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Are They All This Slow ?

Stand alone DVD and Blu-ray Disc players and recorders.

Are They All This Slow ?

Postby dvd_newbie on Sun Dec 31, 2006 2:16 am

I have a LiteOn HD-A760GX DVR with Hard Disk and DVD burner.

The DVD burner will only burn DVD-R and DVD+R at 4X speed even when using 16X discs.

I've tried several different brands of discs, all max out at 4X speed in this unit even though the discs are marked 16X.

This means if I want to save a 2hr. program from Hard Disk to DVD it takes 30 minutes to burn the DVD.

Are all of the Hard Disk + DVD burners out there only as fast as 4X speed?

Why are they using such slow drives when PC DVD burners are running at 16X and 18X for DVD-R and DVD+R?

Thanks for your input.
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Re: Are They All This Slow ?

Postby bill on Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:32 pm

dvd_newbie wrote:Are all of the Hard Disk + DVD burners out there only as fast as 4X speed?


Thanks for your input.


Hi

I really don't know very much about set top recorders but 4x might be all that you get for your unit...

Have you tried the 12-13-2006 firmware available at LiteOns web site? There isn't any description regarding what may improve but it might be worth a try. Link- choose the download tab.
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Postby Dartman on Tue Jan 02, 2007 12:00 am

My old Panasonic e80h machine only does 1 to 2x so be happy. My newer Polaroid chinese/philips one does 2x maybe 4x but is faster then the older unit.
I think some of the major brands have true high speed recording and MIGHT do 8 to 16 now. But you pat a premium for the name and better features so you have to decide how much it's all worth to go faster.
My old machine also only does minus and RAM media, most newer ones are true multis and will at least do plus and minus flavors though many wont do DL.
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Postby dvd_newbie on Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:55 pm

Yes, I did the update of the firmware. The response of the unit to remote commands is faster,
but copying to and from dvd-r or dvd+r remains at 4X speed.

Very recently PC World added dubbing speed values to it's review of the HD-A760GX and 4 other Hard Disk Drive DVD Burner Set Top units. The LiteON was listed as 4X, the Panasonic was 8X and the Pioneer, Philips, and Toshiba were all 16X. They did not review the Sony nor the JVC, probably because of their high prices.

I contacted LiteOn. They tell me that the drive is a 16X, but does not really work at 16X. They claim it will work at 8X if I use 8X dvd-r or dvd+r. But they say that if I use 16X discs it will default to 4X. I can not even find 8X dvd-r or dvd+r anymore. My store shelves only have the 16X discs. Also it only reads my discs at 4X when copying from dvd-r or dvd+r back to the Hard Disk Drive.

Has anyone ever heard of a drive rejecting a disc certified for a faster speed and defaulting to a minimal value for both read and write?
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Postby Ian on Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:59 pm

dvd_newbie wrote:Has anyone ever heard of a drive rejecting a disc certified for a faster speed and defaulting to a minimal value for both read and write?


Yep, most drives will default to a certain writing speed if the media is not supported. In Lite-On's case, its only 4x.
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Postby dodecahedron on Wed Jan 03, 2007 6:17 am

dvd_newbie wrote:They tell me that the drive is a 16X, but does not really work at 16X.

what kind of crappy answer is that ???
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One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie
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Postby Dartman on Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:04 pm

It's the truth. Most of the newer set tops use a normal fast drive like the Pioneers use whatever is current for that machine, then they cripple it in firmware to only write so fast and not support all features the drive supports.
Friend had a earlier pioneer that would only do 4x and not support minus or dual layer even though it had a 108 in it that could do all of that by itself.
My polaroid has a philips loader type drive that does all formats but dual layer. When I tried a similar stock type drive it tried to work but would only do 4x and couldn't recognize Dual layer at all.
I guess they don't want to give us everything unless we buy the top machines they make.
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Postby dvd_newbie on Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:30 pm

So, if I had instead bought a Pioneer DVR-640H-S I'd probably be posting the same question ?

And why can't it read at faster than 4X speed when copying from dvd to hard drive?

You know this wouldn't be so aggravating if a person could still buy a well made VCR, but most of the VCR's still being made are really poorly made.

When I did the last firmware update, it seemed to be a two part process. First it displayed A-Update 1~100% then it did a D-Update 1~100%.

I tried to repeat the update process. The second time through it only did the A-Update.

I'm guessing the A-Update was for the Hard Drive Controller circuit and the D-Update was for the DVD burner itself.

Maybe we should all go back to the Grammaphone, as long as you didn't drop the cylinder it worked :-)
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Postby Dartman on Wed Jan 03, 2007 2:45 pm

The newest Pioneers Panasonics and maybe others do 16x now I'm pretty sure so no you probably wouldn't be posting here, you'd just be happy, except for the much emptier wallet.
I just don't buy most LiteOn gear anymore, just not good enough burners in the DVD area for me. Their newest ones are much better since they got BenQ style stuff from their buyout, but I doubt that helps your particular unit.
Try here for much info on about any A/V gear made http://www.avsforum.com/ also here http://www.videohelp.com/
If your frustrated enough to buy something else these places will help you make a good choice for your needs and budget.
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Postby dvd_newbie on Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:05 pm

Thank you for your reply and for the links.

I have noticed that on the pc type optical drives, user feedback to forums I've looked at in the past few days has been pretty negative across many manufacturers including LiteON. I guess if a company engages in a price war and drives are selling so cheap, quality control suffers greatly. What pc type optical dvd burners have you found to be reliable recently?

I'll take a long hard look at those forums in the links you sent me before I buy any other tv set top dvr burners w/hdd to avoid a similar surprise to the LiteOn. Overall I like it. Just wish it burned faster. 4X speed is awfully slow.

Incidently, I bought 8X dvd+r's and gave them a try.

They still burn and read at 4X speed.

I am pretty well convinced that the 760GX firmware is telling the burner to run no faster than 4X speed.
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Postby Dartman on Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:46 pm

You can check our favorite burner polls Ian was posting once a month. Most folks like the Pioneer 111 and the BenQ 1655 drives pretty well, I do, I have both.
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Postby dvd_newbie on Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:20 pm

Thank you. I appreciate the information.

My life is complicated enough without having to fight with optical drives like in the days of 1x CD-R burners. I remember wondering if incantations and offerings were needed to avoid making coasters back then. :-)

I'll choose from the "user approved" and "user recommended" lists. :-)

Any preference between the two you mentioned ?
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Postby vinnie97 on Fri Jan 12, 2007 6:36 am

You'll have a hard time finding the BenQ, no longer in production.
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Postby dvd_newbie on Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:14 pm

Thanks vinnie97.

I guess I'll have to check the latest polls to see what is and what isn't in favor and in production.

Why do the manufacturers make it so darn difficult to buy something that works reliably?
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Postby stix on Sat Jan 13, 2007 3:25 am

You may be able to find some 8X dvd-r or dvd+r at Big Lots.
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