The strange tale of my DVD burner

Bilk

Hi all,

I am just wodering if anyone could give me some advice on usin my DVD burner (Phillips DVD+RW 200) now I know this burner should only work with 2.4x DVDs but it did use to work with 4x (I have the DVDs to prove it) but now it simply won't and as I am running out of 2.4 DVDs I was wondering if anyobne could give me advice please before I splash out on a new DVD burner. I have looked for firmware or drivers without success

Hope you can help or its of to the shops for me

Thanks alot

Bilk

santana-mx3

Hopefully someone can help you with this.

Otherwise (or if you want to upgrade anyway) the LG GSA4163 16X DVD Dual Layer +/- R/RW/RAM Internal IDE multiformat drive is quite reasonably priced eg. £35.83 inc del & VAT from ebuyer or you could get it elsewhere if you don't like ebuyer (but I got mine from them).

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=82782

I'm having trouble getting the link to work - if it doesn't work for you and you want to find it on ebuyer, go to https://www.ebuyer.com and put LG GSA4163 in the searchbox. It's currently £25.75+del+VAT=£35.83.

You might find it cheaper elsewhere but when I bought it that was the cheapest place.

wolfman

Yeah in general the best are, in order

1) LG GSA 4163
2) ND 35xx
3) Pioneer 109

The Benq (not sure of the model) is meant to be very good. The LG would be my choice though. It's about £32 or so on https://www.microdirect.co.uk.

irnbru_2

Bilk wrote:

Hi all,

I am just wodering if anyone could give me some advice on usin my DVD burner (Phillips DVD+RW 200) now I know this burner should only work with 2.4x DVDs but it did use to work with 4x (I have the DVDs to prove it) but now it simply won't and as I am running out of 2.4 DVDs

There is a 208 model - is that it?

Are you buring on the same 4x as before?

Irrespective of the 2.4x you need to identify the compatable media for your drive.

Download one of the dvdinfo packages which will identify your drive correctly.

See this thread for the dvdinfo software.

You'll probably be able to get a firmware patch to enable your drive to use more media than at present but I can't find the link for that site at the mo :doh:

santana-mx3

wolfman wrote:

Yeah in general the best are, in order

1) LG GSA 4163
2) ND 35xx
3) Pioneer 109

The Benq (not sure of the model) is meant to be very good. The LG would be my choice though. It's about £32 or so on www.microdirect.co.uk.

Yes Microdirect is currently £3 cheaper inc delivery & VAT than ebuyer for the LG (assuming you are only buying the one item in both cases). I have only tried to order from Microdirect once and they completly messed up my order (and deleted it after confirming delivery times) but others have had more success than me and have got some real bargains (which have actually turned up;)) from them so it might be worth a shot to save the £3.

Dammam

santana-mx3 wrote:

Yes Microdirect is currently £3 cheaper inc delivery & VAT than ebuyer for the LG (assuming you are only buying the one item in both cases). I have only tried to order from Microdirect once and they completly messed up my order (and deleted it after confirming delivery times) but others have had more success than me and have got some real bargains (which have actually turned up;)) from them so it might be worth a shot to save the £3.

Don't discount the Liteon or NEC range of drives - The NEC I'm using is the best I've used so far, including the Pioneer.

http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/ gives you a fine selection, quick delivery and the prices are as good as anywhere. Buy the oem versions to save an extra fiver or so - all they lack is the box, leads etc - you'll already have the leads and software you need from your current drive.

I know that your question is more concerned with getting your current drive to work. What software are you using and in what way is it failing (i.e what error messages are you getting)? Also, what brand disks are you using?

drlight_2

Strange tale indeed

santana-mx3

Dammam wrote:

Don't discount the Liteon or NEC range of drives - The NEC I'm using is the best I've used so far, including the Pioneer.

http://www.blankdiscshop.co.uk/ gives you a fine selection, quick delivery and the prices are as good as anywhere. Buy the oem versions to save an extra fiver or so - all they lack is the box, leads etc - you'll already have the leads and software you need from your current drive.

I know that your question is more concerned with getting your current drive to work. What software are you using and in what way is it failing (i.e what error messages are you getting)? Also, what brand disks are you using?

Good point about SVP/Blankdiscshop. I buy blanks from them and the company has a good reputation on this site. I used to find their drives too expensive but that isn't the case at the moment (eg. the LG) and if you are buying media at the same time you could save on p&p. I still like the idea of the LG because of compatibility with formats including DVD-RAM (could be useful if you get a domestic DVD Recorder) but if that's not an issue for you then one of the other types might beat it on speed or some other feature.