Apple not selling 2x DVD-Rs anymore?
I was looking at the Apple Store online and at my local SoHo retail store, and I've noticed that they don't sell 2x DVD-R's anymore. They only stock 4x and 8x discs, now. Since my PowerBook's SuperDrive is a 2x drive, won't this be a problem since 2x drives only burn 4x and 8x media at 1x speed?
This is taken from the Apple Store on the 4x and 8x media product page:
This is taken from the Apple Store on the 4x and 8x media product page:
Quote:
A 2x SuperDrive writes to 4x and 8x media at 1x, so to obtain the fastest DVD recording performance for your 2x SuperDrive, we recommend using 2x DVD-R media to write at full 2x DVD-R speed.
A 2x SuperDrive writes to 4x and 8x media at 1x, so to obtain the fastest DVD recording performance for your 2x SuperDrive, we recommend using 2x DVD-R media to write at full 2x DVD-R speed.
Comments
I do find it strange that they don't sell 2x media even though the PowerBooks have 2x DVD-R drives. They should keep it available from their own store as long as they are selling Macs with 2x drives.
EDIT: DVD media is weird. With CD-R media, you can buy stuff rated for 52x and burn it at 32x in a 32x drive. Even buy 52x media and burn it at 16x in a 24x drive. With DVD media, though, the media's rated speed has to be less than or equal to your burner's speed, otherwise it burns at 1x. You can burn slower media at a slower speed in a fast drive (i.e. 4x media in an 8x drive at 4x).
Originally posted by Dr. John Zoidberg
I was looking at the Apple Store online and at my local SoHo retail store, and I've noticed that they don't sell 2x DVD-R's anymore. They only stock 4x and 8x discs, now. Since my PowerBook's SuperDrive is a 2x drive, won't this be a problem since 2x drives only burn 4x and 8x media at 1x speed?
This is taken from the Apple Store on the 4x and 8x media product page:
I have some Ritek 4x DVD -R disks that I bought before I had the Mac, and they burn at 2x using Toast.
EDIT: DVD media is weird. With CD-R media, you can buy stuff rated for 52x and burn it at 32x in a 32x drive. Even buy 52x media and burn it at 16x in a 24x drive. With DVD media, though, the media's rated speed has to be less than or equal to your burner's speed, otherwise it burns at 1x. You can burn slower media at a slower speed in a fast drive (i.e. 4x media in an 8x drive at 4x)
Not true! I burn 4x DVD-Rs at 2x all the time in my PowerBook G4 12" 867mhz. Don't know if it's related to the fact that I needed a firmware patch to make it go from 1x to 2x.
Originally posted by drumsticks
This might be silly, but how do you know how fast the disc (CD or DVD) is ACTUALLY burning if you are using the built-in burner in Finder or any of the iApps?
Your not alone, I have the same question.
Look up DVD speed specs. See where your calculated bps falls.
Originally posted by PBG4 Dude
Data size / time to burn = bits per second
Look up DVD speed specs. See where your calculated bps falls.
I can't find the spec.'s for bps for my ModeltMATSHITA DVD-R UJ-816
RevisiontDXJ3. Did a google and looked on Apple's site but alas I couldn't find the information.
Originally posted by rickag
I can't find the spec.'s for bps for my ModeltMATSHITA DVD-R UJ-816
RevisiontDXJ3. Did a google and looked on Apple's site but alas I couldn't find the information.
From http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.2
DVD drive speed Data rate Disc write time*
Equivalent CD rate CD reading speed
1x 11.08 Mbps (1.32 MB/s) 53 min. 9x 8x-18x
2x 22.16 Mbps (2.64 MB/s) 27 min. 18x 20x-24x
4x 44.32 Mbps (5.28 MB/s) 14 min. 36x 24x-32x
5x 55.40 Mbps (6.60 MB/s) 11 min. 45x 24x-32x
6x 66.48 Mbps (7.93 MB/s) 9 min. 54x 24x-32x
8x 88.64 Mbps (10.57 MB/s) 7 min. 72x 32x-40x
10x 110.80 Mbps (13.21 MB/s) 6 min. 90x 32x-40x
16x 177.28 Mbps (21.13 MB/s) 4 min. 144x 32x-40x
* "Disc write time" is the approximate theoretical time it takes to write a DVD-5, which doesn't include software overhead, time to write leadout, etc.
Thank you very much for the information, now I'm off to my calculator.
Just curious, would you recommend any DVD-R media for my 2x Superdrive, since Apple no longer sells 2x DVD-R media?
Originally posted by rickag
PBG4 Dude
Thank you very much for the information, now I'm off to my calculator.
Just curious, would you recommend any DVD-R media for my 2x Superdrive, since Apple no longer sells 2x DVD-R media?
rickag
Glad I could help!
I've only used Apple labeled 2X media so I'm in the same boat as you are. \
Hopefully someone will come in and recommend some good 2X media.
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pi..._2004Feb20.pdf
You can remedy the situation. Flash your drive to the Official Pioneer firmware. The recent OSX flasher can be used to flash to Official Pioneer firmware as well as the hacked version of firmware. Or just use Toast. Of course, with the 8x burning DVR-107 selling for less than $100, you might be tempted to just upgrade
The Firmware Site
PowerBook Firmware
I added this for the PowerBook people, however let it be known, I have never flashed a PowerBook's firmware
Thanks for posting this information. It may help out a lot of people, but I have a Matshita drive. Oh, well, I guess I'll try some third party DVD-R media this weekend. I'll try and report back results in this thread.
I really don't see where you have a problem. The 816 should burn Apples 4x media at 2x without any alteration. Apple's 4x media is the same price as the old 2x media. Therefore, you can burn as you always did for the same price. Now those with the 815 would see a benefit with the new firmware as it would enable 2x burning. Really, the way I see it, the only people affected by the 'burn 4x at 1x' are those with the Apple Pioneer Desktop Superdrives 103 and 104 with the Apple firmware.
Originally posted by TomB
Yep, I saw that you have the 816. And, I added that PowerBook Firmware link just for you \
I really don't see where you have a problem. The 816 should burn Apples 4x media at 2x without any alteration. Apple's 4x media is the same price as the old 2x media. Therefore, you can burn as you always did for the same price. Now those with the 815 would see a benefit with the new firmware as it would enable 2x burning. Really, the way I see it, the only people affected by the 'burn 4x at 1x' are those with the Apple Pioneer Desktop Superdrives 103 and 104 with the Apple firmware.
Oh great googly moogly. I read your reply too late. Saturday I went to Fry's to look for 2x media, no luck there. So I went to Compusa and the Apple rep recommended their 2x media and said it was made by TDK. At $40 for 50 2x DVD-R blanks, I thought what the heck and bought them.
I burned a home video on one of them and they seem to work OK. Hope I didn't buy a package of 50 potential problems.
Forgot to ask, if Apple's 4x media will in fact burn @ 2x speeds in my superdrive, why would Apple add that disclaimer in the "learn more about this product" section for their 4x media. Specifically they state that owners of the 2x Superdrives should use 2x media because their 4x media will only burn a2 1x speeds in these drives.