the pc now but time will never ever get my custom again. If any of you boys could help me out with a restore disc, i'd be really greatful Cheers sean (in manchester)
OK, I've installed the Matshita update now. A bit worrying as it seems to be for an actual DVD-RAM drive (Cassette thingy) All the tools for that kind of drive get installed with it. Anyway, I've burnt to a cheapy DVD-RW as a test, which is OK. Disc played in my oldest DVD player - a Sony 735D.
g'day Have read the thread with some interest. I have had one of these drives for about 6 months & after a few hiccups, have had no trouble doing any type of dvd (movie, data etc.) or cd. A couple of hints. It must be the master drive, preferably by itself on the second IDE cable. You don't need a CD reader or writer if you have one of these drives, as they will do both functions ok, if a tiny bit slow. Use ATA100 cable, like they use with the fast hard drives now (cost less than A$10). Update the drivers from panasonic as has already been discussed here. I have used dvd copy express ok and other 321 varients. I don't like them as you have little control. I use dvd decrypter, dvd2one and nero. Takes a little longer, but just the movie & no other junk is copied, have full control over what goes on (I need it as my daughter likes forign films but needs english subtitles). In terms of media, it is picky. Obviously must be dvd-r media! It likes premium brands, but will work with some (not all) cheapies ("laser" brand here don't work). The cheap ones I use are A$1.70 each, the dvd cases cost almost as much. Try some of the cheap brands until you find ones that work, just don't buy 50 to start! It is a very versatile drive, if a little quirky. Oh, make sure you push the disc against the spring as you load, otherwise it may not recognise that the disc is there. regards (or should that be criky mate it's hot here!)
I have a time PC with a matshita DVD Drive. I initially had problems with the drive with the Instant CD/DVD software and it wasting cds, or as I believe they're called, 'coasters'. However, I bought Nero 6 Ultra edition and have burnt over 10 CDs without any probs at all. I have 2 types of media at the moment: Old (Imation 16x CD-R) and new (Verbatim 48x CD-R). Admittedly the PC has problems (like the AC97 Audio and surprisingly slow GPU clock) but After purchasing a decent sound card It runs well. I hope this helps any of you. By the way, I think asking TIME for support when you're on the basic warranty is an impossibility. Haven't tried, but I won't bother even if I need to.
Just to add, I would like to say I haven't tried burning to DVDs yet, so fingers crossed for that (discs are just too much at the moment, especially the DVD-RAM ones)but just to recap this is what I did to read DVDs and write to CD-RWs and CD-Rs perfectly: 1. Couldn't get Instant CD/DVD to work so dispensed with that and got a copy of Nero 6. 2. Got Nero 6 Ultra edition. 3. I am using Verbatim 48x CD-Rs. My CD-RWs are TDK 4x ones (about 2 years old now) 4. DO NOT MESS AROUND WITH DRIVERS If any of you have the same setup and are having probs, say so and maybe I can help, or maybe not. Who knows!
This is a good PC - made up of some good components. Its a shame it did a physical memory dump and almost cost me taking it back to the useless f**ks. I spent 6 hours one afternoon trying to fix it after using the reload disk which cost £60 didnt work !! I WAS OUT OF ACTION FOR A MONTH! It now runs off WinXP Pro, not home !! I installed that myself.Furthermore the DVD-R drive is gettng ripped out tomorrow. Pioneer A107 8x is £89.99 !! Also dont use anyone elses reload disk. I believe its individual to your computer. One final point dont waste money on the phone to them. I spent £10 on ten minutes of c**p and that to get my PC back working again I had to take out my printer cable !?!? USELESS !!! spacey
I have exactly the same PC as you have. I bought mine from Time aswell but I have not had any of the problems you have had. I have been able to burn DVD's using this MATSHITA SW-9581. Burned DVD-R succesfully Burned DVD-RW succesfully Burned CD-R I have not tried CD-RW. The writer is not that bad you just have to make sure you use Nero. Any Nero Burning Rom and make sure you have good media. I always use Datasafe Media (30 for £24). If you are interested in cheap media or any other computer component I suggest you attend Stratford (circle line) in London on Sunday at noon. They have a computer fair which is very very good. I have always said if you do not know about computers DO NOT PURCHASE A COMPUTER FROM TIME because they will not help you (trust me!). But if you are computer literate and know well enough what you are doing then you will be ok with purchasing TIME COMPUTERS. I hope yall find solutions for your problems. jinks
Hi to everyone above, I have read your stories and got some helpful tips and today I have successfully written a Traxdata DVD-RW on my awkward Matshita SW 9581 drive. It is much better not to feel alone with the frustrating Time Powerstation S3809 and all its foibles. Having searched for and read all about everyone's problems with it and Time we have started a thread on Romulus 2 (as here is not appropriate) to gather people's frustrating stories to see if we can club together and get our voices heard, either by Time themselves or a consumer watchdog or newspaper, magazine etc. Need to see how many people come forward, obviously the more that do the more clout we will have. I have counted 35 people above with this computer specifically and I cannot believe that it is the only one to be a problem, so if any of you have had problems with Time computers/The Computer Shop we would really appreciate hearing from you at address http://www.Romulus2.com go to Forums/Feedback Arena Forum and "Enter your complaints about Time Computers here". Please give us your support and thanks for all the help above
