I have recently purchased an Optorite DD0201 DVD dual format writer that I am on the whole fairly pleased with. I also purchased a tub of 25 Bulpaq orange top 4X DVD-R media as I had read good reviews of the media and it is fairly cheap. The first tub of this media was superb and I only made a few coasters figuring out how to backup my DVD's at first. Thinking this was decent media I bought another tub of 25 when the first ran out and I have had nothing but problems. My Denon DVD player takes ages to initially access the backup DVD and when it does eventually play it often pauses several times. Although it did sometimes pause very occasionally with the first tub of the media nothing like as many times as it does now! Power DVD also crashes with errors often saying to check if the disc is damaged or dirty. I also bought a couple of Datawrite red top x4 DVD-R media and these are also behaving in a similar fashion. I have never changed anything on my PC so I tend to think it is a media problem and I am awaiting delivery of some more expensive Ritek DVD-R media to see if this helps. I backup my DVD's using DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink (sometimes I don't bother with Decrypter and just use shrink) then burn using Nero 6 ultra as a ISO/UDF DVD ROM. I am little dubious of upgrading the writers firmware as it was working fine at first and also the Optorite home page is total rubbish and their windows based flashing program does not work! The instructions for flashing it via DOS are absolute rubbish (wish I had bought a writer from a well known brand, Sony etc!) so I am not keen to do it. My writer uses firmware version 2.16 but there is a 2.17 on the website but the instructions suck as stated earlier. I just thought if I find some decent cheap media stick with it, but I think I have a bad batch, I have also slowed the write speed down to 1x speed which makes no difference either. Anybody on here using an Optorite DVD burner that can recommend decent media that it likes? Or other problems that may be causing the problems that I am having? Thanks
wokeye, go to www.dvdrhelp.com and then to section on dvd writers. Your drive is there with something like 125 comments and also shows a list of media and how each one performed. Hope this helps Jerry
if you are indeed still looking at this thread then here goes. I have used Verbatim 2XDVD-R and I am currently using Ritek 4XDVD-R. I tried Packard Bell DVD+RW but the burner did not like them. Make sure you have the latest firmware, you can get this from www.optorite.com, there are many compatability problems fixed with updated firmware. Just be careful, a bad firmware flash will render your drive unsuable forever. good luck
wokeye, Just read your posting to the forum. I just need to know at what speed to you manage to burn the datawrite red disks. I have purchased the same datawrite 4x red v2 disks and don't understand why i can only write at 2x speed. i have also updated the firmware on my drive but this has not solved the problem. i am using my drive within an external caddy with my laptop, is this the reason for the slower speed. would be grateful in receiving a reply, cheers,
Then it sounds as simple as your disks have been package incorrectly. There are some disks out there at the moment that are not what they say, they came from Ritek and are Grade 'B' so if yours disks are infact these then the maybe some issues with how long the disk lasts. Check out this thead. http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/22304
I have the same burner (optorite dd201) and I bought the same discs (orange bulkpaq 25 pack). They worked perfect. Bought another pack and ended up with 25 frisbies that play 3/4 of a movie before locking up. I personally think that there's some dodgy batches of these discs going around. I have now got a box of Ritek G04 discs that burn successfully but with problems. I have so far only tried them using Nero and the buffer constantly runs out, they end up taking over an hour to burn. Anyway, I've dug out an old box of Mirror discs that work perfect but only burn at 2X. If you find a disc that works properly at 4X in our burner please let me know. BTW. I updated the firmware after getting probs and I'm now on f/w 2.3
I am using the DD0201 with f/w 2.30E. I am not having any problems burning anytihng that uses the Ritek G04 Dye. They take 15mins to burn a full 4.3Gig @ 4X and I have had no coasters so far.
I have the Optorite DVD-RW DD0201 and need software that basically allows drag & drop backup to the drive. I have tried Roxio (adaptech) DirectCD version 5 and it tries to format the DVD-RW, but fails on verification. I think it's specifically written for CD's only, but I had to try it I have also tried Roxio's Easy CD/DVD creator version 6 (the newest one), but the Optorite drive is not supported by this software. Does anybody know of a solution before I go broke trying to come up with one? Thanks.
You need Nero 6. Its brilliant software, support drag and drop etc. You can download an evaluation version from www.nero.com (or there will be one in software on this site). This way you can try the software and don't need to shell out more cash if it is no good, having said that I am 99% sure nero is the package for you.
Thanks Bloke. By your suggestion, I used a registered version of Nero 5.5 that I already had and by OptoRite's GREAT tech support by email, I used it in conjuction with Nero InCD that they suggested and it's working perfectly.
