I recently purchased a Sony Dual/Double Layer External DVD Burner model number DRX-800UL. My other burner worked great until it went dead so thats when I bought the sony one. Basically the DVD Burner will not let me choose to burn at 4x. It keeps my settings to 8x or 16x. I am using Sony DVD+R that has speeds of 1x-8x. The burner can burn up to 16x. I've tried burning it with Shrink to Nero and Nero's buring software but neither of them worked. It doesn't have an installation disc. It kind of installed itself. If I'm leaving out any useful information do tell me.
When you hit the backup button in Shrink there is an option to for burn settings, did you go in there and try to set it at a lower speed? Have you tried burning with Decrypter and using the burn settings in this program? When you burn separately with Nero, does it not give you the option of a lower setting? Do the burns at 8X play?
I used the burn settings on shrink and all it gave me was 6x and 8x. Decrypter gave me the same option, as did Nero. When I burned with decrypter it said supported speeds were 6 and 8 but I chose 4x but when it started to burn it went up to 6x.
I am not familiar with this drive, but this may be some type of "extra feature" to more "efficiently" burn a disc. However, this coming from a Sony Drive, it could have been intentially put as an "Extra Feature" as a type of copy protection (high burn speed = lower quality DVD) Some OEM software does seem to automatically set burn speed, but it does not make sense that DVDD will not let you burn at 4x. Also, you say the discs are rated 1x-8x, but DVDD rates them at 6x-8x. It could be that the Sony Drive will only let you burn these discs at this speed. However there is a chance that you have the Sony DVD+R Discs made in Japan and I don't think that Sony Drives like these discs too much (even though they are top notch media).
couple of obvious questions here - is Nero up to date, ie not ancient and is the blank disc in drive before hitting burn ?
No, Taiwan is not Japan. Like I said, I am not familiar with the Sony Drive, or the Taiwan Sony Media even. It has to be something in the burner that is not letting you burn these discs at the lower speed. Does it come with software that lets you configure your burner. Some burners come with this. My burner automatically adjusts the burn speed, but never higher than what I set it at. I can choose to burn upto 52x on a DVD+RW (even though I have a 16x/16x/6x burner), but it will still burn it at about 2x depending on the disc. Also, my burner is pretty smart at rating disc speeds. It rates my 48x CDs at 32x, so that is the max it allows me to burn (although it averages about 29x), but it will always let me choose 1x. Some burners like Plextor Burners have a feature to burn a disc at Optimal speed (more than the top rated speed), see if the sony has a feature like this and turn it off if it does. I doubt that your Sony Discs are good enough to burn at higher speeds, so this is a pretty serious problem. I think at 6x you should be ok, but you will get some discs that will not play.
Too late, none of them play. I even tried going under properties for the burner and specifically set it to 4x.
I just purchased some Sony+R disks this afternoon and burned one in my Plexie. It gave me options of 4, 6 and 8X and nothing below, even though the disks say 1 to 4x speed on them. I am wondering if your drive just wants to burn these disks at this rate. IMHO I would try another brand of media and see how the drive does.
it's gotta be the brand. i used verbatim before and it gave me an option. you said yours said 1x to 4x speed, mines said 1x to 8x speed. i got the 50 pack. spoke to someone at http://www.dvdrwservices.com/. he told me to update nero but that didn't work so he just told me to call back tomorrow.
i've just done a quick test (in Nero) on MY Sony DRU-700A with latest firmware VY08 - TYG02 (Genuine!!) 8x -R 2 4 6 8 : only speeds available Verb [bold]datalifeplus[/bold] 8x -R 2 4 6 8 : only speeds available Verb [bold]datalifeplus[/bold] 16x +R 4 6 8 : only speeds available i believe it's down to firmware. i can't get at the codeguys site as it's down for maintenance otherwise i'd be able to use omnipatcher to sift thru my firmware, had been meaning to that for ages anyway.
Well, Sony media is not bad, but you have to look for Made in Japan Media (Not Taiwan). However, I read in a few places that Sony Burners, especially newer ones, do not like Taiyo Yuden discs (Made in Japan Sony Media, but I don't know what the Taiwan media is). I would suggest Verbatim for your next purchase of Media. I have not used Verbatim, but they are better for Sony Burners than Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim is Uber High Quality. There could also be an issue where, because Sony Branded the discs, the burner will burn them at faster speeds. Most normal people like to burn things as fast as possible. I see discs that are 8x that claim they can be burned at 12x on the label as an incentive to buy. Also, like I said about the Plextor, it has a feature that can burn 8x discs at upto 16x. I think your Sony has a feature like this on by default, but without a way to easily turn it off. I would consider this a user friendly feature, thus making it mean trouble. You could also try a firmware upgrade. I do not know if you have the latest, but sometimes this increases disc compatibility and changes acceptible burn speeds. Just make sure you look carefully at your drive and at all the firmware and select the proper one.
I use the Sony External Drive DRU800 XL and I have not had this problem. I always burn with TY's and Verbs, but I do use a few Sony's (1x-8x) and when I put the disk it I can change speed in Nero right before I hit the burn button. Have you tried media that is preset with 4x or lower...just to make sure it reads that disk properly. I love the Sony burner, recently when I tried to back-up two of my daughters movies they had some pretty good scratches, the Internal NEC couldn't get past these, yet the Sony had no trouble at all. I would suggest that you try a different media. I have the external Sony hooked up through firewire. MovieDud
You can try disabling "Smart Burn" feature and see if this helps. Most Sony 800s are in reality LiteOns. If the 800 is a LiteOn, it is an SOHW 1693S. I just ordered one (LiteOn 1693S) to accompany my DVR 109...
I've tried updating the firmware. The problem is the disc. I bought a 50 pack and now they are bascially useless. I had a few Verbatim disc prior to using the Sony discs on this burner. With the Verbatim it kept my previous option at 4x. Its the disc and how the burner recognizes it.
deathstar if you just brought the the 50 pack of sony dvd+r's and they are comming up with errors or anything you can take them back and exchange them.
Hi Deathstar, You asked me to stop by so I did ~ As you have been told, adjusting the burn speed through the software and if you have something as does my BenQ 1625 to enhance the burning speed, disable it and keep you burn at 4X. As for 6X, you should have N/P with that. Burning errors seem to attack at 8X and above. You seem to be in excellent hands ~ Sea ya all, Pete
