Speedy DVD Burns – Part 3: Burns Gone Wrong

When you burn quite a few discs, especially at high speeds, there is always the chance of something going wrong. This post looks at some of the non-high-speed burns due to firmware bugs, slower burns from my ailing SOHW-832S and the various burns gone wrong that the burner tried to save (often with surprisingly good results). Results This post will cover 21 total discs, the summary of which is below: The actual numbers probably don’t matter as much as the graphs, so instead of putting them into a separate appendix, the graphs are placed into the post this time instead. SOHW-832S + CMC MAG M01@8x The ailing drive managed an 8x burn, but it seems it wasn’t very aggressive as there were many opportunities for the drive to change-up in speed but it did not. Turns out the old drive didn’t do a good job according to all the drives, but the disc was still readable, surprisingly. SOHW-832S + MCC 004@8x Will the MCC disc fare any better? It also managed an 8x burn …. The result is fully readable with occasional dips, but the result has quite a bit of jitter. The inner-zone was done poorly and it seems every OPC pause comes with a relinking “spike”. This suggests that the drive’s “timing” of writing after a pause is not quite as accurate as newer drives where there are no such spikes. SOHW-832S + MCC 004@8x I decided to give it a second try just in case the drive was having issues – the buffer levels on the previous burn were a bit suspicious. Similar to the previous, the inner zone is the worst and exceeds limits, while jitter is a bit high. It’s still impressive that the burner is able to write these discs, given that its own quality scans look so bad! SOHW-832S + RITEK F16@8x It seems even the Ritek managed an 8x burn on the SOHW-832S. The dye used in the disc is likely very compliant, so it managed a fairly acceptable burn at least by DW1640’s judging. The DH16A6L was not as happy. The outer zone did have an issue it seems and all TRTs have a bit of a dip. It’s all…