Hi all,
another great tale from the banks of BenQ:

I have a TDK DVD-RW 1x-2x which is thru some usage cycles, but less then 10. I erased it in my LG (full) and put it into the BenQ which did not recognize the disc. So I wrote it in the LG again and deleted it in the BenQ.

Now, if I look at the disc, the color of the recordable area is very different between a 2-3mm ring on the inner part of the area and the rest of the disc. When I put the disc into my LG now, the LG
a) needs a long time to recognize it
b) Nero CD/DVD Speed appears to hand when one clicks the "show disc info" button
c) after a long while (LED of LG burning permanently, meaning "access", opposed to LED dark which means "disc in/no disc in - inactive") the window comes up idetifying the disc as DVD-RW but without any other information (like manufacturer, media code, usage, layer, ...) and could not be written/erased/whatever by the LG (all menu items grayed out but a few, like "bitsetting" and "quit")

I am now trying a second full erase of that disc (which is a pain as it takes a long time) on the BenQ, but it appears that this one has trouble coping with Minus-media?

A fresh DVD-R put in the DW1620 needs a really long time to recognize, up to a minute, and sometimes the drive just does not stop blinking. When pressing eject, the drive LED goes dark, but no eject. Opening "My Computer", it hangs for a while, after that it is possible to eject the disc via right click.

Anybody observed this, too?

Very nice. Re-erased the disc in the benq. Now the "disc properties" when reading it on the LG is completely empty. Cool. What a POS - either the drive or the DVD-RW.

What ever you do DON'T write or erase a 1-2x DVD-RW (dash) on your BenQ 1620 (or Philips DVDR1640P).

BenQ can't write lower then at 2.4x, so your media will be ruined.!

I thought this was a "known problem", but apparently not...

Note. My 1620 is at the moment on Philips firmware

Why do they advertise their drive to be a DVD-R/RW drive then?
And are not able to let their firmware disallow that?
And how should one know that? From the "manual" (What manual haha)?
Nothing in the FAQ or knowledge base on their website as well. Yuck.

This really sucks IMO! *I* had no reason to know this was forbidden with the BenQ.
Sorry for asking, but Id like to ask BenQ what they thought when they did this.

PS: Fsck.
I used the erase disc function of Nero CD/DVD Speed and there is no speed selector, so I was not warned that the BenQ would do it at 2.4 speed.

PPS: What DVD-RW disc can the BenQ write then? Only 4x assumedly?
They could have really made a little bit more clear/visible

BTW: When I write a DVD-R or +R (not DL!) at 2.4x, will they be ruined too?

TIA for answer (now I feel stupid).

Check ala42´s burn speed table for B7T9 as one example.

Generic write strategy is used when firmware doesn't support media at 2.4x. This write strategy produces crap, to put it simple.

BTW, to topic check out this thread as well.

Finally this is how it looks in real world...

The Sony/RicohJpn W11 DVD+RW (4X) works well with my NEC 3500. Are you running the latest FW for the 1620?

I thought I read all the sticky threads (well kind of flew over it of course), but cannot remember having seen that warning.

It is not so bad besides the dead DVD-RW, but I would like to have known before - either by the manual or the website, but both dont tell one. As I will surely not buy any DVD-RW media again, not a problem.

Now it is clear to me what DVDIdentifier means when it says "2.4x speed [Invalid speed designator]" or the like when a DVD- is in

Is 2.4x to be legal for DVD+ or not? Dont get it from the media list.

And: My TDK DVD-RW is in the list: TDK502sakuM3 2x
Now if 2x does not work, why is it in the table at all?

furballi: Problem is DVD-Minus-RW only. +RW of course work great (hm, well, as great as RW can be - how much nice is -RAM).

furballi, we are in BenQ/Philips forum right now.
Spare your comments for some other time...
Legal... Yes, for +R (plus) media, according to ECMA.

Guess what - I was kind of happy that the BenQ needed only 25 minutes to delete the DVD-RW while my LG needs 33 or so Should have become suspicious then, I guess - but it was to late anyway.

Argg I am so damn stupid ... and the BenQ guys are really mean for not telling about this, but even putting that misleading data in the firmware ... and Nero CD/DVD Speed is a bad idea to use for -RW erasing, too.

EDIT:

Okay 2.4 is legal for + but according to the media thread, not really recommended. As I have problems with some DVD-Rs (Verbatim) not being read by my laptop when burned at 8x, but sometimes when burned at 4x, I wanted to use one of the writers to try to write them at 2x. Otherwise, the media has no use for me anyway (and I am nearly thru the cakebox).

