I have been having problems with the dvd movies that I have burned with my new plex drive. I used dvd shrink to rip and encode the dvd's then I tried using the same proggie to burn and I also tried to use Nero (6.0.0.11) to burn and recieve the same results. The problem is that after the dvd is burned (with no errors) the video will pause from time to time for approximately 3-5 seconds. I am unsure whether this is a read or write problem. I read through the other posts that referenced the same drive and made sure that dma was enabled on the drive and I also have the newest fw version for the drive. I would appreciate any suggestions as I just spent quite a bit of money for this drive and dvd+r spindles for it and would like to put the drive to good use.

-I have burned dvd data discs and had no problem, though they burn very slow. It takes approximately 15-18 mins to burn. I thought that maybe the slow burns were because dma was not enabled, but upon investigation I discovered that it was. I did notice that the buffer for the burn would drop to 0 then refill. I think my system is fast enough for the burner, but maybe Im mistaken.
-The dics I am using are Ridata 4x dvd+r (which burn at 8x according to dvd shrink and NERO proggies)
-My system specs are as follows:
Tyan Tiger Mp Mobo (s2460)
2 AMD 1.4 GHz processors
512 Mb of pc2100 ddr reg ram
2 WD hard drives (100Gig and 120Gig), both with over 50% free space
GeForce 3 Ti200 vid card
Soundblaster live sound card
Lg DVD/CDRW drive
Plextor PX-712A DVDRW drive

What dvd player are you getting all the pauses from?

Welcome to the forum KeyserSoze,

What the brand of media you're using? Your problem could be caused by a number of factors: 1) Your DVD player simply cannot reliably read DVDR media, 2) The media you're using is of low quality, 3) Your Plextor drive isn't working as it should be. You could try lowering the recording speed. What I find interesting is that you say that DMA is enabled for your drive but during the recording session the buffer of the drive drops to 0. This is not something that should happen, your system should be more than fast enough. Please tell us how your drive is connected to your system. Also, try upgrading your Nero version to the latest version. The first releases of Nero 6 are known to cause problems with Plextor DVD recorders.

Burn a DVD with Nero and make a data verification at the end Can you complete the verification sucessfully without any corruption?

Lets start with the Usual Suspects

My guess is that you get these pauses because of high errors on the disc. If you do a Plextools scan I think you'll see some pretty hefty error rates ... is the same happening if you write the disc at 4x or 6x?

Regarding the buffer problem, have you recently defragmented your HDD? Heavy fragmentation coupled with burning small files could lead to this, even on powerful systems as yours ... are you caching the small files in Nero? Also If you have other applications accesing the disc and the disc is also fragmented, this could explain it. If writing large files is better this could well be the case.

Is there any on-board Promise controller, and if that's the case, where is your drive connected?

Ridata media ... let me guess ... RITEK R03 Rev 02 right? I've got pretty bad burns with this media on my drive (mind you, this might not be representative as my unit was faulty). So it could be the media as well ... is the same thing happening with other types of media too?

Finally, regarding your system ... very nice and yes, that should be more than fast enough!!!

@CVS
Do you have received your third and now tested/handpicked 712A?? If so, how is the burningquality??

Not yet ... I've sent it last Thu via DHL's overnight service (Plextor should have received the unit last Fri), and nothing yet ...

I've checked DHL's website and it is not very clear if they have delivered the unit to Plextor yet, or against any odds is still somewhere in DHL's Bruxells depot and they forgot about it ... so I've made some enquiries with DHL yesterday and today, and they're running a consignment tracing ... They'll let me know the outcome tomorrow ... hopefully they haven't lost it, as I've sent Plextor 10 discs (2 x 5 types) together with the blooming unit, so they can test the new unit before they'll send it!

Anyhow, even if it turnes out that they've forgot to deliver it to Plextor.be and the parcel is just left to rot somewhre in a warehouse in Belgium, I must say I am definitely the "luckyest" man on earth ...

First two bad drives in a row, then a hefty DHL delay (let's hope is not worse than that ) ... let's hope for the best. I'll keep you posted.

I would check the dvdplayer first, see if the player is capable to play DVDR/RW. I assume that you play it at a standalone dvd player. Some player will produce "skip or pause" playback if the (a) media, (b) burning method or software, or (c) booktype, is not compatible. Unfortunately Plextor does not support DVD-ROM book type... My 5 yr old Sony dvd player has this skipping problem with dvds I burn, but my Pioneer does not.

If you playback @ Plextor 712 drive with pause error, then that's another problem.

GF:
Thanx 4 the warm welcome. I am using Ritek R05.
langsuyar:
Yes i can complete the data verification sucessfully.
CVS:
My hd's are frequently defragged. No other aps are accessing the dvd. No onboard promise contoller that I am aware of. P.S. thanx for the compliments regarding my sys.

I think that I finally found out what the problem was and it was the dma issue. Its kinda strange though, cause I had originally checked to see if the dma setting was applied in plextools and it was. However, I unchecked it and rechecked it then restarted and all of a sudden the drive worked fine. Go figure. So now I am happy with my drive, but some of the dvd's I am copying do not have sound or subtitles on some of the chapters. Neway thats an issue for the recording/copying forum.

Thanks for all the help to all of you. You sharing your knowlegde is much appreciated. Thats why u guys r the pros huh.

KeyserSoze: Glad to hear it worked out. Once I have the same issue, no subtitles, but since upgrading to the latest DVDShrink ver 3.2.0.15, no problem anymore.

Good to hear you solved your problem KeyserSoze, thanks for letting us know!