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[Shareef187]

I'm just wondering if there's any way to confirm what exactly is causing my DVD burner to do what it is doing.

Firstly, the burner is a Pioneer 110D. I have just upgraded the firmware to 1.41 recently (after having 3 or 4 bad burns prior to it). Other than that, I haven't done any tweaking/optimizing/configuring (if there is any such thing).

Secondly is the media. Before, I was using Memorex brand DL DVD's and did not have any bad burns (at least not like what I'm currently experiencing), but I recently picked up a spindle of Ritek DL DVD's because they are cheaper, and I thought they were one of the better brands you could use.

Finally, I'm using DVD Decrypter to burn. I have the layer break set properly (like I said, I have burnt successfully a few times before when I was using the Memorex), so it's not a configuration error.

Now, I can explain what's happening. It's simple, really. Most of the time, during the burning process, the DVD burner just seems to stop writing. It keeps stopping at 21%, or 50% and hangs.

I know most likely it's the media, and that I should be using Verbatim, but it's difficult to find them at a good price locally (in Toronto). That's why I tried the Ritek, because I can just walk to the store and buy them whenever I need more, and Verbatim's I'll either need to pay through the nose ($50 for 15, except for the odd sale at Futureshop), or order them online, and wait for delivery.

But if it's the media, would that really cause my burner to just stop writing mid-burn? I always figured it would burn completely, and just not work.

Can anyone please confirm if there's anything else that could be the problem?

Edit: I just took a look at the log of one of my bad burns, and it says the following:
W 21:01:42 Failed to Write Sectors 1914528 - 1914559 - Power Calibration Area Error
Is this a problem with the burner itself?

This post has been edited by Shareef187: Feb 13 2008, 04:34 AM

[frito11]

try verbatim disks, if they fail to write then i would say your burner has died, at least for burning dl disks

one thing that i see in your data there is that

W 21:01:42 Failed to Write Sectors 1914528 - 1914559 - Power Calibration Area Error

the layer break is at 1913760 and that location is right after the layer break and at the start of the 2nd layer, witch leads me to believe that your laser is prolly going out and can no longer focus correctly to write the 2nd layer, i have seen many set top dvd players exhibit this behavior with reading DL original dvd videos when their  
lasers give up, could also just be dirty too, especially if you smoke around your pc, i know from experience as i have killed many dvd players in my years

also another easy thing to try is a differient program i personaly use imgburn

[thili55]

Burner is dieing. Happened to my previous two burners got the exact same thing. Time for a new one.

[piggymouth]

I would think that if your burner was "dead" or "dying" that it would not burn anything at all.

I am having the same issue but it only happens with DL Discs. I can burn DVD+R, DVD-R & CD-R just fine.

So if my burner was truly dead it wouldn't burn any of these formats.

To fix the problem of the burner quitting in the middle of a job I changed the speed. I have noticed that even DVD+R DL media rated at 4X speed won't burn completely at 4X. It quits in the middle of a job.
I always burn at 2.4X and it seems less likely to error out with the power calibration error. This may not work for you but it worked for me.

I use CloneCD to burn my 360 backups. Others have used Imgburn. Both work fine.

Good Luck.

[cory1492]

If the laser is weak or dirty in a burner you will definitely start getting troubles on the second layer of a dual layer. Also, sometimes the manufacturers update the write strategies (burner firmware) to fix such problems when it only occurs with specific media.

[Shareef187]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I will definitely try some Verbatim disks soon; as soon as I can get some at a decent price. Like I said, so far Memorex brand disks have not failed, only this spindle of Ridata DVD's so far.

I can burn cd's and DVD's without a problem. If anything, I think it's probably a bit of column A (not the best media) and column B (burner is on it's way out), since once out of every 3 - 5 burns I get one successful burn (using the same ISO). I have tried CloneCD since originally posting this msg with mixed results. Unlike DVD Decrypter, which will just hang until I cancel it, Clone CD will instantly stop burning and give a Burn Failed error msg, and spit the disk out. I'll try ImgBurn as well, but I saw a picture of the interface, and it looks just like DVD Decrypter (is it made by the same people?), so I'm doubtful it will make a difference, but who knows.

Fortunately I only paid $50 for this burner brand new, and I don't mind going out and buying a new one (one of the Pioneer 111's or 112's) if that will contribute to a more successful burn rate (in fact, it would probably save me $ in the long run).

[cory1492]

After the first couple my Pio 212d wouldn't burn memorex disks to the end unless I did it at 4x, might give that a go - but I pretty much guarantee even if it burns (esp. at higher speed) there will be problems with any data at or around the layer break, especially when reading it back on the somewhat picky (they were made with pressed media quality in mind I imagine) 360 drives.

Can't go wrong with verbatim singapore disks, even if they are double the cost. I haven't had one fail on me yet, and the quality scans don't show data problems (sectors damaged and unreadable even on a fully completed burn) around the layer break like the fuji/ritek and memorex/ricoh disks I have tried in the past.

This post has been edited by cory1492: Feb 16 2008, 05:55 PM

[frito11]

I have some memorex (ritec made)  discs and they are terrible imho i never had one fail a burn on me with my plextor px-740a (benq mfg drive) but i have had issues with my 360 reading them reliably, also never could burn faster than 2.4x

granted after i read about how great pioneer burners are i picked up a 112d and i have been burning out verbatim discs at 8x with no issues so far not one coaster, i have yet to try and burn one of the memorex's on the pioneer, but the media is definately not as good as verbatim due to the fact that the verb discs burned on either drive work fine in my 360

the pioneer is roughly twice as fast as my plextor at burning dvd+r dl discs. funny thing is dvd-/+ r performance is close to equal and CD-R performance is much better on my plextor, guess its good to have multiple burners sometimes

i would highly recommend if you got the 60 bux to spare go pick up a pioneer burner and some quality verb discs and you will not be disappointed (16 min burns ftw)

[smokeingit]

I only use verbatim MIS editons.... then i saw MII edition for sell for 25 bucks at microcenter so i got  a stack of 20 for that price. after tons of burns.... i hit the say half way burn problem, and only happend twice with MII edition... So yes, its the media if anything.

[lucas]

I was having this exact issue. my Pioneer DVR-109 wouldnt burn to the ritek disks (sometimes failing at 50%, sometimes on the initial OPC) but was very happy burning anything single layer, and DL verbatims. I even tried different PCs and operating systems, it was definitely either the media or the drive.

I picked up a new burner (partly to see if it would help, and partly because I wanted a sata optical drive) and now I can burn to the cheap riteks no worries, and the 360 seems to be happy with them too so it's cheap disks for me from here on in. the new burner I got was a Pioneer DVR-215.

I just wish I'd bought the new drive before I made $10 worth of coasters... that's more than 1/4 the price of the new drive

[Shareef187]

I did the same thing. I bought myself a new Pio 212 which fixed the problem of my burns halting halfway through. Using the Riteks, though, still yielded bad results: even though it would burn successfully, I'd get freezing and disc read errors frequently. I have had no problems using Memorex brand DVD's so far, and have ordered 4 x 10 packs of Verbatims which I have yet to crack open.

[scuba156]

even though a cheaper brand works, i would suggest not using them. due to there low quality, they will deteriate over time, meaning they may work now, but may create problems soon. verbatim are by far the better brand for quality.

[hecz]

Im having a similar problem, sometimes it burns the game completely but the 360 says dirty disc error or it simply works, but at first I had the burner stuck at some point of the job, and it takes all the cpu resources and that never happened before  it feels like lagging when its burning the dvdr dl.

Please tell me I need a new DVDR and that I wont happen again when I do. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)