So I nearly tried to write one of them with the BenQ at 2x ... which would probably have give 2.4x and another coaster.

Thanx for the help - and for the warning for the unwary (me)

so this is a case of user not knowing the facts....

Excuse my ignorance, but then maybe YOU can provide us some facts we are missing...

Sofar "the fact" is; BenQ 1620 is not able to burn DVD-RW´s at standardized burn speed.

I strongly disagree ... how can I be able to know them if BenQ does not tell me if the drive states to be DVD-R(W)? Since when is this forum the official BenQ "manual"? Even on the website, in FAQ, manuals, whatever, no info about this.

The fw could have prevented me from doing that, or Nero DVD Speed could (should?).

Anyway, I filled the DVD-RW with random data on my LG twice and did a disc quality scan and now it is Score 97, max PIE 13 (and it is where a tiny scratch is on the disc), avg 2.88, max PIF 6, avg 0.12, Jitter max 10.5, avg 9.04, 0 POF. So the disc is saved I assume

LG GSA-4163B

didnt cdfreaks article review showed -rw was bad???...i may have missed something

http://www.cdfreaks.com/article/159/6

I agree the Minus std is not as good as Plus, but I needed that -RW for compatibility reasons with another box. Before I buy more of them, though, I would replace the drive in the other computer! In the end, around 20 -RW equal one other DVD ReWriter for desktops, with laptops it is a much bigger problem (drives are expensive and a pain to change).

But yes, almost everything I buy now is Plus - I only keep a couple of Minus R and RW for testing (like I have some -RAMs for the LGs, most of them to test the drive(s) than to actually use.

I will also get one -RW 4x for testing now, that one I can write with the BenQ. -RW is only half of the fun if you can write them with one pc but only read with the other

I have also had troubles with DVD-RW :-( In my case the disc was identified as a TDK601saku, I burned it the first time (from my BenQ) and everything was wonderful - I watched what I had done on my stand-alone player, and put the disc away.

About a week later I erased the disc, and burned another thing on to it. When I went to watch it on my standalone player, the player refused *sigh*. I took the disc to my computer, and tried MediaPlayer. It refused. I erased/copied again, and MediaPlayer refused to play it again. Next I tried WinDVD, and it did play the disc for me. MediaPlayer reuses with an error that the disc has an incompatible protection system on it.

DVD Decrypter identifies the disc as having "CPRM" protection. The material I have burned on to the disc has no, and never has had any protection. Somehow, the disc now has a seemingly permanent thing set on it saying it has CPRM, and nothing I can do will erase it. I am guessing this is somehow related to BenQ's mangling DVD-RW's, but does anyone have a clue as to how I might be able to fix it ?

You have hit the nail on the head, the BenQ 1620 cannot burn DVD-RW at a standard speed of 2x it uses 2.4x. The reason for this is the fact that the Philips Nexperia 7860E chipset does not natively support the -R format. I am assuming -R was added via co processors or addon chips or via software, this could explain why the BenQ drive is much better suited to +R. Due to the chip not natively supporting -R, DVD-RW media that is certified for 2.0x is written at 2.4x just like the +R/RW media standard. Since the chip is designed for +R it means that minimum write speed starts at the lowest +R standard write speed which is 2.4x. The Nexperia chipset is an incredible chipset and has been used since the BenQ 1600 days and has been used up to the BenQ 1625, it may even be used in the BenQ 1640(*) drive but that has yet to be confirmed. It truely is a powerful chip and has had many speed increases via firmware updates or drive releases.

(*)The BenQ 1640 most likely uses the 7860E Nexperia chipset as no new versions of the chip have come out yet and the fact that philips have created such a versatile chip. (http://www.semiconductors.philips.co...dvd_recording/)

1640 uses a different Nexperia chip. It has a new designation but looks more like a revision instead of a totally new design.

Yeah i thought it may be more a of a revision just like saying there are different revesions of Athlon processors (speeds) but its still a very versatile chip.

Makes you wonder if the 1640 firmware would work on a 1620? (But I bet it won't).

hmmm, my benq 1620 refused to touch a Sony DVD-RW 1x disk I had .... would not write or erase it or anything.

Heh, I'm not surprised.
If you read whats been posted above, you will understand.

My 1640 burns 1x -RW at 1.2x.