dbminter

Unfortunately, as far as BD goes, there is no jack of all trades unit. The best you can get is the best of the worst. They all have problems. For instance, ASUS's drive doesn't properly write DVD+R DL. A firmware update will fix it, but in 3 years, they've yet to address the issue I keep telling them. Pioneer does not write properly to 8x DVD+RW and hasn't for more than 5 years, despite my repeatedly telling them, too. Plus, the BD-RE it writes only Verify at maximum 2x, the maximum rated write speed. The LG WH16NS60 is the best of the worst, but it writes a bit slower and doesn't always properly read in all discs that other units will. The NS60 is the unit I use because it is the best of the worst. However, the write/read speeds set in ImgBurn tend to get ignored by the NS60. I've tried setting CD read speed to 1x and it gets ignored, reading instead at maximum write speed. The NS40 can be used, unless you want to to BD-R DL or BD-RE DL. It has never properly written those, despite, once again, my years of telling them a firmware update is needed for the NS40. Once I discovered the NS60 properly writes to DL BD media, I started getting it. LG also has a very liberal replacement policy. 2 months ago, I got a replacement for a drive still under warranty. But, after 2 months, it stopped reading DVD discs when inserted. LG is replacing it, too, and, as a courtesy, they sent me a prepaid shipping label, which they haven't done in the past.

It's been like a decade, probably, but I didn't find any alternative to WMPCDText when I tried it out before. I don't use WMP anymore. I've moved to MPC-HC.

I found the WMPCDText plugin to be highly unreliable. Enough so that I eventually uninstalled it.

Yeah, the 212 is definitely junk. After repeated variances between 6x and 8x write maxes on DVD+RW, I put in a new, unformatted 8x DVD+RW in the 212. It failed Verify, so Pioneer still doesn't know what the Hell it's doing when it comes to firmware. For more than 5 years, the Pioneer firmware fails to properly write to any 8x DVD+RW. And, given that Pioneer doesn't know its ass from a hole in the ground, I fail to see any hope that the 213 will do any better.

Yeah, that's what I was expecting. Drives don't always obey what ImgBurn sends to them. Thanks!

I set the read speeds for both values to 1x. Audio CD read at 40x. Are these user set values just ignored if the drive cannot set those values? Thanks!

The 212 definitely is an unreliable performer when it comes to writing 8x DVD+RW. It fluctuates between writing at 6x and 8x maximum. You do one write and it's 6x max. You use the same disc that just wrote at 6x max and write the same image in the same enclosure and conditions, and you get 8x!

Nothing new to report since the last beta was released back in November.

Well, now I don't know WHAT to think! After the failed burn from before, the NEW enclosure I installed, completely different manufacturer, was ALSO returning Logical Unit messages on all inserted discs. So, I swapped in another Vantec enclosure, which was the same type that appeared dead before. (This one Vantec randomly causes drives to appear with blank contents in File Explorer until power is cycled. Vantec makes about 50% junk.) Now, the same disc that was writing at 3.3x is back to 8x! It's POSSIBLE both enclosures went bad simultaneously as the OWC had been sitting on a shelf unused for years. If the universe is ruled by god, I wouldn't put it past him.

Yeah, the 212 is junk as well. I put in a brand new unformatted 8x DVD+RW, wrote it once, played fine. Write to it a 2nd time, and it never got beyond 3.3x. Whenever this happens, Verify will always fail.

Further testing has shown the Pioneer drives are still junk when it comes to writing 8x DVD+RW. I put in a brand new, unformatted disc, let ImgBurn format and write it, and Verify failed on it. So, Pioneer has taken SLIGHT steps forward, but are still junk. In fact, the 212 DESTROYED the brand new DVD+RW I just tested! I tried using it again in an LG WH16NS60 and it won't even get past Logical Unit is in process of becoming ready. Which is what ASUS used to do on rewritable discs. EDIT: Actually, I may have jumped to a conclusion too soon. It could be the enclosure. I took out the 212 and put in an NS60 and I still get Logical Unit messages on all DVD+RW discs. Since it's highly unlikely both drives went bad at the same time and since I've tried other DVD+RW discs, the conclusion is either the enclosure, the USB cable, or the USB port are to blame. More to come. Must have been the enclosure. I used a different enclosure with the 212 and the same disc that had at first appeared to have been destroyed and the Logical Unit message went away. I used the same USB cable, so it's not the cable or port. Could be a power supply issue as the other enclosure uses a different type of power supply.

