Hi,

I still prefer to write DVD at 4x and CD at 12x, as I believe laser trace holes and bits are of a better quality, then at higher speeds. Also all writing media should be more tolerant at lower speeds.

In this forum most people talk about speeds up to 16x like being almost a mainstream. Is it that I'm a little oldfashioned or is it that people here like more racing and reliabilty is of second importance?

Is there still anyone else burning at 4x with new 12x-16x drive?

Slower speed burning has never been "better", unless you use slow-speed media.

Mosr CDRW burners produce the highest burn quality at 32x or even 40x. Most of the newest DVDRW drives produce the best quality at the media's rated speed. With the possible exception of 16x media, which often burns better at 12x in most drives.

All of this is dependand on the specific combination of drive and media. But there has never been any generalized advantage to burning slower.

I tend to burn data CDs @32x, audio CDs @16x, and as for DVDs, depends on the rated speed - I tend to burn 16x rated discs @12x *most* of the time, and 8x rated discs @8x (or 12x, if the discs/drive firmware will allow...usually only for testing purposes).

You'll get some varied responses here.

When you view some of the disc quality scans of media burned at high speed you realise just how good a burn is being produced.
If you tried to burn a quality media - eg. Taiyo Yuden T03 rated at 16x - at 4x the burn would be no better than if done at 12/16x & most likely far worse.

Hi,

Thanks for your replies.
Earlier lower CD writing speeds produced better results, as laser "had time" to burn fine holes with proper leading edges, while at higher speed hole edges were not as distintct and readers often read the sectors twice, resulting in a slower media reading speed and also a shorter archiving age of media.

Only if you're talking about 4x CDRW drives. This has not been true for newer drives since 32x burners were introduced. Again, talking about high-speed media.

Hi,

I'm still not convinced. As lower burning speed creates better holes with deep edges as on the added illustration, also lower writing speed disks must be more resistant to ageing and easier to read with less errors.

New drives have many different and powerful error correction systems, therefore tests may not reflect the absolute truth. While some of these may be eliminated some are by design and can't be switched off for testing time.
A year ago I did some quyality testing and measurements too but results were rather contraversial and I quit.

The problem may be also, that newer DVD drives firmware or even hardware doesn't support properly lower writing speeds, as manufacturers are racing too.

Right now I don't have any need for 16x as I have time to write at 4x (approx 30 min - to have a break), also DVD burner is on every PC now, so I can use another PC, if there are more then 1 DVD to write ...

Then make a compromise. Choose 8x which is nearly twice faster than 4x while not being so slower than 12x or even 16x. Most DVD burners and most (name branded) DVD media rated at 8x to 16x are good at 8x burning. I don't think manufacturers have enough time to test and tune 4x writing on their new products that consumers want to buy these days.

plextor's TA tests are perfect for this. and it shows that differences across drives are bigger than differences between speeds on the same drive.

I'm confused as to why you created this thread, if you already have all the answers.

Unless you're doing quality scans and comparing different media with different burn speeds, you have no idea whether you are getting better burns at 4x or any other speeds. All you really have is a big assumption based on old information. Also, burning a disc does not create "holes".

Thanks for your replies.
To my suprise this forum has centered around high writing speeds, which some years ago was considered not to produce best results, that inspired me to open this thead.
I hoped someone can provide new information or interesting web links.

As told the high writing speed itself isn't essential to me and I guess, also not to most of the freaks here.
Isn't most importantcrossplatform compatibility and longevity?

speed is also of no importance to me. My own testing with yuden000T02 8X is that I get the best results ( scans of 1 year old disks burned at 8X are much the same as the day they were "born") at 8X or 12X. I would not dream of burning at lower speeds. when I did burn at lower speeds all I got was higher levels of errors being reported.

Years ago both the media and the drives were still a very young technology, therefore both the industry and the users were still on a learning curve. This has leveled off a bit as the media and drives have improved, but the release of new firmwares to fix problems shows that the learning is still happening. Most modern and good quality 16x media can be burnt at much lower speeds without degredation of qaulity burning, though I think the same can't be said of the lower quality media.

I'm a bit late quoting this, but I was thinking the same!

I agree that high speed seems better in most cases - for certain disks a quality scan of them burnt at 8x is much worse than one burnt at 16x.

Cheers
WDA

Thanks for your suggestions.
I found also some more answers to mu high speed DVD burning hesitations...

starting from Part 1 of 3

http://www.opticaldisc-systems.com/M...dableDVD44.htm

an article about ciba plasmon dye? this should be interesting, to say the least.

nothing there to suggest that high speed recording is inherently bad. part 2/3 seems to have more interesting topics.