I made a backup copy of Miami Vice and on the common settings I had selected 16x as the write speed, which is no problem since both of my HP 740 DVD writers "internal and external" can read and write at 40x .
Anyway to make a long story short when it started to write it asked me for a write speed which I had already picked one in common settings but anyway when I went to choose one I did not have the option for 16x?, there was 4x,8x,12x,slowest,fastest, and recommended.
Why ask for a write speed if it as already be selected in common settings ? is this something that will be fixed in the next version ?

Thanks
Tim

Hi Tim

The write speeds in the pulldown are put there based on the media and drive capabilities as reported by the system to the VSO burning engine. If 16x is missing it probably means that 1)the blank media does not support it or 2)the burner firmware or VSO can't find a burn strategy for your media/burner combination that supports that speed. Try reducing to 8x. I believe 40x is a CD burn speed.

Hi Signals

Thanks for the info and the reply

Tim

Hi Tim

Post and let us know if it works out. Good luck.

here is an update on this matter
the data sheet for my burners say that the write speed are as follows

Drive
Performance
• Write speed:
DVD+R up to 16X (CAV); DVD+RW up to 8X (ZCLV); DVD-R up to
16X (CAV); DVD-RW up to 6X (ZCLV); DVD+R Double Layer up to 8X
(ZCLV); DVD-R Dual Layer up to 4X (CLV); CD-R up to 40x (CAV);
CD-RW up to 32x (ZCAV)


• Read Speed:
DVD-ROM up to 16X (CAV); CD-ROM up to 40x (CAV)

As you can see the write speed for DVD+R is 16x
which I was using DVD+R 16x for this task and my burner supports

Tim

PS... So I do not understand why I was asked for a write speed when I had choose 16x in common settings and 16x was not in the dropdown

Think of the mfgr spec write speed as the maximum the drive can attain under ideal conditions; a big part of "ideal" is the drive firmware recognizing the blank media and knowing how to burn it and what speeds produce good results for the particular blank media you have inserted. Without that data in the burner's firmware, the drive tells the burning software it doesn't know the media and to default to a lower speed that will likely produce a good burn with most generic media. This is why, even if you set 16x in Common Setings, it will be overridden by the drive firmware/burner software to a lower speed, which causes Fab to prompt you for a new write speed , since the one you specified is not available.

The only solution is to keep your drive's firmware up to date and experiment with different media to see what works best for you and your burners. I have a LiteOn burner whose firmware is almost a year old and it does the same thing with media: tells me I can only burn Brand A DLs at 2.4x even though they are labelled 8x discs. And my HP 640, about a year older than the LiteOn, is now a doorstop.

One final note: I have alot fewer problems playing backup DVDs on my standalone player when I burn them at slower speeds. I burn most everything at 4x or 8x; others disagree with this approach, your mileage may vary. It's just what I know works for my burner/media/player.

Hi Signals

I want to thank you for helping me on this issue

What you have told me and all the other help that I got from other members since I joined CD Freaks I have learned alot

Oh BTW love the bit about the DOORSTOP

Tim

Tim I think you will find this forum extremely helpful and for the most part friendly place. I was happy to help you as others have helped me, and hope you will help others in the future. Key thing from my last post: keep experimenting with media types until you find something that works for your specific setup of software/burner/player. If nothing works, get a new burner. It's the rubber feet on the HP that make it such a great doorstop. Very difficult to dislodge.