That's why I miss those days.

So, you're using 2 WH14NS40 drives? Writing in a 1.03 firmware drive and verifying in a 1.05 firmware drive? If that's the case, I'd wait and see if it happens again, but this time use the 1.05 drive to write the BD XL disc.

Is this the first time you've tried BD XL media? I know one of the reasons the WH16NS40 is not usable, as far as I'm concerned, is it doesn't properly write to double layer BD media. 9 times out of 10, it writes it incorrectly.

See if this helps: Tools --> Settings --> Build --> Page 1 --> Advanced --> Check the box for Include Reparse Point Files. If it's already checked, don't change it as that won't help.

I did recommend M-Disc in my initial reply, but there is one mitigating factor that may turn someone off to using them: cost. M-Disc are a tad bit expensive, particularly when compared to the price for BD-R. However, there is the initial cost of having to pay out for a more expensive BD burner if you're going to use BD-R. And you will need a BD drive to read the discs back. With M-Disc, as long as your device supports DVD+R, it will read it. So, M-Disc is a bit more "universal."

I do prefer the old days when apps stored settings in INI files in the directory they were installed in. It made configuring applications on a new system much easier. Plus, INI is safe from when developers change the name of the Registry key they're writing to or change/add/delete branches from the key.

One oddity of the firmware in the Pioneer 212. It takes 35 seconds longer to write an 8x DVD+RW than it does on the WH16NS60. At one minute and 25 seconds into burning, the drive drops the write rate to 0.0x and it stays there for 35 seconds before resuming, climbing back up to 8.0x. It does this on "Ricoh" 8x DVD+RW from years ago and on the current 8x DVD+RW from Imation, made by "Ritek."

So, in Verify Mode, if a user unchecked Verify Against Image File, ImgBurn would just do a Read of the contents as if it were creating an image file?

In the Verify mode, there's an option the user can check to Verify Against Image File. When a Verify is automatically performed after writing an image if the user has the Verify option selected, is the disc verified against the image file that was written by default? Or is the Verify just a Read operation without comparison against the image file contents being burned? Thanks!

Yeah, as far as I know, there's nothing like a Like on this board's forum software.

I appreciate the compliments and I'm sorry I can't be of more assistance.

It sounds like the OP had a DVD-R DVD Video and used Handbrake to make an MP4 from the VIDEO_TS. They then tried burning that to a new recordable disc. As LUK said, DVD-R is a simple Read and Write operation: Read the disc to an image file and then Write it to a new recordable disc. However, be aware some DVD-R type movies from big studios have structural copy protection on them. Which means ImgBurn won't directly copy them; it will tell you if it can't Read the disc. Also however, if you got Handbrake to make an MP4, the disc either didn't have structural protection or you already circumvented it to make files Handbrake can process. DVD-R is simply a cheap ass way for studios to save money on production costs. Frankly, I'm surprised all studios haven't abandoned pressed discs in favor of DVD-R and DVD+R DL's. Most TV series are now released on DVD+R DL.

Unfortunately, your information just furthers my idea that there's no way to know what you're supposed to do with this X-Ray disc without asking who made it. The BIN file on that disc is not an image format you can burn, so ImgBurn has nothing to do with viewing the X-Ray on this disc. It appears to be some kind of proprietary format, so only its creator can tell you what you need to do with it.

Unfortunately, it's not immediately obvious what this disc is supposed to do in terms of behavior. BIN is a disc image format that ImgBurn recognizes, but BIN generally is associated with BIN/CUE, which is a file format pairing generally exclusively for Audio CD. BIN could also be shorthand for BINARY, but without knowing what the BIN file is supposed to do, I couldn't say. You could try copying the BIN file to somewhere temporary and loading that BIN file in ImgBurn's Write mode. If it is a disc image file, it will be available for writing to a recordable disc. If it isn't, ImgBurn will say it's not a proper disc image file. Oh, NOW I think I see why ImgBurn was called in this case. You may have had ImgBurn already installed before you received this X-Ray disc. Double clicking on the .BIN file would have invoked ImgBurn to try and burn it, which may have caused ImgBurn, when it opened, to check for an update. Then, it may have detected your ImgBurn was an older version. So, at this point, I'd do what I recommended before about copying the BIN file to some temporary location, loading it in Write mode, and see if you can burn it to a recordable disc.